From BME, Circa Mayish, 2003:

I've toyed with the idea of getting something pierced for a long time, but circumstances did not permit. My ex-boyfriend was severely against the idea, and declined both nostril and eyebrow as possibilities for me. But we broke up, as it so happens. And yes, for those of you who are wondering, it DID have something to do with him not accepting/supporting me. I don't go breaking up with people willy-nilly.

I didn't think of getting myself pierced for almost a year, as I was too busy trying to find a place to live and work, but one day after I had been somewhat stable for a while, I noticed someone with their nostril pierced, and the idea came back to me. Once the thought had me in it's grips, it wouldn't let me go. It seemed like all I could think about was getting my nose pierced, and doing it fast.

I called around a little bit, I had heard advertisements on the radio for various places in the area, and it seemed that everyone knew what they were doing. I wasn't too terribly worried about finding someone experienced or clean – I'm the trusting type, and when you add lazy to that equation, there's nothing but trouble. Fortunately, I also seem to have a huge amount of luck (If I wasn't too lazy for religion, I'd thank god for my luck). I happened upon BME when looking for pictures (read: satisfying my impulse by looking at people less lazy than me), and found one story in particular. I don't remember which nostril-story it happened to be, but it struck me, because I knew that Artrageous Ink was only 30 minutes from my hometown. I didn't think much of it at the time, I knew of another studio that was having a sale, but I did read with interest about how much Justin (the piercer) was trusted.

After much to-do and haggling, I convinced my best friend to accompany me on the following weekend. We went to the Color Box, in Green Bay. It was closed. I was severely longing for a hole punched in my body at this point, so we drove around for quite a while, finding that the piercing/tattooing business generally takes Sundays off - but I'm not sure this is due to religious obligations. We decided to come back the next day, when I knew the Color Box was open.

Monday morning, I looked up The Color Box online, and finding nothing, searched for Artrageous Ink, and found their webpage. Somewhere in the midst of all the flash-cajumble, I found a phone number for the business, and called to set up an appointment.

So Lisa and I were off on our adventure as soon as she was done with work. We signed me up to be stabbed, and then we perused the tattoos while we waited for someone else to be pierced. Finally (or way too soon, if you look at it from my perspective) I was called back to the piercing room.

The room was very small, but yet extremely sanitary. Justin prepared his area and talked to me in the midst of several people coming up to the doorway and asking him questions about a video he was making. I was slightly uncomfortable – as I've said, this was my first 'real' piercing, and I wasn't so sure I wanted it anymore – and the people at the door didn't ease my anxiety at all. Finally, they went away, and he marked my nose. I checked it out, deemed it "OK", and he went back to cleaning things and getting set up.

Then he turned around, and said, "Ok, now, I'm gonna shove this" (held up shiny thing) "up your nose..."

"Oh, shove it up my nose, huh?"

Big grin. "Fine, I'm going to INSERT this into your nose..."
And the rest is a blur. I remember him poking the thing up my nose, and breathing, and then the pain of it – don't ever let anyone tell you it doesn't hurt – and then it was over. I could tell he felt bad that he hurt me, which I thought odd of a professional piercer, but it was nice, too.
He stood by my side for about 2 minutes, gauze-in-hand, to blot me. Seeing as I had never been pierced before, I eventually asked him what he was doing staring at me, and he replied, "Oh... well, most people bleed."

I took it as a compliment, and stood up to leave. He handed me some gauze, and a wet-nap type thing, and told me that he "didn't think I was a vampire" and that I would eventually start bleeding a little bit. Which I didn't, but I appreciate his thoughtfulness.

It's been over a week now, and the hole hasn't given me any trouble. Actually, I'm in the mood to get a new hole again... I wonder where.