I was hanging out with a couple of friends in New York and I decided I wanted to get the industrial I’ve been dreaming of for so long. (I used to only have lobe piercings, but ever since I went back to school, I’ve realized I can get anything that doesn’t show up much on a VRS screen.) I called New York Adorned and they wanted a lot for it, so I ended up at Ian’s which had gotten pretty favorable reviews on Yelp and only wanted $45 for piercing and jewelry combined.

When we got to St. Mark’s Place, where Ian’s is located, I saw several jewelry vendors on the street. There are a ton of piercing shops on that corner, so I figured they were selling unique stuff that wasn’t in the shops. I knew I wanted a cool barbell, and I ended up getting a spiral one. We went into Ian’s, I bought the piercing jewelry, and sat to wait for a navel piercing and a nostril piercing to be done before it was my turn.

When I got to go into the piercing room, I hopped up on the table. The guy immediately said “I can’t do this.” It turns out I don’t have the ear for it. I immediately knew what he meant. See, I have a sticky-outy part on my ear, and if he did the piercing, I would be in danger of ear collapse or having the sticky-outy part grow over the barbell. I knew I had that bit that stuck out, but I didn’t think it would prevent me from getting the piercing I’ve wanted for years. Unfortunately, according to the guy, it did. He pointed out that unscrupulous piercers would have said “oh sure” without a thought to the risks involved, and I knew he was right. He suggested an orbital instead, and I like those too, so I said that sounded good.

Unfortunately, it turns out you can’t get an orbital all at once. According to this guy, you have to heal the first hole and then do the second. So I ended up walking out of the shop with nothing more than a 16g inner conch piercing. Again…not what I wanted.

I’m hoping that someday I can turn it into an orbital or something else cool. I went back to the vendor I’d bought the barbell from and explained what happened, and he let me trade it for a pink ring with a silver ball. He even gave me back the $4 that resulted from the price being different, which was nice of him. So I did get a piercing today…which is nice…but not the one I wanted…which makes me sad.

(I don’t recommend wearing white contacts into a visual environment on a daily basis though. It upset a few of the people who wanted to talk to me and couldn’t because making eye contact was freaky!)

This morning I took a look, lifted it, sat in it, etc. - and decided to buy it. This is the first time I’ve owned a “real” boat - I had a Clearwater Designs rec boat a year or two ago, but I sold it because a rec boat wasn’t what I wanted. I’ll now be returning the Gulfstream to Woody and hopefully this boat wont sink once I get it on the water, ha! The guy was selling it because he’d just finished building a Chesapeake Light Craft boat, so hopefully there’s not really anything wrong with this one. I’m sure it will be fine, and I’m eager to try it! Oh, and the seller included a spray skirt, so I don’t have to worry about buying one that doesn’t fit! (I returned that one today.)

The reason we’re taking care of her at our house is because she’d probably go crazy alone for a month. Even if we went over to their house for a few hours every night, she’s used to somebody being home pretty much all the time and would probably start knocking things over and generally making a mess if she was alone by herself for a long time.

After I brought her over last night, we let her loose in our bedroom with the door closed, and Toadie is the only other one in here. She did a circuit of the bedroom (and I was only able to get pictures of the back of her head; did I mention she’s skittish?) and promptly disappeared under the bed and hasn’t been out since last night. I can see a breathing silhouette when I peer under there, and we hear her moving periodically, but we’ll just have to leave her alone and hopefully she’ll come out when she’s hungry.