ta-da!

i know the changes are the insane, but i've been feeling for a while that the old layout was a little too doom and gloom, even for me.  and, as i am a person of extremes, i figured i should go as whimsical-crazy-person as possible.  this may also be the product of my actually getting enough sleep for the past two days. i'm in a great mood!  i'm going to drink tea and read jane eyre and sit practically inside the space heater all day.  so excited.

a few days ago, i got my nose re-pierced, which i suppose is pretty useless to talk about here, considering everyone who reads this a) was there when it happened or b) is party to my facebook page and has probably already seen all the photos i'm about to share.  however, this blog, in addition to being a hilarious part of seven followers' day, is my sad attempt at a journal, so i figure i should include any facial piercings (because they're kinda a big deal).

i first got my nose pierced in september of 2007, as a 21st birthday gift to myself.  the whole event was tainted with craziness (such as: i wound up at a tattoo shop with a coworker i barely knew after carpooling with her to a football game we were working together, and the piercer used the wrong stud, so i ended up with a piercing the size of a gigantic metal bb), so i probably shouldn't have expected greatness.  as it turned out, after weeks of zero healing and one horrible minute in the bathroom mirror, ripping the piercing from my nose, i allowed hole to close up, leaving me with a giant-bb-sized blue tattoo on my face where my skin had eaten off all the nickel coating* from the crappy jewelry.  yay!  i wore makeup over it for approximately forever and when i didn't, it was pretty obvious.  one day, after killing time at a mall while waiting for someone, i stumbled upon "skin gems" at claire's and starting wearing glittery stickers intended for ten-year-olds over my nostril scar.  it was then that i realized i really loved the look of the piercing and wanted to do it again, the right way.

cut to: thursday, when five of us forensic anthropology creeps found ourselves in a tattoo parlor.  i am a notorious baby when it comes to pain, so despite pretending to be a super badass, i was practically peeing my pants at the thought of shoving a needle through my face (and this time, through scar tissue).  here i am contemplating my fate:

and then crying:

and then being extremely pleased that it was over with and my horrible face tattoo was gone forever:

i'm doing everything completely differently than i was advised the first time.  i'm not turning the piercing, not cleaning it with peroxide, not really even acknowledging that it exists, except to spray it a few times a day with a sodium chloride mixture conveniently sold at the shop.  it's not sore, it's not disgusting and it's surgical steel, so hopefully no more nightmarish allergic reaction!**

*/**i've been blessed with a pretty vicious allergy to plated metals (in addition to all the other various skin ailments i've been dealt).  when i was a baby, i used to get little circular raised rashes all down my chest where the snaps on my onesies would lay against my skin.***  i'm allergic to all jewelry in my price range and even get nasty blisters on my ring finger if i wear my circa 1910 white-gold engagement ring for more than 10 hours at a time (as white-gold used to be cut with nickel in order to appear white).  it's never really been a huge inconvenience, except when there was a plated metal stud hanging out in an open wound on my face for two months.  that didn't really end well.

***for those who weren't aware, i truly am one of the most difficult people in the universe.