eirian84's Diaryland Diary ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Getting Things Pierced So, a couple weeks ago (16 days ago), I went out with a woman I work with, Lisa, to "Karaoke night", which is just what it sounds like. Lots of people get together in a bar (connected to the local bowling alley, actually), and one by one, people get up to sing. There's a whole group of friends that Lisa hangs out with, so I met a lot of people, and it was pretty fun, I had a great time. I had so much fun, I did it again just this last Saturday. Unfortunately, I only have every other Saturday off, so I can't go every week, but it's okay. Lisa and I were talking, and I already had something on my mind from talking to one of my other co-workers, Dana, and Lisa brought up that she has wanted to get her navel pierced, but her soon-to-be ex-husband was always saying things like "Only sluts get their belly-buttons pierced," which I thought was such a load of crap. I told her, "You should get it pierced and show him, & if he says anything like that, tell him you know a 23-year-old virgin who has hers pierced." A little later in the conversation I said something & Lisa said, "Do you have yours pierced?" Which I thought was odd, but I said, "Yeah." And she goes, "You're a virgin?!" I started chuckling and said, "Yeah, I thought you knew that." Now, let me explain a little here. Lisa and I have had some very in-depth conversations about sexuality & preferences & things like that. Things that I've only told Kim & Ivy. So Lisa knows what I'm like, and, as my mom said when I was telling her about it, that "you're not a prude." But, I'm also quite up-front about the fact that I'm still a virgin, so I hadn't even thought about the fact that I might not have told Lisa about that. Anyway, back to the belly-button piercing. I said, "You should get your belly-button pierced, and I'll get my tongue pierced." Our co-worker Dana has just gotten her tongue pierced. I found this out Sunday night when I went in to work extra (need the money, gah!). I had just been out at Wal-Mart with mom the other day when I brought up (again) the idea of getting my tongue pierced. Here's a little backstory: At some point (I'm thinking it was after I got my belly-button pierced, but maybe when I was still just thinking about it), I mentioned that I'd kind of like to get my tongue pierced. And my mother's response was "Over my dead body. I don't care how old you are, if you're living with me, you can't get your tongue pierced." At the time, I either didn't have a job, or had just started at the Hearthstone (depending on when exactly I brought it up), so I let it drop - I hadn't been serious enough to argue with her over it, anyway. Besides, I didn't want to get kicked out. Now, I'm paying her $250 out of every paycheck, which equals $500 a month ($750 in the month or 2 a year where I get 3 checks a month). I pay for the cable, the internet (which is only like $20, but still), plus I pay for (or try to) my own groceries - anything that I eat, & don't share with her. It is actually a pretty sweet deal, since technically I'm not paying rent and utilities, as well as my car payments and everything else. Now, she's working at Wal-Mart again, & while she's making more than minimum wage, it's not nearly what I'm making, or what she was making when she worked at the Hearthstone. One of the last times we had breakfast with Annie, we were talking about me "paying rent" to mom, & Mom said "I wouldn't be able to make the mortgage payment if she moved out." So, the other day we were at Wal-Mart, in the jewelry department (we were looking at piercing studs for my ears, because I can't wear anything else or my ears get infected), and I said something about wanting to get my tongue pierced - mostly just to see her reaction. It was pretty much "Why would you even want to do that, don't do that or I'll kill you." Whatever she actually said, my response was, "You know, you lost a lot of your arguing power when you told Annie you wouldn't be able to afford the house payments if I moved out." She gave me a death glare, and I started laughing, and she said, "Don't get your tongue pierced." So, Sunday night I was talking to Lisa on the phone, & I finally said, "I'll tell you what. I'm gonna ask for 2 weeks off at the beginning of April. We'll go to Lincoln, you'll get your belly-button pierced, and I'll get my tongue pierced." Lisa's like, "Alright." At the end of the conversation I said, "I'm serious, by the way, I'm not joking." Lisa goes, "I know, we'll go." So, tonight (Tuesday) was really the first time Mom & I were awake at the same time (she has tomorrow off, I have tonight off,)since Sunday, so we went & got food from Arby's. I knew once I got serious about piercing my tongue, I would have to let her know I was serious, & tell her early so she'd have time to get used to it. I'm pretty sure I haven't emphasized enough how much my mom hates tongue piercings. She's pretty open minded, but there are two things she just will never understand or tolerate well - homosexuality, and pierced tongues. I think by now she's even realized that I'm Wiccan, but since we're always talking about God & Christianity & she knows I still believe in God, & because I've never come right out and told her, she just ignores it (she's quite good at that, actually). So, I'm pretty nervous about bringing this up, afraid that she'll say, "If you do this, you're out of here." Which I just can't afford, and frankly, I don't want to leave. I don't want to live on my own. But at this point, I'm serious enough that if push comes to shove, I'll do it. But I really don't want it to come to that. But I'm thinkin', "I'll start the conversation off with, 'We need to have a discussion, and I know you won't like it, & I probably won't like it either, but we need to have a serious discussion about this.'" You know, bring it up very adult-like, so she'll take me seriously. We decide to go to Arby's, but since we're only driving through, I decided to have the conversation in the car on the way there, and hopefully the ride back from Arby's won't be in stony silence, with me wondering just where I'm going to be living. We get in the car, & I say, very seriously, "We need to have a conversation, and neither of us is going to like it very much." My mom gives me this kind of frightened looks, and says, "You're not moving out, are you?" Oh, my God, what a relief! If she's that worried about me moving out, I've already won. I shook my head and said, "No, no." So she gives me another worried look, & starts to back out as she says, "So what do you want to talk about?" I started to tell her, then I said, "I'll wait until you've backed out - I don't want to lose another sideview mirror because you're startled!" So, it's a pretty tense silence as she backs onto the street, then I said, "I want to pierce my tongue." And of course, her reaction is, "Why would you want to?!" I said, "Other than a few very sensitive private areas, the only other places I can pierce are on my face, and with as oily as it is and my sensitive skin & how prone I am to infections, I'd rather not chance it - not to mention I'd have to cover any piercing up with band-Aids while I'm at work. No thanks." So, we discussed it, and I told her everything Dana had told me. And I said, "Y'know, after a couple of weeks, I may decide I don't want it and take it out, and just be out $60." And she's like, "I can only hope." Ha, ha. Eventually, she said, "Well, for one thing, you are 23-years-old, and it's your money, and I really don't want you to move out." I think I upset her when I pointed out that if I did move out, she'd only have my first (horribly crappy) computer, and the only television she'd have would be the really old one with no captioning. Because our "main" TV, Chris gave me when he left, and I bought both my desktop computer and my laptop, & technically, even the really old one is mine, but I gave it to her when I bought the new one. So I'm like, "I reeeally don't want to move, but I want to get my tongue pierced." So, the beginning of April. God, I'm fuckin' nervous. 2:15 a.m. - 2008-01-30 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
||||||
|
||||||