So I have been wanting a lip piercing for a quite a while, especially after I saw my friend, Amber, get one. Going to a private school for 6 years meant no unusual colored hair, nor tattoos, nor a piercing(besides ears for girls), and that totally sucked. After graduating I was ready to dye my hair and get that piercing I always wanted. My friend, Amber, and also drummer of my band, the Ho-hos, got a eye brow and lip piercing during the summer of 2000. The week after she got it she said she would take me to get my lip pierced. I begged my mom, and she told my sister and me no piercing or tattoos until we totally live on our own (even though I was going to be at USC in the fall that didn't mean I was living on my own according to her "living on my own" meant paying for everything, meaning no piercing or tattoos until i was 21 and out of college). Though she did say that I could get a tattoo before that, if she wanted to get a tattoo. This was ok cos my mom was cool like that but I knew it wasn't going to be for quite a long time. She wanted to get some Hawaiian thing on her leg(I live in Hawaii, or used to) so I tried to get her all these Hawaiian art books to have her make up her mind already but that didn't work.
At A Glance Author Ariel Contact Ariel@bme.anon Artist Mike(i think) Studio Asylum Location Venice Beach When I got to LA in the fall I decided I was eventually going to get either a piercing or a tattoo. My dad was okay with it, but he said he rather me have a piercing cos I could take that out rather than a tattoo being permanent. So my sister ended up getting her eye brow pierced after her 18th birthday(we are twins). I still wanted to get one but I have no car in LA and no way to get anywhere to get pierced.
My friend Masa had been getting more and more a piercing because he was a short way from Venice Beach, after Thanksgiving he had a labret and an eyebrow. So it was time for me to get my lip done. So I was going to stay with him at LMU for a weekend then go down to Venice Beach to get my lip piercing. Well the first attempt was a total disaster, it's a long story, but in a nutshell I barely made it to Venice and half way to the shop something really bad happened and I ended up going to the hospital(that is another stupid, weird, long story that you could ask about some other time).
A few weeks later, after a lot of talk I convinced my friend Emily to get her tongue pierced and she went with Masa(he was getting an industrial) and me to Venice. I tried to make this a SCRubber(it's a socal rave e-mail list, www.socal-raves.org) event, Leon and Dustin came along too. So that day I was a little excited about getting my lip pierced. I think I got up about 11 am that day, I was out late the night before as usual. I don't remember I think I was at a Harvey Mudd party until 2 am or so again. So we all go to this place in Venice called Asylum, Leon suggested it, he said it had a good reputation and quite a few celebrities go there from time to time. Walking in, it looked quite clean and safe. The guy asked if we needed any help and I said I wanted to get my lip pierced, he asked me for some identification and I had to fill a form out. I glanced at the tattooing chairs, hmm I might wuss out on that right now(I want to get an arm band, something on my forearm, and on my back, but not right now). The guy took me into another room, he said none of my friends could come in, but that wasn't really a problem cos I could handle it alone. He explained the procedure of it all, cleaned the outside of my lip and told me to rinse my mouth, then he marked a dot below my lip. At first it was a little to low so he moved it up a bit(after I got it done I noticed that he actually missed the hole and that it was a little further up, but I like it better). Then he told me to look straight ahead at a picture on the wall, he pulled my lip down with this utensil and then put the needle through, next thing I know the ring is in and it's all done. It was quick and wasn't really painful. The ring he had put in was really big but he said it was because my lip was going to swell quite a bit. When I left the room I couldn't help but stick out my lip a bit, it looked like i was pouting, and it still does, but i can always use that to my advantage.
Talking, smiling, and especially laughing was a problem at first, now I knew why Amber got made at me every time I tried to make her laugh when she first got her lip pierced. I had to drink out of straws for the first few days and I was afraid to put anything up against my mouth so I had to eat bite sized foods. I still get a little paranoid when I go out to eat and put something to my mouth thinking that some sauce gets stuck around my ring. It's been about a month since I got my lip pierced and things are good. I get a lot more attention with it now, and that's what I wanted. I hear people whispering about me, good and bad, sometimes naughty but I don't really care. I get the usual "did that hurt?" and "do you always keep it in?" from people trying to start a conversation. I'm happy with it.
I was a little afraid of what my family was going to do when I returned home for Christmas vacation. My dad already knew, but I thought my mom would get mad and maybe rip it out, hey I could actually picture my mom ripping it off my lip. But she knew I would get one, I did how ever surprise my aunt and grandparents. My aunt who I think is extremely crazy, uses my sister and I as examples of what not to do, but I'll find other ways to piss her off, I was going to go for a nape piercing for the next one but I think I'm just going to get my ear lobes stretched.
It's healing quite well, listerine became my friend, but god damn what is up with the child proof caps even I can't open them!!! It got a little infected for a while, and there's still a funny bump on the inside of my mouth where it goes in, but i try not to touch it or play with it. Though not being able to kiss anyone or anything of that sort is torture for me right now, but i'll just have to deal with it. I don't regret a thing, I love my lip ring!!