(no subject)

[danaeris]

DHP was awesome as always.

I'm now a member of the UC Berkeley Ballroom Dance Team. Silver syllabus classes are Thursday nights. Not sure if I want to take them since I'm Gold but the review and practice might help... this would require me to cancel all the Thursday LWBs but I've been really disappointed so far by the turnout of those. I keep on telling myself it takes time to build up, but I don't feel like the turnout is increasing at all. Opinions on the class and on cancelling Thursday LWBs (and possibly going down to once a month on Sundays or some other weeknight) are welcome.

I've been thinking a lot lately about body art. I have an idea for a very gorgeous tattoo, but it would be expensive and I have to actually make the art for the tattoo artist to use. Ask me in person and I'll describe it to you; It's a symmetrical tattoo with fairies.

Meanwhile, I decided I want to reconsider getting piercings. I'm thinking that if I try out some of the materials piercings are made of, perhaps as a ring, I can get a sense of how do-able it is for me. Considering vaguely either nipples or tongue. I'm just worried about doing this because I consistently have reactions to stainless steel and watch catches, and have even had reactions to sterling silver, once. Other options which look like they COULD work: Titanium, Niobium, Gold. Also, possibly, things like ivory or 'antler.'
Anyone have a titanium or niobium earring or ring or necklace I can borrow for a while to wear and see if it bothers me?

Enjoyed going to joedecker's reception... It amused me that I was introduced to some of his Caltech friends, who were kinda like, "ok, whatever." Then jimweasel explained, "She's from MIT" and suddenly they're a little warmer. It was fun trying to figure out who was a freak/geek in normal drag and who was just a random person off the street or friend of the studio. :)

PPP looked like fun, but unseelie turned out to be allergic to their pool, and everyone was IN it. So if I went in he'd have no one to talk to. So we went home and had a private good time instead. :)

Today, wandered around GGPark and the Academy of Sciences with nifty folk. Was sadly kinda grumpy for a variety of reasons (tired feet, achy knees, too cold, etc.), but had a great time nonetheless. Now I have that warm fuzzy, "I exercised a lot and now I'm warm and comfy and at home" feeling. It's nice.

I was going to work on making a web page for myself tonight as plans fell through for the evening, but either something is wrong with my wireless, or Surehand is down, which means I have no email or web space. :( That also means that it may be tough to reach me for the next little while. I'll be checking lj though.

Boy is here! later folks...

Comments

[danaeris.livejournal.com]

yes, actually, though at first I didn't realize who she was, and then it all clicked. She's really quite beautiful and we had a nice long chat when I first got there about geeks in 'normal drag' and pretty clothes and MIT and writing. :)

[divineseduction.livejournal.com]

Even if it's "stainless steel", it can have a lot of nickel in it, or more-than-foo amount of some other metal. Many people have problems with high nickel-content steel (piercing-wise). Even if you do get some other kind of stuff for piercing, make sure (depending on how reactive you are) that the piercing needles are a nice blend of metals.
If you have any issues with your teeth, think very very carefully about getting a tongue ring. It also (reportedly, since I don't have one) takes some time to re-train your self how to talk correctly, without lisping and such.
Nipples are much more ... subtle. And they feel good. But, don't get me wrong, the piercing itself _hurts_. Talk to M* about it. Also she's a bit more into the pain and piercing side than you are, I think.
I first got my belly button done. It gives you a .. firmer idea of what it feels like to have a piece of metal shoved through your body. Supposedly, they're the easiest to get infected, or whatever, but, if you stay conscious of it, and are careful, you should be fine. We can talk more about it if you want.
As far as I know, niobium is just ... futzed-with stainless steel (I want to say anodized). So, that might not be the best. Have you tried.. or though of surgical-quality stainless steel? Titanium is good. Also, there is lucite (plasticky stuff). Gold is also good. Expensive, but good. Antler and horn are .. I believe.. hard to get into ring-type shapes. And I don't think you could wear them while actually healing the piercing.
(goodness, I'm babbling, aren't I?)
But afterwards.. is another matter.
So, I guess, materials to look into: titanium, surgical-quality stainless steel, gold, lucite.
I stop babbling now and go get naked.

[danaeris.livejournal.com]

mmm naked.

Nah, some of that was definitely helpful. I'll have to reread when I'm more awake. :) I think I read somewhere that the lucite can't be left in all the time, and certainly not when the wound is first healing. But I could be wrong.

Piercings

[nicolleg.livejournal.com]

If stainless steel is out then tongue peircings get really expensive. Your tongue swells so much that most peirciers prefer to pierce with bar that is bigger than the one that you will eventually go with. After it heals they will exchange the large barbell for a smaller one. Since steel is so popular. the exchange is usually free. If both need to be gold.. you will have to pay for two rings and trust me, (as an all gold person myself) gold is spendy. I've heard that you will also have to replace gold quicker as it is a softer metel. I've had my tongue pierced since 1999 and haven't had to replace it yet.. but I also don't bite it with my teeth very often.

You can pierce nipples, genitles and I assume navels with gold so there isn't the issue there.

If you want a pro and con list of nipples, genitals, and tongue piercings let me know :)

Re: Piercings

[danaeris.livejournal.com]

Leaning towards the tongue piercing right now, which means that if I conclude that I need the gold, I may have to wait and save up money to make it happen. Yeah, I knew about the longer barbell followed by shorter one. Thing is, if I'm allergic to the stainless steel barbell, then leaving it in for the 2-3 weeks it takes for the swelling to go down will probably mean that the swelling WON'T go down.

The place I randomly wandered into priced a gold barbell at $150. Is that about right?

I'd love to corner you and chat about the pros and cons at some point. I think I've heard some of them but you might have more to add. :)

[coffeekitty.livejournal.com]

you may find this useful:

http://www.cs.uu.nl/wais/html/na-dir/bodyart/piercing-faq/.html

There is also useful info at:

http://www.miraculouscreations.com/pages/main.shtml

which is where i got my piercings done, and had a good experience. if you are interested in the particulars of what i did, email me personally. i believe xta also has had some body piercing done; you may want to ask her about it.

[nytemuse.livejournal.com]

I honestly wish I could make it to more LWBs, but Thursday nights this semester are just bad for me b/c I have classes that night and I make the Sundays I can, but since my Saturday class started, that severely limits my schedule so I can't ask for every Sunday off. So I guess this comment was mostly an apology/explanation for why I haven't been there, and that you shouldn't take my schedule into account when planning these :)

[auros]

Regarding metals... I'd suggest platinum, which is even less reactive than gold, and somewhat harder... but it's also several times more expensive, because it's rarer, and the hardness makes it harder to work with. (For similar reasons of hardness, the price ratio between silver and gold jewelry is less than you'd expect if the only difference was in supply/demand.)

I still need to find a tatoo artist I trust enough to do the Auryn sign around my left arm...

[neuroptik78.livejournal.com]

I had my tongue pierced 2 years ago (nearly to the day).... Length of time for tongue swelling it extremely dependent upon the individual - my tongue did not swell at all, and the piercer even commented that I had a thin tongue.

The best idea by far is your idea to wear rings of similar metals - maybe wear whatever style of piercing jewelery you finally decide on, on a string around your neck, to see what kind of reaction you get. My mother is allergic to many metal combinations, but still manages to wear piercings. If it's something you want, find ways that work with you to achieve it.