While Trump is doing his best to start World War 3, and Australia continues to burn, I have also been busy.
Yes, it’s mid life crisis time, and in a desperate attempt to regain my lost youth and stay hip with the young people, I’ve got myself a new ear piercing on each side. Cheaper than a Maserati or a lover, and less embarrassing than a Harley. It’s something I’ve been thinking about doing for ages now, at least since last Thursday. I was just going to go to some cheap place but my daughters were horrified and guided me to a proper piercing studio instead. The first place looked very flash but they wanted to charge me $380 for these minuscule studs I’d never wear again. Solid gold, they told me – apart from the cubic zirconia, I assume – but still. So then I went to a place called “flesh wound”. They were also more pricey than a pharmacist with a piercing gun, but I think most of the money went on equipment. He used a sterile dressing pack that I recognized from hospitals, and he changed his gloves three times. He spent ages getting the placement just right, and I was very happy with the outcome. The girls had tried to reassure me that it wouldn’t be too painful, and I thought to myself pffft! I managed to push the three of you out of my…. I’ve experienced childbirth – this will be nothing. And indeed it hardly hurt at all. I cause more pain than that on a daily basis in my job.
It was quite an interesting studio, on Cuba St. There were plenty of posters of various sorts of body modifications that were a mystery to me. There was also a sign saying “If you find our banter upsetting, just say CREEPY! we don’t aim to offend.” Which I thought was impressive, in a thoughtful millennial way. Our banter wasn’t offensive at all. He was astounded when I told him my last piercing was thirty years ago. He asked me then where I’d had it done, and when I said “my ears”, we looked confusedly at each other for a few moments. But anyway, he did a great job.
And now I have somewhere else to wear my growing jewellery collection, that I’ve been rebuilding since our robbery last year. (Did I tell you we got a big fat payout from our insurance claim? Much more than we’d actually claimed for, as their assessors valued some of my stuff as more than I’d thought they were worth. So that’s my plug for the Medical Assurance Society – the premiums are more, but it’s certainly worth it if you ever have to make a claim). I must admit I’ve been obsessing a bit about jewellery lately. I saw a Netflix movie the other night, and the only bit I can remember are the heroines wonderful earrings in a party scene early on. I think I need to find a new hobby.