in memory/no such thing as normal

Sadly, I've been forced to say goodbye to two very dear friends of mine in the past month. Both left indelible marks upon me, and each made an impact on different areas of my life. Because of them, I am changed. Our journeys together were filled with ups and downs, elation and sheer frustration, pride and embarrassment - but we pushed through and made it this far together. R.I.P. to my recently departed darlings:

Here's me on my last days with my wrist piercing. This little guy was awesome because I was aware of him pretty much all the time. Seeing metal bolts sticking out of your arm every day has a strange way of spicing up life. I got this piercing a little over a year ago in Brooklyn at Pure Body Arts. It was done with the punch-and-taper surface piercing method, which seems to be the best technique yet for surface piercings. It stayed very well, but in the end too many bumps and knocks, plus the body's tendency to reject or at least disturb any foreign objects, made one post stick out of the skin significantly more than the other. I had one side of the bar sinking into the skin, and the other poking out and getting caught on anything and everything. It was time to say goodbye. This was my second wrist surface piercing, and something tells me it won't be my last.
I don't have a picture of my second late companion, as it used to reside on the back of my neck and would've been quite the challenge to photograph myself. It was a surface piercing just like my wrist, but this one was about a year older. I got it at Enigma piercing studio in San Diego while I was on vacation there about two years ago, and it always reminded me of those blissful 8 days spent soaking in the sun and eating every kind of burger California had to offer. As with most piercings, this one didn't like the winter months too much, and with turtlenecks and scarves came irritation and keloids for my nape piercing. I've injured and healed this piercing numerous times before, but after struggling to soothe it for about 3 months, I decided in July to just go ahead and do what my body was signaling me to.
R.I.P. my friends, you shall be missed.
On a lighter note, I'm happy to report having taken part in the Virgin Music Festival this past weekend in Baltimore, MD. It was a two day event, and hands-down one of the best experiences of my life. Musically, highlights for me were Explosions in the Sky out of Austin, Girl Talk out of Phillie, Smashing Pumpkins out of....ummm who cares, it's the Smashing Pumpkins, and LCD Soundsystem out of NYC. I was so kindly invited to attend by a charming young gentleman named Connor who runs a music blog, I Guess I'm Floating, which I've shouted in the links section since the inception of MSOM. Check it out, maybe you'll discover something better than the mind-numbingly egotistical shit surfing the radio waves these days ("My lipgloss is cool, my lipgloss is poppin'"....need I say more??).
After returning from two sweltering, dusty days of indulging in tunes and greasy food in the 12th most dangerous city in the States, I decided to take a deeper look into Baltimore by scanning some of today's stories in the Baltimore Sun. Oddly enough I came upon one article related to my all-time faaaavorite mod topic >>> modified employees >>> and it got me thinking. I've seen articles that address this issue gracing the (web)pages of countless newspapers from all over the world - so is it possible that mainstream society is finally realizing that a ridiculous amount of people are modified, yet totally sane, intelligent, and happy? Will people perhaps begin pushing for a change in the policies of businesses that refuse to hire modified individuals? Surveys such as the one mentioned in the Sun article prove that there are a whole lotta modified folk out there, but they're still being treated like a misunderstood and stereotyped minority. Modders are just like everyone else...we enjoy food and shelter just as much as any plainskin. Heck, some of us even went to college! Golly gee, who woulda thought?
But seriously, these people need employment, they're eager to work, they're qualified...but as the polls show, having body modifications significantly reduces one's chances of being hired, no matter how impressive your attitude and accomplishments.
I always have the same voices echoing in my head when I start to get all riled up about this issue >>> I see it as discrimination - they see it as a bad choice that nobody forced me at gunpoint to make. But that's just missing the point of tattoos. They're personal - personal expressions, meaningful designs, memorials to lost loved ones - and so many of them are simply stunning pieces of artwork. It seems baby boomers can't shake the outdated perception that modders are all immature, drunk, self-injuring sailor prostitutes - which is odd considering all the evidence to the contrary that's embodied in the gajillion modders who lead relatively normal, successful lives. Sure, it was our choice to become modified, but who says there has to be 'consequences' for doing something so benign? In fields where dealing with high society is a necessary part of the job, I can see employers being more particular about who they'll hire. But does there really need to be a no-mods policy at Costco? People come expecting big savings and 100-packs of toilet paper - not pristine, robotic, plain-jane chicks at the checkout.
Maybe it's just me, but I think that when employers are approached by a customer who's concerned about an employee's mods, they should stand up for their workers and question WHY exactly the customer deems it kosher to pass judgement on someone they've known for the time it takes to brush your teeth.

Well, I'm retirin', but I'll be back in action and blogging again this weekend because the CT Post has been kind enough to hook me up with a 3-day pass to the Gathering of the Vibes in Bridgeport, CT. I'll be blogging my lil' heart out about the goings on of the festival, and I'll either link to the Post's blog or just copy my entries here so y'all can read and wish you were there, puffin' on...I, I mean LAYING on...the grass and indulging in some delicious tunes.
<3

OH and by the way if you read through this and didn't click even one link I'm officially pissed at you. I don't link my ass off for my own health ya know...