Watch Out for Body Piercings

September 24, 2007

I am really sad for one friend of mine who has developed a terrible infection due to a piercing that has gone wrong. As most of us down here in Florida tend to have a piercing of one kind or another I thought it time to talk about the safety risks a little.

The dangers of body piercing vary; depending on what part of your anatomy is being decorated. For instance having your tongue pierced can scrape tooth enamel (and even break teeth) and cause the need for dental work in the future. Also a pierced tongue is more prone to medical complications in general, including to blood poisoning, blood clots hemorrhaging, nerve damage, paralysis, staph infections, methicillin resistant bacteria (flesh eating disease) and toxic shock. Who knew?

Guess I will put those plans to get my tongue pierced off? Why is it so hard for the tongue to heal after a piercing? Piercing your tongue requires a much larger hole then the tiny pinprick that is used to pierce a person’s earlobe so it is more like a wound. Also the tongue is in constant motion (especially mine), which makes it difficult to heal fast.

Tongue piercing are the worst no matter where you get a body piercing on your body there is always a risk. The most common problems are infection, allergic reactions, hepatitis B, HIV transmission, and tetanus.

One of the worst consequences of body piercing can be Hepatitis B. This liver cam starts chronically swelling and not work properly. Hepatitis B is caused by the HBV virus, (hepatitis B virus) although it can also be caused by alcohol and other toxins (poisonous substances). Mostly contaminated needles used for tattooing and piercing cause it.

Almost 80% of all HBV virus cases turn into liver cancer. Yet another common result of contracting this virus through a body-piercing needle is cirrhosis. Cirrhosis is a scarring of the liver that prevents the organ from regenerating. Both cirrhosis and Hepatitis B have no cures but are managed by expensive medications.

Yet another sometimes-fatal consequence of body piercing is an HIV infection (AIDS) which can be contracted through a dirty tattooing or piercing needle. AIDS is a deficiency of the body’s immunes system that makes it difficult to fight off infection. It can take ten years or more for the HIV virus to develop into full-blown AIDS which makes the personal vulnerable to dying from a very simple infection like the flu. One of 250 Americans is currently HIV positive and does not know it.

The main way to avoid HIV and Hepatitis B is to get your body piercing done at a professional salon that is very clean and that has sterilized needles. Piercing your own cheek, lip, tongue, eyebrow, naval, tongue or ears is NOT recommended for anybody in this day and age so please put that old bar of soap and that rusty needle from sewing kit away! And if you do get pierced make sure it is from a reputable place where they use an auto sterilizer to keep equipment clean.

 

Dating Journal
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My Creepy Crush

September 21, 2007

Sometimes the worst dating experience isn’t with a total stranger, blind date or an online guy. It can be way worse with someone you’ve known for years! At least it happened to me. It was a guy I went to high school with. I actually had a crush on him back then. He was a senior when I was a sophomore, but his locker was near mine and we checked each other out a lot. He played on the basketball team and was kind of the silent type, but maybe I’m just saying that because he was older and I didn’t get to know him that much. Anyway, he already had a girlfriend in his year, and the year after that he was gone and I lost track of him.

So, fast forward to like four or five years later and I see him when I’m at a movie with friends. He was dressed all in black and looked totally different but still hot. I should have known it was weird when he wanted me to dump my friends right away and go out for coffee with him, but I was flattered that he remembered me and so we hooked up. The story he told me was REALLY interesting at first: he left town right after high school to pursue his dream of becoming – seriously – a professional magician! At least that’s what I thought, but he got all agitated when I used that word and told me he wasn’t a magician, he was an “illusionist”. He actually got quite upset about that, and that’s when he launched into this long speech about his hero David Copperfield, how he followed him on tour for a few years to learn the magic trade (oops, sorry “illusion” trade!). But he was so passionate that at first I was really into seeing him again. He said he was living in town but was leaving soon to do his show at Universal Studios. We got together a few nights later.

So we sit down at the restaurant and right away he started asking me if I wouldn’t mind dying my hair blonde. I thought it was a joke but he pressed me a little on it and finally I started getting a little annoyed. Why ask that question on a first date? It’s like asking someone to be someone else, you know? And then, once again, he went on and on and on about Copperfield. It got kind of boring, so I asked him if maybe he could do some tricks for me, but all he did was sweep his hands in the air a lot, like a bad Criss Angel impersonation. I guess the only trick he really did was convincing me he was a cool guy at first.

I never saw him again, in person or on TV. So remember that someone you liked in high school might not be a that fun an idea a few years later.

 

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My Marine Nightmare

September 18, 2007

I always thought I was pretty smart when judging men but it seems like I am on here every couple of days writing about some jerk. I guess you can never be too careful no matter how heroic someone seems at first.

Anyway I went to Disney with some friends and there I met a marine who also lives in Miami. I met him in those most romantic way…riding the same roller coaster. I know they say that marines have a lady in every port but this one was so nice. He looked like a “momma’s boy.” Really, fresh clean and innocent looking.

We had some French fries together at Disney world and exchanged numbers. Back in Miami he called and we talked on the phone for about two weeks before we actually linked up. Finally after he spent two hours flirting with me on the phone I decided to give him a chance despite everything I had heard about marines and their womanizing ways.

We went to a great little Italian restaurant in town and spent hours petting each other’s hands and gazing into each eyes over really good wine and tiramisu. I was smitten. Also he was so well built like marines can be. We talked all night until the place closed.

Walking hand in hand on the boardwalk I suggest that we go to his place but he says that he can’t have me over because the condo is being painted. Even though I realize this is a red flag I went ahead and invited him over to my place. As we were necking on my couch I felt something vibrate in his pocket. It was his cell phone. That cell phone vibrated against my thigh about eight more times before I asked him to get it. My theory is that if someone is calling you that much he means they have a girlfriend or it is an emergency.

He kept insisting it wasn’t an emergency and for the first time I saw beyond my own lust and that he was just another predator. Probably a two timing predator at this. When I accused him of having a girlfriend he blushed and denied it and that was it. I was so embarrassed I had to ask him to leave. For a minute I thought he was not going to leave and suddenly I was very afraid of that tall muscular toned physique that I was so attracted to in the first place.

Thankfully he left without giving me too much grief. He was a marine after all and if things had got physical I would not have stood a chance. What a waste of time!

Sometimes human nature makes me so sad. This guy was just like that joke – Why does a dog lick its balls. Because it can. He had no real interest in me whatsoever.

As I am the eternal optimist I gamely await my next existential romp through the dating world!

 

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My Complicated Lover

September 15, 2007

Okay so I broke down and went online and posted a personal ad in a public online forum. Right away I got a response from Ted. He made me laugh so I replied. For the last ten days we have been exchanging some pretty witty and romantic emails.

He was literate, intelligent and is completing a Ph.D in psychology. I just thought I was dealing with a really nice man.

As we only live a couple of minutes from each other we began exchanging emails and agreed to meet. Of course before I agreed to meet him I checked up on his status. He assured me that he was totally single and just had some “aunties” that he checked in with now and then.

He tells me to meet him at a lobster palace by the ocean. I get there early and darn it if he doesn’t show. It is cold, raining and the place smells like wet sand and dead fish. I get fed up and leave. However first I text him and tell him I am going into town and that if he wants he can meet me in a hotel lounge bar where I am much more comfortable.

Just as I arrive at the hotel lounge he tells me that he has arrived at the seafood palace and that he is there with a bunch of friends. Haplessly he tells me that he can’t just leave his friends and that he will link up with me as soon as he can. Every half hour or so he would message me from the seafood place to tell me he was on his way. Fortunately for me I met up with some friends at the hotel bar so I did not have to be too bored.

He finally shows up at one in the morning and at first I am furious. But then I saw how good looking and kind he is in person and I just melt. We spent all night cozier up in a corner of the lounge talking and then we go to my place, make love and spend all night in each other’s arms talking some more. The next morning he even made me breakfast. I thought I was falling in love.

The next day I was really happy. We corresponded by email all week long and then on Friday when he had not made firm plans to see me again I made up a business excuse so I could go to his neighborhood. I asked if I could stay with him and repeat our romantic interlude from the previous weekend. Keep in mind here that I am not a gullible woman and that he did a pretty fine job of pretending to be interested in me.

When I ask him if I can stay with him he tells me that there are complications. When I ask what kind of complications it turns out that one of his “aunties” is staying with him. When I ask why that is a bad thing he tells me that the “auntie” is actually his ex girlfriend that he still goes out with.

Of course I had to drop him and it wasn’t easy. Now I am more than a little sad!

 

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