Tongue in Cheek

Okay, in humility I will post this horrible picture of me because it is nearly the only picture where you can see the tongue bar that I had. However, i am keenly aware of the fact that I look like a prarie dog, my eyebrows are untamed and I need to catch up on about 6 days of sleep.

Ahhhh, the tongue bar. But, Crista's the girl next door type, you say. Let me explain. It was never my intention to get my tongue pierced...but I was never opposed to it. So it started when I was 18 and I got my cartilage pierced and hid it from may parents. It was so cute! But alas, when I dropped out of school for a year I had to get a grown up job at the Hilton and take out that piercing. boo :( then my Dad took my sister to get her navel pierced and suggested that for dancers that was a good idea. In rebellion I balked at that idea and kept my navel hole-free in defiance. I know, I'm wierd. Well, I always wanted a tatoo but as a dancer it is smarter to leave your career options open and forgo the tatoo and just mess with your hair and various piercings that you can take out. So I wanted to get my nose pierced. I thought it was so cute. and I have kind of resented my young looks as 12 year olds hit on me and noone seemed to take my young adult angst seriously. Soooo.... when I graduated college my good friend Delores from Oklahoma came to visit me. She was about to turn 25 and I was just about to turn 22 and we decided to do something "crazy" and get pierced on a whim. She is a girl next door type--5'0 standing up straight, beautiful, youth leader. We went to get her tongue pierced and my nose pierced. She went first. I watched. As she was getting pierced I marveled at how easy it looked...and then I passed out, cold. I woke up on the floor, the poor girl doing the piercing was pregnant and had apparently tried to keep me from banging my head on the marble. Now, I may look young, but I am sturdy as a fort. Years of bailing out in gymnastics taught me that I could fall and twist and land on my head and neck and arm and -knock on wood- never break anything. I'm a bruiser people. The passing out really freaked me out and I decided...I must get my tongue pierced, I won't be afraid of it!

and so I did. The actual piercing didn't hurt that badly and didn't make me queasy, it was fine. However I couldn't eat ANYTHING for over a week. Sipping Jamba Juice hurt badly. and I had a lisp for a few weeks. I started working at Macaroni grill a week later and started greeting people with "may a assshisht you? can I tell you the SHPESHIALS? our Shoup of the day is MineSHtronie"....ug. And then, I met Brendon for the first time. I swear I was still lisping. He doesn't remember.

I eventually took it out last summer. I can't tell you how many lewd comments I got. I had no idea every assumes a sexual use for that specific piercing. I'm naive. and I chipped a small part of my tooth...that's not cool. and i had to keep taking it out and putting it back in after every singing gig. that was the last straw. So I took it out and then I panicked thinking, maybe Brendon will miss it when he kisses me. Is it wierd that I worried about that? However, he didn't even notice I had taken it out. booyah for me.