So, in a bit of a drunken state this past weekend, I managed to lose one of my "eyelets":http://feralboy.com/log/archives/000096/ that I wore in my earlobes. Went to a local piercing shop on my way home from work (where I took a friend to "get pierced(Lauren in the chair)":http://feralboy.textamerica.com/?r=30062 a few months back), and took a look at what jewelry they had. I have lost a bunch of O-ring backs over the years, because the shaft of the eyelet is fairly long, so it catches on my tshirt when I pull it off over my head. I was hoping to pick up something similar to what I had; maybe just a touch shorter. They didn't have anything matched well in my size. However, they did have a fine set a size bigger... machined eyelets instead of just bent; and a nice little groove to help hold the O-ring on. Seeing as how my lobes have been at their current size for at least 6 years, the piercer and I thought that maybe we could just "roll" them in. But, without doing any stretching over the years, or even wearing heaver pieces in my ears, they didn't want to cooperate. This meant "stretching":http://www.body-jewelry-fun.com/info/stretching-body-piercing.html with an "insertion taper":http://www.tribalectic.com/StretchingPics.asp to get the new eyelets in. I kinda forgot just how much "fun" stretching existing holes is; I think it's probably more intense than the actual piercing itself. At least, that was certainly the case with my "nipples(Bad kitty!)":http://feralboy.textamerica.com/?r=70467.

So, they're in now, and throbbing just a tiny bit. I certainly like the shorter barrel, but I don't know if I like the larger diameter. I think maybe the reason it looks more drastic is that you can see through the piece more easily now on account of the shorter length, which is slightly shocking when you look in the mirror. I'll leave it for a few days and see... but there's nothing that says I have to stay at 0ga; I can always back it down to 2ga, where I've been for a long, long time.