76. Earmageddon

Fan voting has begun for Earmageddon! Earmageddon is an ear project competition put on by body jewelry giant Industrial Strength. I entered one of my projects and if you find it fancy, you should vote for me! Clicking "like" equals a vote, and also don't forget to "like" the Industrial Strength page as well, so the vote is valid. :) Here's a picture of what I entered. It's a four point project with green paua shell and regular paua shell cabochons set in green titanium, all of the jewelry from Industrial Strength.

75. Piercing Ad!

One of my daith heart piercing pictures is going to be featured in a LeRoi Body Jewelry ad! I get my niobium hearts from LeRoi, and I feel so honored that they want to use one of my pictures! I just thought I would share, as I've never been featured in an ad before. I think it's super neat. ^_^

74. A New Perspective On Eating

For over two months now, I have been on a mostly a plant-based and whole grain diet. I hate using the word diet, because most people compare the word diet with weight loss, but weight loss is not my goal. Neither is being vegetarian. Eating right and maintaining a healthy lifestyle is what I wish to achieve!

I suffer from a heart condition and it has gotten worse over time. Especially in the last couple of years, there would be times when I would come close to passing out, or fall to my knees short of breath and dizzy after a palpitation attack. Is a heart attack in my near future? I'm thinking so, and I'm only 29. I lead a pretty stress-free existence nor am I over-weight. There is no history of heart disease in my family and I wasn't born with an arrhythmia. Doctors had no real reason why my heart was acting this way, either. Strange, right?

Only in the last six months have I realized that my attacks were triggered by the food I was eating. I would have something with a lot of sugar in it and I would feel super lethargic, nauseous, and of course my heart would start acting up. I would eat some McDonalds or another tasty fast food and I would instantly feel like something wasn't right. My heart was significantly worse after eating fast food as well. I did my best to stay away from fast foods and high sugar foods but even after a couple of months, I was still having the attacks. I was really beginning to think that there was nothing I could do about my condition.

I was browsing Netflix one night and I started watching a documentary called Forks Over Knives that I thought was about environmental degradation and food safety, but it ended up being about the degenerative diseases that afflict humans and how those diseases can be controlled and reversed by refusing to consume processed foods. I was of course inspired to do more research about this specific plant-based, whole grain diet. I read papers on how food affects disease, watched more documentaries, and I was sold. I immediately changed how I ate food.

Before changing how I ate, my general diet consisted of a venti Starbucks (and sometimes a danish) for breakfast. For lunch, we order whatever delivers and I would usually eat Chinese food, Thai food, or pizza accompanied with soda. After work, five or six times a week I would go to Dennys or Village Inn, and for late night snacking, candy. I LOVE cheese, and candy, so much. Haha.

But I knew it would be worth it. No more processed food. No more high fructose corn syrup or monosodium glutamate (MSG), preservatives, additives, or flavors. I made the change with no intentions of looking back. After three days, I was feeling incredible. My energy levels were up, I wanted to go for walks and exercise, my body felt better, my skin looked brighter, my mind was clearer, and surprisingly, no palpitation attacks! Even my restless legs at night were feeling better.

Most of my diet now consists of a variety of raw vegetables, fruits, nuts and seeds, and raw tofu. For dinner I will steam my vegetables but unfortunately you lose nutrients when steaming vegetables so I have to make up for my intake. I eat chicken and fish a few times a week as well, and organic wheat pasta. I also drink 2 to 3 liters of water a day now. It took about two weeks for my stomach to detoxify and re-regulate, and even after two months every time I eat I feel re-energized. I refuse to put anything else in my body at this point, knowing how it will make me feel! You have to read everything though, and buy fruit/veggies in the organics isle. I scour labels like mad and if I do not understand what the ingredient is, I will not buy it.

What amazes me the most about food is that, only 5% of the grocery store contains food that I will even eat now, and many foods contain ingredients I had no idea they contained! Like ketchup, it has high fructose corn syrup in it! And Hidden Valley ranch dressing? MSG is in the first handful of ingredients and also lots of sugar. Just the other day I was looking at the difference between regular Yoplait yogurt and diet Yoplait yogurt, and the diet yogurt had high fructose corn syrup in it when the regular did not. I've found that labels are completely misleading, especially when it comes to foods that have diet, fat-free, and organic on the front label.

I learned that most of what people consider "food" isn't even really food at all. Processed food contain so many fillers and other ingredients, that you're not really even getting any of what the "food" was originally, nor are you getting it's nutrients and the longer it sits, the less nutrients it will have in the long run, even fruit and vegetables. The more I research, the more I learn that corn based and sugar based (made from corn) ingredients are in virtually everything, these horrible, processed ingredients that are so unsafe for your body. Also, human bodies cannot process preservatives or additives. Crazy!!

What do I avoid on a processed food label now? Here's a list I have memorized if you're interested at all! It's basically a list of sugar, fat and salt.
-High Fructose Corn Syrup, Corn Syrup, Corn Starch, Fructose, and Dextrose/Glucose are all basically the same thing. I also avoid Sorbitol and Aspartame.
-Monosodium Glutamate (MSG) and basically anything with "glutamate" in the title is highly addictive and causes many negative reactions in your body. It can make you feel hungry even if you just ate a lot too. I even have a link to a website that has all of the psuedonyms and hidden sources for MSG.
-Anything that has preservatives, additives, natural colors, natural flavors, enriched, or hydrogenated/partially hydrogenated oils.

I thought it was going to be really hard to make a change like this, but it has actually been very easy! I've even been able to try new foods that I've never considered making before. I'm always shocked at how many people say they tried this but gave up! Not only do I feel great, but I've also been saving money when I shop at the store. Also, I haven't had one heart palpitation since I started eating this way. I've been turned into a believer when it comes to dietary change and reversing disease! I'm not saying this is for everyone, but if you're looking to maintain a healthy way of living, I would really try it. I've honestly never felt better!

73. Massachusetts Tattoo Festival

I've just returned from the Massachusetts Tattoo & Art Festival and it was a wonderful time. :) Joe and Irene are such great people and I thoroughly enjoy working for them every time I visit Boston. :)

The convention took place in Sturbridge, MA and I worked in the Zaza Ink booth. I met so many cool people and even hung out with Lyle Tuttle for a few minutes! Here's a picture of us together. He was an incredibly chill guy!


I did so many piercings! I was also able to do two corsets. I entered them both in the temporary piercing contest, but no award. The first one is a 14pt back corset, and the second one is a 39pt. (these piercings are temporary and not intended to be permanent)



My Godspeed You! Black Emperor tattoo won 1st Place in the traditional category. It was very exciting! I even had a photo shoot with Savage magazine, my first magazine shoot ever! I hope the pictures came out well. Haha. I unfortunately didn't have much time to wander around and mingle as I was busy from the time I was on the floor until closing time each night, so I wasn't able to grab many pictures and the ones I did take weren't so good. Ah well. I still had an amazing time. Until next year!

72. MA Tattoo & Art Festival

I'm going to be at the Massachusettes Tattoo & Art Festival in Sturbridge, MA this weekend! I will be piercing at the Zaza Ink booth, and also selling hair clips and necklaces. It should be a ton of fun so if you're in the area, come by and say hello to me. :)

71. Another Finished Tattoo!

My boss Russ has been working on my back tattoo in our spare time for the last couple of months and I'm happy to say that it is finally finished! It took about ten hours total. I just LOVE how he turned out...the picture doesn't do it justice!

70. Just a hello!

It has been a hectic month for me, so I apologize for lack of updates! I have been putting a lot of time into the planning of Moddities...I cannot wait to reveal the final plans as the dates get closer. :) Work has kept me busy as well! I've started carrying lovely Industrial Strength nostril screws and navel curves with natural stones and faux-pals and they are a big hit! I can't believe how easy it has been to get people interested in the IS jewelry and catalog and because of it, I have some really awesome piercings coming up in the next month. Also, I will be revealing a couple ear projects for the Earmageddon competition that starts on March 1st. I'm pretty excited for it so be sure to check back.

Here is more of what I've been doing, piercing-wise. I got a nice shot of this nostril I pierced about six months ago with an adorable flower nostril screw from Industrial Strength.


Here's a cool one...the nasallang! It goes through both nostrils and the cartilage of the septum, making it a slow healer but a unique piercing to have. This is the second one of my career.


There has been a surge in people wanting frenulum/smiley piercings. They're pretty fun to do but definitely anatomy dependent! I love how it looks on this lovely lady here. :)


Here are some wonderfully healed lorum and scrotal piercings.


More in genital piercing, here are a set of dydoes I just downsized. They're healing great. I also did his ampallang.


I suppose that's all I have to report for now. New updates coming soon. :)

69. Back Corset

I did another 40pt corset this month, this time on the back of the lovely Miss Katrina. I really like how this one came out. Just beautiful! :D

(this kind of piercing is temporary and not intended to be permanent)