CLE

First of all- I have no followers.
My feelings are hurt guys.

Anyway, more nonsensical babbling.
Thunder bay has the "Canadian Lakehead Exhibition" which sounds a lot more exciting than it really is. Mostly it's a fall fair. Rides, coney dogs, elephant ears, music, "wild" animals and kids wandering around by themselves. And a lot of vomit.

But this isn't about vomit.
There were a fair amount of vendors, most ridiculously over priced, but some actually had some pretty decent merchandise. I came along a booth that was selling body jewelry. I saw some AWESOME scorpion nipple shields, and was temped to buy them, but I wasn't sure where I would find time between working, school and roller derby to actually wear them (can you imagine falling tits first on hard pavement with some derby bitch on top of you? My nipples would be left behind. They would be an ex-parrot. Err nipples).
I looked at some titanium tunnels in my current size, but the dude wanted $95 for them. I said, no thank you and continued moving on. Also the fact the guy had no fucking clue about stretching or plugs/tunnels turned me off. He asked what gauge I was, to which I replied- 20mm (I know sizes come in "gauges" but how many people honestly are like "dude I'm a 0 gauge, most people know their size in mm, or inches). Anyway, I digress.
I then came upon a bunch of Asians also selling body jewelry. I don't say "Asians" to be racist, there was just literally, 6 Asians working that booth. I found they also knew nothing about the product they were selling, but they had some really nice organics, so I took a look anyway. I came across some 25mm hanging wood ornate plugs. They were gorgeous. The vendor took out one of them for me to hold, and "try on" (hold up to my ear I guess) as she handed me a mirror. I asked how much? And she replied $120 (and for those of you who don't know- that's actually a decent price). As I held them in my hand, I thought about it. 25 mm is my goal size- though I'll probably play with the idea of going bigger, and I thought this would actually be a pretty good purchase, as they are "nicer" than most of my other plugs. The lady walked away from me holding them, and I thought I must either look really honest, or they bought them for 3 cents. I could have faded into the background with these awesome plugs. But obviously I did not.
Anyway, the point of my story is: I was shopping with a friend and co-worker, who told me "those are too big!" as she asked previously how much bigger those plugs were in comparison to what I was at now (for those of you not listening, that's 5mm larger). To which I replied- "too big for what".
I've been with my boyfriend almost 7 years now. He has no mods. He mentions from time to time how he doesn't want me to go bigger, and this has gone on for years. Never once has he told me anything was too big- or that my ears are gross.
Anyway- this "friend" of mine, continues to ramble on about how once you get to a "certain size" your ears look "gross". What size this is, I have no clue. I guess an inch? I then ask her, "How many people do you actually know that have larger lobes, and how many of them aren't customers." As I've mentioned previously, I work at Spencer's Gifts. We sell body jewelery- and honestly most of it is pretty good quality, but we get idiots buying it. I was actually trying to educate my district manager on how to stretch her ears (and my friend who was at the cle with me has 8mm lobes, she gets offended everyone asks me). We get all sorts of teens who are "stopping at 0g because that's the point of no return, or mommy will get mad" and have no idea what they are doing. There are a few that have made it to an inch with no issues, but a lot of them fucked up at some point- and honestly their ears ARE gross. I usually refuse to serve them.
So my friend is trying to talk me out of buying these because some stupid teenagers have gross looking ears. Says the friend who had a blowout before getting to 8mm.

Basically, whole point of my story is: if you're friends with someone who has mods, please don't tell them what they can and cannot do. What looks "gross" and what is acceptable. You wouldn't be telling me to cut my hair a certain way, or stop wearing jeans because they aren't fashionable anymore.
If you are really their friends, you would encourage them to do whatever they want, as long as they aren't being stupid, irrational, or unsafe.
Obviously we all know the risks, and we all have seen disgusting blowouts and bad tattoos. We aren't stupid.
So friends, please hold each others hands when getting a tattoo. Laugh when they are getting pierced, but most of all- don't judge. You should love us for the way we are.