This entire post is about me, get over it.
Have you ever found yourself thinking about an individual of the opposite sex, thinking about a small detail about them, and you find it irresistibly attractive? Did you then take a step back and feel that what you like isn't "normal" for someone to like about someone else. Who cares. You find something about someone beautiful, it doesn't matter if anybody else does or not. For example, when I was sitting in on a lecture with Lauren at Cal State Fullerton, the girl two seats to my right had to most attractive feet I have ever seen. Now, don't get me wrong, I had never looked at a pair of feet and said "damn, 'dem some good feet", but the culmination of her Sperry's, no socks, and how it all worked in conjunction with the other parts, I found it amazingly attractive. Still to this day, I have never experienced the same feeling about feet. I feel like a weirdo for saying that, but if you're judging me, you're an asshole.
What I'm getting at with that anecdote is how everybody has many different definitions of beauty. Whether it is self-beauty, or the beauty within someone else, no two people have the exact same idea of what beautiful is.
Now is where we bring up the hot topic of the decade, body modifications.
Why do people do it?
Why do people ride bikes?
Why do people ride bikes?
Why do people protest things?
Why do people dumpster dive?
Because it makes them feel beautiful, because it gets that endocrine system going and produces endorphins, because they feel passionate enough about something to risk something else for it, and why are you worrying so much about other people?
If you don't personally know me (which you do, because you're reading this), then you may or may not know that I am one of the many people with stretched ears. It is the single (x2) modification that I have done to my body that my mother does not like, but as much as it hurts me to say it, I like it, and I trump her. (Sorry mom!) The question about a career always seems to come up when I get talking about them with someone, as well as the "When you're 50..."
As far as a career goes, to be completely honest, and I may not feel the same way in a few decades, but if there is somebody who is not going to hire me for a job in a field that I am extremely passionate (and talented) in because of how my ears are stretched...then frankly, I don't want to work for that person. That just says they want everybody to fit in to the societal norm, not to be an individual, but part of the pack. Working at Best Buy, one of the first things I asked when they called and offered me a job was their policy on stretched ears. I was told "no larger than a dime". Okay, I googled the diameter of a dime, converted that into inches, and found out I was right on the cusp, barely smaller than a dime. That was when I was at 5/8". The store's general manager and I have a pretty decent relationship, he's gotten to know me on a relatively personal level, his daughter listens to similar music, and he tries his best to make her happy, so naturally we have good talks about shows he had went to with her, and he understands what kind of person I am. He realizes that not all people in bands are scum, not everyone with stretched ears are criminals, but to give everybody a chance no matter how they look. SOP states that dress code and policies are under the discretion of the individual store's GM, meaning he can let things 'slide' if he thinks it would be appropriate. I have never gotten even as much as a "hey, are you ears larger than a dime?" the entire year I've been at this store. I think a big reason is that I pull more than my own weight at my store, and if I can do that without ever having anybody complain about my 'freak ears', then where's the issue? Now I'm at 15/16", which is about the size of a quarter. Still, nothing. It happens all the time, I'll have friends who have no idea I have tattoos, and then when they see me in shorts, they have to have a double take, maybe triple. I guess I don't seem like someone who would be covered in tattoos? Stereotypical, but I'll admit, sure, I guess not. It's always exciting seeing people's faces light up with confusion at that moment.
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