Body Modification

This topic was brought to my attention today by a friend. I totally pissed her off with my thoughts on it and I feel bad. But, it doesn't change my opinion on the topic which I will try and articulate now.

Body modification. Tattoo and piercings are the most ridiculous things ever. The modifiers most consistent point is always "art"

Tattoos and piercings are not art. You may and try to justify it as such. It isn't. Body mods are a weak and pathetic way of trying to fit into this weak ass pop-culture-centric country we live in.

You look through images on the internet and find something that looks cool. Then you try to piece together some weak symbolism to go with it. If you are using an image that has already been made, it is a terrible design and shouldn't be anything that you put on yourself.

Same thing goes with piercings. Piercings go one of two ways. One, you see someone that has a piercing. You think it looks cool. You go get one. Or, two; there is some radical new piercing that many would find too hardcore. You try to justify to yourself that you are being rebellious and going against society. When in fact, you are being the gigantic tool you are trying desperately to show the world that you aren't.

I don't want to seem like I am totally against body modification. Piercing your ears. Fine. Maybe a little nose stud. Fine. Ten piercings in your ears all the way up to and through your cartilage. Totally not fine. I don't mind a tongue stud. I see the appeal in those. Being someone that has an oral fixation, I can totally understand that one. Plus, it isn't one that most people can generally see all the time. People that get tongue studs really are doing it for themselves. Unless they are total attention whores that stick their tongue out at everyone they see.

Belly button piercing. Mega fucking lamely toolish. The belly button piercing is widely known as the sexiest of the piercing family. It's ridiculous. If you have one, the first thought I have is not that you are cool or sexy. It's that you are a whore. (Tramp stamps included.) Belly button piercings (from what I hear at least, I am certainly no expert) are one of the more painful ones and take the longest to heal. Also one that is most likely to get infected. All you are doing is appealing to the masses once again.

Another group that I must address are the hiders. People that get something small, something out of the way that no one can see or can be easily hidden. I am on the fence with these people. It goes one of two ways. One, they are getting one because everyone else has one so they think they need to. So, they get it somewhere really hidden such as the ankle. Then make something totally ridiculous like a flower or a butterfly. Or the second catagory. People that really do want this and it actually means something. They put it somewhere where it isn't instantly recognizable because it is for them. And not to show off to someone else.

I know I am all over the place in this post. I'm a sucky writer. I'm going with ideas as they come to me.

Now we move onto the modifier's second most commonly used excuse. "The Myspace Excuse." I'm sure a lot of you either heard or used this justification a few years ago when Myspace was getting huge. You'd ask someone about it, and they would say, "I've been using Myspace since way before it became popular." This is a popular excuse amongst people that started getting their mods in the mid to late 90's when they became popular. Why did the body mode fad take off? It took off starting with tattoos. Before, tattoos were normally relegated to big bad ass mother fuckers that were either in the armed services, prison or were just plain bad asses. They'd be some cool ass (but poorly drawn/tattooed) design using skulls or naked chicks. People saw these and decided they wanted to become bad ass as well. Then the plague spread. These new-agers were trying to be like these bad ass dudes by shunning social norms. Now, 95% of people between the ages of 18-30 have or at one time, have had a tattoo or piercing. You aren't being unique. You are being a complete social tool.

I could go on, but, seeing as I'm going to lose about ten friends from this post as it is, I'll stop now. My overall theme I'm going for is: If you are going to get something done. Make sure it is original. Don't use any pre-packaged bull shit that everyone sees ten times a day. Get a tattoo of your kid's names or someone who died. Get your ears pierced to wear modest earrings. Quit trying to get all these crazy mods done to try and stand out or to have something to show off at parties.

I'm sorry if I've offended anyone by this post. Thank you all for reading. Even though I'm sure not a single one of my two readers will agree with it. Thank you and good night.

NaNoWriMo

No, it isn't the title to the latest movie about robots taking over the world. It's National Novel Writing Month! I found out about this wonderful organization only yesterday morning. And, as fate would have it, novel writing month is November!

I've never substantially written anything before. The most I've ever written was about eight pages. And now, I'm trying to force myself to write a story that will eclipse 50,000 words. Daunting task it is. I really want to do it. I want to be able to see if I can actually make myself accomplish something so big. To really see what I am capable of. So, I've dived in. No preparation. No outlines. No notes or characters. Just an idea. From what I've read of the forums, that's how many people do it.

Jen told me to use "stream of consciousness." A term that implies you just write the first thing that pops into your head. Some terrific novels in the past have been written this way so we'll just go with that.

I am not a good writer. I know this. But, one of the biggest things about this organization is quantity over quality. One of their slogans is "November is for writing. December is for revision." I'm trying to take that to heart. I'm trying not to edit myself. Just trying to get to that 50k mark.

So, first update. Day 2 at 11:23am. 1950 words. I need another 1300 before the end of today.

To make 50,000, you have to write 1667 words per day. I was about 200 shy of that goal before I went to bed last night. I'll try and pick up the slack today.

For my two readers, you should try this! See what you are really capable of doing, regardless if you are a good writer or not.

NaNoWriMo official website!