adventures with lip rings

so as i waited to board the train with a burmese bucket [kind of like a python but much weirder], i was chewing strawberry bubblicious [two pieces at the same time] that i'd bought from a street vendor and accidentally chomped down on my lip ring, knocking the little ball free.

the gamble about trains is that at the end of each car there are two sets of two seats that face each other. and as you're getting on the crowded train you can only see one set of the seats. and if they're empty, you and a friend might be tempted to sit there. but you'll have to make the move not knowing who could be sitting in the opposing seats.

so i sit there and start trying to figure out how to put the ball back in my lip ring, while taking in the rotund september-11-shirted man in the seat across from us. i think he might have also been wearing a baseball hat.

i was being really stupid about my lip ring. you'd think it wouldn't really be a difficult feat, but i had never done it before, my fingers are fat, the ball small, and the pressure of performing with an audience was great.

so i pull out my mirror and try to hold it in front of my face with one hand while using the other to fiddle with my lip. and team america across the way says, "YOU KNOW THAT'S WHAT WE DID TO PEOPLE IN ABU GHRAIB."

my mind boggled a little bit and i probably said something like, "oh?"

"BUT YOU'RE DOING IT TO YOURSELF."

"huh. ya, i guess so."

"AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL WILL BE ON YOUR CASE." [meant to be humorous]

i probably didn't even say anything. maybe just made eye contact and acknowledged that he was talking at me.

"GOD BLESS YA."

"oh thanks." [actually i probably just smiled]

and then we hotfooted it out of there at our next opportunity.

[and i did, with lin holding my mirror up and in the safety of another seat, fix my body piercing malfunction]