This was the crew... this was the family I wanted to be a part of.
My apprenticeship began pretty laid back. Maytee only worked 3 days a week so I only worked 3 days a week. Maytee was an excellent piercer despite the fact that she only did it part-time and was mostly a tattoo artist. Over time, the main piercer, we'll call him J.D., became my unofficial Mentor. He was always tight lipped and rarely answered my questions. It was my job to watch his every move though, learn with my eyes. He would always tell me to research and join forums to seek out knowledge. I was a bit spoiled by Maytee because we had an instantaneous bond. Thus, J.D. made me work even harder to learn from him.
One example is the fact that I HATED wearing shoes. I would wear flip flops constantly and it is not healthy in a shop environment. I really felt like I had claustrophobic feet though so Maytee let it slide for a while. J.D. told me once, "if you were my apprentice you would be wearing shoes". I really wanted to be his apprentice though, so I finally bought myself some real shoes. (I believe I only wore them constantly once Maytee said I had to though, yes I know I was a bit of a brat) Now don't get me wrong, I loved Maytee as my mentor, and her practices are really the ones that have stuck with me the most, but J.D. had a higher range of skills when it came to more difficult piercings. Also he was so mysterious I felt like I needed to crack him, I wanted him to let me in!
Little picture I made for Maytee <3
One time, and I get teary eyed thinking about it, J.D. got stoned enough to tell me practically his whole life story. He had followed Phish around the country for a couple of years and took me through the journey he had. I had always been fascinated by that communal lifestyle and the adventure it would be. I felt, honestly, honored that he had let me in enough to spend so much time telling me about it. At the end of the story, he told me he would now have to kill me LOL jokingly of course.
I always watched him work intensely, always asked questions, was always curious. Often times he would just answer my questions with a question or a shrug. I would not give up though, I would think it over, and start suggesting answers to my own questions. I always assumed this was his brilliant teaching technique, forcing me to work out the answers on my own. Sometimes I wondered if he just didn't care to be bothered by me.
Honestly, it really saddens me to even talk about him these days. He was my hero, and for some reason he turned on me. He cultivated some idea of me and seemed to have falsely understood a statement I made and told me I was a two-faced P.O.S. He never understood just how much respect I have for him, til this day. One of his clients even asked me to apprentice him and I told him to go to him first out of respect, despite it being a year after he cut me out of his life. The sad thing is, I was always so submissive to him as a student, I never even bothered defending myself. I have yet to bother contacting him. The pain of the initial rejection was so hard for me that I am too fearful to feel any more of it.
It's interesting how this post ended up being all about him, but truly its hard to discuss my apprenticeship without feeling all these feelings again. Maytee was always there for me, was a huge support, always encouraged and pushed me to keep striving. She was even at my side, dabbing the sweat off my forehead at my first live play piercing performance, even though it was long after I had to leave the shop to work elsewhere.
J.D. was not though, he did not even come out, and that always hurt me. I went to 5 different elementary schools so I guess I have issues with making sure everyone likes me. I had to constantly make new friends or end up being the lonely new kid. Because of this if I have to really work for your attention you definitely have mine, and he definitely did. I truly looked up to him, and I feel like he threw me away.
I'm finding it hard to focus on my apprenticeship and all the other great and funny things that would happen so I will save all the positive stuff for next time. I guess I just had to get this stuff out of my system. I only hope one day J.D. and I can be friendly again </3
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