*whirly eyes*

I went into Dublin Friday morning to catch the train to Belfast and had time for lunch, so I went to have lunch but the restaurant I went to completely ignored me, so after a while I got up and went away. On my way out, I saw a tattoos and body piercings place, and I’d been thinking of getting my left ear pierced again, so I went in and said I wanted my ear pierced and did they have gold studs. “We have zircon,” the girl said, or at least I think she said zircon, which didn’t make a lot of sense because that’s a stone, not a metal, and in retrospect perhaps she was talking about the decorative part, or maybe I’m remembering wrong, but anyway, the point was I was concerned with the metal, and said, “No gold? It really has to be gold because otherwise it’ll get infected, and she said, “No it won’t.”

“Yes it will,” I said in my best 2 year old’s response. “No it won’t,” she said, and I said, “Yes, really, it will,” and she said, “No it wo–we have zircon,” the last three words delivered in the tone of someone who has Had It Up To Here With You, Young Lady, and so I left without another hole in my head.

Then the restaurant I went to at Connolly wouldn’t serve me lunch either. I eventually had a sandwich that wasn’t at all what I wanted, and felt rather sullen about the whole thing. I didn’t think it was an auspicious start to the weekend.

However, despite that, the weekend was very nice. I got to spend some time getting to actually talk with and , not to mention Leah Moore and John Reppion, all of whom I met for about .597 seconds at PCon in Dublin last March; I talked ‘s ear off for much of Friday night, and for a wonder, I didn’t come home from the con exhausted: it was very civilized and things didn’t start til 10 (or, this being the Irish, more like 10:20; as Gavin said after a shop that was supposed to open at 10 didn’t, nor did it open at 10:05 or 10:10, “Perhaps it’s not ten *enough*,” and indeed, the shop, like the con, opened around 10:15, when it was ten enough :)) and got over around 5:30, and I chose wisdom over valor, or something, and went to bed instead of going out very late Saturday night and so am actually quite cheerfully functional today (although I didn’t write much yesterday despite functionality, and haven’t written at all today, so oh well).

That was a rather long sentence. :) And I have enormous amounts more to write up, obviously, but in the name of perhaps getting something that is not internet-based done in the remainder of this absolutely glorious day, I’m going to put off writing until later, which means possibly you’ll never get more of an update about the last week than this. :)

– shop
– call dryer repairman
– clean kitchen
– do laundry
– type up words written
– call about yoga classes
– see what’s to be seen about the leisure centre
– go through hundreds of photos for kitsnaps
– maria’s website stuff
– go through more of deirdre’s yoga shoot photos (oi)
– catch up on email

4 thoughts on “*whirly eyes*

  1. Wikipedia is my hero!
    http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Body_piercing_materials&printable=yes

    Zircontwo or Zircon Gold was developed as an alternative to gold jewelry. The method of production is similar to that of Blackline, but instead of titanium in the film, a material called zirconium nitride is used. The core of the material is most often a highgrade titanium alloy called Ti6AL4V ELI. Zircontwo, like Blackline, is used in medical equipment.

    Zircontwo is better suited to a healing piercing than real gold, since it won’t discolor as 18K (75%) gold often does. It is also more lightweight and has a smoother surface so it won’t cause as much irritation. It is also cheaper, but still much more durable.

    Zircon Gold / Zircontwo can be autoclaved.

    A quick look around the net seems to indicate it’s rather popular in semi-permanent body installations… probably because of the no-discoloration thing.

  2. Though here’s another opinion on the matter- I got the impression that the author of the opinion had some kind of agenda, judging by another comment that was semi-related, but I dunno.

    I am familiar with this promotional information and must reiterate that it does not match up with real world experiences with PVD coated jewelry. Although both PVD and G23Ti are safe materials individually, PVD is only safe for some applications which do not involve metal on metal friction. Consequences of taking the bead on and off a CBR or threaded piece damage the coating in most cases right away. When the coating comes off, the surface becomes unwearable. Very few experienced piercers carry PVD coated jewelry after negative experiences with it.

    We suggest that you stay with uncoated G23Ti rather with anodization as your surface finish, which is the ASTM F86 surface finish for metallic surgical implants known to have no detrimental biological effects in the body.

  3. From a Google search on ‘define:zircon’:

    # Zircon is a mineral belonging to the group of nesosilicates. Its chemical formula is ZrSiO4. Hafnium is almost always present ranging from 1 to 4%. The crystal structure of zircon is tetragonal crystal class. The natural color of zircon varies between colorless, yellow-golden, red, brown or green. …

    # Zircon was the codename for a British signals intelligence satellite, intended to be launched in 1988, before being cancelled.

    # Zircon is the winged eyeball thing that finds the target for whoever’s working for Zirconia. It’s actually a sort of pet to Zirconia. Zircon, like its master Zirconia is named after the Mineral Zircon.

    So, now I picture someone padding about with a satellite (beeping cheerfully) dangling from an ear. Or a winged eyeball thing.

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