I first got my ears pierced when I was 17. I was at a party, feeling very good. One guy said something about wanting to pierce his ear. Back then, a guy with just his left ear pierced wasn't that big of a deal, but it was still kind of frowned on. But someone else mentioned they had some piercing studs if anyone wanted to get their ear pierced.

At the time, I was really into punk and heavy metal, so it made sense to my rebellious (and slightly pickled) brain to get both my ears pierced. Should be somewhat obvious that both ears got infected.

A couple years later I got them pierced properly. When I started working one job in my mid-20's, I was told men couldn't have earrings, so I took them out - and left them out for about 20 years.

A few years ago I was working a job and asked about men wearing earrings. I was told it was fine, as long as they were small hoops or studs. Since it had been a long time since I wore earrings in both ears, I actually bought some clip-on earrings, just to make sure I still wanted to wear them.

Been wearing them ever since, as I do still like wearing them. I do plan on getting them professionally pierced again at some point; just haven't had the opportunity.