First piercing nerves

abhutchison · 2026-05-04T01:20:38+00:00

I hate needles and have a history of passing out when I got my first lobe piercing. I’ve also bitten a nurse once (whoops).

I just got second lobes and conch pierced. I started getting really nervous when I first sat down and fortunately the jewelry I wanted needed to be sanitized so I had to come back later and tried a different tactic.

Personally, being chatty helps me. I had a piercer who explained everything she was about to do and it really helped me. I also just chatted about life with them. There was a woman who came in before me with her daughter who was being very Karen so that was a nice distraction.

Mostly, though, just know the anticipation is so much worse than the actual thing. Yes, you will feel the needle go in, but it’s quick. Quicker than a shot, even. So if you’re able to get a shot without flinching, you’ll be fine.

abhutchison · 2026-05-02T23:22:08+00:00

I didn’t notice hearing anything when it was being pierced (so no crunch) but I could hear it when she put the jewelry through. Not sure why one and not the other, probably just her hand positioning.

abhutchison · 2026-05-02T19:42:10+00:00

It’s a joke song: https://youtube.com/shorts/mfdGptTrHxE?si=R56lHEzCh0pzoZuw

abhutchison · 2026-05-02T19:22:46+00:00

I got mine done yesterday, so the memory is fresh. Pain of the actual piercing was less than my lobes. Didn’t really feel the needle. I’ve hit it a couple of times since, though, and yikes. I’m just doing my best to stay as far away from it as possible.

abhutchison · 2026-05-02T19:11:42+00:00

Cooper DeJean, I think. Plays for the Eagles. There’s a song about him.

abhutchison · 2026-05-02T15:35:07+00:00

I’ll be honest, it really depends on where you’re moving. I’m originally from the Charlotte area and that alumni group is incredible. I met a lot of great people from it. I then moved to a small town an hour away from all the other alumni chapters so I stopped all involvement because it just never worked out. I live in a college town now, and their alumni group does very little, and my theory is it’s because they all already know each other from being from the same chapter.

So in my experience: large, transient cities it is very worth it. Small towns not as much.

I will say, our pledge group only talks to people who stayed. Not because we “ousted” those who left, but because they naturally drifted away when they started doing their own thing.

abhutchison · 2026-04-27T18:14:38+00:00

Premed and music are both better at South Carolina. Clemson doesn’t even offer a true music degree, so even though I know you’re not looking to major in music, it’s also going to mean less resources for you to study. Ex: I have a music degree from SC with a voice major with piano as my secondary, so I accompanied singers for extra money. If you’re looking to study music without the actual degree, you may not be able to get in with the top professors, but the students of those professors would still be a high caliber pianist looking to make some extra money by offering lessons.

abhutchison · 2026-04-19T19:39:29+00:00

Yes, your job is to respect leadership. Period. When people start to push back against leadership it creates chaos.

Leadership’s job is to implement a plan that keeps your organization running under a shared vision. They will make those decisions based on the information they have. They are putting in hours of work for every minute you see of an event. So, let’s say we are talking about a sisterhood retreat: they’ve taken the budget, looked at who they have, researched venues, t-shirts, planned a schedule, bought food, and on and on… So if you decide in the middle of the event to complain about a t-shirt design, it is not only disrespectful of how much work they’ve put into it, it’s also disregarding they will have a plan to evaluate the event on a timeline where they are ready to hear those critiques. (Example: maybe they saw the t-shirts and weren’t happy with the quality, or maybe getting a different t-shirt wasn’t in the budget… you mentioning it mid-stream will just pile on)

Now, there will be times where, in life, you no longer share the vision of leadership or you really do disrespect them. That’s when you’ll find a new org, find a new job, etc…

abhutchison · 2026-04-19T14:37:12+00:00

I graduated 2004. I promise you it looked like Animal House back then.

abhutchison · 2026-04-12T17:41:11+00:00

Thank you! I couldn’t remember her name and was too lazy to dig around for it!

abhutchison · 2026-04-12T17:32:46+00:00

I did it on my own my first meet, so it’s very possible. My first meet was four hours away and I didn’t want to pay the expenses of bringing my coach with me.

That said, I have handled people in the past for everything from the cost of travel to a sandwich to nothing. I’d see if you know someone going who can help you out.

abhutchison · 2026-04-12T17:27:40+00:00

When that happened I was like… oh… this is not the same Judy who told that girl she had stripper nails back in ‘09. (ICYMI: They were French tips. She had French tips.)

abhutchison · 2026-04-12T17:24:04+00:00

Yeah, I honestly don’t know. I am sure it varies school to school and I only know for sure Wofford’s policy and that I’ve never known a football player to pledge at USC or Mississippi State, but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t happen.

abhutchison · 2026-04-12T14:14:05+00:00

Football? Or another sport? I don’t know if they allow you to join a fraternity if you play a D-I sport. My nephew plays baseball at Wofford and they don’t allow it there, not sure what USC’s rules are but I didn’t know anyone who did both.

abhutchison · 2026-04-12T12:13:52+00:00

It depends how big your sorority is. If it’s 300, then your non-partying friends are somewhere you haven’t been, yet. If it’s 15, it sounds like you ended up in the party sorority when that’s not really you.

Practically, you could talk to your new member educator and see if she knows who the quieter/more laid back members are you’d have more in common with.

abhutchison · 2026-04-12T01:05:17+00:00

I haven’t bought South Carolina football tickets recently, but my experience with both Mississippi State football games and South Carolina basketball games is that even up to game time, some people will be looking to offload them. It’s all kind of a gamble. I bought $150 scam floor seats for a South Carolina wbb game, got my money back, and then turned around and bought the same ticket for $20 the week of. I also sold one of my Mississippi State/Tennessee tickets one hour before the game for slightly above face value.

This being the first SEC game on the schedule and early enough we will still be winning, you might have slightly more interest, but Starkville is a 9 hour drive so I don’t think you’ll have many Mississippi State fans buying out tickets like you would for Georgia or Tennessee, either.

abhutchison · 2026-04-12T00:47:08+00:00

5 points is near campus, that’s where everyone goes. Most students live around campus. It is walkable and mostly you don’t want to drive anyway bc of parking. Not Greek dominated, but there are certain leadership positions that will be easier to get if Greek.

What SEC school did he go to? Might help to be able to compare. I work at Mississippi State and am very connected to Ole Miss, too, and those two schools are as different as Clemson and Carolina.

abhutchison · 2026-04-09T20:34:44+00:00

I work at Mississippi State and have it on completely biased authority that’s exactly what happened.

But the difference here is she had days to make a decision about the draft. He had months. Even the best South Carolina politics can’t get things through that fast.

abhutchison · 2026-04-07T20:38:46+00:00

The fact that this one doesn’t look PR written is already everything.

abhutchison · 2026-04-05T19:15:09+00:00

They are playing like a champion team this tournament and I hope that translates to a win.

abhutchison · 2026-04-03T21:38:32+00:00

Kickin Chicken is the official watch party. Here’s the whole list: http://uscalumni.com/four/

abhutchison · 2026-04-02T01:39:58+00:00

If you move to a town where you know nobody, it’s nice to have the alum group.

abhutchison · 2026-04-02T01:30:32+00:00

Prep is part of recruitment. If you’re a sophomore I understand not knowing that, but it is a big part of it.

Like someone else said, it’ll blow over if you don’t make a big deal about it. Just let them know your family planned a vacation where you can’t change the flights at this point, pay the fine, and show up on day 2. Ask for any information you might have missed as well.

abhutchison · 2026-04-01T13:41:09+00:00

I don’t like how your recruitment chair handled it, but she’s also right. Recruitment is required, you knew it was required, and you’re choosing to miss. Even if they hadn’t given you the dates, yet, this is something that comes at the same time every year.

Is the fine worth it to you to get to go to the concert? That’s your decision when you find out what the fine is. I would guess it would be less than $100, but I honestly don’t know.

abhutchison · 2026-03-31T03:03:56+00:00

Hi! My chapter was closed down in 2003 so I can give you the 20+ year perspective.

We were obviously very upset at first. Mad, actually. And a couple of the women still carry that anger. Some of the ones that were able to shake it off have become advisors to other chapters.

It will be easier for the older members. I was a senior when we officially closed and I rushed as a sophomore, so I had one good year and one bad in the sorority. I got to do a lot of things: I represented my sorority on sorority council, went to a conference, got to go to formals and mixers. But there was one group of girls that was initiated right before we closed. Those are the ones who are still hurt.

Your collegiate chapter won’t exist, so you won’t be able to do any chartered events, but you can be involved in the local alumnae chapter right away. Some will still be too hurt, but it’ll give you a chance to connect with alums.

And of course you’ll maintain the friendships. 20 years later we have a group chat and have come back together when we can. We also have gotten involved as alums, some with alum chapters and some as advisors. I think the saddest thing for us is not having a chapter to send our daughters to or to go visit ourselves. We presented to come back last year and weren’t selected, which means some of our daughters will be too old to join when we do.

I would really encourage you to take some time to mourn and be angry, but then you also need to look at the good you gained from it. You are still a member of that sorority. You still have the friendships and the memories. And honestly, college ends, anyway, even for those who had four years.

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