Since 2003, Adam Callen has been the editor and publisher of BodyMod.org, not the largest or oldest full-spectrum body modification publication on the planet, but pretty damn awesome =). Copyright © 2023 Adam Callen. Permission is granted to reprint this article in its entirety as long as credit is retained and usage is non-commercial. Requests to publish edited or shortened versions must be confirmed in writing. For bibliographical purposes this article was first published July 9, 2008 in New York City, US.
I hope someone sees the humor in this =)
Skindependence '08
This year, Skindependence took place in Billings Montana with our host MontanaPiercer. There were three days set aside for the festivities. July 3rd was the Chill, July 4th was the Festival, and July 5th was the Calm. For myself, t3chdzyn, and my girlfriend nicolonoscopy, the adventure started on the 1st.
July 1st:
We met up at Laguardia airport in NYC for our 9:30am flight to Denver. When we landed, we headed downtown to grab some grub. I found a Jimmy Johns and made a b-line. They have such great subs!
After lunch, we meandered around downtown for a little while and then headed out to Boulder. We had plans to meet up with a friend of mine for dinner. Turns out that he lives on top of a mountain... literally. We drove up into the mountains for about 30 minutes outside of boulder curving around rocks and trees. About 2 miles before we were to arrive, my GPS deal-e-o let me know that the battery was about to die. Awesome! Lost at the top of a mountain where there is zero cell service. Thankfully we made it without getting lost =).
Dinner turned out to be an interesting new form of eating. Some type of Swiss cooking device. It was kind of like a griddle with a broiler under it. There were separate spots for everyone to cook their food, and we each had our own little skillet / pan to cook with too. The closest thing I've had to this is Tsukiyaki in Japan. Lots of fun, and super delicious. I have to get myself one of those things!
We wound up taking off early evening, just as it was getting dark. Our next stop was Casper Wyoming, 4 hours north. We were going to spend the night at a friends place, and check out their new procreational success (new baby). The myth was that he is cute. I wanted to verify this myself.
On the way up, we wound up chasing / driving through a huge thunderstorm. For about two hours straight, we saw lightning about every 10 seconds or so in front of us. It was pretty intense looking. Before we drove into the storm, I stopped to take a couple night shots of Wyoming at night. I thought I had a couple really cool lightning shots, but they turned out to suck when I saw them on my laptop. Amazing how good a photo looks on a 1x1.5" camera lcd =).
After a couple gas stops, and pee breaks, we made it to Casper. I think we arrived somewhere around 1:30 or 2 in the morning. This trip was also my first interaction with stupidly high gas prices. Living in NYC, I don't really have to buy gas, so the prices never affected me. The last time I had to purchase gas for my car, it was just under $2 a gallon. Now it's almost $4 a gallon. LAME!
We snuck inside, and hung out for a little bit with my friend Jack. We were pretty tired, so our next stop was bed. Finally!
July 2nd:
The next day, we planned on doing some sight seeing around Casper as Nicole and Mike haven't been there before. Before hand, we had to make a couple stops. First we hit up Jacks tattoo shop to say hey to ev
July 1st:
We met up at Laguardia airport in NYC for our 9:30am flight to Denver. When we landed, we headed downtown to grab some grub. I found a Jimmy Johns and made a b-line. They have such great subs!
After lunch, we meandered around downtown for a little while and then headed out to Boulder. We had plans to meet up with a friend of mine for dinner. Turns out that he lives on top of a mountain... literally. We drove up into the mountains for about 30 minutes outside of boulder curving around rocks and trees. About 2 miles before we were to arrive, my GPS deal-e-o let me know that the battery was about to die. Awesome! Lost at the top of a mountain where there is zero cell service. Thankfully we made it without getting lost =).
Dinner turned out to be an interesting new form of eating. Some type of Swiss cooking device. It was kind of like a griddle with a broiler under it. There were separate spots for everyone to cook their food, and we each had our own little skillet / pan to cook with too. The closest thing I've had to this is Tsukiyaki in Japan. Lots of fun, and super delicious. I have to get myself one of those things!
We wound up taking off early evening, just as it was getting dark. Our next stop was Casper Wyoming, 4 hours north. We were going to spend the night at a friends place, and check out their new procreational success (new baby). The myth was that he is cute. I wanted to verify this myself.
On the way up, we wound up chasing / driving through a huge thunderstorm. For about two hours straight, we saw lightning about every 10 seconds or so in front of us. It was pretty intense looking. Before we drove into the storm, I stopped to take a couple night shots of Wyoming at night. I thought I had a couple really cool lightning shots, but they turned out to suck when I saw them on my laptop. Amazing how good a photo looks on a 1x1.5" camera lcd =).
After a couple gas stops, and pee breaks, we made it to Casper. I think we arrived somewhere around 1:30 or 2 in the morning. This trip was also my first interaction with stupidly high gas prices. Living in NYC, I don't really have to buy gas, so the prices never affected me. The last time I had to purchase gas for my car, it was just under $2 a gallon. Now it's almost $4 a gallon. LAME!
We snuck inside, and hung out for a little bit with my friend Jack. We were pretty tired, so our next stop was bed. Finally!
July 2nd:The next day, we planned on doing some sight seeing around Casper as Nicole and Mike haven't been there before. Before hand, we had to make a couple stops. First we hit up Jacks tattoo shop to say hey to ev
Roll on Skindependence 09