I had a strange experience the other day. I was in the shower and suddenly got a weird metallic feeling in my belly button. It seemed to originate from my navel piercing and shot upward towards my breastbone. It felt like the sound of a fingernail on a chalkboard and sent shock waves through my cells.

I pierced my belly button the end of the summer in 1994. My friend and I had been working at a boy scout camp in Lake Arrowhead as cooks for the summer. These were some spoiled boy scouts if you ask me — they had a heated pool, we cooked them 3 meals a day 6 days a week, and on Friday they had BBQ ribs. Anyway, whatever, it was hard but fun work and we were so glad to be done for the summer that we rushed into the nearest tattoo parlor and got our belly button’s pierced. We had been warned to eat beforehand, but didn’t heed the advice so my friend passed out when she leaped from the chair right after her piercing. I took my time getting out of the chair after that and was fine – but it took a while for my belly button to heal. I was at a point where I was going to give up, when it suddenly healed up and has given me no trouble for 14 years. Part of the reason it was strange to suddenly get this nerve grating metal feeling from it.