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	<description>Journey of a body piercer</description>
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		<title>How to Destroy Angels: The Space in Between [Null]</title>
		<description><![CDATA[]]></description>
		<link>http://karcus.com/?p=280</link>
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		<title>APP</title>
		<description><![CDATA[Finally an APP member in Madison WI! I received my acceptance letter earlier this week welcoming me as a member. I sent my membership dues yesterday  and as of right now, I am the only APP member in the state of Wisconsin. It&#8217;s been a goal of mine for the last few years since my understanding of the importance of the APP and what they provide for the body modification and body piercing community. What is the APP? &#8220;The Association of Professional Piercers (APP) is an international health and safety organization. It is a nonprofit voluntary alliance dedicated to the dissemination of information about body piercing.&#8221; What they do is provide continuing education/classes for the body piercing community once a year at the APP convention in Las Vegas. The APP was organized in 1994 as a political action group to address &#8220;concerns with legislation (proposition AB101) in California.&#8221; Since then they have set standards for body piercing studios and encourage piercers to exceed the minimum standards. The process to become a member is a little involved. First you need to present copies of your Blood-borne pathogen training, First Aid, CPR, and certify you have been piercing at least 1 year. [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://karcus.com/?p=271</link>
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		<title>BVLA ordered</title>
		<description><![CDATA[I just put in an order to BVLA, Body Vision Los Angeles. Adam is an Accredited Jewelry Professional from the Gemologist Institute of America. With their Motto of “If you can dream it… We can make it!” They’ve proven their ability to create a wide assortment of high end body jewelry with precious metals and gems. Their jewelry surpasses anything I’ve seen before. They’re also an APP corporate member, which means they’re a supporting part of our piercing community. Adam and Nick taught a class on precious metals at APP in 2010. It all started after I sold my first gold diamond nostril jewelry. I needed more. As usual, I called my good friend Mr Bob Jones and Johnny Velez and asked their advise. Bob Jones said, there is only one place to get high end jewelry, Body Vision. He said to ask for Adam. Once I told Adam that Bob Jones referred me, he was enthused to get started and gave me a list of options. After a month of going through the catalog with my partner Leslie, we’ve completed an elaborate selection of high end threaded ends, pins, and captive beads. It was quite the learning process for [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://karcus.com/?p=276</link>
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		<title>Bird Cage</title>
		<description><![CDATA[]]></description>
		<link>http://karcus.com/?p=264</link>
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		<title>New scarification pieces</title>
		<description><![CDATA[]]></description>
		<link>http://karcus.com/?p=259</link>
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		<title>Novelty and Neurobiology of Love</title>
		<description><![CDATA[I love studying human behavior, especially the neurobiology of why we work the way we do. Graydancer posted a link to this page and at the bottom was this video. It does have some insight on dopamine, prolactin and oxytocin. For those of us who are natural novelty seekers and probably predisposed with the D4DR gene, it gives an explanation of why we may do some of the things we do. The website link talks about monogamy vs. polyamory and doing what comes naturally. It is very important to not fight your natural inclinations and tendencies. Being novelty seekers we should continuously keep adding novelty to the relationship (or any relationship for that matter). Stagnation can kill many things, including a good sex life which can be detrimental to a relationship. Toward the end of the video it touches on the reasons why we pick one person as opposed to another. We do tend to pick people of similar socioeconomic situations and similar attractiveness, but she suggest that there are more biological explanations. Anton LaVey developed a Synthesizer Clock that illustrates laws of attraction  which could explain further, however it doesn&#8217;t get into why it works the way it does. [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://karcus.com/?p=252</link>
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		<title>Dirty Little Secret</title>
		<description><![CDATA[One of my first clients at the new studio was a friend who has gotten quite a few genital piercings from me. She initially came in asking for a nipple piercing and I didn&#8217;t think they would likely heal. She asked if I had any suggestions. Knowing her relatively well, (I&#8217;m good at getting to know people- their likes/dislikes, and personality types), I suggested a labia piercing. She later told me how much she loved it and how it made things better. I knew her well enough to know that if she felt a little sexier she would like it. Labia piercings are primarily aesthetic and don&#8217;t do much other than make a person more aware of that part of their body. One person said to me after showing me his lorum piercing that someone asked why he got the base of his penis pierced. His reply, &#8220;How often do you think about the base of your cock? I think about mine all the time!&#8221; That&#8217;s the best illustration of why someone would get a genital piercing, aside from the extra sensation. This is what I knew she&#8217;d get out of it and I knew she&#8217;d love that. She also [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://karcus.com/?p=229</link>
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		<title>Opening week of the new shop</title>
		<description><![CDATA[Tailor Made Tattoo and Body Modification has  made it through the first week of being open. It was little work getting settled in and getting all the little things worked out. What I was really happy about was all the support I&#8217;ve received. Within being open for 2 hours I had my first two clients come in. I was thrilled that I was able to pierce on my first day. Then, the second day I had my first walk in. I&#8217;ve done at least one piercing every day since we opened and most of the week I&#8217;ve done two. Except for Sunday, that day I didn&#8217;t do any because I took off to setup for Sabbat de Sade. I am so appreciative of my friends who have come in already to get work done by me. One thing that surprised me, and probably shouldn&#8217;t have, is the types of piercings I&#8217;ve been doing. I haven&#8217;t done much for noses or navels yet. I&#8217;ve done one nostril piercing so far and no navels yet. I&#8217;m hoping to do a navel or two soon, but only because I got really nice navel jewelry and I&#8217;m excited to use it. I have done [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://karcus.com/?p=227</link>
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		<title>Tailor Made Tattoo and Body Modification is now Open!!!</title>
		<description><![CDATA[Jonboy, Houstin and I just opened a new shop, Tailor Made Tattoo and Body Modification!!! As you can imagine, I&#8217;m very, very excited to say the least! It wasn&#8217;t easy to leave my old studio. I love everyone at Blue Lotus Tattoo and The Piercing Lounge. I appreciate all they&#8217;ve done for me and taught me, especially Johnkid. I had to start a new studio in order to have complete control over my piercing environment and life. I only did this to help better myself and provide the very best to my clients. I appreciate all the people who have already been my first set of clients. You all proved to me that you care more about who you get pierced by than the establishment. As I&#8217;ve always thought, you should pick your piercer based on their personality, dedication, standards, and quality of work as opposed to the amount of advertising. Plenty of shops come and go. Some last, but most don&#8217;t. Once they establish a poor reputation, it&#8217;s hard to keep clients coming back. I am committed to keeping a long term relationship with my clients and always being available for questions, advice, suggestions, and aftercare recommendations. I will [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://karcus.com/?p=220</link>
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		<title>Cookie Cutter</title>
		<description><![CDATA[A couple days ago a client came in to get her nose pierced. She was very very polite.  Yes Sir. Thank you. Yes, Please. No, thank you. I&#8217;m not sure how old she was, but not in her 20&#8242;s. During my normal conversation I asked her how long she thought about getting this done. Her answer resonated with me. I understood her immediately. She said she wanted it since the 70&#8242;s. Back in the 70&#8242;s, people weren&#8217;t getting pierced at the rate we are now. It was in the 80&#8242;s that it started gaining popularity and peaked in the 90&#8242;s. So, if she wanted it in the 70&#8242;s, she must have been one of the more eccentrics, yearning for more in life. She wanted to have her nose pierced during a time when people didn&#8217;t get that done. Why? Because she grew up in Texas. (In Texas it&#8217;s still illegal to sell devices designed to stimulate human genitalia.) She was trying to be the perfect girl. Living the cookie cutter life. Only doing what was acceptable by the people around, not doing anything that was out of the &#8220;norm&#8221;. Much like I was when I was in my 20&#8242;s. We [...]]]></description>
		<link>http://karcus.com/?p=215</link>
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