Excuse me, you have something in your ear.

Living in a city exposes you to many oddities. Some might call them "freaks." After living in a city for some time these "freaks" begin to fade into the background. It isn't until something truly shameful or obscure occurs that you notice them. The "aghast" factor, where you do a double take and then awkwardly stare like some frozen computer. I experienced this very phenomenon on Tuesday. The Market is a great place for this. I passed a large man, dressed in a leather vest, leather pants, and a white t-shirt. His head was shaved and body heavily inked. One could say he stereotypically fulfilled the "biker" label. But this isn't what caught my attention. Oh no, it was the piercing. His right lobe, stretched to a height which dangerously flirted with his nipple caught my attention. Attached to his lobe was not the expected "Native" object, it was a carabiner. Laden with keys it joyfully weighted his earlobe to the functional position. As I stop, staring, I witness the man straddle his hog and put the keys in the ignition without removing them from the carabiner nor his ear. I hope he doesn't catch it on a mirror.