I finally got my bar changed today to a shorter one! It feels so strange without the extra length, but I am loving how nicer it looks being all neat and flush against my lip (well there is a tiny bit of extra length, but not enough to notice). I also talked to the lady (Bernadette) about how I would go about stretching my ears, as they have a heap of gorgeous spirals on display in the store, and she essentially what I have seen said by Steve; don't use organic stuff when stretching, I should start with some glass plugs then try the spirals when the ears are comfortable with it all. She also said my holes as they are will probably stretch to 12g pretty easily, so I think that will be my next thing. That will probably have to wait a bit, though; I would like to leave it until around/after Christmas, but I can see me waiting a month before deciding to go for it. We'll see.