If you thought Kate Gosselin's Today interview was revealing, last night's episode of Jon & Kate Plus 8 taught us even more about the great Jon Gosselin.

The newly-single father of eight, who is establishing himself as the biggest player in the entire Northeast (at least as far as mediocre girlfriends are concerned), denies he's having a midlife crisis. He's just out there trying to live his life, man.

That means wearing hilariously blurred-out Ed Hardy shirts (thanks, TLC) and wearing diamond earrings. He's totally been the same Jon the whole time!

"I've had my ears pierced since I was, I don't know, like 15-years old. I just figured why not, just throw 'em back in. Who cares? It's all a part of me."

You wouldn't know it from the reaction of his twin daughters, Mady and Cara. Their reaction to dad's new look pretty much says it all as far, we'd say ...

Jon Gosselin: Not a Mid-Life Crisis

Jon nixed his tell-all with E! News last night, but fortunately, he still had a reality show upon which to declare himself an independent, super-cool dude.

"It's just the way I've always been expressing myself," Jon says in his latest confessional, mercifully with the couch all to himself for once. "Things are just coming out a lot more now. This is who I am, and this is who I'm gonna be."

Continuing to defend his new outlook on life, Jon says, "It's not a midlife crisis. Everyone thinks it's a midlife - I'm nowhere near midlife. I'm 32 years old. I have four tattoos. I've always liked motorcycles and cars and fast things."

Wonder if Kate Major falls into the latter category. We'd imagine so, seeing as she quit her job to "travel and live with" a man she dated for like 12 hours.