Photographic accidents, errands and ink

All of a sudden, I can make miracles with my digital camera. Or, it was just one big happy accident. See evidence here, as demonstrated by this lovely shot of me and and my little Luna(tic). Today was productive and eventful. It's a day off, and yet many house chores were completed, errands were run, and 2+ hours of tattooing crossed off the list. My bad kitty piece is nearing completion, and shaping up nicely. Sorry kids, no photos at this time... stay tuned... :)

Hooray for cancellations!

My appointment has been moved up.

Tuesday afternoon... inkage! Ground control, please commence with the countdown......

TGIomigoditsfinallyFriday

So, yesterday evening, there was much tattooage. And it was good. I'm sore and sleep deprived, and it feels oh-so-good.

One of the most difficult things about getting tattooed again is not what you might think. It's not the sunburny feeling or the itchy-scaly mess than follows or any of that. It's the single solitary fact that, after coming out of an hours-long tattoo session, all I really want to do is have a smoke. But, you see, dear readers, it has been a very long time and many miles since I was a smoker. Full time, anyway. It's not that I have any desire to go back to those days. However, it should be noted that the substitutes for perfect habits are rare and, well, often expensive.

In other news, there's a hike on the agenda for tomorrow. Stay tuned to my newest blog for an inaugural report to be posted after the fact.

Oh yeah!

So, on Tuesday, I met with my new best friend, I mean, my new tattoo artist. And what an incredible artist he is! I spent about two-and-a-half hours under the needles, and I am floored by the results. All I could say for hours afterward was, "Wow."

When I arrived for my appointment, I had the remnants of what had been a very good idea for a tattoo, but poorly executed and then eaten by fire ants. (Now I remember why I left Florida in such a rush all those years ago.) When I left, I felt finally like I was a walking work of art.

I won't post photos on the net, because I'm insanely protective of my art and the original concept for this tattoo has already been duplicated (in ink, on another human being) without my permission or even my advance knowledge. If you'd like to see it, send me a message and we'll chat. :) What I will say for now is that my once-neglected ghoul girl has a new perch. She is now nestled comfortably in the branches of one wicked freehand tree.

Next week, I visit the master again for another few hours of color and shading. After that session, I'll call this piece done - for now. Then, it's on to planning the next set of images...

Something I can never be

I did something today that I have not done in nearly six years. It took forever, and was thankfully not as painful as I had anticipated. It was messy, and by the time I was finished, I was completely bored and pruney. Can you guess?

I shaved my legs.

Try to contain your ghastly responses. This is not territory with which I am familiar. I have many reasons for not making this a regular practice, and I won't go into them here (that's a whole other post, eventually). For now, I will tell you about the reasons that I decided to undertake this adventure earlier this morning.

I have a tattoo on my calf. A big one. And it is not finished. So, I finally found an artist that I seem to be in-sync with, ink-wise, and made an appointment. May 22. It's circled on my calendar.

So, part of the process of getting inked requires that the area be relatively fur-free. Because leg-shaving is not a regular activity for me, I thought I should do it well in advance, and multiple times, before my tattoo appointment. Otherwise, the itchies would be overwhelming. So, today was the day.

I bought special shaving lotion (Alba Coconut Lime - highly recommended for all you regular shavers) and a brand new razor (Schick Quattro for Men - nice!). I took a nice long shower, washed thoroughly, and then spent what felt like an hour tracking down each and every little teeny brown hair on my legs. By the time I thought I was finished, my fingers were dense and wrinkled. I couldn't believe how long it took, but boy oh boy are my legs smooooooth.

After the shower and a generous lathering of Mountain Ocean Skin Trip (a.k.a. heaven in a bottle), I thought I was done. However, it wasn't long before I realized the ultimate downside of this whole endeavor. I suck at leg-shaving.

The knees were the worst. I missed most of the fuzzy goodness there, as well as strays here and there and everywhere. I couldn't believe just how bad it was. So, I set forth to attack them all, one by one, with a little game of "I'll git you sucker." After what seemed like another hour, I finally feel like I've gotten them all. Smooth and clean. Ready for ink!