So we're home now after a weekend of tattoo getting and hanging out in the Poconos. I promised Mike I wouldn't blog about certain aspects of his tattoo experience so you only get photos to look at (he's fine of course):

Before:


After:It took about 2.5 hours for Mike to get this done. It's very bright. I took the photo without the flash since it just bounced off the A&D ointment. But I assure you, this photo does it no justice.

As for my session, well, I managed to piss Larry off pretty much instantly and he needed a little time to switch gears after going crazy with Mike's forearm. Basically Larry told me all my ideas were stupid and I agreed with him and told him to do what he thought would look best then he got annoyed I wasn't prepared but I reminded him that he never does what I want anyway and that's why I saved him the trouble by not coming prepared and around and around we went. He spent a bit of time reacquainting himself with my arm and finally said the problem is that he has honed his style in the two years since I've been to him and then he scolded me for waiting two years to get work done. He said in order for him to figure out what the hell he was gonna do he first needed to clean up some of his previous work.

This is the amazing thing about Larry. He'll only do what he thinks will look best. His attitude is (and we heard this today when he told our friend Rudy) if you want something stupid or ugly you can get drunk and get it done in Wildwood, NJ. Larry's an artist and he won't put his name on anything he doesn't approve of. This is why he doesn't work in a shop. He'd get in too much trouble for turning people away for "being gay" or "being stupid". Now he gets to do "consultant" work at shops and only the best jobs come his way. He's the showcase or guest artist rather. Pretty cool. But I think it's given him a pretty large ego.

So anyway Larry started with a heavy outline of the angel and sunflower. Then he started the sky. We spent a lot of time discussing color and I confessed I didn't really like the pink rays and wanted more of a burgundy color. The three rays you see that are blue were done three different ways. He wants me to let them heal and then when I come back (September 14) we'll (more like he'll) decide which method we like best. I can't tell the difference yet.

Before:

After:
Before:
After:
As you can see I am completely and utterly incomplete. I'm not used to that one bit. Hence the September appointment. Once the sky heals Larry asked me to fill in the upper rays with a yellow highlighter and let him know what I think. I asked for miniature silhouettes of birds flying through the sky and was amazed when Larry didn't give me shit and actually agreed it would look alright.

I still have a lot of work to get done and admit I was mildly disappointed by how little I feel I got accomplished. I know we spent a lot of time under discussion but I'm used to four plus hour appointments and this one ran about 2.5. But you don't question Larry so oh well. But I do really like the way the angel pops now due to the thicker outline and I do like the slight Japanese-ish thing that's cropping up on my arm. You'll see he also added the blue around my sunflower. I rather he didn't since now I have to do that to the sunflower on my left arm so they continue to match.

I don't know what we'll do first in September but I have my whole underam to finish, the pink rays all need their color change and the aky has to be finished up. I'm thinking I need four more appointments. Then I am done. Done done done done. I honestly don't know right now If I'll do anything else after finishing up my right arm and touching up my left.

I really do like what he did with the sky though and I have a feeling a bit more color will end up in there. It must sound crazy that I don't really know too much about the end result but it's in Larry's head so I just go with it.

Weekend recap and a weekend full of ink

Last weekend was Beerfest at the Camden Battleship. A lot of friends and people we know were going so we elected to have a BBQ immediately following the four hours of drinking out of a tiny cup so no one had to worry about driving home or paying the escalated costs of sub-par food. I stayed behind to prepare for the BBQ and dropped some of the guys off with my brother Joe at noon (we had six people in my Focus) and went home to prepare for the onslaught of drunken men.

Everything went well although there were more people than expected. It was meant to be a pitstop in the day to eat and relax and then once night came a few of us were all going to head into Philly. That never happened. The BBQ turned into a party which was all very cool and almost everyone took a nap at some point including my brother who is famous for sleeping in uncomfortable positions. This time he at least was on the couch but his leg and feet position looked painful as he was trying to take up the most minimal amount of surface area I suppose. Everyone kept asking if we should move him and I simply replied, "He's out of the way - he's fine."

So anyway, the night was a success.

Sunday was excellent because for the first time in a long time Mike and I simply lounged about slightly hung-over, mindlessly munching on left overs and watching specials on the Discovery channel. That was excellent.

So Saturday Mike and I have four hour tattoo appointments. Each. I'm kind of at a loss here. I want to finish up my arm but have no ideas. I could not believe I found myself looking at angel tattoos online last night trying to stimulate some creative juices. All I learned is that my tattoo is much better than most.

I finally sent my tattoo artist Larry some pictures of my arm to refresh his memory and sent him a beautiful photo of sky I found and told him to do what he wanted which is what I told him the last two times I went. So far so good. Here's where we are now:


We'll continue the pink rays of light around this other side here along with maybe more flowers:

Here's my angel:


For my shoulder and as filler in between the pink rays of light I'm thinking something sort of like this:

Not as bright though. It will steal all the attention away from my angel so I'd like it to be mostly grayscale with just touches of blues and whites and pinks.

Mike's getting this bad boy done:


I'll post some pics after we heal so you can see what we ended up with. Here's hoping.....

I'm so bad at naming posts - It's just an update

I've been going through one of those random extremely busy periods. Work has been so insane that I have no idea what's going on in the world because I haven't checked the news in weeks. All I know is what I hear on tv every morning in the four minutes it takes me to eat my cereal. After work I just don't know where the time goes anymore.

I thought I'd get down a quick update since exhaustion is finally setting in and I just can't work on my special project one more second today. Yes, I have a "special project" and it ain't that special. It's also going to be my special project for the remainder of my time at this organization which can be a long time. My job position keeps growing horizontally.

Since my last update my brother Doug visited from Washington state and Mike and I went to Cape May for a few days and had a really wonderful, relaxing time. It really was just a fantastic trip. I have a really great tan and have been getting more compliments since I got back than I've ever gotten. Had I known what a difference a tan could make I'd have made suntanning a priority all these past few years. I refuse to pay for it so I'll just have to maintain it as best I can and try not to get skin cancer.

Doug's visit was a blast. We were able to spend time together in a way that we haven't since......well, a long time. A brown car comes to mind and a Blues Traveler single cassette. We bashed around Philly for an afternoon and then surprised the hell out of mom who was waiting for me at my house for a nice weekend visit. A great dinner followed and some wine and a game of Scattergories.

The next day we took mom to see Cirque Du Soleil which was really extraordinary. I was very sad when Doug left with mom later that night but he was in a rush (his friends were waiting in N. Jersey) so it was probably best because it was a quick hug and he was on his way. We all know a good time was had by all so there was no need to be sad but it was a special visit and I didn't want it to end so fast.

I want to post pictures but who knows when I'll get around to it.

Oh, I made California roll and it was a heartbreaking waste of money. I bought everything from the rolling mat to the pickled ginger and it just came out pretty bad. For the effort, you're so much better off just paying $3.95 for a roll. I tried to eat what I made on two separate occasions in the same day and both times I just couldn't get more than one piece down. Four rolls went right into the garbage. I'm not quite sure what I did wrong, but I won't be trying again any time soon. Maybe I'll make like Samantha and Smith in Sex and the City and take a class. (I saw that movie and I LOVED IT. I said it! I LOVED IT! Thanks, Kel, for inviting me even though I never saw the show)