pixxillatted

I don't collect books, I horde them. I have 5 bookshelves full now, with more in boxes. It doesn't help that I've worked in the book industry in some form for most of my employement. Anyone need some random paperbacks? Anyone?
I collect coins and currency from around the world (US included, when they issue those special coins). The collection was started by my great grandfather when he was in the army, and then continued by my grandfather while he served. Now my grandmother and I add to it when we can. I like the coins best.

I love that coin collection. There are coins from places I'd never even heard of and I remember there was one from an island that had since been renamed or made part of a bigger country or something.
@Rory it took the husband 5 years to make a dent in the book hording. I've started shipping books out to family members in what we call the "traveling library". When someone finishes one they sign the cover and send it to the next person. Last person donates the book to a senior center, hosipital or library. Bad thing is I bring in so many that my collection never really shrinks, but it keeps it from growing. Then there are the books I refuse to let go of because I like them. There's a lot of those...
A guy I work with had to have his floors reinforced to handle the weight of all the books he has. He has two rooms with floor to ceiling bookshelve. He's my hero.

@Ursula covered it well.
Part of going to a good tattooer and shop is giving the tattooer "your" idea and having them tweak it to what will work. It is part of what you pay for. I'll paraphrase one of the best things I've heard said, "don't try to stuff ten pounds of something into what will only hold a few pounds". With that being said no one except a tattooer can draw a tattoo that will work except the one drawing and tattooing it. No internet site/app will ever replace or help a customer like a good tattooer and shop!
When we were thinking about starting this site we looked around a bunch at what was out there and nothing accurately captured what a real tattoo experience is by a good tattooer and/or shop which is one of the many reasons we started this site. All the other "tattoo sites" were just leading people in the desert providing mirages which then made customers think the wrong things. Many of the best tattooers are within arms reach to get tattooed by in a reasonable amount of time for a reasonable price but you gotta want it.

Tell her what she's won, @irezumi!
You've won a set of eight correctly sided letters, suitable for knuckle use. If I may be so bold, I suggest you get AND SEW ON.

Cats... If they were just a little bigger and we were just a little smaller they'd kill us and eat us.

Here's my cat related injury. He slipped off the wardrobe and luckily my head broke his fall.

One time, knowing that my cat was scared of the sound of the vacuum and that my partner was about to start vacuuming, I picked up my cat in an attempt to soothe him. I still have a pretty good size scar on my hand from that!
A couple of weeks ago I opened a gate the wrong direction. It swung back and hit me in the head. I had to get 3 stitches above my left eye!

That I can turn on the TV at dinner and see an eviscerated corpse (thanks "Bones"), but I can't see a topless woman because that's harmful in some way (?)

Trevino told me another story when he tattooed me in 1993. A guy came in and said, "Do a Mickey Mouse on me, any way you want." So of course, Chris's eyes light up, and he says, "Any way I want?" Then he grinned at me and said, "Mickey was holding his cock, which was green and as big as he was. There was a big drop of purple cum drippin' off the end, and Mickey's tongue was out and his eyes were rollin' back."
I just looked at him and said, "Really?!"
"Yeah. He came back a few years later and I covered it up."

I got tattooed by Chris Trevino in 1997, right before I left Austin for SF. He said he had just done a guest spot in SF, so I asked him what the coolest tattoo he did on the trip was. Now, for those of you who are familiar with Pre-100% Japanese Style Chris Trevino, you know that "coolest tattoo" also meant "craziest tattoo." He went on to describe an insane armpit-to-waistline rib piece that involved, among other other things, a jackelope wearing a fez, a waterfall of blood, and a lady with a beehive hairdo making the devil horns with her ring and middle fingers tucked away in her special pocket. I couldn't really get my head around it, but that was the case with many of the tattoos Chris described to me.
Fast forward to 1999, when I finally had enough money to get tattooed by Eddy Deutsche. I went to 222 on my lunch break and booked the appointment with some guy at the counter. We got to talking about my tattoos and I mentioned that I had work from Chris. He said, "Oh yeah, he did my ribs" and lifted up his shirt. It was that piece! And the guy was Jeff Rassier, who is in a league of his own when it comes to putting weird (and awesome) tattoos on people.

I get asked this every few months. When I was doing more walk-in type tattoos I got asked every other day, at least.
My answer was always: "Most tattoos are pretty weird. It's weird to get tattoos animals you've never had direct experience with or that don't exist onto your body. It's odd to get a tattoo of a prostitute or stripper, or a mode of transportation, or a word out of context, or a reproduction of someone you never met, etc. Mostly tattooing, by it's nature is weird. But the weirdest tattoo I've done is a grocery shopping list on a guys forearm, in neat handwriting, from wrist to ditch."
That's weirder than the eyelids, heads, assholes, palms, satanic shit, sexual stuff, dolphin penis guy etc.
So that's my answer.
I work with Miles, who used to work at IntoYou in London back when tattoos were for weirdos and freaks. Some of that shit blows my mind. Maybe I'll ask him for permission to share his stories. On the other hand, maybe some of tattooing's folk tales need to stay off the internet and remain an oral tradition.

I have witnessed a few people try to make requests about what music we listen to. My boss tell them, "the music is for me, not for you. I'm the one working after all." It cracks me up every time, but people don't question it, because they like his grumpy old tattooer persona.

we've been rocking this "Out on the Floor" northern soul comp a lot lately, and Barry White.
It's super relaxing and when we get the customers who say, wow I've never heard this in a tattoo shop before
I take that as compliment

There are SO many reasons presented in this video why you should avoid being this person. Whoa.

I use this shit

Available at most branches of Wickes or B&Q.

Just avoid being this person....

My legs twitch like a motherfucker. Especially on my shins near the ankles. It's bound to happen, but I think most artists are prepared by holding you. Not bad unless you horse kick them in the face or something. It's unlikely that'd happen, but it would make for a great story

Reminds me of the time I drunkenly tried to take down a friend who had had a few pro-MMA fights, without warning him. He stuffed the takedown, and me, onto an iron road bollard, before he'd thought about it. It seemed like a good idea at the time.

Thank you so much for sharing this with us!!! You and @Iwar have set a new bar for traveling to get tattooed blogs!!!

Day 3 (Part 2):
So once again, Horinao just drew the background directly onto my skin. And once again I was in awe as to how the fuck he turned these straight, seemingly random lines into these beautiful, perfect finger waves. Shits was crazy! He drew it all, we went and had a quick cigarette before we started and about 4 hours later my sleeve was complete. And it looked pretty damn good if I do say so myself ;)
Horinao wiped down my arm and realised he'd missed a small spot of background so we did it, second wipe down and we took some photos. At this point he realises he missed another spot so we go back to get that. Third wipe down and another missed spot is noticed. At this point both Horinao and I are laughing our asses off, Rina and Hiro look over thinking "wtf?" Not sure what Hiro said exactly, but I could tell he was giving Horinao a little bit of shit. Horinao turns around, says something and Hiro just went silent. Horinao looked at me with this super cheeky grin from behind his face mask and laughed, so I did too. Not sure what was said, but I do know funny when I see it in any language.
While I was getting tattooed, the guys got a delivery of these massive spring onions, and Rina-san asked if I knew what they where. When I responded in japanese she thought it was awesome and we all had a good laugh. When we'd finished up Rina presented me with a bag of said spring onions. I have to admit I was slightly confused, and Hiro could tell. He explained to me that it was a present for Grandpa for letting me stay with him and Masato and for helping make everything happen. It was I guess a 'small' gesture, but it really meant a lot and solidified the fact that these guys are part of my Japanese family

Much love and respect. (Lol I just made the timer)
Finished product:

I'd asked the night before if I could take Masato and Grandpa out to dinner to say thank you for letting me stay. I wanted to go to 'OhSho' which is a chain of chinese restaurants and it is the shit. Masato wasn't sure if Grandpa would be down (he's a bit fussy) but he said he'd ask. To Masatos' surprise Grandpa said yes and it was on!

Heading to the spot in the whip

Blurry photo but you get the idea

waiting...

Hells yeah!!! this all up was about $20 Australian... in Australia you'd be looking at $60+ easy... fuck my country is expensive.

Done and done.

Stopped at life and stocked up on candy etc to take back home. The next day will be my last day here so Masato and I plan to go back to Kyoto and this time do a bit of sight seeing and not just seeing the inside of Catclaw (not that I really minded ;) )

Day 3 (Part 1)
Got another good sleep, so was well rested for the final day! All we had to do was the background on my forearm and I was keen as mustard to get it done. Got up and thought I;d take a photo of the stairs in Grandpas' house because the back story was pretty interesting.

Not sure if you can see the angle the stairs are on, but its pretty steep. Old traditional Japanese houses where like this incase bandits/enemies came into the house and this way it would be more difficult for them to quickly get up the stairs and anyone on the top of them would have a better chance of defending their position. Anyway...
I start the walk to the station:

smart like dump truck

Grab breakfast

Universal Studios Train

Osaka station madness round #3

This was a Hello Kitty display made up of little individual photos of people. I wasn't the only one who thought it was cool, this little girl got away from her Mum and bolted straight for it with 'grabby hands' out stretched and she was gunning for it! Her Mum came in out of left field, scooped her up and the little girl was not a happy camper... lol.

On the way to kyoto

The Shinkansen (Bullet Train) track ...next second...

The Shinkansen

Still heading to Kyoto...
Get to kyoto and on the way to the shop I stop off at a Ukiyo-e store just near Catclaw

I haven't had the money to buy anything from there... yet. But if you ever go to Kyoto stop in there

nearly there

^^Like a...

^^Rina-san 'working' lol (I gave her shit about it to, Horinao and I had a good laugh... then he told her to plant more crops lmfao.
Before we started, Horinao, Hiro and I where discussing what I might get for my back piece. I kind of wanted to go reasonably traditional so I mentioned maybe something from Kuniyoshi's Suikoden series and while we where sitting around Hiro gave me a book of designs to look at. Horinao walked passed, shook his head, smiled at me and got down this epic book from The International Tattoo Institute of Japan that had all of the 108 prints stripped down to just the line drawings, as well as images of the originals in the back and the accompanying stories. I came across my favourite Ukiyo-e print 'Tanmeijiro Genshogo' ad that basically sealed the deal. Horinao was stoked on my choice, and Hiro agreed it was a good strong image and not to common which I was happy with

Rina-san and Horinao-san trying to translate the story for me (Much respect!) we got there and I learnt a little bit more.

Day 2 (Part 3):
After lunch I head straight for the studio

This seems like a good sign... (see what I did there? :rolleyes:)

Hiro-san finishing of a sketch for new years cards (In japan christmas is kind of like Valentines day, where its more about boyfriends/girlfriends and for kids and New Years is the important family time)

Horinao-san getting ready to bring the pain on me lol.
Before we started, I asked what colour the Koi was going to be, as up until this point we hadn't discussed it lol. Horinao and Hiro grab my arm and start debating in Japanese what was going to work. And to be honest it was pretty damn funny. I couldn't understand everything, but Hiro would make a suggestion and Horinao would either kind of nod and agree or at one point he just turned and gave him a look as if to say "are you stupid?" Horinao looked at me, shook his head and we laughed. They then agreed on something and Hiro asked if I liked blue. (Hiros' english is better than Horinaos' but he's the boss so he knows what he needs to know lol) Well blue it was :)
After about 5 1/2 hours the Koi was finished and it was time to head back to Osaka. Thankfully, it was the fleshier part of my upper arm so it wasn't to bad. The worst part was probably when I was laying there, then all of a sudden I felt this dab of vaseline on the background right near the crease where the arm and torso meet and all I could think of was "wait a minute that was done... THAT WAS DONE!!!" but it was quick so no complaints. I thank the crew and head out back into the cold... and it was cold lol. It was 0 degrees at this point.

Night life baby


How awesome is this building! (apologies for the photo, every now and then my camera just does whatever it wants and I have no say in it)
After about an hour on the train I get back to Osaka and start heading back to Dempo. While waiting for my next train I came across my new hero

How awesome is he!!!!! (possibly she) but either way, I stood and laughed at it for a good minute. Random things in Japan just crack me up. I'm sure people are making comments about the crazy Gaijin, but I'm ok with that.
Pretty much got back home, had a shower played some video games and passed out again so once again nothing real exciting (it was to damn cold lol)

Day 2 (Part 2):
I have to take 2 trains to get to Osaka (Umeda) station and start making my way through the masses

The masses

The Roof
I walking to the Hankyu line, I'm looking around and not paying to much attention to whats in front of me, I look up and just burst into laughter because of this

Sure it may not seem that funny, but it was the last thing I thought I'd see and with the angle it was on, i though it was gold.


another shot of the station


The train to Kyoto

lots of bridges

The guy in the hat in the background was singing his ass off and it was dope. Sure, other people seemed to be a little put off by it but I thought it was fantastic! And he seemed happy which was the main thing.


I was trying to get photos of all the hillsides and the Autumn leaves on the train ride but it was hard to get decent pics from an express train ;)
I got to Kyoto and grabbed some quick lunch from Mos Burger (I love that place) and stumbled across these guys

December 2011, Day 1.
So the night before I'm heading back to Japan, a few friends came over and well... lets just say I only ended up getting about an hours sleep. I thought this wouldn't be to bad because it means I should in theory be able to sleep on the plane. We leave from Brisbane at about 6am to head to the Gold Coast, tired and everyones heads hurting like shit, we make it all sweet, slow down to a reasonable speed and throw me out (not really but it sort of felt that way - I wasn't doing well... lol) After just making the check in time due to being stuck in line, i get threw to the security check area and get caught up in every check. Not that I had anything on me but it was still kind of annoying.
Finally board the plane and the thing is packed! The last few flights I'd been on, I'd been really lucky and was able to get 3 or 4 seats to myself, hells yeah! Anyway, I still scammed a two seater to myself so i couldn't really complain. After 9 hours, we touch down in Japan and it is COLD. I mean really, really fucking cold. Like 3 degrees cold (37.4 degrees fahrenheit). Ok, so I know many of you Americans and Europeans will probably be laughing your asses off right now, but please remember that winter for me is maybe 2 weeks of 6 or 7 degrees and its more like "bugger, maybe should put a thicker jumper on". It's just not that cold in Brisbane! So after putting on basically every piece of clothing I'd brought with me at the airport I set out on the train to meet up with Yosukes' brother Masato and his Grandpa - Hiroki Ogi-san (from now on we'll just call him Grandpa) with whom i will be staying for the next few days.
For some reason my batteries where already dead so I had to stop and get some at 'Life' supermarket, where Masato met me. We grabbed some snacks for later, i got some batteries and then we headed home. That night Masato made 'Sukiyaki', and it was goood lol.

Masato Cooking

Was thinking about making love to the heater... but I refrained. (The whole 'good manners' thing)

Sukiyaki!!! Thems shits was delicious :)

Masato also made this^^ I can't remember what the name of it was, but I didn't really like it. In my defense I did still try it AND I'm not sure if you can see it, but there is a skewer in there and Masato asked if I liked "beef tendon"... I said I'd never tried it, and to be fair I would consider last time I was there I did try chicken hearts (taste was ok, but the texture kind of didn't work with me) I placed a piece of beef tendon in my mouth, was in there for almost a second and I politely and subtly of course, took it back out. Masato and Grandpa laughed their asses off at me lol.
After dinner, Masato and I went upstairs to play video games, eat snacks and catch up. A chance for him to practice his English and for me to practice my Japanese.

^^ These things are the best! They're bean puff type chip/crisp things and they are dope.

More snacks

One side of my room

The other side of my room where my bed is. In the corner you can see a shrine for Grandpas' family, but mostly its a shrine dedicated to his wife. They where together for 60 + years before she passed a few years ago, and they where each others first love. Every day, both morning and afternoon Grandpa goes and prays to hear to let her now how much he still loves and misses her. The first time i stayed Yosuke warned me of this because he didn't want me to think it was weird, or to freak out if I heard strange chanting. I told him straight up it was one of the most beautiful things I'd ever heard and the last thing it was was weird. Grandpa is the man for many reasons, but this is gets a lot of respect from me.
Anyway, that was pretty much it for day one. Nothing too exciting, except for arriving in Japan haha, but pretty much went to sleep by 12am so I could get up after a good sleep and head to Kyoto to get down to business! Next episode, Day 2 coming up... right now.

I have a small scar under my right eye from the time I thought it would be funny to rub my socked feet on the carpet and then sneak up behind the cat. Cats have reaally quick reactions.