Beans

Contain the excitement pre tattoo? Hi all, My name is Nina and I'm so happy to fianlly be here. I'm a bit of a weirdo, so I've been planing my double 3/4 sleeve tattoos for about 23 years now. Sounds extreme but that's how I roll :). Actually, I have (with much pain) purposefully kept virgin skin for THIS one endeavor. Unfortunately severe health issues took over my 20's, paying off said medical bills took over my 30's. So now at 43, I have the health, time and money for a great artists. My first sitting is April 10th and I can hardly concentrate on ANYthing else. I am obsessed now that MY time is finally here. Lucky me!
Any ways, thanks for listening to my newbie babble.

Ha, got my 1st tattoo 4 months ago at age 48. 2nd a month ago. 3rd scheduled in 2 months. I guess you might call it mid-life crisis. I think it's more a combination of things:
- never realized the different styles and options of tattoos. Always only pictured traditional tattoos (which I don't like)
- tattoo location. don't need to be publicly displayed unless I want to.
- 48 yrs of life's experiences. My appearance is what it is. I not "trying" to be anything. I am who I am. I can't control everything.
- tattoo has personal meaning to me and relates to specific times/places/experiences/memories.

Contain the excitement pre tattoo? Hi all, My name is Nina and I'm so happy to fianlly be here. I'm a bit of a weirdo, so I've been planing my double 3/4 sleeve tattoos for about 23 years now. Sounds extreme but that's how I roll :). Actually, I have (with much pain) purposefully kept virgin skin for THIS one endeavor. Unfortunately severe health issues took over my 20's, paying off said medical bills took over my 30's. So now at 43, I have the health, time and money for a great artists. My first sitting is April 10th and I can hardly concentrate on ANYthing else. I am obsessed now that MY time is finally here. Lucky me!
Any ways, thanks for listening to my newbie babble.

Contain the excitement pre tattoo? Hi all, My name is Nina and I'm so happy to fianlly be here. I'm a bit of a weirdo, so I've been planing my double 3/4 sleeve tattoos for about 23 years now. Sounds extreme but that's how I roll :). Actually, I have (with much pain) purposefully kept virgin skin for THIS one endeavor. Unfortunately severe health issues took over my 20's, paying off said medical bills took over my 30's. So now at 43, I have the health, time and money for a great artists. My first sitting is April 10th and I can hardly concentrate on ANYthing else. I am obsessed now that MY time is finally here. Lucky me!
Any ways, thanks for listening to my newbie babble.

@TrixieFaux absolutely love your arms...so beautiful...fits perfectly with you :)
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oh...and my arm so far...

Seems like alot of these storys are when people we're apprenticing.. Well in that respect my story's the same, This was maybe my 5th tattoo in the shop i apprenticed at. I was tattooing a friend of mine that i knew from a boxing / kickboxing gym in the mission district of San Francisco back in 2001, I am maybe 30 minuts into this tattoo and some big guy comes into talk to my boss (it was just him & i that worked in the shop) So no big deal right?.. They go outside & i continue tattooing listening my Sepultura Arise cd blasting on the shop stereo. I am all consumed by this tattoo trying to make everything as perfect as i could When the guy im tattooing says he thinks something happening outside, So i stop and look up over the partition i didnt see shit so i get back on the tattoo then a couple seconds go by and i hear my boss yelling for me to "GET THE GUN!!" so i tell the guy im tattooing to stay there & i grab the big ass long barrell .45 revolver we had in shop, I'm on my way to head outside to see what the hell is going on when The guy i was tattooing asks me where the phone is, he's going to call the cops.. So i give him the phone & get the gun again. Then the guy i was tattooing says "whats the address here!??" i put the gun down AGAIN pull a card off the wall give it to him, as soon as i turn around there's 6 guys running into the shop two of them already have knives out and the damn gun is on the chair about 10 feet away from me with the hammer back.. These guys we're already striking distance away from me with knives out yelling this and that b.s. and im thinking to myself "ok this sucks but if it comes between me getting stuck with this knife or them seeing the 45 on the chair i got to make a move for the gun" i look over at my friend the kickboxer he's standing there like a statue, & instead of maybe getting ready to fight, or worrying about them stabbing him in the neck or stomach.. He has both of his hands over his balls.. hahaha even in that situation i remember thinking to myself w.t.f is he doing and finding it really funny. So anyways the boss comes running into the shop all bloody from getting jumped outside there's a couple other guys running after him so finally there's my distraction.. I make my move for the gun everybody see's me doing it, they bolt out of the shop going faster than they did coming in i give the gun to my boss i grab a hammer and we run after these guys as soon as we get outside he starts shooting.. unloaded the revolver.. These guys are understandably running like bats out of hell scattering everywhere.. Well no one got shot and after dealing with the cops and all that mess i finished up my 5th shop tattoo.

I think a lot more accomplishments would be made and goals achieved and fun had if people would stop saying, I'll do XYZ but I want to lose 20 pounds first.

When I first started getting tattooed somebody suggested that it was odd that someone so skinny should get tattooed (I'm 5'10" and 140lb soaking wet). Go figure... I say your body size and shape shouldn't matter whatsoever in your decision as to whether or not to adorn your body with art.
At the end of the day there are fat trashy people with trashy tattoos, just as there are skinny trashy people with trashy tattoos. The subject matter, artist, choice of placement and how you present yourself are ultimately what matter, not how much you weigh.

You will look no more "ridiculous" with tattoos than anyone else! Get tattooed, get what you want, fuck the world. I don't tattoo so I can't answer your questions about working with skin and placement but I can't imagine it's that much of an obstacle.
@Shawn Porter posted a video a while back on his OV blog, an awesome awesome Dave Lum video, where his shop helper -- a woman -- was talking about how she hated her legs and her butt. How she was self conscious and never thought she'd get tattooed there, but once she did get some coverage on those areas, she loved them. Maybe the only big folks you're seeing with a significant amount of work have some not-so-great tattoos.. or maybe you're just freaking out cause you've only got one so far. But if you've got the itch, you've gotta scratch it, and everyone else can go to hell. Truly.
Apologies if this was too strongly worded.. I had the night off, some beers were consumed. The only people I don't like with a lot of tattoos are dickheads regardless of their tattoos.

Contain the excitement pre tattoo? Hi all, My name is Nina and I'm so happy to fianlly be here. I'm a bit of a weirdo, so I've been planing my double 3/4 sleeve tattoos for about 23 years now. Sounds extreme but that's how I roll :). Actually, I have (with much pain) purposefully kept virgin skin for THIS one endeavor. Unfortunately severe health issues took over my 20's, paying off said medical bills took over my 30's. So now at 43, I have the health, time and money for a great artists. My first sitting is April 10th and I can hardly concentrate on ANYthing else. I am obsessed now that MY time is finally here. Lucky me!
Any ways, thanks for listening to my newbie babble.

My advice might not be what you want to hear. But the best thing you can do now is to put it off. Give it a few more years. And I don't mean ponder and think about it for a few years, I mean put it out of your mind. Live, experience, and enjoy life then come back to it when you are 24-25.
Nothing, absolutely nothing, will give you the insight that that experience and time will give you. You'll be a much more complete person and, hopefully, won't need to turn to an internet forum for advice on your tattoo. At that point there'll be no hesitation if it is still something you want and you'll be ready for it.
In all honesty, you're 19 - you will change sooooooooooo much in the next 5-6 years. Trust me, wait it out.
Edit:
Also, welcome lol