MsRad

I read this on Friday night and felt really sad about it. BME changed my life and it was a community (even if I was a really young lurker). It taught me so much, not only about tattoos, piercings, and other modifications, but about healing, body positivity, and identity. It really shaped who I was in my adolescence. This past week has been kind of rough, and this only made it rougher.

Jennifer, I don't know you in real life, but I always appreciate your contributions to this forum. Thank you for posting your thoughts on this.

[MENTION=147]gougetheeyes[/MENTION] clearly i needed a new day job that was different from the all the legal drama that made me want to stab my eyes out on a daily basis. plus, i found it by searching craigslist for the word tattoo, honestly hoping to find an admin position that allowed them, and lo-and-behold, there was a position where they WANTED someone with tattoos. it was an honest to god relief. i finally can work somewhere, where i can be myself.

I just got a job with them so we'll see how it goes! I got a good impression from them and I'll be working in their SF headquarters.

I didn't realize there was a Sailor Jerry Clothing brand until I saw this post.

it's been around for a long time now. anyways, i was able to find out for myself yesterday.

right fuckin' on Jennifer! life is crazy so i guess it's best that most of us aren't sane to begin with.

i'm glad you got home safe, but we'll definitely be missing you at the next meet up.

i'm glad i've stuck it through, and i've glad to have met so many people from this community. here's to another year and many more meet ups!

so stoked that we'll get to meet you Iwar!

thanks Ross,

Perez, i'll post them all on your page!

Hi Ireside,

i hate to tell you this, but i don't think that this is the best way for your to ask for advice. while there are many great tattooers who are a part of this community, the best way to see about getting this fixed to where you are happy is to research and artist that you like that is in your area, or within a comfortable traveling distance, and ask them in person. you can find a list of LST recommended shops here. also, please be aware that this site has some really opinionated members who are not afraid to give a critique if prompted.

my own personal opinion is this: i think you're trying to do too much with a simple design. you don't need the arabic or the kanji unless it has some sort of personal meaning to you, otherwise visually, it takes away from the design and is confusing. that's just my .02.

anyways, good luck!

Dee, it does feel crazy!

and Shannon, yeah educating others on the importance of spaying and neutering will be a big part of my job.

go team LST! Woo! thanks to all of you who put in a ton of hard work to keep this going. i love it here!

Alana, thanks! i feel pretty stoked about it so far but it's going to be a lot of work!

Pat, i sort of took Shawn's advice and waited it out a bit, to see if something would come to me, and it did. i didn't realize how it was going to manifest itself (i didn't expect to be given the choice to be laid off or to reapply for my position, and then have another job just line up so perfectly), but it's worked out. i knew i wanted vet tech experience, to help with wildlife rehabilitation down the road, and it just happened to work out that i will be getting some of that training right away, which i think is a good thing. i think it paid off (at least so far) to keep my head up, and my eyes and ears open, but to not rush anything, and to wait it out until i found a position that felt right in my gut.

and thanks! i heard from friends and from strangers about changing careers in their mid-20s, and it was really inspirational to me. the times where i felt anxious about making this choice, i remembered this one particular story that was told to me by a co-worker who i've become friends with. she has a friend she met while living in Guatemala (and who is also American), who is blind and who had dropped out of college because he felt it was too challenging due to his disability. he decided to go to Guatemala on a whim, though on top of being blind he also didn't know spanish, and while there, he began volunteering for human rights organizations. after returning to the states, he landed a job with Amnesty International, and decided that he wanted to become a HR Lawyer, particularly working on international cases, but realized that his education had limited from moving towards that goal. So he went back to school and graduated this last spring with his pre-law degree, and he is 38. He applied for several law schools this year, but did not get accepted into any, so he plans on applying next year again, and is continuing to do work through AI. if he can do it, so can i, and so can you Pat.

Tammy, yes, yes they are! i have fostered one, and he was adorable! we called him bug, and he was the runt of a litter, so he was super tiny and loved to hang around on your shoulder (he was only 4 weeks old when my family and i took care of him) and curl up on your chest or neck if you were sitting on the couch watching tv or something. one of the best experiences of my life by far!

Hogg is an awesome and fun dude to hold a conversation with! we really need to have another nor-cal meet up soon. i should get on that....

hopefully i'll remember this when Augus rolls around!

not all of us art school kids are trust fund babies.

my parents are both union workers, my father at an oil refinery and my mother through the school district as a "classified" aid (rather than certificate/credentialed). the price of college is the burden i have to bare, and while many of my friends were up till 2 drinking and doing god knows what, i was asleep so i could wake up at 4 to sling coffee for the parents of real trust fund kids in a upper class town 30 minutes outside of Oakland where the median home price was 1.5 million (and i held two jobs at one point while going to school full time). those are the people who can afford to spend $2-5 on a cup of coffee everyday, and not the $2 for a pot of foldgers or whatever brand was on sale that my father used to buy (actually, now i think he gets his coffee from Trader Joe's which is a bit of a step of up haha!).

anyways, the argument is somewhat mute because i went to school for photography and am not looking to tattoo. but you can't judge a person based on whether they went to college, and i don't hold myself above anyone because i have a degree. i still live in a shitty part of town, in a 10x11 room, in a house i share with 4 other people because that's all i can really afford, and i don't expect it to change any time soon. and some kids make art that is reflective of tattooing because, well, that's what inspires them, leeches or not. hell, i doodle flash all the time at work, because tattoos aren't ever far from my mind. i even draw flash in my sketchbook, but i wouldn't dare show anyone what i've created. anyways, sorry for ranting on your page, your response just struck a chord with me, and i felt like i needed to respond. tattooing is a whole different world, and i've come to the conclusion to not even try to understand it since i will always be an outsider.

oh and thanks for the responses so far! as for what i want to know, how about everything? i've never been to NZ so this would be an adventure!

Trying to get that ta moko?

ha!

actually, i've decided to get a second bachelor's degree in something completely different from my first (conservation biology), and a co-worker is trying to convince me that Victoria University of Wellington is a great place to go for it. So far, he's convincing me. it would be a big transition, so i'm trying to weigh all my options right now.

oh and our trip last year was inspired by exactly what you did Loch, eating all the delicious food! portland is the vegan food mecca of the US.

Scapegoat is a vegan tattoo parlour with some really amazing artists (including Henry!, who i briefly said hi to at last year's SFO/San Jose convention, but while this may come as a surprise to some, i'm actually extremely shy so i couldn't say much more than that), and i've seen a lot of quality work come from there. i'll have to check out Fortune Tattoo the next time i'm up that way (hopefully in September!)

i've always wanted to take that exact trip by train, so maybe on my fall excursion,i'll have to plan to do just that. another favorite place of mine to stay in portland is the Bluebird Guesthouse. no free bikes and a little further from certain areas (relatively close to burnside and hawthorne district), but it's an awesome little house and the rates are reasonable. our room had a sky light and it felt like Jackson and i had just checked into the 1940s. it was great for a few "romantic" evenings in the middle of a major couch surfing trip.

oh and i'll let Tim tattoo something traditional on me anyday. i'm sure a lot of other people on here feel the same. i'm not into the portraits, but traditional/traditonal styled stuff... well we all know that's a different story.

is there music in the background of this video or am i crazy?

interestingly enough, i went to college with a kid who could've been Tim's doppleganger. He painted as well as Tim tattoos, also surfed and skated, and was really into low-rider/custom car culture, especially pinstriping and lettering, due to his father and brother. i can't, for the life of me, remember his name but his work was always amazing, and i would spend most of the class period thinking "man, that kid looks just like Tim Hendricks!"

i aslo apparently need to learn how to proof read. jesus.

oh Gold Coast. one of the first tattoo shops i ever was exposed to.