username1

Now over 70 hours on my back piece. Yesterday, took it up to 77 hours and my artist did like 3 hours of detail near, under armpit/rib cage behind the heart area yesterday. Not ashamed to say it, but I had tears running down my face for about 5-7 minutes.
I thought I had toughened up enough now for that to never happen but now, just gotta say, Tattooing is starting to hurt more I get them...
We had the Songkran Water Festival (Thai New Year) here in Thailand this week. I had my shirt off for 4 days, getting soaking wet in the worlds biggest water fight. I must have met over 100 people due to my back piece and met so many others from all corners of the world, also showing off there art during the water fight. Bought so many of us together an I gained some cool new friends. No, just for that, the pain of getting this, has been worth every hour...
Only another 7 hours to go on the 28th of this month.... no more this year. I need time to recover...
The photo enclosed explains Songkran very easily... lots of water and good times

7 hours today, 7 hours tomorrow and 7 hours on Friday.... we are going to break the back on this back piece and I just do not want to suffer anymore. Just want it over and done with.... my artist is talking to me about a set of sleeves to go with the back piece but I told him today, give me a year or so off, as my kidney area and lower bum is going to need that time to recover after today's pain....

it is truly amazing to me to hear "artists" say that it's ok for them if their tattoos will not hold for more then a few years.
are you out of your mind people!!??? did people forget what a tattoo is all about??
yes, you can of course revive your tattoos many years down the road if you want them to look more vibrant, but any tattoo artist out there that does not try his best that every tattoo they do will last forever! and age properly, really should pick up a different medium to work with.
what makes some artists pioneers in this industry is the ability to push the envelope and art, while stile paying attention to the basics of the medium and still keep in mind at any time how the tattoo will age and change with time, in order to assure the client that the changes will e minimal and the art sill still be a good looking tattoo in 20-30 years after it's done.

My artist rang me tonight an wants to do three sessions this week (21 hours) instead of one sessions as he has had two, 7 hour slots pull out (the guy who pulled has a serious flu). After the sessions only a few days ago that totally blew, I gotta get my head ready for a unexpected session tomorrow. I am really bruised from the last one (see bruising along the rib cage). Only about another 30 hours to go, so better man up to them... still better to get them over and done with now and hell, time then to go out an enjoy the work he had done for the rest of my life... 30 hours of pain for a life time of enjoyment, I think is a bargain and worth it all...

I was 14 and my mom chased me through the house trying to stab me with a pair of scissors. Ha-ha lets say it didn't go well.

Interesting. Well, just on a positive note. My parents were born and raised in the bible belt, however, they moved to California as soon as they had me because they weren't happy there. My mom was raised Southern Baptist, and never wanted to force any beliefs on me, therefore, as soon as I felt alienated in church, I stopped going, which was quite young.
My mom took me to get my first piercings in high school because she said "At least a hole can heal, better than a tattoo!"
Hah, so she actually went with me to hold my hand through my first tattoo a little while later. She thought it was so beautiful that she considered getting one done herself by the same artist. She has one tattoo. She was a very sheltered and goody-goody I like to call her, all her life, especially before she hit 30. However, in one rebellious moment, her girlfriends convinced her to get my dad's initials on her chest. She drank 3 beers through a straw and let someone do it right there in the bar with a needle and ink. Most of my life she told me they were my initials (my dad and I have the same ones).
My mom makes me show my tattoo (on my ribs) EVERYWHERE I go, it's pretty annoying at this point.
Meawhile my dad was as wild as they came growing up. He tried to get a tattoo once on his bicep, it was too painful for him. He has a DOT tattooed there, I think I must have made fun of it since I was 10 or so. When I showed him my first tattoo, he was blown away by it, and ashamed at the story of his dot tattoo, haha...he kept asking if I was ok, since I showed him when the tattoo was still fresh. I'm blessed to have great parents.

Point her nose at a huge-arse, back piece; something like I saw on a Thai girl the other night at a bar. She had this HUGE back piece done of a samurai cutting of the head of a opponent, that was just SUPER graphic. The head was held in his hand with sword raised and he was standing on a mountain of heads in all forms of pain..... and then down size it.... lol....
I bought the girl a drink and she told me it was over 55 hours of work...
I am on of the 50% that did not work in the marriage business. My tattoos are my best friends as the moment. Bitch even wanted the hound dog but she cannot take my art from me...
Still, if she did not leave me, I would have not got to see that Thai girl and her amazing back piece in close detail... lol... I think I am having the last laugh...