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Sounds like you found the right place, @Dan.  Congratulations!

So I met an interesting person recently at my work, I work at a max security juvenile county jail and there is a full school there and a classroom and teacher in every housing unit. So there is a full faculty and a principal.
I just met the principal, and she is very nice, we hit it off right away, she asked me for some help on something and we were walking together and I noticed a little edge of a tattoo peeking out from her conservative clothing, she said she keeps it covered at work, so I asked her about it and when we got to her office she pulled up one sleeve and there is this beautiful tattoo sleeve, she said she has both arms and a full back piece done.
So of course I asked her about them, she said she had them done by a longtime friend of hers, a childhood friend, she said he has a shop in Oakland, so now I am really interested, she said it was called Temple tattoo, it’s the only place she goes, she said one artist there has done all her work, she asked if I have heard of Freddy Corbin !
Totally cool !

It’s been a long road, and soon I will start the next chapter on this adventure of mine.
I was laid off from a job I had for 21 years in July of 2016 because of downsizing, I left there on good terms believe it or not. Thanks to the Human resources manager and general manager, they were both willing to and did give me great references the entire time I was job hunting.
To back up a little, my job search actually started in late 2014 as I knew the company I worked for was doing badly and was in the process of barely surviving, downsizing, maybe going under.
So I had started applying big time, I knew I wanted to work for the state of California, or county of Sacramento, or City of Sacramento, and I also told myself that I never wanted to have to cover my tattoos again, like I did with the job I had.
After countless applications and interviews, and a couple seasonal jobs and used up unemployment, and several offers from a variety of places, mostly part time, no benefits, limited term, low pay,etc,etc.
So fast forward to July 2017, I finally got a job offer from an application I did in May of 2015!
After all this work and trouble, Not only did I get a good offer, it was the PERFECT offer!
I start August 21st with the County of Sacramento Probation Department !
Which is going to be 7am to 3pm M-F,
12.5 paid holidays,
2 weeks’ vacation to start(5 weeks after 5 years),paid benefits for my wife and myself, permanent  full time,good retirement pension, etc, etc.
I held out for a few things and got them, weekends off, I don’t have to cover any of my tattoos, and paid benefits.(those may seem trivial but they are important to me)
After a year of no permanent good work, this is really huge for me and my wife, any of you in the job search world, you know how important benefits, full time, and permanent are.
It took me almost 3 years of searching to get to this point.
So that’s my awesome news!

long time I didn't post (but no worries, I'm still lurking around!)
Here's my last one (2 days ago) by (again) Alix Ge

Here's my healed mini-eagle from Grez... His name is Greagle. :) Coverup of a really, really bad tattoo...

Hey, hey, glad to see I'm not the only one that started/continued at an older age.  I'd like to think that I'm past the point where I'll regret it later in life. lol
Here's a pic of my first. Never have taken the time to get a good one.
 

Finished the pit rippers ! The first session lined both, this second session we finished em up. Challenging second sit but a strong finish, where's my bactine sponsorship ?! Made with expertise by Handsome Dick tatts at Champion Tattoo in the Champion City, Alberta, Canada, Earth.

Went to Smith Street about two months ago and had the opportunity to grab this NYC rat from Bert. It's above my ankle. Pretty thrilled.

Super inspiring stuff here @Gingerninja @Hands On @bongsau @Colored Guy and @Boiled Dove - giving me the itch!  Now that winter weather is settling in up here it'll be much more comfortable to get tattooed, too...
 

Super inspiring stuff here @Gingerninja @Hands On @bongsau @Colored Guy and @Boiled Dove - giving me the itch!  Now that winter weather is settling in up here it'll be much more comfortable to get tattooed, too...
 

And here's what Mike made for me on Saturday. Next level chrysanthemum. I am so thrilled!

Super inspiring stuff here @Gingerninja @Hands On @bongsau @Colored Guy and @Boiled Dove - giving me the itch!  Now that winter weather is settling in up here it'll be much more comfortable to get tattooed, too...
 

Super inspiring stuff here @Gingerninja @Hands On @bongsau @Colored Guy and @Boiled Dove - giving me the itch!  Now that winter weather is settling in up here it'll be much more comfortable to get tattooed, too...
 

I was going to have my back worked on last night, but it was still tender from the shading of last week.
She knew I wanted an old demon head covered up on my bicep, so we went with that. Took like 3 hours with all the BSing back and forth, cutting a stencil from something already drawn up.
 

finally got the nerve to go onto the chest and decided on Walter McDonald at the Bay Area Convention. flipping thru his books of designs took FOREVER!.. the dude puts out so much work, Adam Shrewsbury called him maniacal.  i fell in love with two different designs that fit the center and chest panel well. The center eye was actually dice in Walt's original design, but i asked him to change it up and he gladly did. he's a great dude with a glowing personality! now i just have to find something to fill that empty space to the right and perhaps the collarbone... although i'm not looking forward to the pain that would bring me. even just the tips of that glow were felt in my teeth. strange sensation, but damn stoked on the result!
 

Happy Halloween! This is older but it fits the day!

Super honored to have new peonies from Henning on my right calf. Done at Kings Avenue last Friday. More than a little thrilled!

Thanks. Jesse Tseronis in Winchester VA is my artist. We're working on a piece that goes from my ankle up to connect to my chest panel and back piece.
 

Bumping this for others to re-up their latest tattoos.  Here's one on me by Jeff P. at Art Work Rebels from earlier this summer:

Ummmm....get one.

Got this today by Nathan Blankenship at Exile Tattoo,KC.
 
 

got a great shot of this guy's bloody new Greggletron gorilla from the Bay Area Convention.

Thank you everyone, although all I really did was (try to) sit there while he did his work .
 
 
Err... yes, I did realise that I really should after he started on it. Just for symmetry, naturally, hah... I am planning on talking to him about ideas for the right side next time I am there.
Hmm. I think I can now say that I see the whole "it can be addictive" thing.

Yeah, got plans for the other side?  Not to overlook the awesome work already done, of course...

Hello everyone!
Decided to come out of lurking, partially because I am really surprised that I have not seen any references to Horifuji at State of Grace in San Jose here. He is a thoroughly lovely person and feel fortunate to have his work on me. Imho he should get even more exposure (even if that may mean it will be progressively even harder to get more appointments with him, heh).
Anyway, it felt like the right time for me to finally get some work. I wanted something rather more on the traditional vein (whatever that means, exactly) and the craftsmanship of tebori really appealed to me (even if it won't necessarily look that different). I called State of Grace as I saw in the intertoobz that they had artists there that did tebori and I was referred to Horifuji.
I asked him via email for a half-sleeve with chest panel with a karasu tengu - like the ones seen on woodblock prints sparring with Ushiwakamaru (later known as the general Yoshitsune) on Mount Kurama. 
So, a few days before my first appointment 3-4 months later, he sent me a concept drawing of what he felt would be best and I was floored. He recommended actually including Ushiwakamaru on the chest panel (hikae?), having just swung his bokuto (wooden practice blade) at a quite smartly dressed karasu tengu on the arm that is slipping off a rock ledge by the water, with autumn Japanese maple leaves falling around.
The outline was done by machine in one session (photo of outline on Horifuji's Instagram here). Shading and the vast majority of the all colour done by tebori. Closer photo after starting on the colour here. A few small "flat" monochrome areas were done by machine shading, e.g. the brown on the bokuto that the tengu and Ushiwakamaru are holding. I deferred all decisions on colour and exact placement to him as he is the professional and I trust him completely  .
Will have my final appointment in a month or so. As I have to fly to San Jose for my appointments I have done six sessions, each between 4.5 and 5.5 hours two consecutive days at a time to save on my airline miles. So something around 30 hours, so far?
Since this photo I have attached to his post was taken, I have had more work done. Only have a couple momiji to colour in and the eyes are left.  I'll try to take a more current photo to place in a more appropriate thread on the forum.
Sorry for the lengthy, possibly rather gushing,  first post.