OutOfIdeas

I realize this is a day late, and for that I apologize, but I felt some of you would appreciate it.

I realize this is a day late, and for that I apologize, but I felt some of you would appreciate it.

Books bound in human skin was actually what started the conversation and subsequent internet search (yea, we used our time well in high school) that led to the human leather product website. Your backpeice bound tattoo photo album idea is next level though. Good call!

His work looks good to me, nice and solid and bold. I'd wear something from him proudly, like the panther head a ways down, or the DK vs. Mario right below it. Those two are damn cool.

Good luck to her Gurby!

To be clear it's just an op ivy reference...and I could have assigned any other contrived meaning to it, that's just the one I was thinking of (you know, back when it felt necessary to justify every aspect of the tattoo as spiritual and meaningful and blah blah) when perusing the wall of flash at the shop.
A friend and I met in NYC when we were 17 to get tattoos. At this time - Sept or Oct '00 - you could walk into just about any place in the city* and get a really good fake ID from a number of different Northeastern states, with a hologram and everything. I took my fresh fake ID in my hot little hand and my friend and I hightailed it to the place I had found on the internet, Andromeda on St. Mark's Place (ahhh it's still there!!!)...holy shit I just realized/remembered that this is a story in two parts...the first trip I went to get pierced.
Had the ID, ran to the shop, and the guy called me out instantly for having a fake ID - he was from PA and recognized that the hologram (that damn hologram) was off...and then the other guy showed me HIS fake ID, they asked how old I really was, and went ahead with the piercing. (Which maybe to adult me is a little creepy, but 17 year old me was glad for the attention and aid in my rebellion, or whatever it was...my individuation...)
The subsequent trip, a week or two later, I went to the tattoo part of Andromeda with my fake ID, and that's when I got my first tattoo. My friend - the same friend from earlier - and I were going to get an Alice (on her) and a White Rabbit (on me) but of course we just really wanted tattoos, and didn't really care, and the ones we wanted were time and cost prohibitive, and so we saw these really cool kanji characters on the wall...BOOM. Le first tattoo. (Hers was for "courage". Damn, but we 17 year old white girls are predictable).
Anyway. So instead of the cool rude boy tattooed on my hip, it's a straight from the sheet kanji character, but kind of an awesome story, looking back on it.
The attached is a pic of my first tattoo...it is 14 years old!!! And that spot in the middle...I remember when the chunk of color fell right out of it...I bumped into something sharp when healing...and thought "Oh I guess you CAN remove them" ahahahaha. The POV is me looking down on it, I guess making it upside down in the pic.

*my assumption based on the fact that 17 year old girls could do it...

+1 to this entire thing
And @beez I agree, the Op Ivy is awesome and should never be covered.
Also, I realize this is the kind of post I usually hate, agreeing without adding anything, but you've all said it so well and laid down some very solid advice already.
Pretend this is a witty and useful sentence.
EDIT: not gonna lie, "junkies runnin dry" came up on my spotify right after I posted this reply. And yea, I did reword that all to rhyme repeatedly... sorry.

+1 to this entire thing
And @beez I agree, the Op Ivy is awesome and should never be covered.
Also, I realize this is the kind of post I usually hate, agreeing without adding anything, but you've all said it so well and laid down some very solid advice already.
Pretend this is a witty and useful sentence.
EDIT: not gonna lie, "junkies runnin dry" came up on my spotify right after I posted this reply. And yea, I did reword that all to rhyme repeatedly... sorry.

+1 to this entire thing
And @beez I agree, the Op Ivy is awesome and should never be covered.
Also, I realize this is the kind of post I usually hate, agreeing without adding anything, but you've all said it so well and laid down some very solid advice already.
Pretend this is a witty and useful sentence.
EDIT: not gonna lie, "junkies runnin dry" came up on my spotify right after I posted this reply. And yea, I did reword that all to rhyme repeatedly... sorry.

Love that snake! The color scheme is great

Thanks! I'm not sure where I came across that style of tattoo first, though Rich Hadley does some of the best I've seen like that. I think its been around for a while. I described what I was looking for and we poked around for a bit, and the tattooer who did it came up with the actual design. I can barely draw a stick figure.

It would be interesting to know. Having grown up here (and hence, around a lot of Mormons) I do know that tattooing is quite taboo in LDS culture and I would imagine that tattoos are extremely rare among individuals who have always identified with Mormon culture. It's actually something that can be used as a cultural differentiator even here in SLC.
- - - Updated - - -
Mainstream LDS are definitely anti tattoo (I think it might be in their doctrine). Not sure about RLDS/CoC but I bet it's the same doctrine on tattoos.

Passed my CDL test yesterday. I was really nervous; went first at 6am, and the tester was known for being a bit of a dick, but I passed. Orientation with an over the road company on Tuesday, then if all goes well I could be relocating to Cali somewhere and starting work within a month!

Mormons are super-dooper anti-tattoo, aren't they? I think (really, really don't quote me on this) I remember being told that both major denominations of the Mormon church strictly forbid tattoos.

Passed my CDL test yesterday. I was really nervous; went first at 6am, and the tester was known for being a bit of a dick, but I passed. Orientation with an over the road company on Tuesday, then if all goes well I could be relocating to Cali somewhere and starting work within a month!

Rad! Both are awesome. I also really like the work you have that's surrounded by black but has a silhouette around it. Very cool stuff. Is that an old school thing I've just never seen, or something you or your artist came up with?

Here's a bit better picture of mine. The bit at the bottom is skinnier, but more raised and tough feeling. I think that'll be the problematic spot.

Rad! Both are awesome. I also really like the work you have that's surrounded by black but has a silhouette around it. Very cool stuff. Is that an old school thing I've just never seen, or something you or your artist came up with?

Awesome @Zillah !

Day drunk!

Hope this works, and you can see it, but i have a very large (3/4" wide) but flat scar, from a heart surgery 21 years ago. The "r" sits almost entirely on it, in my chest rocker. Looks a little different from the other letters, up close, but not too noticeable from a distance. Felt weird as hell getting tattooed though! If you want I can try and get a better picture when I'm not in my car on lunch break, which is awkward.

Hope this works, and you can see it, but i have a very large (3/4" wide) but flat scar, from a heart surgery 21 years ago. The "r" sits almost entirely on it, in my chest rocker. Looks a little different from the other letters, up close, but not too noticeable from a distance. Felt weird as hell getting tattooed though! If you want I can try and get a better picture when I'm not in my car on lunch break, which is awkward.

Here's a bit better picture of mine. The bit at the bottom is skinnier, but more raised and tough feeling. I think that'll be the problematic spot.

Hope this works, and you can see it, but i have a very large (3/4" wide) but flat scar, from a heart surgery 21 years ago. The "r" sits almost entirely on it, in my chest rocker. Looks a little different from the other letters, up close, but not too noticeable from a distance. Felt weird as hell getting tattooed though! If you want I can try and get a better picture when I'm not in my car on lunch break, which is awkward.

Hope this works, and you can see it, but i have a very large (3/4" wide) but flat scar, from a heart surgery 21 years ago. The "r" sits almost entirely on it, in my chest rocker. Looks a little different from the other letters, up close, but not too noticeable from a distance. Felt weird as hell getting tattooed though! If you want I can try and get a better picture when I'm not in my car on lunch break, which is awkward.