El Dolmago

So sorry for your loss @Colored Guy be gentle on yourself and take whatever time and space you need to get through this. Grief never gets easier, but the waves of grief do eventually slow. Wishing peace to you and your family

I'm super curious about something a couple people have mentioned. Is it common to be asked by a partner to get a tattoo?

Even though hubby and I are respectably ;) tattooed - he heavier than I, and we do encourage/ enable each other, we would never ever ask the other to get a tattoo. Speaking for myself I'm really respectful that it is not my body. Even if I may not like every design my husband chooses I need to respect and keep my hands off/ opinions to myself on whatever he choses to have tattooed, and vice versa. Though it's great having a partner that understands and enjoys tattooing we are really respectful of each other and how personal tattooing is.

Hi @Breakme and @Pugilist - thank you for asking :)

She came home today - she got through the surgery just fine yesterday and was a model patient - kicked butt for a little old lady. She's upstairs passed out after a good supper. They removed a liver mass but she had a big mass right in the middle of her pancreas. They got a lot of it which will help with her nausea and barfing discomfort - it was really pressing on her stomach, but whatever it is, it will grow back. It is too invasive. They also found a shadow in her chest on the X-rays. Test results for the two masses on Monday, sigh, but I think we all know where this is going. We just hope it's gonna go there slowly and that we can keep her a happy kitty for all that time. I think about her being a monmon kitty on me somewhere. She has the perfect coloring for a koi.

Poor little bear! So glad she's showing a little liveliness. They are the best creatures.

I took my cats to the vet for their checkup and my little cat shunned me as punishment for the rest of the day - he refused to get out of my laundry basket - for such a monkey he really doesn't like being out of his comfort zone.

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Yesterday was harrowing. We had a couple of wires sticking out of a rickety old outlet. @DJDeepFried had put plastic caps on the wires with the plans to get it covered soon, but we kind of forgot about it because we don't really need to plug anything in up there.

Tomo, our little love, was playing around yesterday morning and bit the wire. I was right there at the time and noticed the fur standing up on his tail. I tried pulling him away but realized his mouth seemed to be stuck to the wire. I pried his jaws off of it (did not even think for a second about the possibility of me getting electrocuted, just had to get him free, and luckily I did not get zapped). He went kind of limp in my arms. I started freaking out screaming for help and crying.

Doug (aka DJDF) kept it together... Tomo opened his eyes and was breathing and Doug could feel his heart beat. Doug found an emergency animal hospital nearby and we got him there pretty quickly. He did not have any mouth damage but x-rays showed fluid in his lungs. He had to stay over night with oxygen, pain meds, and being monitored, but last night they said he was looking good: alert and eating. We should be able to bring him home today. Oh my god, I miss him, he would be on my lap right now. :(

Outlet is now covered. Looks like this is going to be a $2,000 lesson, but that sure as hell beats a losing our baby kitty lesson.

Oh your poor little kitty - that's awful! So glad he's OK.

You two...

To be fair I totally enabled him getting his panther head and was THIS close to getting the octopus on my arm at the same time... we do feed each other on this

Hey! Want to go down to the market today? Heh heh heh

Yes! (husband/enabler)

it should be written vertically - top down. And the stroke direction of how you write a character can change the meaning.

You should know though there are actually 2 "alphabets" which are phonetic and don't include a number of english sounds, as well as roman script and the Chinese Kanji characters in Japanese - so 4 ways to write one thing - each having different implications. Hiragana is the script for native Japanese words, and Katakana for foreign words.

So if I was writing my name in Japanese I could write it 4 ways - Erin, エリン(elin- a foreigner), えりん(elin - if i was born in Japan - also how my name was written on my bank stuff), or 英鈴 (Ei-lin which translates to English Bell - if I was a Japanese national).

Be careful with tattoos of a language you don't speak - or have a native speaker to correct for you. I lived in Japan and speak some Japanese, and still don't trust myself. I have a Kanji as part of a larger tattoo on my back for my Japanese astrology, the year of the ox (or ushi). Google and most tattoo flash said to use the Kanji 牛 but my native speaker friend, who is also a calligrapher said the symbol for the year was actually 丑、as 牛 basically just means cow - like on a menu. Always double check.

Also things do not always mean/ translate to what you think- for example my stepbrother named his dog what he thought was "child of the forest" in Japanese - what he actually named her was Kuniko- it means mushroom.

Yeah I was thinking about getting the next stage on my arm done - but thinking about walking around for a month with just the outline doesn't really appeal - but I am a glutton for punishment.

Going to Toronto in July thinking of booking in with franz stefanik

, unless anyone can point me in the direction of other shops?

Big Fans of Franz in this house - also there is the Pearl Harbor Gift Shop in Kensington Market - who are amazing. They are kind of sister shops here and both have amazing tattooers.

I got a pair of satiny loose pants at H&M a few weeks ago - they came in a khaki brown or a black, I got the black. They were fine during those first few hot days we had at the beginning of May. They also had a bunch of those loose pants that were fitted at the ankles, super 80s...

As a survivor of the 80s there are some things that will never be flattering on me - pegged pants are one of those things.

Like the rest of you....I live in this...

I'm a devoted user of their aerosol 60 SPF

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You are insane. ;)

Yes he is - ask @Mark Bee about dragging me around NYC in 40C - ugh. I barely survived the summers in Japan. I grew up in the desert - give me the dry heat any day.

@irezumi I lived in Japan and spent quite a bit of time in Malaysia so I can back up that Toronto is officially evil humid in the summer - not quite Louisiana but significantly evil.

No matter what you want you should instead get two animals fighting. Unless you want three animals fighting.

And make sure to add more black ;)

I got my Monmon cat book and two prints from the lovely @Mark Bee for my birthday :) yay!

I'm allergic to the sun (essentially) and if I'm out in direct sun with anything lower than 45 I burst in to hives - trust me it's not just about not burning - anything less than 45 will affect your skin.

Haha ^.

Happy birthday @El Dolmago!!!! :D

Hopefully you like the band, too...

They were great! Thanks @TrixieFaux !

Been working on a grant application for a Journal I edit - that has taken most of my life, have received zero help on from my co-workers, I will receive no discernible credit and is due tomorrow - gin is in order. Oh and it's 47 pages long.

Just got a piece two days ago running from my lower sternum to belly button, and on my ribs right underneath my breasts. Wearing even a soft sports bra is a bitch and I'm so worried about screwing it up. It was my most painful tattoo yet and I'd really like to not touch it up right away. Besides that my rib cage feels bruised. With a sunburned back and tattooed front sleeping is a pain ! haha

If you haven't check out the ladies thread there is some excellent bra specific healing info in there.

Have you been over to http://www.lastsparrowtattoo.com/forum/general-tattoo-discussion/5371-ladies-thread.html? I wonder if a bra question is found over there for you. I'll post some pictures next time, but what I found useful from a "bra" perspective during my back piece is to use a piece of pre-cut KT Tape to make kind of a sling for each of the girls. You can play with curving in different ways but maybe you can lay it down in a way you don't touch the area. I was going to post a picture last time - maybe I'll do it and post it to a limited audience. I'm small so it worked great! Maybe a couple would work otherwise. BUT - it's sticky, so touch the middle section to your stomach first to get a little of the sticky tamed before using!

Ha @SeeSea great minds!

Considering a number of the forum members have their Doctorate or are fairly close to getting one you may not get a sympathetic audience here. Most professionals wear long sleeves - I suggest you do too. My only optometrist concern is that they do their job.

Just out of curiosity, are you left or right handed? I'm a righty but yet to start on my right arm (next on the list), have only done the left inner forearm which took around 4.5 hours but could've easily sat for longer.

I'm right handed - which I figure may account for the difference.

Yes, but I'm not sure if it's a left/right thing or how comfortable or mentally ready I was on a particular day. My guy did mention one side can hurt worse than the other, but I can't remember which he said is which! I seem to think my non-dominant side hurt a little less. Both both have sucked (all on my back).

I think a truer test would be a tattoo that is worked on on both sides in the same session.

My left arm hurt way more than my right - done about two + weeks apart.

My wife gave up washing ink from our pillow cases and sheets.

Every single set is stained.

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We have sheets/ shirts specifically for healing ... Needless to say between the two of us my white sheets haven't been used in a while.

So thanks for the butterfly Lady Head help! Thought you'd appreciate the result.

@El Dolmago and I went to The Pearl today and each got ladyhead tattoos from Glennie. Mine is the cowgirl, and hers is the profile with butterfly wings. You can still see the blood oozing out! Fresh.

Glennie does great lady heads!

Honestly I'm thrilled - she did such a great job. Yay for spontaneous tattoo days!

Did this today - found out Glennie could take me and decided on my lady head on my trip on the way down

Damn, how the heck do you people start healing to quickly?!?

It's a super easy spot to heal - my arm is just about done - my back, in contrast, was a scabby sorry mess.

Yeah, tattoo hangover. Ugh. My first session was really long and unexpectedly trashed me afterwards. I was so dehydrated - keep drinking fluids! Only one of mine swelled enough to need icing. Not sure why that is but ibuprofen is good.

Oh that's happened to me too! I always feel vaguely trashed the next day!

Glad to hear it's improving @Zillah