Hope you have a rad trip man! I wish I was still up there to show you around a little, but there's obviously a bunch of good LST'ers up there to help you out. Get in touch if you need anything though. Safe travels dude!

This is such a cool idea! i'm really looking forward to more entries, but for now have a safe flight and an amazing time in SF!

Awesome! I'm about to PM you my email addy, in case you need anything while you're out here. Safe travels!

You better tear that place up man!! Safe travels and look forward to hearing all about it!

patiently waiting updates on this, i am excited for you

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

I've finally arrived! Took around 28 hours from I left my house in Oslo till I opened the door to my hotel room in San Francisco. Jetlag's going to be a bitch! I've slept a lot on the plane, and local time here is 1am now. I'm exhausted from all the travelling, but right now I feel wide awake. I have to try to force myself to sleep though as my appointment with Scott is at noon tomorrow.

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

Superstoked to meet up with you guys on wednesday!!! :D

Wednesday will be a total blast.

Have a great trip dude!

Hahah, the second pic looks like you have a fighterpilot helmet, so I was fucking confused :D

Welcome! If you don't drink coffee, start today. :)

Iwar, there's a good coffee shop called Four Barrel down the street from BH, about two blocks down on left (away from Market St., cross st. numbers getting higher.)

So, when I woke up yesterday I walked around the area where I live to try to locate myself a little bit. The sun was blazing, and the taste of Cherry Coke and Dr.Pepper gave me that "USA feeling" that I hadn't had since last time I was here around fourteen years ago. Sounds a bit banal maybe, but it's true. I didn't have much time to cruise around though, as my appointment with Scott was at 12:30pm. I hailed a cab to Valencia street and arrived early enough to get a beer at a bar called Zeitgeist(or something like that) before my appointment. Really cool place which I'll probably try to visit atleast once more during my stay.

Anyways, the Blackheart studio blew me away. So many impressions to take on... The giant Blackheart tattoo sign on the wall, the neon sign hanging in the window, handpainted flash by the artists working there all over the walls, a big black heart on the tiles greeted me as I entered, lots of tiny artifacts scattered all over the place.... The guy at the counter (don't remember his name unfortunately) was really nice and helpful too. He was also a painter and showed me a picture of a watercolour painting he had done of an octopus attacking a ship. It was awesome to say the least!

I had requested a dagger on my shin and Scott drew up a few sketches for me to choose from (which was really hard as they were all awesome). When I finally settled on one and we got going soon after. The tattoo only took around a couple hours to complete, and I couldn't be happier with the result. I'll share pictures here once it has healed properly.

After my appointment I walked up to Dolores park to chill out for a while and see if I could spot some of these hipsters I've been hearing so much about. There was a jam session going on in the middle of the park where musicians came and left continuously which was really cool. On my way back to the city centre I felt a cold coming on, and it gradually just got worse. When I reached my hotel around 7pm I was sweating and freezing at the same time, so I decided to stay in for the evening. Today I'm feeling alot better though, and I'm really looking forward to the LST meetup later.

To be continued.....

Zeitgeist (or whatever...)

Now that's a sign!

Dolores Park

Fresh tattoo

"That USA feeling"! Haha, so awesome. See you tonight, Iwar.

your updates are so awesome! thanks!

Livin the dream! (Also, I just turned my computer upside down to see the tattoo a little better.)

Sounds like a awsome trip. Yeah the feeling of being in America is odd that it's always something that makes you feel fat. Mine was raw cookie dough and beer sitting in my friends living room.

Sorry for the lack of updates last couple days... I've had really long days, and merely used my hotelroom for sleeping. I'll try to sum up what I've been up to the last couple days though...

I decided to take a trip up to Haight Street and visit the Idle Hand shop on wednesday before the LST meetup, and before I knew it I was on the table getting tattooed by Iggy Vans. He just did a small filler on me, but it was alot of fun none the less. I wanted a straightrazor, but for some reason I thought a straightrazor was called a switchblade, so that's what I asked for. I was a little bit suprised when he brought me the stencil, but the design was cool, and I gave the green light. There were some straightrazors hanging on the wall by his station, so I asked him "what are those called", and his immediate response was "fuck dude, you wanted a straightrazor didn't you?". We laughed about it, and I got a cool little switchblade instead.

I also got to talk a bit with Hanna who also works there. She's from Sweden, so I could drop my awful english for a few minutes, and speak my native tongue. When my tattoo was finished I walked across the street to Molotov's Bar and drank a beer before heading back to the hotel to get ready for the meetup.

When my taxi pulled up outside Chow, which was the restaurant we where all meeting up at, I suddenly got all nervous. I think it was meeting such a large group of people all at once, and I'm not exactly the loudest person in the room full of new people. I greeted the gang on the sidewalk in front of the restaurant, but as the rest went in to get seated, me and [MENTION=194]hogg[/MENTION] got to chat a little bit as I was smoking a cigarette, which kinda calmed my nerves back down.

Well, what can i say about the meetup... It was a blast! If you weren't there you missed out ;)

It was really cool putting faces and names to avatars and online aliases. I got to see some really cool tattoos, hear some awesome stories, eat some good food. I'm so happy you guys arranged the meetup during my stay! Thanks!

Yesterday was my big "stereotypical tourist" day:

Tiger Vs Snake at Golden Gate Park

Some dude playing saxophone to a tree. I hung out there for a few minutes, and he wasn't a street performer, he was just playing to that tree...

I know, I know, but I had to see for myself...

Me and Alcatraz (wayyy in the back)

I was so happy when I finally stumbled upon this guy

"I mede you hollar, now give me a dollar"

Kinda foggy

My first sunset in years

Today I'm getting tattooed by Lehi by the way! :D

That's it for now!

(There's a max limit of 4 photos per post, that's why it's all scattered if anyone was wondering...)

Lehi sneakpeak

Today; Grime :D

golden gate park is the best.

Good randomly running into you again at Blackheart yesterday before your Lehi appointment.....the drawing was looking good watching him draw it up so look forward to the finished product!

Once again pleasure meeting you!! Look forward to meeting more LSTers from elsewhere.....this blog has been great following!

I NEVER WANT TO GET TATTOOED AGAIN!!!

Ok, maybe that's an overstatement, but my 4 hour session with Grime today was excruciating to say the least. My pain threshold was low from the get-go, and I couldn't help thinking that I had gone in way over my head getting three large pieces on the same leg all within 5 days. Luckily Grime offered to spray on some pain relief at the homestretch. Thank god! I'm a wuss, I know ;)

The tattoo turned out incredible though. I got one of his signature skulls wearing a samurai helmet. Can't wait to show you guys.

I'm extremely happy to be done with getting tattooed for a while now though. My visit is unfortunately coming to an end soon, and I'm kinda sad that I haven't seen more of the city. Maybe next time I'll have a little more time on my hands:) I definitely want to come back to this great city!

Keeping it elevated