I was 20 when I walked into Temple Tattoo in Oakland. It was recommended to me by a friend who had some great tattoos by Chris Conn that were done at Temple. I remember first stopping by the marijuana dispensary across the street to pick up my daily smoke bag (I was a heavy smoker) and smoked some in front of the shop. I had no intention of getting tattooed anytime soon, and especially not that day. Suddenly, when the smoke hit me, I became very inspired and excited, almost antsy and anxious (in a good way). I walked into the shop and heard some heavy doom metal, I believe it was Electric Wizard, though it may have been Sleep. I smiled, and became a little more inspired. I then began looking at the flash on the walls and saw Jason McAfee's flash. I have never seen this sort of flash before, it was colorful and evil at the same time. At that moment Jason I guess saw me checking at this flash exclusively and approached me and asked if I wanted any help. Not knowing he was Jason, I asked to speak with Jason, ha. He introduced himself and asked me what I was thinking about getting. And without any previous thought about what I wanted, from the depths of my unconscious mind I said "A Viking Ship". He then said "Where do you want to put it?" And again with out any previous thought I pulled up my jean leg and showed him the whole left side of my left leg. He then asked "When do you want to do this?" I said whenever you can, thinking maybe next month or possibly next week. He then asked if I wanted to do it today. I was so thrill of thought of leaving with a Viking ship on my leg that day, I jumped on the opportunity. He told me to come back in about a half hour, so I went to smoke some more. When I got back he had the coolest Drakkar drawn up with crashing Japanese style water. I smiled and said lets do it! The whole experience was great. Jason is very personable and "too cool" towards me at all, even though I was a 20 year old kid who looked about 16. We talked about doom metal, and he told me some stories about his doomy trip to London and meeting some doom legends. He even showed me some pictures. Great experience, and I felt very appreciated and respected. Because I liked the guy so much I went back to get a few more from him. And the rest is history.