dari

Mr. Frog, I like your attitude.

In 1989, before I had any tattoos or the ability to drink legally in the US, I found myself at Hanky Panky's shop in Amsterdam. I was a bit crazy as a kid, sampling everything the Red Light district had to offer, with the exception of the ladies. (No judgement here, if I were a dude I most certainly would've gone for that too.) This was actually the first shop I ever set foot in, and decided that I wanted the pyramid with the eye on the base of my spine. (Yeah, I know, 'tramp stamp" - as if I had a choice!) While I was getting my nerve up, my friend started talking to me, "Are you sure you want that? There's so much meaning behind that symbol, you should read blah-blah-blah and blah-blah-blah before you commit to something like that..." and he talked me out of it. When we got back to SF, I read all the books, and he went to Erno to get it tattooed on him. It was about 8 years later when I finally got my first tattoo. Although I wished I'd gotten that one, it's probably better that I waited to break the ice, god knows what I would've ended up with through the 90's when I was broke and had this hanging on my wall-

FYI (for those who care about these things), I just happened to notice that we now have 222 registered members on our forum. Very auspicious!

I'll be there on Sunday, probably mostly at Scott's both, telling him how to do his job, 'cause he really loves that.

Barbie you are Snookie.

I just saw that Chris Conn has a few more openings left for his seminar 'Drawing Women for Tattoo, the Chris Conn Way'. If you're going to this convention and aren't enrolled (really?), you might want to get on it as these seats just opened up. Horitaka's State of Grace Bay Area Tattoo Convention

Really? Now we're bitches? Thought we were keeping this site friendly.

I think for now just post it as a thread in the Tattoo Design section, maybe just specify in your post that it's for other tattooers to check out. If some unwanted stuff starts happening, we could move it to "the club" section, which we haven't used yet. Right now, I think it'd be good to keep it public if you guys are all okay with that, maybe more green tattooers would also benefit from the discussions?

Thanks for joining us Rob, it's great to have some more SF peeps on here. We live in Oakland with our 2 kids, but maybe someday (when they move out?) we'll move back to the city. Thanks for adding the links to your signature, I just saw that BM is doing kids ears now, which is great, as I had to take my daughter to a mall in Alameda. I checked out some of your work on your blog, feel free to post pics/make an album here, and make yourself at home however you'd like. And thanks for noticing that we're all playing nice, we're definitely trying too keep it that way! Take care, Dari Sylvia

Hi, and welcome. I enjoyed your thread "cable invasion," please keep the posts coming, and start any threads that you'd like, we are open! Take care, Dari Sylvia

That punkrock duck is pretty hot, aren't you scared people will steal your non-idea?

Thanks for joining us Bryan! I've seen a few snips of your interview, I think people are gonna groove on it! Please post some more pics of your work, K? Dari

Oh, for the record, I'm not recommending Stephanie Snyder's dvd for a complete beginner, because she will kick your ass! This DVD is for someone who's had some classes and has a basic understanding of sun salutations who might not have the time or opportunity to get to a good class on the regular. If you've had no classes, you need to take some beginners yoga classes where the instructor can see you and give appropriate corrections. Tammy, if you were to start out in Steph's class, you would no longer think that she's sweet! Her "all levels" classes are for "all levels" of fit, strong, experienced yogis!

Perez, Wow, and thanks for bringing up yoga! I don't have any simple answers, any more than any of you could answer "What's tattooing?" in a few sentences. I am a yoga teacher, and have been studying for about 15 years or so, and I've tried many styles and gazillions of teachers. I'm going to be honest, there are a lot of crappy teachers out there, and if you suspect that a certain teacher isn't for you, than they're probably not. One huge turn off for me is if someone is speaking in a sing-songy "yoga voice," instead of their own authentic voice. You might need to try a few different studios and teachers until you find the right fit, or maybe you'll get lucky the very first time. But ask around with everyone you know who does yoga, and hopefully someone will at least point you in the right direction. Try to find a place where the students and teachers are talking and laughing instead of trying to look "spiritual." Mario, I did make a Chicago teacher recommendation to Nick, maybe you guys could do some semi-privates with her? You also might want to check out some Forrest yoga or find some basic vinyasa flow classes. And as far as "new-age" bullshit, there really shouldn't be any. Yoga's a super old system, and I know the concepts of chakras and karma have been misused by some new age folk, but chakra discussion first appeared in the Upanishads, and pre-dates Buddhism, so it's far from new. And I'm going to let the cat out of the bag, the translation of the sanskrit word "yoga" is "to yoke," meaning to yoke oneself/to unite with the divine. But don't worry, it'll take a lot more than a few hours on the mat to get there, there's no threat of instant enlightenment. In the mean time, you find relief from your body's aches, have more energy, get better sleep, be stronger and have more endurance. Personally, when I'm teaching, I'm concerned with my students breathing and physical alignment, not if they aspire to align themselves with the divine. That's their personal business. A good teacher will meet you where you are, and wouldn't try to impose any of their personal beliefs on you. If one rubs you the wrong way, move on quickly, it's hard to throw a rock and not hit a yoga teacher these days. One of my favorite teachers is my friend Stephanie, this is her DVD. It's amazing, and I have a TON of yoga DVD's, and sometimes I watch them as a sleep aid, generally not to practice. There is absolutely NO spiritual content whatsoever on this DVD, it is what it's called, yoga for strength and toning, although her core sequence just might have you crying out for Jesus! http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002JYPV7W?ie=UTF8&tag=lasspatat-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B002JYPV7W

My dog also came home yellow that day.

Hey Perez, Checked out your blog, got some good times on there, hope to check it out in depth later today. Congrats on the engagement, or are you married now? Thanks for joining us! Dari Sylvia

Hambone, that's hot!

Kevin, you should ask Scott about swinging and missing sometime.

"Ass boy!" That's spectacular!