dari

It's good to be back.

Once I was out to dinner, actually sitting at the counter in Chow where we had the last LST get together. I was with a girlfriend who was maybe 22, very cute, with huge iris' on her chest. An older man came up and said, "Can I ask you a question?" He never even said the word "tattoo," she yelled at him with great disgust, "no, go away, I'm trying to enjoy my dinner." At the time, I thought she was over re-acting, now I don't. She was young and hot, and this dirty old man wanted an excuse to talk to her and stare at her boobs. Tattoos are not invitations. On the other hand, on the last long flight I was on, I ended up talking to two people who will never, ever get tattooed, but they were so nice and so respectful that I even let one take pictures on her iphone for her son. Seriously. (And I'm sure he was horrified to learn that his mom was taking pictures of someone's tattoos on a plane for him.) I think it really depends on the person's motivation and their approach, and how burnt out the person is who's being asked. When I lived in SF, I was so tired of people asking me for spare change that I started telling every one of them that "change comes from within." As far as asking about cost, that super annoying. The last time I got tattoo questions was about 2 weeks ago at 7:30 am when I was pumping gas. He said something like "Blah, blah, blah, tattoo, blah, colorful, blah, nice, blah, how much did it cost?" I just want to stress that this was at 7:30 in the morning. I might often be more polite or helpful with my response, but I just said, "It was free." This was the wrong thing to say, because he then offered "My girlfriend's cousin's friend" (yes I'm serious) "is going to give me a whole half sleeve for only $200." "Oh yeah, where?" "At his house." "Dude, don't do that, go to a real shop." "No, he used to own his own shop, just doesn't want to deal with paying rent and all that anymore." And then I realized, it's 7 fucking thirty in the morning, why am I having this fucking conversation? "Okay, dude, good luck." What I'm saying, is that for me, I really try to take into consideration the sincerity of the person asking. I've also been on the snub end of the question side. At the beginning of a workshop with a visiting yoga superstar, I noticed tattoos on a guy in front of me for a couple of reasons. One being that he only had three, they were all the same bird in different flight positions, and the placement on his body was cool. The other reason was that they looked familiar, and I had a vague recollection of Scott drawing a similar bird, and I thought perhaps my husband had done them. I asked something like "Can I ask who did your tattoos?" He curtly and dismissively replied "We'll chat after class." Okay, nevermind, you don't seem like the kind of person I'd enjoy chatting with. I wish I had thrown in "Peace out, homo," but I had not yet heard the wise words of Sir Blaze A Lot.

Wow, thanks everyone! We're in the middle of major home construction, my house actually got lifted up 15 or so feet off the ground for my birthday. Right this minute, there's a mini excavator digging down even further for the fittings for the new foundation. We were out for a few nights, including my birthday when we went to Gather, but we're now back and everything's re-hooked up. Cable/Internet guy just left 30 minutes ago. Having no internet or tv for 10 days was interesting, but I'm hoping not to do it again anytime soon. Love you all!

Most relationships don't last, can't blame the tattoos.

Hello all, I have a friend who's husband can't wear a ring, so they're thinking about wedding band tattoos. Does anyone on here have them, or have any pictures of cool designs? Thanks in advance for any pictures or advice.

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.)

Hello and nice to meet you.

Oh my goodness, happy to you! And thank you Alanna for making the announcement!

Ahoy Captain! Any chance we could see some pics of your ship?

Hello and welcome, nice to meet you! Whenever I hear the word Newfoundland, I picture the dog, and I love to imagine that Newfoundland is a place where they freely roam the streets in packs. Don't spoil it for me.

Currently a little worried about my tiny Ben Grillo tat on my finger that's cracking and bleeding.

Unacceptable. Listen to Barbara. BTW, really tried to make it to b-day party, the universe and my brother in law and Don's Tires in Berkeley all teamed up against me.

Still don't get it.

I mean, I suppose it'd be cool to have a tattoo drawn by Paul McCartney, if the design didn't suck, but I think I'd much rather have a cup of coffee with him. Or more preferably, a dress designed by his daughter.

I don't get it.

How about if we just decide that Iwar's hotel is the center of the earth, and spiral outwards from there? I'd love to go back to Source again, but I'm kind of a kook. I know he'll be kinda close to Golden Era, although that place always gives me a stomach ache, but probably from eating too much. I'm open to anything, except the Ruth Chris type spots. We could also just go to the Mission. Can anyone think of a Mexican place that can seat a large party and not be rushing us out the door? We could also maybe do a sushi thing somewhere, I know that there's one place in the Castro on Church that has a back room for private parties. Chow on Church can also be fun, depends how big our group is going to be. Yelp | Search Businesses In San Francisco

Possible spoiler alert.... (?) Did anyone else think that Opey had a weird look on his face during the vows/ring exchange? For a second, I thought he was gonna back down. I loved how this season opener ended, it's gonna be a good one!

The 21st would work for us, too, I believe.

Glad to have you here, thanks for chiming in! BTW, on the top right in red, it sometimes goes unnoticed, that's where you check your notifications for private messages, likes and mentions. I did move that post for you, just message me if you run into any other problems. Thanks, Dari

I love this idea. When I can figure out what that green thing on my grandfather's arm was, maybe I'll get it on me. And there's no way you could go wrong with that design.

I'm generally a romantic and a defender of the young and foolish, so I want to like this "tattoo concept," but I just can't pull it off. Maybe I could've gotten closer if he'd taken off that hat.

My kids have always been big on drawing on themselves, I think like most kids. Unlike most parents, we don't tell them no, or to stop. It was actually one of my son's preschool teachers that decided my son could color on himself in any fashion, saying that it was our "family culture." That being said, my two yr old daughter's "tattoos," as she calls them, rarely look as good, placement wise, as that first picture.

Hello all, A few days before the show comes down, Space Gallery has posted photos from the Blackheart Show. I'm sure that whatever doesn't sell in the gallery can be bought from the artists themselves post show: Black Heart Tattoo SCAB-FREE : Space Gallery

Good point! I never would have thought of that.