Sounds like you are headed in the right direction, now.
There are some really great shops and tattooers near you, as well. I used to work at Holy City Tattooing Collective in Charleston, SC. Jason Eisenberg is a great tattooer, as well as Dennis Hickman. In Conway, there is Jeff Cribb's shop, Hero Tattoo. Great artists there as well. Also check out Danny Reed and the guys at his shop in Asheville, NC "Hot Stuff Tattoo".
" but on a scale of being burned alive to getting a blow job it's definitely on hell fire and brimstone side." Great analogy