missStark

Thanks! Jesse is a great tattooer.

The boyfriend and I took a vacation to Florida for a week. At the end of the week we made the drive up to Jacksonville and both got tattoos from Jesse Gordon at Inksmith and Rogers. I got a vampire lady and he got a vulture.

When I was a kid my dad enjoyed fish and we had two freshwater aquariums and one marine aquarium. In the marine we had clowns, starfish, a few other fish and a very large saltwater hermit crab. Surprisingly the hermit crab ended up eating everything except the starfish. I then went a LONG time without any fish but always loved visiting aquariums and looking at fish. About a year ago I was dealing with bad depression so my boyfriend got me a small tank, some live aquatic plants and a betta in hopes that having a new hobby would help. It certainly did and now he's afraid of me becoming a crazy fishlady. Right now I'm really into south and Central American cichlids. I think it would be nice to one day have another marine tank though.

That is a beautiful fish! Currently have 3 running tanks: 5 gallon that contains a red cambodian double tail betta and zebra nerite snail as well as various live aquatic plants 60 gallon that currently contains 2 young blood parrot cichlids 7 neon tetra (there were 12 but are being eaten by the parrots. They were bought as dither fish anyway) and one L240 vampire Plecostomus 3 gallon which is currently home to two baby (about 1 in.) electric blue Jack Dempseys. This is just a growing tank until they are about 2-2.5 inches and then will be moved into the 60 gal with the other cichlids. below are pics of the chiclids and the pleco.

Are there any other fish keeping enthusiasts here? I'm a total fish nerd and recently I've been running into a lot of other aquarium nerd tattooers and collectors. I think it would be cool to share what specimens we have and post pictures. If not, I promise not to bore you all with my fish :o

Just got a sweet snake and skull from Ben Fiedler at the slc convention. It was starting as a filler snake for an awkward spot on my forearm and then we ended up putting a skull on my elbow and wrapping the snake up so the head filled another empty spot up top. That arm is now done! Will probably have to wait until its healed to post pics. My elbow is so swollen that the skull just looks ridiculous right now.

One of the things I really miss about living in New England is Congress st. and Hobos. I should really try to make more trips back east.... my family would probably appreciate it as well.

I do not have my other ditch done yet but I will definitely be wrapping it over night!!

I think my lovely boyfriend is going to want something from Richard in SLC. I will email you when he makes up his damn mind.

The worst part about healing the ditch that I remember was when I woke up the next morning and my arm was bent and stuck to itself. Peeling that fresh tattooed skin from fresh tattooed skin and straightening out my arm was the BEST!!!

Tony is such an amazing tattooer! I hope to one day get something from him.

Anyone venturing to the lovely smog city this march? (Hopefully the smog should be cleared by then...) It looks like it's going to be a lot bigger show this year and I would be down to meet up with any LSTers for drinks!

@else Awesome tattoo by an awesome tattooer! I'm hoping to get my elbow done by him at the SLC convention (have yet to hear back from him about setting something up but fingers crossed). Enjoy that cat!!

We just officially bought our first home today!!! I'm so excited! Now to redo the floors, paint and then move. I can't wait to get out of my shitty apartment and no longer have to listen to my gross neighbors humping!

Other than a fellow heavily tattooed person asking me "Who did it!?" I absolutely hate when random people I don't know ask me about my tattoos. I don't really know why, but I just find it incredibly annoying. I would rather listen to car alarms going off at 3 am.

There is a shop here in Salt Lake called "Hardcore tattoo". I've never actually met anyone who got a tattoo there but I can only imagine. Also there is a shop in southern Utah, St. George I believe, called "garage Ink". I have seen a tattoo from there and it looks just like they got it out of someone's garage. I know of a guy, who has no business even tattooing, but he was talking about wanting to open his own shop and call it "Victim" ....really? This same guy also currently works in a scratcher shop and took a break mid-tattooing to "use the bathroom" 30 min later while his client was still waiting in the chair, this guy was found passed out in the bathroom with a needle in his arm. I guess "Victim" is fitting! A friend recently told me about a shop in the Boston area called "Fuck you just panthers" I had a good laugh at that! - - - Updated - - - I like when shops are named after iconic tattoo designs like "Rock of Ages", "Pharaoh's Horses", "Hot Stuff", etc...

Speaking of cats... Josh Stephens has been doing some great cats lately. There was a cool one that said "cat man tat man" around and also a wonderful 4 eyed cat that I am extremely jealous of whoever it is on.

Everything Paul dobleman does is simply stunning and perfect. Same goes for Zach Nelligan. I absolutely love everything I see either of them do. I'd say my most recent tattoo crush though, is Tony Nilsson at Blue Arms Tattoo. On instagram he is Tony_Tox. Definitely give him a look if you are not already familiar with his work.

The longest I've sat is 4.5 hours with a couple short breaks. I'm too much of a wimp to sit any longer. After about 3.5-4 hours I start to lose my tolerance and really can't take much more. All of my larger pieces have been broken up into several sessions accordingly.

I found a lost dog roaming around while I was walking my dog this morning. It wasn't wearing a collar. I caught the dog and went around the neighborhood trying to find it's owners without any luck. I had to get to work so I brought it to my house for fear that it would get hit by a car if left outside. I then spent the entire morning while at work putting out ads for this dog. I got a couple calls throughout the day but this wasn't the dog these people were looking for. By the time I got home I called my vet to see if they could scan this dog for a microchip but they were closed for the night. By this time it was dark out but I took the dog for another walk around the neighborhood in hopes of finding its owner, still no luck. Just an hour ago I was sitting at my computer and thought I heard a very faint whistle and what sounded like someone calling a name. It is unusual for me to not have the TV or music on while at home but for some reason I didn't tonight and I was able to hear this. I opened my window to see if I could hear it again. I saw a woman across the street calling out a name. I yelled across to her and asked if she was looking for a dog. Sure enough she was, and the dog I found was hers. She was in tears and I was so happy to get her dog back to her. I was so stressed out about getting this dog back to his family. All I could think about was how devastated I would be if my dog was missing. While putting out ads for this dog I couldn't believe how many dogs and cats people are missing in just this city. It really bums me out but I'm glad I was able to get one of them back home.

I had a friend who swore by smoking two bowls and then taking a couple shots of nyquil haha. He would just lay there and pretty much fall asleep for 6 hour sessions on his stomach. I have never tried this myself. I typically take some ibuprofen before hand and make sure I've had something to eat and I'm fine. One time I used lidocaine spray and I wouldn't recommend it. The tattoo healed terribly. I know others that have had similar experiences with it. I've had one tattooer use some kind of cream on me that was wonderful at first. It was completely numb for about a half hour but then when the feeling came back it seemed twice as bad. The tattoo healed fine though. I can't remember the name of that stuff. Those were my only experiences with numbing agents. I don't think I'll use them again nor would I really recommend them. Perhaps only to plow through the last little bit. I am really nervous about starting my chest though, so I think I will try xanax for the first session and see how that goes.