Graeme

And honestly, depending on where you are in Canada, it might be best to travel out of the country for a tattoo like this anyway because there are only two people that I know of in Canada who do it well. There's Cory Ferguson in Oakville, ON: corytattoos.com And Mikel in Victoria, BC, though he's more towards the tribal end of things: Custom tattoos by Mikel - 4 Truths Tattoo Sangha - Victoria B.C.

I'd say that you're doing pretty well so far!

Between this and an iPhone, go for the art. No question. iPhones are stupid because if you get one you're going to follow a whole bunch of great tattooers on instagram and look at these tiny shitty pictures of amazing tattoos that totally rob them of the actual power they have and you're going to spend way more time than is actually useful doing this when you could be doing better things with your time, like learning about Japanese art, drawing, reading, or so many other things.

I think of all the things you can spend money on, you can do FAR worse than a piece of art that is going to excite and inspire you. I don't know much about collecting ukiyo-e and how that is as a price, but it isn't really that much money for something you're going to treasure for years.

Put that way, yeah you're right though nobody here would articulate it as being "awkward".

How does he tattoo? Is it all by hand or does he use a machine? Really impressive either way.

Interesting article. I find the notion that one of the reasons tattoos are banned in public spaces is because they make people feel awkward to be really fascinating because it's so different than how we perceive things in the West.

Hey Bob, welcome to LST and I hope you share some stories with us.

Oh yeah there was all kinds of cool stuff in there: a great button, stickers, business cards, including one for the shop dog (gotta get business cards for my dog because dog business cards are fucking AWESOME) and a nice little note. I met her at the Montreal convention last year and she was super cool and I hope they're back this year. I missed a seminar about sailor tattoos that Chuck gave because I was getting tattooed myself. I'd love to visit the archive if I'm ever around there.

I just want to say how awesome Bookmistress is because her shipping is super fast. The friends I sent the books to got them within a day or two of my order which meant that they brought them up with them when they came for a visit, so I've had the books for a few days now. I probably don't need to say this but I will anyway, they are at least as good as everyone says they are and if you haven't bought them yet you really have to.

Ron and Stephanie are two of my favorite people in tattooing and I love that tattoo. What are you getting from Stephanie?

I accepted a job offer today. I'm waiting on paperwork and what not before I hand in my notice but it looks like I'll be in a new job soon. The job isn't for a place that I'm super excited about, but it's a much easier workload than I have now for slightly more money and it means that I'm not going to have any shiftwork. For the past couple of years I've been working about five months a year on nights and pretty crappy hours otherwise and I'm pretty much completely burned out and hopefully changing jobs is going to help me to decide whether or not I'm in a career that I want to stick with (which would mean finding financing to start my own business in the next year or two) or whether I need to find something else entirely. Work things aside, I feel that working normal people hours is probably going to be great for my marriage and it's also going to give me a chance to pursue other interests like playing music with other people, which is pretty much impossible with shiftwork. So yeah, I don't feel super excited about it, but when I think about it, it's pretty awesome.

Nah, I think that's considered a postage stamp.

Hey, welcome to the board. There are a couple of threads here about good tattooers in Vancouver (there are some really good ones on the Island too) and in the Pacific Northwest and those are worth paying attention to. And San Francisco is, what, a good day's drive away? There are plenty of people who can give you a really great tattoo and you're off to a good start by watching Tattoo Age and the interviews here.

I'm almost at the point where it makes more sense for me to move to NYC than it does to keep on going back and forth. By the end of the sessions I have booked on my arm I think me and my wife will have gone down something like six times over a little over a year and a half to get tattooed? There are so many stupidly good people and shops there.

Have you figured out the laser thing? Are you going to be coming to town for it? Super excited for my Monday appointment.

I read that thinking that there are a bunch of ladies on this board who have had children who are reading this thinking youse guys are total pussies.

Now this is exactly how you come onto this board as a noob. That is a great tattoo.

That Bob Wicks tattoo is really nice, I love the little subtleties he put into it like the shadows. I love Ron's tattoos.

Well, the nine to five does pay for tattoos. Seriously though, you have the rest of your life for that so you should take the opportunities to travel and explore and go on adventures and shit and enjoy it. Good luck and keep us posted.

You're getting a lot of tattoos from Ron, right?

Have you (not just you) tried airbnb? We usually stay with friends when we go to NYC but last time we booked into a nice studio in Boerum Hill in Brooklyn, just off Smith Street, so a quick and easy subway ride to Saved and within easy walking distance of friends, plus there are a lot of bars and restaurants around there, and it was a little over $100/night. We'll probably try using it again in February when we go down because we want to bring our dog with us.

So nice and I really dig the waves going into your armpit.

Yep, also here's the flash I mentioned above:

I like how casually you dropped that. Damn that is so good.