else

Yeah. Having browsed a few other tattoo forums I think that this one is by far the best. The smartest, most thoughtful, and most generous people are here... a lot of those other ones are pretty awful by comparison. And I think @Lochlan alluded to this on your first thread, but I would question the veracity/validity of any information you got from people who were willing to share with you without having some kind of relationship first. Is "the full GFE" really the same as having a girlfriend?

I <3 Finland and Finnish people. His Facebook is still up, just looked at his photos there. I love the polar bear he did in '09.

Viagra? :p

Maybe I'm just sensitive to stuff, but it seems a bit presumptuous... shouldn't it be phrased in the form of a question? Something like "Hi, blah, blah, blah... I would like to use this forum to interview you guys on your opinions of your tattoos. Is that ok?"

You guys are all so fun to hang out with! Love this kind of stuff! No wonder LST has made it to the tip top of my list.

We got the same lecture in speech pathology school. A part of the grade in our clinicals was based on appearance and adherence to the dress code. My profession is actually very conservative in that respect... the PTs and OTs I have worked with have often joked about how they get to come to work in scrubs and the speech therapist shows up in heels and pearls. (Not me - I'm more of a scrubs kind of lady - or at least "business casual". I don't even own any pearls!) I've known many PTs and OTs with visible tattoos but I've only ever met one speech therapist with a potentially visible tattoo and she kept hers constantly covered at work.

A while back, when the compulsion to get my legs tattooed became impossible to ignore anymore, his was one of the first tattoo blogs I came across. I was so impressed with what I saw there that it made me re-think everything I had believed about what a tattoo was. I knew I wanted tattoos as good as what he was doing... and so I started googling stuff like "how to get a really good tattoo" and ended up here. His work completely changed my impression of what is even possible with tattooing. I owe him a beer probably! Who knows what kind of work I'd be getting if I hadn't found him and thus found you guys. I might've ended up with a marilyn monroe blow-up doll or something!

Looks like I'll be going!! :-) Got booked with somebody there so now I've got to!

I LOVE M.I.A. And - one of my favorite ways to torture my teenaged daughter used to be to sing along to songs that I "shouldn't" know in front of her friends. I was fairly current on all the new-ish hip-hop and rap as of 2 years ago. The vast majority of it I hated. There were a few bits and pieces that were alright though.

I just choked on my dinner salad!

Ugh! I watched the whole thing. I feel every bit as judged by him as I did by that other site we've been discussing... except maybe even more so and worse because he pretends to be so un-judgey initially. Gah!

Totally random I know - a few years ago my best friend found a large porcelain face Jesus doll that looks EXACTLY like my Dad did when I was a little kid. Totally creepy. She offered to give it to me but I thought it best if she kept it. I just pull it out to get the heebie-jeebies every so often when I'm at her house.

I think waxing might be a good bet. I've had years of experience with waxing various parts of my body and never had any ingrown hairs or irritation from it. It's not terribly expensive to have it done professionally either.

Nah! Not really. ;) I know what I like stylistically... but honestly, within that style and with a few exclusions, I don't really care much. I like roses A LOT. I also like most other flowers. I like tigers and panthers and lions and housecats and cheetahs and wolves and bats and most other animals too. I like swallows and sparrows and ravens and bluebirds and robins and starlings... you get my drift. I think that, over the past few years, having had to come face to face with the fact that there are no guarantees in this life, I've become a lot more open to whatever life wants to offer me... and that is (obviously) bleeding into my sense of what is "right" for me to get tattooed. I don't feel picky. Right now my strategy is to go to good, solid tattooers with my list of exclusions and see what they come up with. There are things that I won't have on me... but that list is so, so much smaller than the vast expanses of what is possible to tattoo! It's like an adventure on my very own skin! (Sorry we've taken this so far off topic!! We should get back to "tattoo healing.)

@Delicious I've got some stuff lined up ;) I'm feeling a little bit superstitious about putting it out in the world though - I'm afraid I might jinx it! You'll ALL know soon enough! (Like 1/18!).

Hooray!!

I'm in sort of a race against the clock... I'm not *that* old, but I don't know how much longer I'll be able to work. So, while I'm still working and making money, I'm going to get as many tattoos as my body and my budget can stand. Starting with squid pants and then we'll see...

Ahhh! I didn't realize how young you are! You've got TONS of time! :)

Why not?

I spent a year in a "youth home" in Georgia as a teen. It was something. It definitely contributed to making me the person that I am today (but probably not exactly in the ways they intended).

Oh geez! Did you read the rest of the pages?!? I only read the next two The Mark of Blood and The Cup of Devils but apparently we're all going to spend eternity in the fiery pits. - - - Updated - - - A big part of my family growing up was hardcore pentecostal. My great grandmother regularly spoke in tongues, the devil was lurking EVERYWHERE to tempt the weak. I was even exorcised once as a teenager (a TERRIFYING experience). I really hate all of this stuff. Super anxiety provoking. In my current life filled with people who are very inclusive in their beliefs I often forget that this kind of thing is out there.

Awww! Thanks @slayer9019 super sweet of you. I wish I was in NJ! I'm in Rockdale Texas, population 5,580. 2 gas stations, 2 bars, a car wash, an auto parts store... the dining out options are pretty much Sonic and Dairy Queen. Ugh! I spent all day Saturday in Austin though and had a fabulous time. I'm planning to spend most of my free time away from Rockdale for the duration of this contract. I'm used to being in bigger towns with more travelers and we all kind of glom together. I don't know anyone in Austin but I've got a dear friend in College Station which is only about 30 minutes from here so it's not a completely lonesome experience. And I brought my spinning wheel along this time so I'll have something to do in the evenings.

Happy Birthday @slayer9019 :-) This is a bit of a blue New Year's for me... It's just me and "New Year's Rockin' Eve" in my hotel room tonight. No champagne, but I picked up a bottle of Knob Creek on super sale over the weekend. On the plus side - it looks like I'll be able to get out of this hotel and into an apartment tomorrow! I am sick to death of eating out of the microwave... can't wait to fire up a stove top and cook a proper meal.

I came across this the other day and thought it was cool. Edward Deeds, Outsider Artist, Leaves Behind Hauntingly Innocent Drawings From Mental Institution (PHOTOS, INTERVIEW)

I love your knee cat by the way :-)