polliwog

I only have 6 tattoos, but I have 5 birds total. I feel some pressure to not choose birds, but I love bird tattoos in all their variety and might just go with it and get birds everywhere.

I hear lots of people around my age (29) refer to themselves as '80s/'90s kids. I usually take it to mean "the decade of my earliest pop culture-related memories" or something like that. It means that people 5 years younger than me are in grunge-retro bands even though they were infants in 1991. - - - Updated - - - Can we bring back "totally tubular?"

Communicate politely and leave a generous tip, I think. For my last tattoo, I changed my mind at more or less the last possible minute. This was choosing from flash rather than asking for something that would've involved a drawing long in advance, though obviously there's still work involved in copying and enlarging the image, etc. In retrospect I could've gone with either design and gotten an awesome tattoo and really didn't need to stress about it. People on here say "don't overthink it" often, and this is so true.

So deserved - it's a beautiful tattoo!

Aw HELL yeah. I hope it makes it further north eventually. There are some amazing collections of Asian art in New England, so I'm hoping some enterprising museum director realises it as a good fit.

You just hit the nail on the head. "Could this be better?" is a really shitty feeling to have AFTER you get the tattoo - and can sometimes be productive (maybe you'll research more carefully next time, get offline and talk to someone or crack a book) but can also lead to looking for flaws and seeking validation. Like if you don't get "the best" tattoo you've failed as a consumer. (Never mind "the best" relationship, apartment...)

Here's a pertinent thread: http://www.lastsparrowtattoo.com/forum/general-tattoo-discussion/506-feminism-tattoos.html I've tried and failed to write a post about my own relationship to gender and how it affects my choice of tattoos...but it's safe to say that for me they're a blessed opportunity to dispense with masculine/feminine. I mean even the lotion aisle at CVS needs to remind me that I can't make ungendered choices. I think I got my first tattoo with the half-baked idea that it was an appropriate choice for a woman, but since then it hasn't really been such a big deal. I realise that a lot of tattoo traditions are very tied to gender, though.

Maybe they called their moms when they were scared?

::is insufficently Brooklyn to understand what that means:: Thanks for clearing that up.

Preparing to sit out 24 hours of blizzard here in Boston. I've also had the flu since last Wednesday but finally feel great today - just in time to be housebound for another couple days. At least I made it out to the packy (which was much busier than the grocery store).

I got a small tattoo from Mario Desa when he was at Smith St recently - for what it's worth I absolutely don't look like any sort of person who should be getting tattooed in Brooklyn, but I felt relatively at ease there. Also the dog at that shop is the best dog. Check out this thread: http://www.lastsparrowtattoo.com/forum/general-tattoo-discussion/2057-smith-street-tattoo.html

I've had the flu since Wednesday night and this video's the only thing keeping me going:

Brains are weird. It's comforting to know that you've experienced some of the same weirdness, though.

Funny that you chose to resurrect this, because what I just posted in the post-tattoo blues thread probably belongs here. I don't think I'm getting tattooed at a particularly fast rate relative to a bunch of folks here, but that's not a realistic comparison for me to make. Like, I've enjoyed pushing past my comfort zone, but I can probably be a little more laid-back about it - my skin isn't going anywhere. Getting travel tattoos has been a lot of fun, but feeling spooked at how fast they've filled up space is probably a sign that I should put a little more planning into my next couple. Dealing with a bounty of contradictory advice from well-informed people can be way harder than tuning out all of the bad advice out there.

For some reason I'm struggling to adjust to how I look with the new one. I've only been working on my legs recently and I still have a ton of empty skin there, but it feels like I've made a big leap in terms of coverage. I know I'll get used to it, but it's a weird headspace to be in. I'll put up a squidpants photo when it's healed.

I'm home with a fever, so what's funny to me probably isn't funny to everyone else just now.

Bad jokes! I deleted this.

Speaking of cultural misunderstandings, joining this board and insulting a longtime contributor isn't the done thing around here. - - - Updated - - - Ashley Love's chubby pinups with tattoos are one of my favorite things.

One of the more pleasant surprises was how gentle Josh Arment is. I think I finally know what you all mean when you say someone's got a light hand...before I'd just assumed everyone on here was crazy.

I sort of enjoy reading during a tattoo. It's hard enough to concentrate that just directing your energy towards making sense of text is a good distraction. Obviously this won't help you if your arm's being tattooed. I've never tried listening to an audiobook, but I bet that would work well, too. I generally stare into space and just go with my weird thoughts. It helps if there's a lot of cool stuff to look at on the walls. One thing I do when I can't sleep is to try to tense my body and relax it down gradually, trying to stay as in-control as possible. This could work as long as you avoid moving the area being tattooed. Or get tattooed by Chad Koeplinger because he's so funny and personable that you won't really care that he's hurting you.

I think @AverageJer posted a picture of a Sailor Jerry fish he got a couple days ago? I hadn't been on here recently and wound up getting a similar tattoo on Saturday. It's from Rollo flash tweaked by Josh Arment at the Aloha Monkey. You guys, I can't begin to do justice to how cool everyone at this shop is. After some very, very embarrassing last-minute indecision I went back to the first thing that had caught my eye on the wall (and learned a lesson about not overthinking things). Sorry about the picture quality.

I love those. Congratulations.

I SO feel you on the Christmas bills/tattoo money thing. But money spent on tattoos and for other people doesn't really count.

So @SeeSea, Horitomo next? ;) Congratulations!

For a small place it has a lot of great food. I'm partial to Hot Suppa! (idiotic name, good breakfast) and Schulte & Herr. Speckled Ax makes delicious wood-roasted coffee. There's also fancier/trendier stuff that's out of my price range. My favorite aunt, uncle and cousins all live in Portland; I'll ask them about other things they like. The beaches are beautiful and it's easy to make a day trip to Portsmouth or Boston. Rents seem pretty reasonable; I think my cousin's about to pay $400/month for an apartment she'll be sharing with one other person. I've always dreamed of living in the top floor of one of the old houses on Munjoy Hill that overlooks the ocean. Would move there in a heartbeat. And proximity to Congress St. is a major, major plus. (Actually, have you checked out Portsmouth at all? I'm not sure how it compares cost-of-living wise, though - I think you may need to get further away from the center of town to find something affordable.) I love smaller, isolated New England towns. There's a lot that could put folks off about them, but as a lifer I find them to be pretty cozy places.