AngelPie

Interesting. Well, just on a positive note. My parents were born and raised in the bible belt, however, they moved to California as soon as they had me because they weren't happy there. My mom was raised Southern Baptist, and never wanted to force any beliefs on me, therefore, as soon as I felt alienated in church, I stopped going, which was quite young. My mom took me to get my first piercings in high school because she said "At least a hole can heal, better than a tattoo!" Hah, so she actually went with me to hold my hand through my first tattoo a little while later. She thought it was so beautiful that she considered getting one done herself by the same artist. She has one tattoo. She was a very sheltered and goody-goody I like to call her, all her life, especially before she hit 30. However, in one rebellious moment, her girlfriends convinced her to get my dad's initials on her chest. She drank 3 beers through a straw and let someone do it right there in the bar with a needle and ink. Most of my life she told me they were my initials (my dad and I have the same ones). My mom makes me show my tattoo (on my ribs) EVERYWHERE I go, it's pretty annoying at this point. Meawhile my dad was as wild as they came growing up. He tried to get a tattoo once on his bicep, it was too painful for him. He has a DOT tattooed there, I think I must have made fun of it since I was 10 or so. When I showed him my first tattoo, he was blown away by it, and ashamed at the story of his dot tattoo, haha...he kept asking if I was ok, since I showed him when the tattoo was still fresh. I'm blessed to have great parents.

I have my ribs done, and I also fell asleep having them done (Done in 2 3-hour sessions). I was so overprepared for the pain, that I think it barely seemed painful once I was having it done. Maybe I have a high pain threshold. I am noticing that most (if not all) of the people that said the ribs were the most painful are male on this board. I will say that having them tattooed was a breeze for me, however, washing it the following day, I nearly fainted. Definitely the most irritating spot for healing for me so far.

I've asked a tattoo artist about this before and was told that if you're getting tattooed on either side in the same session, it's more likely that the first side (whichever side that happens to be) tends to be less painful and the 2nd side is more painful because all of your endorphins have rushed to relieve the 1st side's pain, so when they start on the other side, you don't have the same relief. Seems probably, but I have no idea what the truth is.