I mentioned in my last entry that I forgot my camera, and hoped I would remember it this time. Ummm... oops. Nikki had me stop at a Wal-Green's and get a disposable camera. I haven't gotten the pictures back from that yet, so I'll have to tide you over with pics taken at our box-ridden apartment on Tuesday, a day later.
We were almost at the tattoo place, and we got pulled over by a cop. I was going 55 in a 35? First of all, it's ridiculous to post a speed limit of 35 mph on a three-lane highway. Second of all, I don't think I was going that fast. But he gave us a break (I suppose) by writing the ticket as being only 5 miles over the limit. He left, I pulled out of the bank in which I had turned into to "pull over," and lo and behold. The tattoo parlor, Happy Tats, is right there. We almost made it! Grrrr!
While Nikki and I are waiting for me to be seated in "The Chair," two other people walk in. It seems they also have an appointment at 12 noon. It turned out that I was actually supposed to come next Monday, but they messed up and told me to come the same Monday as these two. Since my appointment was approximately five hours in length, and the other people would only take an hour and a half, we were asked to come back then. They did try to put off these folks for another time, but one of them was going to be out of town, yadda yadda yadda. So we hung out at Wendy's for a bit and then came back, and waited for another hour. I was finally seen at 2:30 PM, and after gabbing about the tattoo and figuring out just how I wanted it done, the actual tattooing began at 3 PM.
Wow, it hurt. A LOT. It hurt so much due to where he was working. The chest was excruciating. The inside of my arm (that soft part) was torture. The shoulder and outer arm hurt too, but the back was a breeze in comparison. I squeezed Nikki's hand until my hand got tired. Then I squeezed some more. Because of the tattoo being over my birthmark, he had to keep going over it again and again, because the color just wasn't taking. And because he was using a lot of blue, he had to keep wiping the area over and over since it smears. Wiping HURTS. BAD. All the nerve endings in the other areas that hadn't been touched for a few minutes just wake up and start screaming!
The plus side, other than my baby being there with me, was that Happy is a really nice guy. We had some nice conversation. And he played some really fine (read: heavy) music too, which helped to get my mind off the pain. I found it hard to talk during the tender spots, though. One syllable answers were all I could muster while I was feeling like my skin was being torn off my body.
He stopped the torture at 7:45 PM. To my credit, I didn't issue a single tear. A few whimpers, and some leg thrashing during some wiping, but that was all. Oh yes, I did tremble and have my teeth chatter when he was blazing over my chest. And I must've sweated a bucket-full. He told me to stand up, and then to come closer. He wiped me again, over the entire tattoo. YOW! Then he said he would finish this in two and a half weeks. He stopped before having the chest finished, since he knew I was in extreme agony from having that area worked on three times already. So I'll have another hour and a half of agony. Oh happy day.
We figured out an appointment time, and then he told me again to "come here." I did, reluctantly, and he smeared petroleum jelly all over it. Once more, excruciating pain. I started backing away and that made him laugh. I told him, "Right now, Happy equals pain. In a week or so, Happy will equal awesome dude, but as for now, you just equal pain." Nikki started laughing her ass off, but I was at least partly serious. I was ready to run out of there! But it was worth it.
Well... I hope so, actually. I'm not quite sure, but the red from the birthmark might be starting to show through the light blue colors of the tattoo. Not good! I hope it doesn't start looking like crap, with red showing through the light blue, and maybe even the darker blue. Maybe he could tattoo purple over the light blue? It would make the claws stand out more anyway. I want the head to stand out more also, but there's purple around it already. I do want the eye to be red.
Right now, my pain is quite bearable. I can reach my eye with my left arm, and hold it straight out to the side of me (like the silhouette in the tattoo). I still can't lift it over my head. Hopefully tomorrow. The inside of my arm is red and swollen, even four inches away from the tattoo. My back is fine. It stings when I wash it. The rest doesn't sting. It burns. Happy told me that I was nuts for getting this as my first tattoo. It was a really rough ride. But then, I wanted this birthmark covered up and done away with, once and for all. Hopefully it won't rear it's ugly head and ruin this awesome tattoo. Time can only tell.
Be sure to tune in tonight, to see photos of the tattoo in progress!
Oh, one other thing. If I had known how bad this sucker would hurt, for five damn hours, well I might've never gotten it done. Ignorance can be good for reaching one's goals... at least in my case.
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