Premature ejaculation

It's what happens when you have an itch to dance, but because there's nothing on, you grasp at RNB. It's when you rock up at the club at 9-freaking-30pm because that's when it starts. It's when you still manage to catch the last tubes home at midnight. It's 00:35 and I'm in bed already (this is when B and I normally leave home to catch the last tubes out to a dance club). It's where you go to meet guys who will stand next to you looking all nonchalant, and will wait for the girl to say the first word. Wow, that's not *awkward*. Grow some fcking balls! (sez I, as I stumble down the road home in my clickety-clackety patent RnB heels and shiny shiny RnB top).

"I likes showing off my tattoo"
(You can tell because it's freaking cold atm and he's holding his jumper)

The truth is, nice guys finish last because they don't have the balls to open their mouths. They don't make the effort to say, "Hey, you know what? You look fcking hot on the dance floor tonight and I'd love for you to do a shot with me".

Not sure about the other girls, but that'd work for me. Free booze! ;P As opposed to the, "HEY! WHAT'S YOUR NAME?!?!", I got tonight. "It's None of Your Fcking Business...", is what I was saying in my head.

Stick yer arm out!

Me: "Do you mind if I take a picture of your tattoo?"
Random Guy: "Yeah owright, but quickly, I've got a train to catch..."

Err, unfortunately for me, I've had a Bloody Mary + pint of lager + half a bottle o'red. Enough to make me not focus properly...

Other people's tattoos

Think I'll start taking pix of other people's tattoos...




... just for fun :)

Favela Paintings

Favela paintings was a project I read about ages ago. An art project by Dutch artists (Jeroen Koolhaas and Dre Urhahn) in the favelas of Brasil. They're in Vila Cruzeiro, one of Rio's most notorious areas. Their message is, "About one fifth of Rio's population lives in some 700 favelas. Although many have access to running water and electricity, most lack the basics in healthcare facilities and education. Help the children of Rio's favelas use their creativity to fight social exclusion. Help us make more and bigger paintings." Read their blog. These guys get shot at by the police.

Here's a finished piece :)

Lately, I've been contemplating one "last" tattoo (yes yes, I know I've said it before, at least twice!) to mark the end of a chapter and the start of another. Of course - I want Rob Admiraal. The first choice I had in mind for my koi. No other artist I think, for my last. Imagine my surprise when I did some research on Rob, and came across Favela Paintings again :)

My koi tattooist, was Lina Stigsson, personally recommended by Rob, and they share the same studio :) Sooo, do you see any similarities between...

Rob's fishies:

and my fishie? *big grin*

(or is it just cause I've had some to drink?)

I love it when real life and blogs collide :)

IIITCHYYY

This is seriously an endurance test. Gawd... I don't know what's worse, the pain for 4.5 hours, or the itchiness that's been going on for the past 48 hours. Can't scratch or the ink comes off. The skin's starting to scab and peel. It's interesting to see the colour beneath the peel. I'm feeling reptilian. I'm also getting extremely paranoid. I keep staring at my butt, and for the first time in a loooong time, I've noticed something -

OMG. Look at all that CELLULITE O_o

It's been that long since I looked closely at my buttocks...

So, here's what I know about tattoo care (which, to be honest, isn't much):
- Tattoos apparently like warm water. So shower with extremely warm water.
- Don't aim the water directly at the tattoo. Don't soak in hot tubs or baths. Showers only. Water will lift the scab.
- Use a mild soap.
- I moisturise twice a day. Once in the morning and once at night. Use a lotion with no fragrance. My tattooist recommended Vaseline Intensive Care. I've also used Nivea before, on my dragon, and that turned out well.

See how it goes, eh?

PS to Joh: I never knew you had a tattoo!!! I didn't get around to asking you about it last night! You've been hiding it!

Moy! Moy!

With all things in life, there's always such a massive difference when you deal with professionals - People who know how to do their job, and to do it really well. When I got my first tattoo, I walked into a tattoo shop in Newtown, showed my ID and had it done pretty dang quickly. I walked out with a not-so-good blue rose.

When I got my second tattoo, I didn't do any research either. I picked something I liked and had it done by a random guy. He did a good job, but it was just inking in a big dragon. Not much detail involved. Plus, there were people walking in and out of the tattoo room while I was there sitting in my bra.
Random guy: "What's that?"
Tattooist: "Tribal dragon" (d’uh)
Random guy: "Cooool maaan..."

Not the most confidence inspiring experience.

This time round, I did my research. I wanted someone good, and I wanted it done in a style which suited me. So I started looking up A LOT of tattooists. I looked through Needled. I tried looking through BME (NSFW), that was too hard. Finally, I looked through the London Tattoo Convention website. That's where I found Rob Admiraal :) Unfortunately, Rob's a busy man, and even though I tried back in January to get an appointment, he was already booked out till 2008! I met Rob on the weekend, and he's hilarious :) He's the Karaoke tattooist who bursts out into song while tattooing! I saw Rob at work, and his work, is seriously beautiful. Lekker! Lekker!

So Rob recommended Lina as the tattooist for me since he couldn't do it. Lina is Rob's "right hand" girl, as in, I think Lina did the tattoos on his right arm *grin* I'm glad he recommended Lina, because her style was exactly what I wanted :)

What did I want? A koi!

I met with Lina on Saturday to discuss size, position and colours. She talked me through my options and made me feel a lot more confident about it. We were ready to go. On Sunday, I arrived half an hour early for the appointment, and had time to contemplate what I was about to do. I felt like throwing up into the idyllic Dutch canal. I knew I wanted it. I also knew that it was going to hurt.

When Lina arrived, she prepped infront of me. It was comforting to see her prep. Everything was cleaned down and wrapped, from the lamp, to the squeeze bottles. She brought her inks out, inspected her equipment. I knew things were clean. She transferred the design onto my skin and had a discussion with Rob about... well, the discussion was in Dutch *grin* It was apparently about the placement of water. I trusted them.

I think I said it with the dragon, but this time I mean it - this is the absolute last tattoo for me. I can see how tattooing is addictive, such a large amount of space to fill! But, the pain, holy fcking cow, the pain.

Yes, it hurt. A lot. Worse than what I remember with the dragon. The first hour was the hardest. Lina placed me in different positions throughout the experience, and it was only appropriate that the first position was the foetal position. I felt like I needed my Mum! (Hrm, which reminds me, how on earth am I going to tell my Mum?!?) The pain's a funny thing. It's not consistent, and it's not something I got used to. Sometimes, I barely felt a ticklish tingle. Sometimes, it felt like someone was stabbing me through my back and carving a chunk of me out. Sometimes, I could feel the vibrations from the tattoo gun all the way down my left leg, and I had to clench and unclench my toes to make the pain bearable. When Lina started tattooing, I could literally feel my skin shrinking away from the needle as it got closer. I had to remind myself to keep breathing. It took a lot of energy for me to stay still at times.

After ONE hour, the outline is complete. Long way to go yet:

So, have I talked you out of having a tattoo yet? :) If you want to test your pain threshold, tattoos are a good way to start. By the way, the pain has nothing to do with Lina's skill. She was awesome and honestly, there were times I could've fallen asleep. The pain has to do with my body's reaction to needles stabbing certain parts of me :P Certain parts of everyone's body are just extremely sensitive. Nothing you can do about it.

The shading in, was surprisingly more bearable than the outlining. I was okay for most of it. In the remaining 3.5 hours, I had one more break, then we ploughed on. Lina started tattooing at 12PM, and finally stopped at 4:30PM. By that time, I was about ready to cry out, "STOP! I'll come back tomorrow!". I think my flesh was beyond sore at that point. The last half hour, I was wincing, making fists and muffling some whimpers. But it was over! :D And here is my koi:

So here's my plug for Lina - the BEST tattooist I've ever had :) I trusted Lina as a talented tattoo artist who knew what she was doing, and she made me feel good about getting the tattoo. I LOVE my happy koi. Moy! Moy! I saw some of Lina's tattoo photos, and she's done some amazing sleeves. If you want a tattoo you're never going to regret, make an appointment with Lina Stigsson at Admiraal Studio. Or see Lina in Rondon at this year's tattoo convention in October :)

Lina working on my tattoo:

Lina's website: www.myspace.com/linastigsson
Rob Admiraal Tattoo Studio
http://www.admiraaltattoo.com
Marnixstraat 151
1015 VM Amsterdam
The Netherlands
phone: +31 (0)20 622 32 18
email: info@admiraaltattoo.com

Rob Admiraal, the talented Singing Tattooist!

Commitment

If you want commitment, get a tattoo. There's no rollback once the needle sinks into skin.

Having a really big dragon on my back makes random strangers (mainly wasters in clubs) think they can reach out to touch it. It's irritating. I value my personal space and hate being touched by randoms. *Uggh* get your germy paws off me.

Having a really big dragon on my back also gets me some inevitable questions from people *sigh* Here's the FAQ based on my own experience.
1. Did it hurt?
Errrr, you don't have to know much about tattooing to realise a needle is used to permanently embed ink into your skin. Think about it, why _wouldn't_ it be painful? Of course it hurts!

According to How Stuff Works, tattoo artists use "an electrically powered tattoo machine that resembles (and sounds like) a dental drill. The machine moves a solid needle up and down to puncture the skin between 50 and 3,000 times per minute. The needle penetrates the skin by about a millimeter and deposits a drop of insoluble ink into the skin with each puncture."

Approx 3,000 times a minute... It's truly a masochistic experience.

2. Am I born in the Year of the Dragon?
No. Fair enough assumption to make, I guess. Since I'm oriental. But come on, I've grown out of cliches :)

3. Does it mean anything?
It's an ancient Chinese symbol carved into my back and blessed by monks (the kickass kung-fu type) when I was just 3 years old. When I cry out, "PIKACHU, I CHOOSE YOU!",the dragon materialises into life and eats my enemy. Inflicts Damage -201. Wah!

To me, it's a great piece of art. To my father it's a great piece of self-mutilation. When I was 22, I walked into a tattoo shop in Ybor City, fell in love with the design and got it. Of course, at the time, I was with some very concerned friends, who stopped me from getting it straight away. You know who you are, gals :P So I actually had to sneak out of the apartment, and do a stealth mission one night. To be honest, the dragon looked a lot smaller on the wall *lol*

4. What's going to happen when I grow old, or stop liking it?
This question REALLY annoys me. Fickle people. I'm not like you :P Don't do things that you're going to regret just because of age. When I grow old, the tattoo will still be there. Regardless of how it looks, I'll still love it because it's part of my history. If I don't love it, heck it's on my back and I can't see it :P

So why all this talk about tattoos? Cause... I have a confession to make. When I was 19, I got a really REALLY corny tattoo of a *whisper* blue rose on the back of my left hip *cringe*

My excuse is, I was 19! And like I said in Point #2, I've grown out of cliches ;) As an aside, if your kids ever want a tattoo, tell them they have to get past their teenage years first.

Why a blue rose? Oh you know, cause roses don't come in blue naturally, and it's therefore unique. Well, it _was_ unique until one of my best buddies who was with me, decided to get the same tattoo!!!! *lol* Ah well, it's touching that we have the same tattoo. Buddies forever.

That is, buddies until this weekend *grin* DM, you know I love ya (and I also know you don't read my blog, so hopefully you won't find out!) ;) I'll be honest, I don't regret getting the tattoo, but I've always thought it could've been done better. The tattoo doesn't even look much like a blue rose. My brother once commented that it looked like a weed :( So this weekend, I'm getting it fixed in Amsterdam! It's getting replaced by something else. That's assuming my Dutch tattooist remembers my appointment... He's a little slack on the email communication front :P

Excited? Yes, I am. How do I feel about the pain? Not good. Although the area is fattier above my hip than on my back, it still HURTS.