My first tattoo
Jul. 5th, 2005 12:54 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
chochiyo_samaHere is my very first tattoo. I would love to tell the whole story of getting this one.
I was tattooed by Steve Butterfield, whose professional name is "The Alien." At the time, Steve was dating my good friend Pam. He offered to give me a tattoo for my birthday.
At that time, I didn't ever think that *I* would have a tattoo. I thought it would be horrifically painful and also that it just "wasn't me." Heh
Now I have four--and I want one more, at least...maybe two...
So, anyway.
Pam, Steve, and I were sitting in Pam's apartment on New Year's Eve drinking Tia Maria and talking. I was completely buzzed up on caffeine and adrenaline, and they were totally teasing the shit out of me about getting the tattoo. So, finally, I said I would do it.
Then Pam fell asleep, and Steve and I talked for a long time about all kinds of stuff. About three in the morning, Pam woke up and kicked my out of the apartment. (It was okay, since I lived one floor below her. Heh heh.)
I was still totally buzzed up, so I was listening to this late night call in radio program that I ALWAYS listened to. I never slept much in those days, and was up almost every night almost all night long.
I had become a regular listener to Dark Star's radio show. Dark was terribly opinionated and kind of a shit, but I really liked him. The topic of his program was "New Year's Resolutions." NOBODY was calling in. (I suppose everyone was either still partying or already passed out.)
So I called in and announced my intention to get a tattoo. This set them back and they started talking about what I was going to get and WHERE I was going to put it. And how I would "reveal" the tattoo to a significant other and so on and so on.
I told him that I wanted a butterfly on my left wrist, small enough so that my watch band would cover it up if I wanted it to, and only *I* would know it was there--and when everyone thought I was just this humdrum old maid, I could peek under my watchband and know in my heart that I was a WILD THING. Heh heh heh.
He got a kick out of that.
So, in the course of the conversation, Dark and I got quite cozy and for some reason which I don't remember now I told him my deep, dark secret--that I was the world's oldest virgin. heh heh heh.
So, he had a great time with that too. He made me promise after being on the radio with him for almost two hours, that I would CALL him before I had this tattoo done so we could discuss it further.
Later I found out he had replayed our whole conversation at least once on another night--some of my friends had heard it. Heh heh. So I became quite the radio personality in my circle of friends. Heh heh
So, in February, when I had finally screwed up the courage to go get it done, I called him from Steve's shop, which at that time was a scuzzy place on Lake Street. Pam and I often went up there and hung out at the shop, watching Steve work. It was always amazing to me what people had tattooed on their bodies.
And one thing that I learned sitting around up there was that some of the scariest looking people I had ever seen were also some of the sweetest, kindest, and gentlest people I had ever met.
That was quite educational for me.
So, I called Dark Star up--it was a political discussion night and people were really ripping into each other and him--my tattoo conversation was the only levity going on during the show that night.
So, I was interviewed live on the air as I was tattooed. And Steve was interviewed as he was tattooing me.
It was quite a memorable experience.
I was tattooed by Steve Butterfield, whose professional name is "The Alien." At the time, Steve was dating my good friend Pam. He offered to give me a tattoo for my birthday.
At that time, I didn't ever think that *I* would have a tattoo. I thought it would be horrifically painful and also that it just "wasn't me." Heh
Now I have four--and I want one more, at least...maybe two...
So, anyway.
Pam, Steve, and I were sitting in Pam's apartment on New Year's Eve drinking Tia Maria and talking. I was completely buzzed up on caffeine and adrenaline, and they were totally teasing the shit out of me about getting the tattoo. So, finally, I said I would do it.
Then Pam fell asleep, and Steve and I talked for a long time about all kinds of stuff. About three in the morning, Pam woke up and kicked my out of the apartment. (It was okay, since I lived one floor below her. Heh heh.)
I was still totally buzzed up, so I was listening to this late night call in radio program that I ALWAYS listened to. I never slept much in those days, and was up almost every night almost all night long.
I had become a regular listener to Dark Star's radio show. Dark was terribly opinionated and kind of a shit, but I really liked him. The topic of his program was "New Year's Resolutions." NOBODY was calling in. (I suppose everyone was either still partying or already passed out.)
So I called in and announced my intention to get a tattoo. This set them back and they started talking about what I was going to get and WHERE I was going to put it. And how I would "reveal" the tattoo to a significant other and so on and so on.
I told him that I wanted a butterfly on my left wrist, small enough so that my watch band would cover it up if I wanted it to, and only *I* would know it was there--and when everyone thought I was just this humdrum old maid, I could peek under my watchband and know in my heart that I was a WILD THING. Heh heh heh.
He got a kick out of that.
So, in the course of the conversation, Dark and I got quite cozy and for some reason which I don't remember now I told him my deep, dark secret--that I was the world's oldest virgin. heh heh heh.
So, he had a great time with that too. He made me promise after being on the radio with him for almost two hours, that I would CALL him before I had this tattoo done so we could discuss it further.
Later I found out he had replayed our whole conversation at least once on another night--some of my friends had heard it. Heh heh. So I became quite the radio personality in my circle of friends. Heh heh
So, in February, when I had finally screwed up the courage to go get it done, I called him from Steve's shop, which at that time was a scuzzy place on Lake Street. Pam and I often went up there and hung out at the shop, watching Steve work. It was always amazing to me what people had tattooed on their bodies.
And one thing that I learned sitting around up there was that some of the scariest looking people I had ever seen were also some of the sweetest, kindest, and gentlest people I had ever met.
That was quite educational for me.
So, I called Dark Star up--it was a political discussion night and people were really ripping into each other and him--my tattoo conversation was the only levity going on during the show that night.
So, I was interviewed live on the air as I was tattooed. And Steve was interviewed as he was tattooing me.
It was quite a memorable experience.
More guts than me ...
Date: 2005-07-05 06:37 am (UTC)I hate needles so much that I never even had my ears pierced.
Laurie
Needles....
Date: 2005-07-05 01:54 pm (UTC)It makes a buzzing noise like a dentist's drill, and the "discomfort" is minimal, in my opinion. If you have a good tattoo artist, it really should not HURT. AFter the first few minutes, your nerves are overstimulated, and you don't feel anything at all. In fact, I find the sensation kinda pleasant--like a REALLY DEEP massage. (Steve says I am a "sick freak"--just like him. Heh heh heh)
When I had InuYasha done, there was so much color--especially RED, which *I* think is more intense than the other colors in the "discomfort" department, that it felt like burning--not not horrible and unbearable, but not especially pleasant.
The recovery is worse, in my opinion, that the actual ordeal because it feels like a really really bad sunburn. And it gets itchy too.
Heh.
I'll post the other two eventually, but they are in locations difficult for me to photograph myself. (One is on the back of my neck, the other on my right shoulder.)
no subject
Date: 2005-07-05 08:34 am (UTC)Have a good one.
--Avatar
Wonderful Truth
Date: 2005-07-05 03:04 pm (UTC)Everything's a metaphor!
:)
http://www.livejournal.com/users/chochiyo_sama/2005/04/16/
Oh, and BTW--
Date: 2005-07-05 03:04 pm (UTC)Good to see you!!
Re: Oh, and BTW--
Date: 2005-07-06 08:31 am (UTC)--A