My first tattoo

[chochiyo_sama]

My first tattoo
Originally uploaded by Cho_Chiyo.

Here 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.