Let's Try This Again...

Okay, let's try a slightly more coherent entry, shall we?

Between my POS laptop freezing every few minutes and the fact I was watching TV while trying to blog last night, I feel like I made about as much sense as a hummingbird on cocaine. So let's rewind and try the whole thing again. *hits rewind button*

I had my consult with Russ last night, which turned into a totally different experience than I'd anticipated. As expected, he's a super nice guy. He was talking to someone when I arrived, but he didn't make me wait long. I began to explain my idea and he didn't seem that into it. He explained that if I ever decide to get my whole back tattooed, it might be better if it was something more cohesive as opposed to a mish mash of images. He showed me a picture in Prick (our local tattoo and piercing "lifestyle" rag) of a girl's back. Honestly, I wasn't sure what I was looking at. It was way too busy and just didn't make any sense. He said if I really wanted it, he could do it, but it was his professional opinion that I should either leave my back alone or save it for something much bigger and epic. So that led me to talk about my other ideas and through my babbling, I came to the puppet idea. I told him I'd contacted Malia about it, but hadn't heard back. He asked why I hadn't asked him. I told him if he thought he could get into it, as the idea of the Mucha was pretty much trashed, I was open to it as well. At that point, he told me to grab my stuff and "come on back".

I explained my vision as best I could and he helped me refine it a bit. First of all, he suggested she be larger than my original vision and take advantage of the natural articulation of my elbow. I could actually make her move when I moved my arm. I was intrigued and he began to sketch on my arm in Sharpie. It took a few rounds, but he finally found a basic outline that he was happy with. He also had me pose in a very awkward 4th position to see how it looked in 3D. He said he'd never done a puppet tattoo and that overall, they're pretty uncommon. I've been trying to search for puppet tattoos and haven't really found much. So apparently I've finally come up with an original tattoo idea. Go me!

From there, he transferred the sketch off my arm using his super secret technique, and made a few notes on it. We set up time for March 13 (a Friday...spooky) and I put down my deposit. I am concerned about his hourly rate, as I mentioned. I probably looked like a deer in headlights when he told me how much he charges. It's totally reasonable for the work you're getting and talent like his doesn't just grow on trees. However, I may have to call him closer to time and say "look, I can only pay you for about 2-2.5 hours". I don't think that's being rude or disrespectful of his pricing. If anything, I think it's being mature and up front with him. I really want to do this, but I don't want to be like "Oh by the way, I can't pay you for a 4 hour sitting". As I also mentioned previously, he said he only charges for actual tattooing time. If he's just sketching or we're taking a break or doing dance of the 7 veils or something that doesn't involve a needle in my skin, he doesn't charge. He also said he works pretty fast. So we could probably get a good bit done in 2-2.5 hours. Also, he wouldn't schedule any further sessions until a month or so later. By then, I'll probably have my tax return check in, so that will finance the rest of it with minimal stress on me. He actually wanted to start earlier, but I told him I wanted to get my peacock healed before I started another epic piece. Unfortunately Mark won't get to watch this session because it's on a Friday, but Russ said I should swing by and show him when we finish whatever we finish. Though after a quick number crunch, I think I might be able to afford 3 hours if I stick to my budget (which I haven't been doing, though some of it was beyond my control).

A few funny moments...
He called me "Em" at some point and he was like "I'm sorry, I'm nicknaming you and we just met half an hour ago". I told him it was fine and that people rarely call me by my given name and I've trained myself to respond to any variant of my full name. I think only Mark, Shane, and people at work call me Emily on a regular basis. Heck, even my manager calls me Em or M&M half the time.

He also couldn't get the Sharpie off my arm. He used a flesh color and brown and the brown absolutely refused to come off, even when he poured alcohol the paper towel and scrubbed my arm. He apologized profusely and it told him it was no big deal. When I got home I took some oil based make up remover to it and that got the worst of it off. Of course, my arm was sore from all the contorting it took to get it all off. I find myself regularly manhandled by tattooists. :)

So I think that made more sense and I hope gave a better overview of my latest adventure to becoming a true "collector". My parents are going to flip their shit, but at this point, there isn't much I can do about that.

Edit: I just checked Russ' site and he said he's willing to work with "limited budgets", just let him know in advance. So I guess I'll call a few days before and let him know the exact amount of time I can afford. That's certainly a relief. :)

More Potential Retirements and General Updates

Haven't heard back from Malia, but I really wasn't expecting to. The shop manager messaged me and said she should be getting back to me in a few days. It's not like there's a rush on it.

I need to call Mark this afternoon. I'll probably do it as I go to work out. I could probably do it from my desk, but honestly, I like to keep those kinds of conversations as private as possible. Some things I'm fine with talking about in earshot of others, but my tattoos (and money) are not on the list.

Apparently Christina has taken over ownership of Piercing Experience and she's working on making it a friendlier place. I'm pretty happy about that. She's a cool chick and I think she can get people who are equally cool. She was about the only one who wouldn't talk down to you or sound like she was talking down to you. I hope she succeeds and if so, I might consider going back there again. This is helped by the fact that Melanie is out of town until further notice. Of course, I'm not really in a piercing kind of mood. I'm even considering taking some out. My VCH has been bugging the crap out of me, especially since I've had the worst period in recent memory this week. My nipples still haven't healed after a YEAR. I like my navel piercing, so I'll probably keep it and I like the stuff in my ears. I don't think I'm going to redo my tragii. I may get an inner conch done. I hear those can be tempermental, but since I have the H20cean now, I'm a bit more optimistic on that front.

I whacked my nose stud at least 3 times in my sleep. It's all red and irritated today. It got a good cleaning and I took some Advil, so I hope that will help calm it down. The chest dermal is happy as well. It's been the best behaved of all my piercings, interestingly enough. I really don't have any trouble with it. I just keep an eye on it when I'm pulling off certain kinds of shirts.

Not really getting excited about Lola yet. Probably because I've been spacey, tired, crabby, and overworked this past week. I haven't really been able to focus on it. Instead I've been focusing on how crappy a period I've been on and I can't seem to keep anything in my head for more than 10 minutes. *sigh*

Getting Rid of Stress

I'm going to put myself out of this ridiculous stress over how much Lola is going to cost tomorrow. I'm just going to call Mark later today and say how much I can afford. It's still on par with what he's charged in the past, so I don't feel like I'm a cheap bitch because of it. It doesn't look like my birthday money is going to arrive on time, so I just have to make due with what I have. I know I'll feel much better when there's a set price.

The nose was swollen pretty badly this morning. I know I whacked it at least once when I was asleep. It was the worst I've seen it. I did the usual routine and iced it twice using my water bottle. I'll probably do it again when I get a refill. I don't know if any of the swelling has gone down, but there isn't really much more I can do. I can't drink at my party tonight because I've taken so much Advil. I'd like to keep my kidneys and liver functioning beyond my 24th birthday. :P Oh the sacrifices I make for my mods...

No Witty Title Today...

More bruising today on my chest. I'm not surprised. It wasn't too pleasant to give it a massage in the shower, but I did a little bit. It feels perfectly secure. I think the L shaped jewelry made it much happier. I was actually worried because it didn't hurt when I woke up this morning and I was like "is it still there?". It was and just as happy and flat against my skin as before. So yay for that. It'll probably still look kinda gross on Saturday when I go back. Apparently Jason will want to inspect it. I'm fine with that.

Speaking of Saturday, I'm calling Mark tomorrow to confirm everything. As I mentioned in my previous entry, we didn't really get to talk so I said I'd just call. I guess I could've called today, but I had to work and I figured give him a day or so to look her over and ponder how to make it work. That being said, she will be on my right side. For a brief time I thought about putting her on my thigh, but after inspecting the mole situation (absolutely not allowed to tattoo over known moles), I decided something more linear would be better in that spot.

As for the payment situation, I think I'm going get together as much cash as I can and pay him as much as I can up front. I'll try to explain the situation on the phone tomorrow. I can afford a $300-$350 piece. I generally don't like carrying that much cash, but if I get it the day of then it shouldn't be too bad. Plus, by then all my other bills will have come out so I'll know how much I can take out. Go me.

I've only whacked my nose stud a few times today so maybe my brain is getting the hint that there's something there. Now that I've said that I'll probably whack it 8 times in 2 minutes. :P