Getting Inked: After

After deciding to go through with getting a tattoo, and scheduling the appointment last Friday, I had quite the weekend of anticipation.  In my last blog, I talked about my apprehensions with the tattoo, (and those came roaring to the forefront while I was scheduling my appointment) made me really nervous.  As I was paying the deposit last Friday, the voice inside my head screamed very loudly all of the bad things that can come from having a tattoo:

Kind of like this...

But I made the appointment  regardless.

The weekend was very difficult, because the fact that this was actually going to happen for real was lingering in the back of my head (for those of you that don't know, I am a worrier, and often get stuck on things, especially life changing things.)  It was a good weekend, but every so often it would occur to me that this was happening.  Last night as I was typing my prior blog entry, something inside my head clicked off, and the worry changed to excitement, and I felt much more at peace with this move (I think what the it means to me is really important).

My sleep last night was a little bit rocky (not unexpected), but actually quite a lot better than I thought it would be, and I woke up this morning before the alarm went off (not a common occurance).  I felt good this morning (antsy really) in anticipation of what was to come.  I tried to imagine what it would feel like, running through both positive scenarios ("oh hey, is that a feather you are rubbing on my ribs") and negative scenarios ("I can't do this, I need to stop NOW!" *leaves with a tattoo of a line*) 

 

As it came closer to game time, I board the T and headed towards Davis Square, where the appointment was happening.  The T ride is easy, but long, and so I listened to some podcasts and killed time on my way.  I left a little bit of time, so that I wouldn't be late to the appointment, and luckily I did, because I was apparently so nervous, I got out one stop too soon, and had to wait for the next T going in that direction.  I have been to Davis Square several times, and after walking a few steps, it occurred to me that I was not at the correct stop...

 

 

Me at Porter

Alas, I arrived at Boston Tattoo Company (a pretty reputable, and very clean tattoo parlor).  I got there right around noon, just in time for my scheduled appointment.  Appointments, however are not like dentists appointments where you should really be there on time, because I didn't start the process until about 12:30 (in fairness, there was some set-up that needed to happen.)  While I waited, the artists who were waiting for their appointments to come in were chatting about the Walking Dead (a series that I have seen a little bit of, but am not super interested in watching more) so I sat there awkwardly...

Finally, it was time to go in, so i entered, they got me situated, and I laid down to make this thing happen.  No turning back now!  While I was lying there, I heard the buzzing, and it began.  My initial reactions were as follows: I am glad I could not see it happening, because I'm not the world's biggest fan of needles,  oh, this isn't so bad, a little pain, but I can manage, this actually REALLY hurts. I chose to get the tattoo on my ribs (because it is easy to hide, and a larger space on my very slight frame), and for those of you thinking of getting a tattoo and are not very tolerant of pain, that is NOT a good place to get a tattoo.  My closest comparison to anything tangible that I could think of (and sorry, this is pretty gross) was that it was like I was trying to pop the most painful back zit, but didn't get a break in between.  For the majority of the process, my whole body was very tense, trying to focus the pain energy somewhere else, while also trying to maintain a steady stream of calm breathing.  The artist was friendly, and on occasion, would attempt to comfort me or crack a joke of sorts, which helped me to stay in a more calm state of mind (one thing that was really cool was that another one of the tattoo artists there was giving a tattoo at the same time and is currently working her way through creating a tattoo of every one of the original 151 Pokemon).  Anyways, the only thing that was on my mind was "Is this done yet?!"  Instead of that, I settled for asking "How's it coming?"  The artist was very unhelpful with responses such as "it's coming along nicely."

Pretty much how I felt...

At last, he told me that I was all set!! I looked in the mirror and saw this:

Although it is a little big bigger than I initially planned, I am very happy with how it came out!!  My parting words for those thinking about getting a tattoo.

1. Make sure you really think about whatever it is that you are putting on your body.

2. TAKE YOUR TIME!  (Make sure to get it right)

3. Make sure to prepare yourself for the pain (especially if you have a low pain tolerance!)

For now, I am very happy with just one tattoo, but I am by no means ruling out getting others in the future (but definitely am not rushing to think of a new idea).  

Let me know what you all think!

Until Next Time!