TATTOOS

it's like this-
i'm making tattooing fun again.
that isn't say every tattoo is fun.
y'feel me?
that's just it, really....
the experience is as important as the outcome.
nobody wants to go have a bad time, do they?
i know i don't.
so, i'm out here at AMPERSAND TATTOO,
zippin' and zappin', chattin' and joke-crackin'
and generally making the most of the time and energy spent
at my avocado-colored home away from home.
and while i'm there, i do tattoos.
some of 'em are not fun.
but, i still have fun always.
ANYway,
yesterday i did a couple of sweet tattz.
the first?
a butterflag tribute to a soldier who keeps it real in the even colder and wintrier
and harder-styled bigger mountains of colebrook, new hampshire.
yikes!
y'know what's going on way up there?
tough times and rough scenes.
at least they know where to go for the fresh tattoos, though, amirite??
word.
check it:

butterflag!
shoutouts to america and the army and also butterflies.
yeah.
-
and then i did an xray bear on rusty:

i think it's from a beer thing?
i dunno.
it's a lotta teeny tiny untattooed spots, and that's always a balancing act.
y'gotta make 'em big enough to age well,
but small enough to look likewhat they're s'posed to be.
which is bear fingers and sh!t.
ha.
-
did i have fun?
yeah.
being there is inherently entertaining.
i mean, there's always something to do,
and there's always ways to improve the days and the weeks and the months-
mostly it's through productivity.
to that end:
i started 2 5" skull circles;
i drank one tasty and one terrible kombucha, brought to us by dylan.
i said some things;
i watched some cooking things;
i lit some candles;
i hit up the post office, too,for a couple of sweet packages;
and i got back and watered plants.
all after tattooing for the first bunch of hours.
for a wickedly cold wednesday, it was a good day.
that's no joke.
*
i couldn't sleep a wink,
and i'm a bleary-eyed butthead for the lack of it this morning.
that's cool, i'm only doing a solid second pass on a whole entire
giant black and grey chest panel into sleeve thing today.
no big deal.
it'll be okay, though, because i'm ready for it.
uh-huh.
like, who ever even needs sleep when you've got determination?
it's me, actually. i need sleep. i hate it.
but after ten years of sleeping nearly never,
suddenly, i'm rip F*ing van winkle every flippin' night,
except last night,
and now i'm all out of sorts.
haha.
i've got four hours until tattoo time.
that's plenty of time to walk dogs, exercise, and brighten up these eyes.
i'm ready, i'm willing, and i'm pretty sure that i'm gonna have fun today,
blastin' away at my buddy, and defining all the many many tiny details in his tattoo.
fun, bro.
that's where my head is headed,
and that's all there is to it;
never quiet, never soft.....