Chillin...

Car is still not finished being fixed... starting to worry.... Hopefully it'll be done by the time I need to leave. I want to get my ass to Denver! Soon!

In the hair salon with my girls this week, just killing time until my car is all better.

Check it!

Hey everyone out there! Its been a long while but there is some HUGE news!

I was in a large carwreck last week and I have been out of my car for a couple weeks. I was not hurt and it was not my fault, but the other lady has/d no insurance. The repairs are costing $6,400 and its taking forever to fix...

Also, I am moving to Denver this weekend, god willing my car is fixed.

Big things on the horizon and I am incredibly excited.

I also apologize for the lack of updates, hopefully I will be able to update more.

In the mean time, here are some of my latest tattoos that I've done!

Great...

So my tattoo parlor was robbed last night. They smashed through the front windows and took stupid stuff and an empty cash box. #1 suspect is the guy from my last post... the police did fingerprints and took lots of information. Luckily all my stuff is safe.

But this is what I was welcomed by when I went to the shop this morning:





So my tattoo parlor was robbed last night. They smashed through the front windows and took stupid stuff and an empty cash box. #1 suspect is the guy from my last post... the police did fingerprints and took lots of information. Luckily all my stuff is safe. But this is what I was welcomed by when I went to the shop this morning:

Iiiii'm Baaaaack!

Some of you may have noticed that I haven't posted in a while. I have not forgotten about my little blog, nor have I been intentionally depriving all of you the exciting adventures that are my life. Quite the opposite... there has simply been nothing good happening.

A month or so ago a guy was hired to work with me. Because this is a PG blog, I will just say that he was a terrible person and a drug addict.

He only lasted this long because my bosses were trying to see the good in him. He had a terrible past and said he was trying to make right by moving to Springfield and starting over. He did a terrible job of starting over, and this morning he was finally fired.

He made my life awful for a while. I went from having the BEST job in the world to dreading going to work every day. I was stressed out and it stunk.

But now he is gone. My heart is again light and carefree and the black cloud of dark mojo that had been hanging over the shop since he arrived has lifted.

For anyone who is interested, here's a photo:


One of the co-owners of Sacred Art, the shop I am at now, is on the left. He is cool. Creeperface is on the right. He is not cool...

In fact, this may be a better picture:


More updates tomorrow!

Diet time

Its that time of year again... time to drop 20 lbs asap. I began a diet yesterday and started working out again. Feels good.

In other news, I finally ordered my own set of tips, grips and tubes. Those are the things that you put the tattoo needle in and hold onto when you are actually tattooing, kind of like a really heavy pencil.

Here are mine, nice and shiny and new:


And I did this tattoo last night... ouch:

Two Tattoos Today

Rocking along... did a tattoo for ACTUAL money this weekend... made $60, but forgot to take a picture of it. I apologize. But here are two that I did today.

Rice and bacon bits for dinner for the first time in a few weeks...

mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm....

Chugga chugga chugga--

Have three tattoo appointments today. Have two tomorrow. Have two next Monday. One next Tuesday.

Pictures to come!

Wooo!

This Monday went very well! The first tattoo I did was pretty bad... but it was the first time I had ever tattooed someone with a Neuma machine. After a lot of trial and error (and a doll of a client) I finished up the linework.


(traditional tattoo machines are run by electric coils, they are heavy and I had a hard time holding one.... Neumas are powered by a turbine and a clean air compressor. They weigh virtually nothing by comparison and thats the machines that I bought.)

The next tattoo gave was a gemini symbol that two friends are getting. We made it look like brushstrokes as opposed to just black boring kanji (chinese symbols) Turned out great... and I am tattooing his friend on this coming Monday.


Third was a wilting rose on a regular client of the shop... I actually have a picture of that one:



Also... dyed my hair to look like flames... this is a terrible picture, but here ya go!

Hecckkk Yessss

I have three official tattoo appointments!

Because the other shop that my teacher (Nate) co-owns is missing an artist, my training is shifting into hyper gear and I am likely going to be sent over to that shop for a little while to keep the income flowing. Extra good news is that I am going to be actually making income from tattooing now, or at least in like two weeks.

None the less, I will be tattooing my hairdresser, Brandie, a friend of the shop who goes by the name Testicles (he has "testicle" tattooed on his knuckles), and a friend that I made at the bar.

Photos to come, but I am fa-reaking excited.

March of the oranges

Tattooed three more oranges last night.... unfortunately they were somewhat old and didn't tattoo well. I bought some more this morning and I plan to ink them all sorts of up today. Gonna work on my black and grey shading.

Our piercer Misty quit so I set up a practice station in our piercing room. I am now allowed to tattoo any fruit any time since I have my own tattoo set up. Tony, our resident black and grey artist, is going to help me today.




There's my little station. :)

Also, my tattoo machines now have names... the green one is Claude and the black one is Blackie. (Named after the crow I fed Gardetto's to at the Racquet Club swimming pool.)

The machines have arrived!!!

I received a shipment via UPS yesterday that had my complete tattoo set up in it. I opened it and everything works the way it is supposed to!



Cleaned my machines out, they were quite gunked up.


I need to name them, one of them I am thinking will be Claude. The other I'm not sure. Any suggestions?

Worked at the bar last night and it was so slow I ate cheesecake and played Pokemon on Syd's gameboy that I stole over Easter.

I am back in town

Made it back to Springfield in one piece... the drive home was FAR easier than the drive to Wichita. It helps to not be sleepy. :)

I got home and realized exactly how dirty my apartment was so I brewed a pitcher of orange Kool-Aid and set to work.



I also attempted to change my lightbulb in my kitchen, but the above photo demonstrates perfectly that I was unable to successfully do so.

Need to do laundry REALLY bad, but I think I hate folding clothes more than I hate Nazis. Ugh.

One more orange down!

Tattooed another orange today, and touched up my ankle tattoo two days ago...

St. Patrick's Day was surprisingly really slow at the bar, but we have a Pub Crawl this weekend and business should pick up.

I am planning to come home for Easter, so make time for me! :) Gotta head home from the shop to get ready for work at the bar tonight... working 4 days a week at the bar and 6 days a week at the shop is starting to take its toll on me... but I'm doin' ok.

Sweet...

The bar is improving...more business and I am leaving with decent tips every night. Bills are being covered, which rocks, AND my brainchild is taking form.

What brainchild you ask? Well, I (meaning DICE Bar & Lounge) am throwing a Wonderland Party... Alice in Wonderland themed drinks and hookah specials and even little cookies that say "Eat Me" from an amazing bakery downtown called AmyCakes.

I designed the flyer and its going to be handed out started Monday:

Big steps.

Yesterday I tattooed a pair of oranges. The rind is supposed to mimic the way human skin takes ink, but it didn't seem to, in my opinion. I got fairly good with the oranges, and I am doing a couple more today. Then I touch up my ankle tattoo that I did a few weeks ago, finish the "Mayhem" tattoo on our piercer Misty, and 8 more good tattoos. Once I reach that point, I get to start tattooing actual customers, which means money in my pocket!

I am moving forward! Still able to pay my rent, been living pretty frugally, but I am comfortable.

May or may not be coming home for Easter, still trying to figure that out.

ADFJKjj

It has been a long but relatively uneventful week. I had a meeting at Dice (the downtown bar I work part time at) yesterday and everyone ate sushi.... the boss bought it, reaaaaally expensive sushi. I had rice... lol...

Been bonding with a couple people from the shop, Misty, our piercer, is absolutely crazy, but awesome.


Ryan, one of artists in the shop..well...fits the same description of Misty, haha..


I desperately need to do laundry, but I have no time to do it. The laundry facility here is closed when I get off of work. Oh well...

Tattoo....!

I officially have done my first tattoo!!!

First tattoo

I tattooed myself last night.





Two can Sam.

:)

Life is stressful...

Well I am officially poor. It happened sooner than I had expected, but I am in no way surprised. Good thing is, I am still very happy with my decision to move here and do this. Maybe its because I had a good night's sleep last night or I am just having a happy morning, but I feel far less stressed today than I have been feeling.

Commerce Bank tried to charge me overdraft fees to the tune of $50-$100 when they took three days to process my electronic transfers, but I spoke with them and that money is back in my pocket... thank God.

I quit the gym I had joined, a little bit of drama there, but its all good.

T-Mobile charged me for an extra month of service, not sure why, but that is straightening out.

All in all, I'm doing well... need to clean my apartment though... and fold my clothes....