Drumdroll, please!

I'm officially NOT a virgin anymore. A tattoo virgin, that is. I had my appointment moved up from the 9th to today, and at about 2:40 I received my first official tattoo.

Yay! Me excited!

So, for those of you curious about the procedure, I will let you know the gorey details. Mwahahahahaha.

So, I get there at 12 on the dot. Nervous - well, just a little. After reading tons and tons of stories from tattoo "survivors", I was pretty sure that I needed a few essentials - namely, a blankie, something to entertain me (in this case, a Zombie book), and some juice and snacks to keep me from fainting. And my credit card, of course.

My tattoo artist, David (who owns his own shop - Ink Lab), let me look over the drawing again and talked about the colors with me. Afterwards, he set up his workstation and brought me in. While pondering what comfy clothes to wear yesterday, I eventually came to the conclusion that I'd have to take my shirt off. Fortunately, I didn't have to - he just rolled it up and taped it. So I could preserve my dignity. Yay.

So far, I was feeling pretty good. A little nervous, but reading the book helped me chill out. And then..... I heard the buzzing of the tattoo gun. That's the part when my heart decided to pack its bags and jump out my mouth. But as soon as the gun turned off, I was back to "chill" mode.

Finally he gets ink on the gun and starts the first line. Wow. Just, wow. I mean, I won't say it didn't hurt - for a moment, I wondered if I could really take three hours of this, but as soon as he moved the gun away from my skin, the pain stopped instantly. The first few lines hurt, and the longer he kept the needles in my skin, the more it hurt - and just when I couldn't take any more, he'd stop and move on to another place. Soon, thankfully, my back sorta numbed and only a few lines really hurt. So many people have tried describing how it feels like - let me tell you: it feels like needles being jammed into your skin. THAT'S how it feels like. Well, okay - most of the time I guess I could compare it to a bee sting. A repetitive, LONG bee sting. Sometimes it felt like he was digging REALLY deeply into my skin, but maybe it was just that particular area being very sensitive.

So two hours later, there I sat, reading my zombie book and chilling. Despite the fact that it lasted for nearly three hours, it didn't feel that long. Time passed rather quickly. I didn't complain, say anything, grimace, ask for breaks, or basically anything. I was the perfect client. Now, that may sound rather childish, but people, give me a break! This is my first tattoo, and it took nearly 3 hours to get done - so I get to gloat and rub it in people's faces, darnit! The last half hour or so hurt a lot more - I think the numbness went away, and by this time, my skin had been run over with the needles so many times it was very tender - so I felt every line. It hurt. I got to the point where I had to ask, "Um, how far along are we?" To which he replied, "Oh, we're done." DOUBLE yay! So he put a bandaid on (a LARGE one), taped me up, and sent me on my way (well, after paying, of course).

So now I'm sitting at home watching the Golden Girls and trying to figure out a way to fall asleep with touching my back. All in all, it was a great experience - I've always wanted a tattoo since I knew what they were, and this step has helped me feel more free to experiment with more in the future. I can't post pictures right now, because I'm taped up for the next four hours, but I will post pictures later today or tomorrow.

In conclusion, getting the tattoo hurt, but not unbearably so, and I think that if you really want to get one, go ahead and don't worry about the pain. Although I would suggest getting something smaller than what I did - just because having your first tattoo sitting be three hours long is kinda intense. And avoid the spine. Everyone says it hurts - and they're right. But like I said before, if you really want it, the pain shouldn't be what stops you - it's bearable.

So toodles, until later!