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Well I sat for my first tattooing session today. "Sat" isn't quite accurate, since I had to lay on my stomach so he could work on my back. I was supposed to wear a button-down shirt so I could turn it around, but he forgot to tell me that so I had to lie there topless. Felt a little undignified, but at least we were in a booth with the door closed.

Here's a photo of today's work. I really like the way the vine is shaded, and the colors on the leaves are perfect. The vine is a little bright for my taste, but I'm going to trust his judgement. Maybe it will look just right when the flowers are colored. I was hoping he'd do more outlining today so I could see more of the design, but apparently he can't stop in the middle of a shape -- hard to get the stencil in exactly the same place again -- and I think he was concerned about how much more I could take, so he switched to coloring after two hours. But I was determined not to be a wuss, so we ended up working for almost 3 hours. That was definitely my limit though, I was really ready for it to be over by then.

It hurt more than I was expecting it to. I have a small tattoo on my ankle already, about three years old, and I remembered that hardly hurting at all. I don't know if the ankle is less painful than the back, or if I had just blocked the pain out of my memory since the ankle tattoo was so small & didn't take very long. The most painful part today was right over my spine (duh), close second was up by the neck (again, duh). The part by the neck was more uncomfortable though, because the needle gun was buzzing right in my ear which was kind of weird. Also I wasn't sure where to put my head to keep it out of his way.

Funniest thing that happened: about an hour into it the shop's assistant came in, showed Rex (the artist) a small design and asked him what he would charge to put it on someone's "cootchie." (I don't think I've ever heard anyone use the word "cootchie" before. Except for when Grampa Simpson called his trampy girlfriend one). He asked, "put it where?" and she said "Right here!" and held the paper between her legs. They agreed on a price, she commented that if he was "going to have to get up in that" they should pay for it, and she left. He told me this is pretty common (!) and when I said I thought that would be really painful, he said some women get into it. A little too into it, he ends up needing them to calm down so he can finish the job! Eww! I bet it's the vibrations.

Second unusual thing: his girlfriend showed up at 3:30 and announced that they needed to "have a serious talk." She didn't look angry, but when he told her it would be another half hour or so she just stood there with a "that was the wrong answer" look until I volunteered that it was OK with me if he wanted to take a break. Keep in mind I'm lying there on my stomach with no shirt on! Though to his credit, he asked me if it was OK before opening the door both times.

Also I was happy with the level of sanitation. He took everything out of the sterile packaging in front of me, the ink cups were clearly single use, he changed his gloves whenever he touched anything, and when I got up to take a bathroom break & put my shirt on for a minute, he cleaned my back again for before getting back to work.

Rex wasn't very talkative, which suited me fine, since I spent most of the three hours clenching my fists and trying not to move my back. We did have a few interesting conversations -- about the "cootchie" tattooes as I mentioned, also he mentioned that he really enjoys Japanese designs & mostly does custom work. I'm sure that must be more fulfilling than having to do the same stock images over and over (he gave "fantasy dragon across someone's chest" as an example of something he'd just as rather pass on).

He also mentioned tribal as something he found really boring to do. I thought tribal was kind of out of style, but he said there are still lots of people getting it. He described it as the perfect style for someone who wants a tattoo but doesn't really know what they want. I guess that makes sense. Since a tribal design doesn't represent anything, you don't have to worry about the meaning of the image. It's pure form, no symbolism.

I told him about my first ever visit to a tattoo shop, about eight years ago I went with a friend while she got one on her shoulder. It was at Choice Peach, the now-defunct place in Carrboro, and he was running late. The customer before us was a woman getting a band around her upper arm. Apparently it was quite painful as she was screaming throughout. But to stop herself from screaming, she was also singing, any tune she could think of. So we spent over a half hour listening to this woman scream-sing things like the "I Dream of Jeannie" theme song. In retrospect I can hardly believe my friend Kim went through with it after that.

The artist said that they try to discourage customers from yelling like that, since it can be off-putting to the other customers, especially if it's their first time. I think it would be distracting to the artist as well! I wouldn't want to draw with permanent ink while someone was screaming their fool head off right in my ear. He mentioned that it's usually the big strong men who start bellowing like that. I can't remember exactly how he worded it, but he seemed to be saying that some of these guys yell on purpose because they think it's funny or something.

He says we should do once a week, but he's on vacation next week, so the next appointment is two weeks from today. I'm really happy with the progress so far.

He put a loose bandage over it and gave me some basic aftercare instructions. I had also looked up the rec.arts.tattoo faq online, so I had instructions at home as well. I had brought a light sports bra, but the thought of getting it over the bandage was a little daunting so I went "au natural" under my shirt. I figured who cares, it's a loose shirt and I'm just going from the shop to my car to my house. I started feeling a little woozy when I was almost home, I guess the adrenaline had started to wear off. So I pretty much lay on the couch all evening, reading and watching TV.

Later in the evening Georg helped me clean it off. It was kind of gross, because the artist had covered each area with Vaseline as he finished it. Plus there was a lot of excess ink sitting on the skin, mixing with the vaseline. Yuck! It's also a bit tricky to clean it, since you're not supposed to rub the area with a washcloth while it's fresh. But he gently blotted it with the washcloth, I think that was OK.Anyway we got all that cleaned off and then decided to put some lotion on it. Big mistake! Note to self: do not rub commercial body lotion into open cuts. It started to sting pretty bad, but he managed to blot it off again. After the lotion fiasco we tried Bactitracin. Ah, much more comfortable.

Then Georg taped a piece of plastic wrap over it so I could sleep without ruining the sheets. (Here I have to commend Georg on his foresight in picking up medical tape from the drugstore while he was getting the bactitracin.) Unfortunately, all we had in the house was "Festive Holiday Glad Cling Wrap!" You know, the kind that's pink. So I have a big sheet of pink glad wrap taped to my back. It crinkles when I move. I guess it doesn't matter what it looks like, no one is going to see it but me.

Now time for bed. Luckily I'm a side sleeper, so I don't have to worry about laying on it. It stings a little, almost nothing worth mentioning. The only time it's really uncomfortable is if I lift my arms over my head, or pull them back behind me. I guess that stretches or contracts the skin on the back too much.