in a word, “ouch”

so, today i got to live my words…

…that’s never fun.

whenever i’ve helped out on a weekend at one of my buddy’s tattoo shops, three things are GUARANTEED:

1. somebody will come in to get their first tattoo, and will feel inclined to tell me so (and if not, their “friends” referring to them as a “virgin” clues you in)
2. somebody will point out i “don’t have any tattoos”, which is funny ’cause we figured out i actually have more square inches of ink than shane
3. somebody will ask me if it hurts

that last one is the one i have the most fun. they either get sarcasm (“no, it feels like rainbows and puppy dog kisses”), or brutal honesty (“it’s a group of needles being mechanically driven into your skin at over a thousand times a minute – there’s bound to be some discomfort associated with that”), or, on rare occasions, complete apathy (“you’ve had more pleasant experiences in your lifetime”).

that last one was what kept echoing in my head after the second two-and-a-half hour session on one we did on my side. all through the line work i was fine, till the very end. the end cinched it – i was done. today was shade and fill, which i held on for although i could tell i was getting a bit shaky towards the end…

…then came the white highlights. that’s when my body said, “no”.

i started to sweat.

my foot started to twitch uncontrollably.

i let the artist know he basically had a ten minute warning, then i was out of there.

he finished just in the nick of time.

what’s sad is me and another artist have another one planned for the other side – and it’s bigger and more detailed. anybody have any vicatin?