tattoed love boy: Gary gets the TAT

Getting ink is easier than you think (HAR!) Pictures and post below may not be for for everyone---I am shown getting a tattoo.
Everybody else, read on.




(me and my new anarcho-punk buddy Scott)


(Stiehl's Body Modification, Dawn Stiehl and her cool dog)
SO, way back in 1994, 15 stinking years AGO, me and the missus, married just over a year, drive by Dastardly Dan's tattoo parlor in New Hampshire and I am like 'ooh! I'd get a tattoo!' and the missus is like 'what would it be???' and I tell her, because it had just popped into my head, fully formed brilliant idea, ' a red star with a blue M (her initial) in the middle, because you're the star in my world!' and she was like 'ixnay' for 15 years.
Last summer a dude we know, a painter and sculptor in his 60s, was wearing a sort sleeve shirt and he was covered in tats, and she was surprised. I said 'see, John is in his 60s and HE has tats'. Later it became 'I want this tat for my birthday in the spring' which after I designed the tat and had it on paper became 'see, this is how it will look'. And the missus came around and we got my appt. and went down to Stiehl's after work Wednesday.
I was super nervous, all week, (check my dreams!) but I get nervous about nearly everything.
Sitting in the waiting room was the silliest group of "14" year old girls you have ever seen. 2 had finished tats and were still screaming about the pain, the other two were waiting in line for the other tat artist. I had to listen to their baloney for several minutes---which was quite entertaining even if they were silly and complaining about pain---turns out they were 4 nurses, each with children, all getting their kids names tattoed on their a$$es. Or something like that. So I guess they were older than I thought, and luckily my new main man, the anarcho-punk Scott, came along and he is super nice.
Scott is about my age, tattoeing for 13 years, and we spent about an hour chatting about Iggy Pop as he did his work. I had my paper drawing and we talked about placement, and he runs it off on a machine to make a transfer. He places that on your arm and then there's the design---if it is what you want, he can get to work or change it. Naturally it was what I wanted, I made it, and wanted it for 15 years.
You see these needles and inks and rubber gloves and you're like 'is this gonna be like an old fashioned dentist visit, blood flying and pain galore?'.

No.
If you have ever run your fingernails down your arm, it is about like that, not painful at all. Removing the bandage after was more painful (I tore the tape, holy cats!) and my cat has scratched me more painfully before. That's the trouble--getting a tat is so easy and painfree, you start imagining a HULA GIRL on the left arm to balance the star on the right ;)
So other than when I tore the bandage off later, the hard part was sitting in a chair for an hour holding my right arm stiff, and as they say, in the aftermath it may feel a little like a sun burn.
Thanks to my my sweetie Maude for inspiring this TAT, thanks for your support, and thanks for this series of pics.

Here's Chrissie Hynde and The Pretenders doing Tattoed Love Boys