'IDEARS,' as they say up here!

I'm gonna make this quick because I'm beeeeaaaaaattttt!!!
First day today, and not too bad of a day, I might add. Did two tattoos, small, but fun. One was an add-on of two tear drops under a heart. The tattoo was previous done by previous Visions guest artist, Vinny Burkhart. My next appointment was a small little tribal design on a girl's hip. That was actually kinda fun! She wasn't particuliar, and loved what I drew/tattooed.
My bags arrived this morning sometime, and just as I had suspected, some damage was incurred.
I immediately opened my equipment bag, and a bottle of the bright-ass teal exploded. The bright side is that it spared its teally-evilness from my lighter colours (yellow, most of my reds, white, and most important, my jap pink). I spent my morning in the bthtub scrubbing the evilness off the other ink bottles, ink box, and myself. The hotel will NOT be receiving their towel back.
Tomorrow looks like fun. We are all staying late after we close to have a 'paint 'n party.' I am going to indulge in such the festivities (there's really no festivities, we are just staying late to paint whatever we feel like painting). I am going to paint some meat on my apron. It is going to be awesome.
Time to be physically abusive to the hay...hee hee! Until later!

Here I am!

Welp, I made it! I am officially in Massachusetts!
I expected it to be a little cooler when I got here, and it is. It was a little rain/misty when I got off the plane. The ride was great, and the view...OMFG.
It's so wierd when you fly. The take-off is soooo intense, everything goes by so fast. You are up in the air in no time, then everything starts to slow down. I have never flown at night before, and let me tell you...it was breathtaking to say the least. It's like looking at a miniature train garden, but the reality of it being your home, your society, your life below is a pretty awe-inspiring thing. Well, it is to me, at least. I doubt other people see it with such great intensity as I do.

The only sucky thing thus far is that the airline 'lost' my luggage. Well, they didn't exactly lose it, it was put on a different plane. My original flight was set to depart at 6:50, but the agant said there was an available seat for an earlier flight, and that my original flight was going to be delayed big time. I thought 'what the hell, I'll have more time to chill once I land.' Well, unbeknownst to me, the 'earlier' flight ended up being delayed because they tried to squeeze more people from the later flight onto this one, and they didn't switch my bags to the new flight. There must have been some runway traffic and ground control issues factored in as well. There were a few other people who had 'misplaced' luggage as well. This one guy had a business meeting at 11am tomorrow, and they would not have his bags to him until 10:30. Poor guy. I told him it could have been worse-the universe could have opened a vortex and the intinerary of his luggage could have completely vanished. He laughed and agreed that it's true, that there is a bright side to this mess. I will say that even with the delays, the 'baggage incident,' and lack of a better view, the flight was great. The thought that my entire week depends on whether or not my bags still exist doesn't even have me stressed. I know that there was going to be an issue, and I think the expectation takes the edge out of it actually happening. It was a simple mistake, and I trust that things will be 100% tomorrow morning when I wake.

Canman and Angela met me at the airport. They wanted me to call them when I got my bags. Well I waited around for my bags and they ended up calling me to see what was up. I told them what was going on, and they decided to just park and scoop me up at the airport. We all hit it off, and then went out to a place called Johnny Harvard's. It was a little pub looking place, with some pretty good food. We talked for a bit, then headed to the studio via the scenic route.
Visions Tattoo is impeccable. It's a super clean studio with a great art gallery atmosphere. Canman is quite an artist! I was admiring his paintings and drawings as they gave me the tour. Angela is fucking awesome as well! Our first conversation was about alpaca's! You can't go wrong when you have a 25 minute conversation about llamas and alpacas with a stranger! Hee Hee!!

MMMyup. There is high speed interenet in my room, and I plan on taking full advantage before this week is out. For now, it's time to take advantage of unlimited heat (yea 82 degrees!), and two big beds in my room. Until the sunrises, so long!

OH! PS: That whole business card thing is taken care of. In my more concious moments, I packed a shit ton of biz cards in the back of my portfolio before I sent it 2 months ago. YEY! I had a feeling the great forces had my back!!

BOUNCE BOUNCE BOUNCE!

:oD :oD :oD

I'm sitting in the 'Great Room' of my parent's new house. I am full of meaty foods, and am very content!

I got a call from Canman and he informed me that one of my appointments cancelled. I was disappointed...but only for a second. He then informed me that I picked up a few other appointments in place of that one.
I wrote them all down, but my list is in my jacket pocket. My jacket pocket resides allllllll the way across the room. I am warm, comfortable, and content, so I'm not moving. Off the top of my head, I will have a Jesus portrait with some lettering, a traditional rose, a star with music notes, a fairy, a small tribal, and some tear drops. I am expecting that there will be walk-ins, so I suppose my schedule will be plenty busy.
My brother will be dropping me off at BWI tomorrow. I am really nervous about the airport. I'm looking forward to the flight, but I'm expecting difficulties checking my luggage. I have to make up a bunch of notes for the baggage inspectors. Of all things, I am concerned that they are going to fuck with my inks. Canman called me a few weeks ago, and he gave me the skinny about the whole flying thing. He had just returned from San Fran when we spoke. He said he's had inspectors open bottles of ink and dump them all over the place, right in front of him! He also said they have bitched up some power supplies from their less-than-gentle baggage handling practices, inks splattered all over the place, locks broken off, and equipment ripped apart within his bags. Apparently, they go through your bags even after they 'check' them. Since you aren't around, they pretty much have their way with your luggage. Kind of like luggage rape. I will be making a list and checking inventory prior to and after my flight.

Let's see, what else...Did some shopping today with momz. We have fun together when we are out. Most people say they can't stand their mom or that they hate their mom. I guess we have a much better level of communication and appreciation for each other. She does live a little in the past, but other than that, she doesn't hold grudges or pass judgements in lieu of a person's appearance, lifestyle, etc. She is a very generous and compassionate person, indeed.
OH YEA! I got to see a Car-B-Q last night. It was on the 695 ramp last night, and it was kind of scary and intense. It appeared the driver lost control for whatever reason, slammed into the jersey wall (over a bridge none-the-less), and the whole front end of the car went up in flames. I am unsure whether or not the driver was still inside. There were no people around except for one man waving his arms to alert other drivers to slow down/get out of the lane. I'm not sure what kind of car it was, but it looked older. I was in the left lane, and couldn't swing very far into the right lane to get around the Car-B-Q. I had to snake a few feet past the wreck. It looked bad, very very bad, and I feel for whomever the driver and/or passangers were.
I made it through 695 traffic insanity, and hung out with Joe for about an hour or so last night. It was good to see him. He needs to bring his ass up this way next! Though I enjoy driving and visiting Baltimore, it's nice to be the host from time to time. There's a lot of fun stuff going on up in H-burg, and I plan on being able to keep my guests entertained during their stay.

For some reason, I thought about B. Marcus the other day. I still think about her every so often. The thought of her death is still upsetting for me, but not in a grieving sense. Skip's death was the same way for a while...almost as if there was a force saying "This happened so that something greater may happen, but you won't know why for a while." I look back on history, and Skip's death prompted me to be a tattoo artist. Actually, it was more of that final push that set the stone in motion. I know I will have closure one day. In the meantime, it makes me grateful to have had such encouragement from so many people, and I am especially thankful for the generousity of Fate. THANK YOU, FATE!
Hee Hee! Ok that's enough gooey mushy love stuff for a bit, I think it's time for some sleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeEEEEEeeeeeeep. Have a great night/morning e'rybody!!

"...My city's there, My city's gone..."

3 days...
I hope I have everything packed. Well, actually, I know I don't have everything. I walked out of work today without biz cards...fuck. I think I've got a small stock pile of them somewhere. I have 4 appointments up there already, but I'm not sure what to expect as far as walk-ins. I'm sure I'll be a-ok.
Tonite was rather...wierd. Today was busy with lookers and walk-in traffic. I had a guy come in who was pumped about a firefighter patch tattoo. He was all but zipping around my room about it. He lost his nerve somewhere after the outline, and decided to come back for the rest of the shading. It was a huuuuuuuuge tattoo that took up his entire forearm, so I guess I don't blame him. Everything was quiet for a little while. I decided to start packing my stuff, and in doing so, unintentionally attracted some rather shady characters. I'm not sure if it was a family or just a whole hoard of friends, or both, but there were about 10 of them. They were just non-stop running back and forth, getting into everything. We kept telling them that no one is allowed back with the person getting tattooed, and they would ignore us. They even made up excuses like "Can I use your bathroom," then stood in the hallway and started talking to the client getting tattooed in the room (you have to pass Landon and Ryan's room to get to the bathroom). Aleesha and I had to keep all our eyes on them. They kept taking magazines out, and I didn't see them put them back. I think they knew we were watching them. They got all shifty-eyed when we looked in there direction.
Brian eventually got the shits of their frequent movement and blatant disrespect for studio policies, so he locked them out of the studio once the 'friends' walked out for a moment. We were close to closing time anyways.
We've had some wierd ones these past couple of days. The other day, a dude walks in wanting to look at tribal. I direct him to the flash and he starts looking. I don't like to stand over people while they are looking, so I walked back behind the counter. Next thing I know, Brian jets over to the dude and starts yelling. This guy was taking pix of the flash with his cell phone. Brian makes him delete the pictures and gives him a verbal warning. The guy leaves shorty after. A little while later, Brian gets a call from another tattoo studio. The other studio says they have a dude there that was caught taking pix on his phone, and that he still had pix from our studio, and that they had deleted EVERYTHING from his camera. That was pretty cool of them.
The next day, it was just Brian and I, and both of us were tattooing. I heard the door ring, and waited for whomever to walk around the corner. No one did. Next thing I know, Brian jets out of his room and screams "HEY, what do you think you are doing?"
I asked him what happened, and he said some chick came in and made a bee-line behind the counter to the phone and starts dialing. WTF! To top it off, our 'photographer' from the day before came in AGAIN! Some people are UNBELIEVABLE!!
That was way too much ridiculousness packed into 3 days. I hope MA is a little more chill and private. I'm actually looking forward to sight-seeing up there. My hosts have agreed to show me around up there. I hope I can find some sweet souvenirs to bring back for people.

I tell ya, this life style sure is strange. I love what I do, I love the flexibility, I love being an artist, but sometimes it makes you want to become a hermit. I've been having more frequent aspirations to become a pilot. I've always had re-ocurring night-time dreams and daydreams of flight since I was a kid, and they are starting to become a little more persuasive. I think it's because I have an 80 minute drive to think about it everyday. I also have aspirations to learn a few more languages. Yes, more than one. I have no interest in American culture. The only way to submerse myself in something other than my own heritage is to adapt another language so that I can partake of another's culture. It should be fun, especially since it involves travelling!
Once I consider myself established, I'm going to drop back to 4 days a week. I might actually accomplish one or more of my aforementioned goals!
Welp, this is tooo long already, so until tomorrow...Adios!

LIIiIiIIIiiiiiIIIiIIIIIIIIIIMA BEANS!

I hope everyone's 'Tanksgivin' was awesome!!!
We have Thanksgiving at my aunt's house. It is usually pure chaos when we get there and start helping her in the kitchen. The food always turns out terrific, but my aunt gets frazzled by her husband easily. They constantly bicker, even when it's not Thanksgiving. Sometimes it's amusing, sometimes I just wanna smack 'em both upside the head.
There was soooooooo much food to be had! I am still full from yesterday. I don't really go for the turkey...of all things, I go for the Lima beans. I fuggin lOoOOOoOOoOOOOOoooOoOOve lima beans. I also had a huge attraction to my mom's sweet potato souffle. My aunt also made some kind of broccoli casserole that was absolutely delicious. Last but not least, stuffing. I loves me some stuffing!
Then there's that whole family interaction thing. The only person who really annoys me is my squirrely aunt. She does mean well, but sometimes....sometimes. You'll be carrying a shit ton of boxes and food and what-not, and she'll run over to you and try to give you a huge hug while you're still carrying shit. Then she'll ask you a question, and right in the middle of your answer, she'll ask you another 10 questions. She is sooo nutty. I actually look forward to seeing my family, though. My other aunt and her husband are so intrigued with the tattoo thing, so we have some great conversations. It's really funny to hear my aunt say the 'f' word, too! She's pretty cool, even though she is the sister of my squirrely aunt. I usually enjoy seeing my brothers the most. We have a lot of fun together. Usually it's just taunting and teasing, then sometimes it gets physical (in a joking way). Yesterday it ended in a submission tickle brawl, and of course, I lost.

Ahhh, well...today I get to do a big 'ol dagger/rose piece. It's going to be awesome! I can't wait to start it. It's going on a previous client as part of a 'love-lost' gauntlet/cover-up sleeve. I want to discuss some ideas about the filler and the cover-up he will have on his forearm. Unlike his other sleeve, he wanted to piece this one together because he really didn't know which direction he wanted to go with this one. After talking about some ideas, he looked around and came up with a theme. He gave me a vague description of what he wanted for his cover-up, and voila!
He's a good guy who sits well. We have some great conversations as well. I am looking forward to the start of my day!
Let's see...I guess there's really nothing much to report. I have a ton of stuff to do before my flight leaves on tuesday. I'm a little nervous at what to expect from the airport, but I've had a few good pointers from tattoo artists that have flown in the past month. Hopefully the airlines won't fuck with my stuff that much. At least the flight is short. C ompared to taking the train, the flight is only an hour and a half. The train ride would have taken me 6.5 hours....OUCH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Not only that, but flying was waaaaaaaaaayyyyyyy cheaper! I got roundtrip tix for what a one way would have cost me. :oX
Welp, gotta go get ready. Sorry if this journal seems boring and mindless. There's nothing dramatic going on right now, and to tell you the truth, I like it that way ;o)
Catch ya's on the flip side!

mmmmYummmmmm...

So today I have the beginning of a 3/4 sleeve. This guy brought me the infamous 'Dawn 'Till Dusk' tribal, but he let me play around with it. It's going to look much cooler than the original.
I don't mind big tribal. In fact, if done right, I think it looks pretty cool. My plan for this guy's tribal is to not make it all black. I'm going to do some shading and blending, so hopefully it will look pretty sweet. Crosses fingers :oP
I have a client coming in to look at a drawing. I made a couple colour samples and we are going to discuss them. I am trying to help him come up with a cover-up design on his forearm. I think the idea I have might work, I just want to run it by him first. He has a gauntlet sleeve doen by me on the other arm, and he has specific instructions for the other arm. I already did a cover-up on the top of the same forearm. He has a very personal and deep theme for the new sleeve. It's a little tougher to piece together, though.
Hmmm, going to MD for Turkey Day. Tonite I have to head down there and help with the baking. I have to make pie crust shells, and anything else my Mom wishes me to do. I don't mind it, but I know the drive home is going to make me grumpy. Their new place takes longer to get to from Gettysburg than the old place. They are very happy with the new house, so I'm happy for them.
On a side note, I am very sore today. It's either from my session the other day (Jules said my shoulders we going to be very sore, especially) or it's from wrestlin' with Brocious the other night. It could be both :oP
A nice hot shower will empower me! Off I go to acheive that goal!! I'll see you kids a little later!

"...see the shadows grow, see an ominous display..."

Ahhhhhhh...It feels good to be in my own bed. I've been spending more time on other people's couches and floors. It's kinda fun, but it's also nice to be with my wubbie!

Got Reiki'd yesterday...it was grand. I really don't know what to say about it (only good things). Jules is fuckin' awesome and she's got a great sense of the other world. She made me some bitchin' herbal tea, which I needed after trying to find her house! We talked for a bit, then guided me through the meditation process. She was very patient. I kept going out of body and losing my rhythmn. I walked in not knowing what to expect, and walked out of there feeling like I was high. I kept seeing swirly spirals in front of my eyes. Supposedly, those are my chakras being all happy. It was a great experience. I think now I might be ready for a massage!

Work was fun today. I got there a little late (had plenty of time before we opened). We were up late last night playing some dvd game on the telly. Of course it was about movie stuff, but I managed pretty well. Our team got hosed anyway. We think the other team cheated.

AA was quite a contrast since yesterday. I walked in yesterday and the place was bombin'. There were people EVERYWHERE! Brian said it was like a snowball effect...One person came in to get tattooed, then their 'support' friend decided to get tattooed as well, so on and so forth. Today, there wasn't much going on. I guess everyone is preparing for the holidays.
I got a few drawings done today, and had a visit from a previous client. We decided to do a tiny touch-up on his tattoo. I gave him the tour and we talked for a bit prior to sitting him down. He's a great guy who I am grateful to have met. I am meeting so many cool people up there. It seems there is a better sense of art, as well as more imagination. Sure, tribals, butterflies, and lettering are everywhere, but I'm more and more excited to talk to people. Not that I didn't enjoy it before, I love intereacting with people despite my shyness. I just found myself getting more and more disappointed when I would talk to a client who I considered a little out of the ordinary, and they would bring me the same tribal/armband/kid's's's's's's's's names' Harley shield/rose cover-up. There seems to be much more variety amongst clients up there. Variety = GoOOoOoOooooooood.
Hmmm, what else...still working on an oni drawing. We are collaborating on a body suit project as well. It's still in the brainstorming process, so it's not off the ground just yet. I find the four of us at AA really bounce off of each other. The exchange of ideas, jokes, and advice is soooooo good. Brian kinda does his own thing, but still is an active part of our conversations. I don't see too much of Ryan, but he is definetely grown since going back to school. I never really hung out with Landon prior, but I hope is more comfortable with my presence. I enjoy working with him, and it seems he's lightened up a lot since I started full-time. The counter girls are great, they are always on top of things and know how to light up the party!
Don't get me wrong, there was a lot of shit at CG, but I took advantage of the good times. I just don't think anyone ever realized I was smiling my face off during the good moments. I don't feel frustrated or excluded at all with the new digs. I don't feel like I have to walk on egg shells or be weary when people are just having a 'quiet' day. My nerves have finally found relief, and I feel like me again.

Insomnia, what?

Soooo, it's 4:10 am. I can't seem to find dreamland, so I've been working on sketches. Cleo is at my side being adorable. She almost always sleeps with me at my feet, knees, or chest. Her whiskers wake me in the morning. Cali usually comes in and starts kneading and purring loudly on me. I move too much for her to actually sleep on me, so she will usually take the knee spot if Cleo hasn't claimed it. Cali is a very loyal cat with a heart that longs for the outside world. I'm not sure how she is going to react once I move. I almost feel like I will need to adopt another cat to keep her company while I'm away at work. I will not be able to give her up. I think we will both miss the company of Cleo and Jericho very much.
I hate house hunting. I don't have a lot to move (other than the mopeds), so at least that will be easy. The drive to and from Mechanicsburg everyday is not as mundane as I thought it would be. I guess all my years of driving ridiculous distances to get places has left me with mutual respect for the road. I'm just a little concerned for the health of my car. Moped parts are much cheaper and easier to replace myself.
The Carlisle Pike is much like Route 1 in Baltimore. A stretch of pavement providing its travellers with a plethora of business exploitation and distal distractions. There isn't much as far as dwellings go, just your average run of the mill apartment complexes. The good news is that the cost of living is ridiculously cheaper than Gettysburg (or B-more/Bel Air for that matter). I'm not ready to buy property, but I'm tired of renting. I should sink my red cents into a new vehicle, and live out of it while travelling the country. Yea, I've thought about it. Not the safest or smartest idea, but it might be fun. Thorsett would be proud.

After mentioning my LJ in the below post, I went back and started to read through some of the old entries. For those of you who have been perplexed by my seemingly hopeless and melancholy themes, don't be fooled. Most of those entries are just snapshots of my mixed up dreams. Some were daydreams, and some were just, well, whatever came to mind. A few reflected actual events, just translated to a mood rather than literally. I know, I know, I'm not exactly Shakespeare, so most of that stuff seems corny for sure. There are a few of those entries that still give me goosebumps when I read them.
I've forgotten how intense my dreams were at that point. The beginning of this year was the worst. I almost felt like my dreams started invading reality. Then I realised it was just the greater spirits being unhappy with my curiousity. I do not regret where or who I am, but sometimes I regret compassion. Everyone has flaws, it seems mine is my sensitivity in certain situations. I guess I would not be much of an artist without it. One of my greatest drives is finding the good in the things people miss. I enjoy the spontaneity of it all.

Unfortunately, I'm not a very quick person, at least not in cognitive thought. I think my heart tends to react to a situation first, and my brain has to justify it. This process can take a few moments. I think I like it that way. I know that if I am happy initially, then I am truly happy. If I am upset initially, then I am truly upset. My brain just has to figure out what to do with that emotional concoction. Somtimes I want to take action, but my heart seems to know the outcome before anything is done. I usually end up frustrated when my brain sets out to prove my heart wrong, and I end up right where my heart said I would. Now I've got the initial stimulii, and then it's topped off with bonus frustration. How annoying.

Then sometimes I think I was created for the wrong universe. I can't seem to find much similiarity with my thought processes and modern society. I've always felt an odd fluctuating frequency around me, and that contributes to the frequent confusion. Perhaps its a time warp, or maybe it's the conscience of loneliness, often revisted without much repreive. At least I know I'm sane. I'm just always locked in a birdcage. One can always adapt to a sufficient captive environment, but the heart will always feel deprived of spiritual sustinence.

Hmmm, I think that may have paid the Sandman. Sleep is welcomed here, finally. I'll report back here with more ramblings tomorrow...er, today. G'Morning!

Here's a Blogger...

So here's a new blog for all you cats to read. I'll try to keep this one a little more coherent than my LJ.
For my first post I would like to thank Comcast for being an evil monopoly. Thanks, Comcast!
Second, I would like to say...well, I really don't have much to say at this very moment, so I'll give you an update on what's going on...
Let's see...Moved into a new shop, for all those people who may not know what's going on. If you are reading this, and you don't know what I'm talking about, then you are not my friend, but you can be! All you have to do is eat 3 cheeseburgers and a burrito while on a pogo stick. Well, that might not be such a good idea. Just sit back and enjoy my ramblings, and you can be my friend.

So, onward! Things are going swell. A couple of people have already sought me out from the other studio, which makes me feel appreciated. I have my own room to myself, and I can decorate how I please. It's not too shabby, if I do say so.
I worked on the winged skull upper backpiece yesterday. This guy came in with the idea and he's very, VERY Irish. Not like "Oh, my Grandma's cousin's sister's dog's uncle's brother's mother's goldfish is Irish," but like straight up from Ireland...and he has theeeeee THICKEST accent to boot. I can hardly understand him some of the time, but he's a fuggin' nice guy who can sit through some serious tattoo torture.

Last night I went bowling with everyone. James flew into town for a visit with Nat and Kurt, so naturally, all those who haven't seem James wanted to hang (myself included). I arranged beer and bowl, and it was great, as usual. I have been Shannon's correographer so she could come up and hang with us, too, which was fantastic. She brought her friend Jared, and he is a gentleman. WAY TO GO SHANNON! Issac and Liz made an appearance, as did Ryan and Morgan. Good times had by all.
We were up 'till almost 5 am playing catchphrase, a Kurt and Nat tradition. Everyone had a good time. I'm glad to have met so many good people who aren't afraid of differences. That goes to all you guys in the 'gang,' as well. Last night just made me happy that I have friends who allow me to be me.
On a concluding note,I get Reiki'd tomorrow! I had a client come in and she got a Dharma wheel tattooed. We started talking about it and other things related, and she is a massage therapist/energy healer. I figured that might be fun to try, so I made an appointment and we are going to see how things go. For those of you unfamiliar with Reiki, it's a method of self healing and meditation.
Hmmm, this seems like this could go on to be a novel, so I'll put it to rest here. So long, Ya'll!