More ink work and some vacation

The 3-4 hours of tattoo work I was expecting turned into 7 hours. Finished the sujibori (outline), but the last 5 minutes was bruta. If anyone ever tells you tattoos don't hurt, punch them square in the junk cause they are liars. No more work scheduled til September-ish. In slightly less then two week we leave for Europe. Flying into Copenhagen then catching the boat to cruise the Baltic (with a side trip to Moscow). Should be a fun trip, although traipsing through a bunch of foreign places without even a pocket knife makes me a bit nervous. Especially with my Grandmother-in-law in tow. She tends to make more enemies then friends, on a daily basis. Oh well, if you hear about an ugly international incident in the Baltic region know it was probably me. Be prepared to "send lawyers, guns, & money." Not necessarily in that order.

No pics this time, a combo of me not taking any, and NSFW complaints about the last set. Come on, it didn't show any crack.

Reading through this one, it looks like my ADD is firing a bit, cause I'm all over the place.

Upcoming events ...

Headed to Vegas on the 18th. Going to be working a tradeshow (Interop), but am going to try and meetup with a couple custom knifemakers while I'm there. Should be fun. No training as I go in for more ink before heading out. Going to get a couple of owls on my chest. Wahoo!

Nuttnbunny is in town today, looking forward to hanging out with them.

Finished a couple good books lately, but that will be highlighted in an upcoming post. A post in which I admit that I am a true geek who reads all kinds of crazy fantasy/science fiction. Shocking I know.

More soon.

Ink finished ... for now.

I need a touchup on the right side, probably more shading and bars around the bottom.

I have a major bummer of a post coming. We lost one of our pups, and I need to get my head around it. Writing should help me out, but I want it to be less stream of conscience and more remembrance.

Wahooo!

New ink scheduled. January 10th I go in for the other shoulder. At least for the outline and whatever else Hector can get done. I'm not sure if he will be tattooing at the shop, or at the Star of Texas Tattoo Convention, but either way I'm scheduled for highnoon. Plus, I rescheduled my 3rd dehairing treatment. I figured if I was spending time and money on tattoos, I should get rid of the hair that would mask them.

I have to take some good pictures of the kimono lining, but the idea is two Foo Dogs on a cliff, with swirly clouds and maybe water. Details are a little unknown, as I tend to give him artistic license, but expect lots of detail, full color flowers & foos, and grey clouds.

Retail therapy of a different sort.

Alternate title "Zombies beware". I bought a Kel-tec Sub 2000 9mm carbine. I was a bit skeptical, but figured it might be a good investment (along with a handful of 33 round Glock mags). This thing is a hoot! I ran it through a quick test (100 rounds or so), and was delighted at the grouping and ease of use. The one issue I had, was a fail to eject (FTE), but I think that was somewhat a fluke since the casing actually flipped around backwards and pinched between the bolt and the chamber. I don't anticipate this failure happening again, but will keep an eye out for it.

As mentioned, accuracy was good. At 25 yards I chewed a fist sized hole in the target about 4 inches right of the bullseye. I will adjust the sites eventually, but with a little adjustment to my shooting was able to move the group to the left.

In related news, I forgot how annoying indoor ranges can be once hunting season starts. Don't get me wrong, I love hunting, but setting up next to a guy shooting the latest and greatest magnum cartridge with extra porting can get fairly annoying, especially when shooting smaller calibers in the lane next to them. I realize it wasn't their fault, and talked to the RO to get my lane moved, but the fact that the RO thought it was a good idea to put them right next to me makes me wonder. There is nothing like trying to shoot small groups in paper with a .22 and feeling the concusive blast from one (or two) lanes over. Heck, I was impressed some of these guys could keep it on the paper with the flinch they were developing. Then again, at least they were getting out and shooting.

In other news, I have been keeping steady with my weight. I had a scale malfunction yesterday. When I first stepped on, it read 221. A re-weigh put me at 224. Not a huge difference I know, but when trying to get to a lower weight class 3 pounds is big. I also got my first stripe on my Blue belt, so I have that going for me. After NAGA Dallas, I think I'm going to start the tattoo on my other shoulder.

Freaking out the norms

A couple weeks ago I went to a Tattoo Festival. This was my first Tattoo festival, so I didn't really know what to expect. All in all I can say it was interesting. The lighting was challenging, so not every picture worked, but I did get a couple cool shots.

While walking through, I started flipping through one of the artists flash, just to get an idea of what they prefer, and if it would be worth while to hang out and take some pictures. Apparently I looked a little too normal, as this older guy (late 60s or so) came over and started talking to me. He was covered in old ink on his arms, and had a fresh one on his leg, and generally was a little intimidating at first. Fairly gruffly, he started asking me questions. I explained I was interested in taking some pictures of artists working, and had been thinking about some new ink. Of course, he looked at the flash book I was checking out, and it was all low quality flowers and tribal stuff. Awwwkwaard. Anyway, I explained I was looking for an artist to do some Japanese work (in prep for my Foo Dogs) and then showed him my right shoulder. He looked at me thoughtfully for a second and said "but you look so normal!". I responded with "I'm just here freaking out the norms." He thought that was hilarious.

I guess stereotypes run both ways.

Viva! Viva! Las Veeegggggaaaaas

Back from Vegas. The good news, is that my wife, Rabbitteach, has finally decided these aren't boondoggles. She even said something to the effect of "I didn't realize how much you work on these trips." Apparently she got bored while I was working in the booth. Anyway, Vegas was good. No serious flight delays (coming home I had about 45 minutes in DFW but it wasn't horrible).

Vegas has gone through some serious growth since I lived there. They added the Wynn resort (and a 2nd tower), THE Hotel at Mandalay Bay, and they started on a huge building project called City Center. Back in the day people used to go to Vegas for a cheap buffet and gambling, but the nightlife and gastro scene is incredible. However, it isn't cheap anymore. Even the crappy buffets are $27 at night.

While there we decided to go for a good dinner (completely breaking my diet). I had Fois Gras Sliders, Duck Fat fries (Amuse Bouche) , a big dry aged steak, scalloped potatoes with goat cheese and onions, and Creme brulee. It was lovely.

I also managed to win a little cash playing Black Jack while there. In the end, I walked away with a little over $500 in winnings. Rabbitteach lost $40 or so in the slotmachines. We had a good time. Back on the diet wagon this week. If I can get down to my target goal of 205 I get a new tattoo. I'm thinking Foo Dogs this time.

Witty post title ... maybe some song lyric or other.

July is always busy, what with my anniversary, vacation, July 4th, my birthday, FIL's birthday, wife's birthday, and BIL's birthday, it is downright insane. Throw in that pesky work thing, and I can barely find time for anything. This explains my lack of BJJ posts (to the delight of some I'm sure), but also puts me in a less joyful mood.

You see, something in the way I was brought up, says that if I am not active in some way or another, I start to get cranky. Before BJJ, paintball was my outlet. I guess I need something that leaves bruises. If I wasn't such a baby, I might be a masochist. Maybe a passive aggressive masochist? I want to be hurt, but am going to complain about it? Anyway, my point was that BJJ makes me a nicer person, and I look forward to training this week since I didn't get to go last week.

The dreamcicle AR is coming along. I had to order a couple parts, that should arrive in a week or two. The lower kit installed easily enough, and was actually easier then I thought. I think I will go with a standard 5.56 upper. That way I can use matching PMags from Magpul (Incidentally, I would love to work for this company. Anyone know anybody who works there?).

I have several pictures I need to take. Two knives, a shotgun, and some old circuit boards I think would make neat macro images. Maybe combine the knives and the boards together. Tattoo is healed (mostly). The peony is still peeling a bit, but has turned more blue. It will need a touchup, but that should be quick, and I will probably have that done when I start the other work. (Down the road, but hopefully this year).

Back in the saddle agaaaaaiiinn!

Back from a little vacation (Holiday to my foreign reader), and I must say I am refreshed. I cheated a little, I took my Blackberry, but only read emails didn't respond. We flew to Minneapolis, spent a couple days just North of the Twin Cities, then went up to Duluth for a couple days. Cruised around Lake Superior, then back down to Shafer, MN until flying back to Austin on Saturday. I must say, the weather was awesome. I could get used to it, but then again the winters would be brutal. Training while I was gone was lackluster. I didn't try and hit any BJJ gyms while I vacationed (I wanted to let the new tat heal). I'm going to hit it hard this week, I need to drop the 4 lbs I put back on, then go in for color on the tattoo on Sunday. A full review and detail will be available once the color is healed. Suffice it to say, that at this time I am extremely happy.

A couple pictures here, more on the flickr page.

I picked these. Nuttnbunny made them into Strawberry brandy. They help her get through those cold cold winters.


Sparkler boy, before the tragic incident with the sparkle down the boot.


I think next year will be more fun for him, he will be able to stay up later and not get as cranky.

Dreaming of ink

Good thing this is an anon blog (and my In-laws are part of the computer illiterati). I'm planning some new ink. More specifically, I am going to coverup my old tat with a new bigger more colorful more artsy image. Much bigger, but still only an upper bicep shoulder/shoulder blade thing.

Here is a bit of a tease:



Not exactly, but that will be the general theme (and more color). Many years later, I will add a Foo Dog on the other side. The coverup is part of the this year plan (as a celebration for hitting my weight goal - and hopefully the revised lower weight goal). The Foo is part of the 10 year plan. Unless it isn't. =)