t's been five years since I've received a tattoo... i kind of forgot what it was like...

I got to the shop at 1:30 pm, my appointment originally being 3-5 hours long. I signed the papers, got the stencil on me, and awkwardly removed my bra in front of the customers and cupped my bare boob so as to not scare them or scar me so that the stencil could be put on properly. Then, partially unzipped my pants. This was an epic tattoo.

Now, the last tattoo I got took 30 minutes, shading and all. For this one... well, I wasn't totally prepared for the dedication this one would require. (sidenote: I have a high pain tolerance. What most people consider 10/10 pain, I consider 6/10. I did not wince once during the tattoo, make a noise, cry, or did anything but lay freakishly still the whole time.) I know the outline is the worst. I recall the pain around my hip bone to be 7/10. The fatty belly part, meh, 4-5/10. I kept my eyes closed and sort of rested until....The ribs. OH GOD THE RIBS. ON the ribs... 8-9/10. At the edge of the ribs.... 15/10. UNBEARABLE. And this is after taking 440 mg of naproxen beforehand. I want to scream. I wanted to cry. I wanted a slurpee and to lay on my couch and watch The Wonder Years on Netflix... but I didn't say a thing.

It was 4pm. The outline was finally done. The OUTLINE? Originally, I was told the appointment would be til 5pm, so i thought "hm, ok, well, the shading shouldnt be that bad. An hour? I can deal."

The shading began. A lot of kids were in there getting The Fest tattoos (huge music fest in Gville), and one of the other artists asked my guy if he was going to tattoo for The Fest, and he said "I'll be doing this one til 10!" and laughed. I though "lol, til 10, what a riot. way to get me nervous!"

Well, it was way past 6 and he still hadn't gotten to shading on the ribs yet. He paused, undid his gloves, and I thought "hmmm, maybe the flowers on top were just going to remain white", but then after a short break, he started up on the rest of it. Back to my ribs again! OVER and OVER and OVER the ribs, laying pressure on the bones, scratching over the same spot repeatedly... I couldn't take it. And my legs were mega cramping! I finally asked him for numbing cream, and that made the last 1.5 hrs like a walk in the park.

After a while. he took the gloves off again, and I knew he had went over the upper flowers. I was so excited! Done? DONE? DONE!

"Now we're at the home stretch". *wut*

Then he further detailed the flowers for another 45 minutes.

I walked out of there at 9pm, after 8 hours of tattooing. He only charged me for 6 because of "all the breaks" and was a real nice guy. He said we may need another 45 minutes after it's healed to see if the shading fades at all.