So, over the course of the last year, what I decided on for my tattoo changed. First, I wanted the design on my advice thread -- a mixture of the Triforce and the Assassin's Creed and Skyrim logos. Then, I decided on "Nothing is true. Everything is permitted." (For more on that, I wrote another blog post about why.) That's what I went with. The color I wanted also developed. Originally, I wanted to do a simple black tattoo. I changed my mind, as inspired by @karanlit, and went with white. I love how white looks by itself.
That's the set-up. After asking around, with what everyone on my advice thread said in mind, I decided on Sandbridge Tattoo. So I go in on Saturday for a consultation with the artist I had chosen -- Garland. Turns out he doesn't do white. So, he points me to one of his fellow artists -- Andre. Andre convinces me to go back to black. So, I schedule an appointment with Garland, since I was now doing black.
A couple of days go by and I realize I screwed up; one of the things everyone said in my thread was "love what you get." Well, I knew I wouldn't have loved it in black. So I go in the next day and ask to reschedule with Andre, cause I really want to do it in white. I knew I would have to repair it someday. I knew it might come out purple. But I wanted it in white. Turns out Andre was available the next morning -- Wednesday.
So I prepare with a nice big breakfast, buy some apple juice (since I was only going to be there for 30 minutes I figured I wouldn't need any candy bars), and go in. I sit down in the chair, he puts on the stencil, dips the needle in white, and starts on the second period. I didn't think it was so bad. It barely hurt. Like @_silphco said, it just felt like scraping. Then the adrenaline hit me. I was prepared in the knowledge that I might go into shock thanks to @auriastorm, but I was not prepared for how hard it would hit me. Hoooo. I almost passed out, my heart beat a million miles a minute, and I had to go to the bathroom. Didn't expect that combination. I just kept reminding myself that it was the adrenaline and that it didn't actually hurt that bad. 'Cause it didn't. Well, Andre was worried about me, so he gave me a sugar tablet and put peppermint oil on my neck. The lead artist -- at least, I think he is -- even paused his work to come in and check on me. I thought that was pretty cool. Well, the shock passes. And we go back to the tattoo. Andre was impressed by the turnaround. After the initial shock, I was able to just sit there. The only hard part was the capital 'N'. That part hurt the most and I had to remember not to clench my arm or it would have hurt even more. Focusing on that really helped. But, the 'N' was the last thing. After that we were done.
I had fun. I will most definitely go back @_silphco and am excited to do so. I learned a couple of things for the next time though. Always bring candy bars and it's not as bad as a lot of people say.
