Unblanking my Person
A couple years ago I went about joining the world of Twitter, mainly because my favorite late night host, TV's Craig Ferguson, was talking about it all the time, and I wanted to see what he had to say. Little did I know the impact it would actually have upon me, and my little world.
I started with Craig, and then I started following more and more people as I started to get the hang of things. I followed people from sites I belonged too, people who had entertained me through their words, their music, or their acting. Things can snowball quickly on a person if they let them, and its fun if you do, trust me on this.
One person that i started following was Alkaline heretofore known as Alk, I had talked to her through blog comments and the like before, and this was another avenue to BS a bit, and see how each other was doing. Little did I know the effect this follow would have upon me and, really, my life as it is. Alk is an amazing lady, my Mirror if you will, an Evil Top Hat as well, just a good person to have on your side, and to call a friend.
Through Alk I slowly met more and more people from the lovely city of Vancouver, and suddenly I had honorary Canadian status, and I also then had a favorite NHL team. See, I upped my Twittering when I got my first smart phone and could tweet constantly, before that it had only been on my computer, and when you work afternoons you miss some people that way.
Because of Alk, and all of those I have met and conversed with over the last year and change, I have booked a trip to Vancouver in July. I planned it around The Dark Knight being out so I could see it in IMAX, but there are so many other things I want to do and see when I get to Vancouver, and so many amazing people I cannot wait to meet when I arrive there.
I was offered many couches to surf upon, and that's something that will make you smile, because I will let my opinion of these people err on the side of non-serial killer. So the plane ticket is booked, and so I get to have that paid off before I get there. The passport has been applied for and will arrive with plenty of time to spare. Money will be saved up so that I can have me a good time while there, eating and drinking, and being merry!
One thing I decided to do while there is to get the tattoo that has been swirling about in my mind for the last 4 years or so. I am putting it in "print" like this so that I will have whoever reads this around to call me out if I don't get it. I like putting that kind of pressure upon myself, no backing out that way.
What made me decide to do it on this trip? Well, when I used to watch the various Ink shows on TV I always envisioned getting a tattoo on a trip. It felt like something that one did, but it also seemed like I would have better luck finding an artist with the talent and experience that I want in whoever is putting ink below my skin. So after random tattoo talk on Twitter the idea came back around in my head as something I would do rather than something I "should" do.
I am a guy that has a lot of things on my should list, and sometimes they move to my will do list, and sometimes they sit there and stare at me until I realize I have outgrown them, or I fear the level of importance they have taken in my mind. So, telling people I will do something, and putting it into something like this, flips a switch in my brain and I will in fact do it. I don't always get it done immediately, but if I say I will, then I will, that's me, that's what I do.
Anyways, the discussion on Twitter snowballed into a couple day random topic, and when I brought it up to Alk and @BretinVancouver, heretofore known as Bret, it became even more of a reality. These are two of my friends in Vancouver, two people that have interesting and well done tattoos, so obviously they are my experts on all things ink. (Another thing Twitter is good for, finding experts when you didn't know you were looking)
Alk and Bret have both gotten tattoos in Vancouver, so obviously I ask them for artist suggestions. Alk threw a website at me of an artist she used to work with, and after looking at his examples, I knew I was going to approach him about my idea, and see if he was available while I am there, and what he might be able to do for me if he is. I haven't sent that email off yet, but I will do so with ample time so that he can wrap his mind around my idea, and so he can come up with something to show me as well.
What is my idea?
Well, let's flash back to five years ago this April 4th, a day that I am rather lucky to have gotten through, a day that ended as well as it could with all things considered. That day was a rather uneventful day at work until around 6:20am. I was finishing up my shift at work, and after parking a locomotive on a track and moving the turn table to retrieve another one, I saw the first was rolling.
I thought "Oh fuck" and I began to move the turntable back around so that I might line up the tracks on it with the track the now rolling unit was on. It was cold that morning, and because of that the table didnt turn as quickly as it could have. I came close to lining up the tracks, and once I realized I wasn't going to be able to, I started moving backwards to get out of the way. I moved backwards so as to see the unit coming at me, but I moved at a kind of an angle. I tripped a bit on the track, and it was then that the locomotive struck me and I made a sound I know I will never be able to duplicate, nor do I ever want to be in a position to do so. I was never really pinned down, but I had to really jump to my left to get out of the way of the moving locomotive. I eyed the drop into the pit, wondering if I was going to have to hurl myself down there, but I kept moving away from the locomotive. As I drug myself, the rolling locomotive struck our switch engine, and finally came to a stop. Once everything had quit moving and I knew I was safe, I relaxed and stopped dragging myself. I will tell you what, pain comes on fast when adrenalin wears off, boy howdy does it come on fast. I knew my right leg was messed up, but I also knew it didn't hurt as bad if I just stayed still.
The supervisors and all that came out to check on me and the accident once they had called 911. Luckily one of them is an EMT so that made me feel more relaxed about it all as he knew how to assess everything. I went to the ER, and at that time my town didn't have an ortho surgeon, so they had to find one to take me. I am glad they found the one they did, Dr. Isackson in Dickinson, ND. I really liked him, and his approach in all my dealings with him. Luckily I got hurt on a Tuesday and thats one of his surgery days, so I was able to take an ambulance to Dickinson so that I could have a rod put into my shattered tibia, and have my broken fibula assessed as well. I was in the hospital until Thursday, I had a brace on my right leg, crutches, and one of those cushioned braces for my severely sprained left ankle. What can I say, when I get injured I do it right! Here's a picture to kinda show what went with it all.
That is the actual accident report from work, something that they figured out wasn't my fault due to the 7337 having a faulty handbrake modification. See the walkway by the green switch engine, thats where I wound up, and that mangled part in the foreground, thats where I was standing moving the controller that was there, and that's where I started getting out of the way.
So you can see why I say I got out of it in the best way possible, a broken leg is nothing compared to no leg, or no life, so I will take the scars I got and never say a bad thing about them.
I probably got the idea for the tattoo about the time I was getting the rod taken out of my bone a year after the accident. I had always kinda wanted a tattoo but never knew what to get, or what would mean something to me. Inspiration hit, and I knew what I wanted. I want a train tunnel with a light shining forth from it. I don't know if I want 7337 and 4-4-07 included or not, but I am definitely open to seeing what the artist might come up with on this.
So you can probably understand why I want this tattoo, but let me tell you what it means to me. I often hear about people going through traumatic situations and they get a new lease on life, a new outlook, and I didn't really get that. Sometimes I wonder if I am broken because I didn't, or if I just process things differently. I used humor to get over the trauma of it all, and I think that was good, but I also downplayed it when telling people about it. When faced with the statement "You got hit by a train?" I would always say "Well, one locomotive" and go on with the discussion.
I want to remind myself that things can go differently, that things may have a way of working out, but that doesnt mean you let them be. I want to have something that catches my eye, something that speaks to me about something I have been through, something that reminds me of where I have been and where I am going. That is why I want what I want, and that is why I will get it.
Alk talked about her love of taking blank people to get their first ink, and after sometime towards the end of July, I will no longer be blank.
Think my leg will be pretty?
A couple years ago I went about joining the world of Twitter, mainly because my favorite late night host, TV's Craig Ferguson, was talking about it all the time, and I wanted to see what he had to say. Little did I know the impact it would actually have upon me, and my little world.
I started with Craig, and then I started following more and more people as I started to get the hang of things. I followed people from sites I belonged too, people who had entertained me through their words, their music, or their acting. Things can snowball quickly on a person if they let them, and its fun if you do, trust me on this.
One person that i started following was Alkaline heretofore known as Alk, I had talked to her through blog comments and the like before, and this was another avenue to BS a bit, and see how each other was doing. Little did I know the effect this follow would have upon me and, really, my life as it is. Alk is an amazing lady, my Mirror if you will, an Evil Top Hat as well, just a good person to have on your side, and to call a friend.
Through Alk I slowly met more and more people from the lovely city of Vancouver, and suddenly I had honorary Canadian status, and I also then had a favorite NHL team. See, I upped my Twittering when I got my first smart phone and could tweet constantly, before that it had only been on my computer, and when you work afternoons you miss some people that way.
Because of Alk, and all of those I have met and conversed with over the last year and change, I have booked a trip to Vancouver in July. I planned it around The Dark Knight being out so I could see it in IMAX, but there are so many other things I want to do and see when I get to Vancouver, and so many amazing people I cannot wait to meet when I arrive there.
I was offered many couches to surf upon, and that's something that will make you smile, because I will let my opinion of these people err on the side of non-serial killer. So the plane ticket is booked, and so I get to have that paid off before I get there. The passport has been applied for and will arrive with plenty of time to spare. Money will be saved up so that I can have me a good time while there, eating and drinking, and being merry!
One thing I decided to do while there is to get the tattoo that has been swirling about in my mind for the last 4 years or so. I am putting it in "print" like this so that I will have whoever reads this around to call me out if I don't get it. I like putting that kind of pressure upon myself, no backing out that way.
What made me decide to do it on this trip? Well, when I used to watch the various Ink shows on TV I always envisioned getting a tattoo on a trip. It felt like something that one did, but it also seemed like I would have better luck finding an artist with the talent and experience that I want in whoever is putting ink below my skin. So after random tattoo talk on Twitter the idea came back around in my head as something I would do rather than something I "should" do.
I am a guy that has a lot of things on my should list, and sometimes they move to my will do list, and sometimes they sit there and stare at me until I realize I have outgrown them, or I fear the level of importance they have taken in my mind. So, telling people I will do something, and putting it into something like this, flips a switch in my brain and I will in fact do it. I don't always get it done immediately, but if I say I will, then I will, that's me, that's what I do.
Anyways, the discussion on Twitter snowballed into a couple day random topic, and when I brought it up to Alk and @BretinVancouver, heretofore known as Bret, it became even more of a reality. These are two of my friends in Vancouver, two people that have interesting and well done tattoos, so obviously they are my experts on all things ink. (Another thing Twitter is good for, finding experts when you didn't know you were looking)
Alk and Bret have both gotten tattoos in Vancouver, so obviously I ask them for artist suggestions. Alk threw a website at me of an artist she used to work with, and after looking at his examples, I knew I was going to approach him about my idea, and see if he was available while I am there, and what he might be able to do for me if he is. I haven't sent that email off yet, but I will do so with ample time so that he can wrap his mind around my idea, and so he can come up with something to show me as well.
What is my idea?
Well, let's flash back to five years ago this April 4th, a day that I am rather lucky to have gotten through, a day that ended as well as it could with all things considered. That day was a rather uneventful day at work until around 6:20am. I was finishing up my shift at work, and after parking a locomotive on a track and moving the turn table to retrieve another one, I saw the first was rolling.
I thought "Oh fuck" and I began to move the turntable back around so that I might line up the tracks on it with the track the now rolling unit was on. It was cold that morning, and because of that the table didnt turn as quickly as it could have. I came close to lining up the tracks, and once I realized I wasn't going to be able to, I started moving backwards to get out of the way. I moved backwards so as to see the unit coming at me, but I moved at a kind of an angle. I tripped a bit on the track, and it was then that the locomotive struck me and I made a sound I know I will never be able to duplicate, nor do I ever want to be in a position to do so. I was never really pinned down, but I had to really jump to my left to get out of the way of the moving locomotive. I eyed the drop into the pit, wondering if I was going to have to hurl myself down there, but I kept moving away from the locomotive. As I drug myself, the rolling locomotive struck our switch engine, and finally came to a stop. Once everything had quit moving and I knew I was safe, I relaxed and stopped dragging myself. I will tell you what, pain comes on fast when adrenalin wears off, boy howdy does it come on fast. I knew my right leg was messed up, but I also knew it didn't hurt as bad if I just stayed still.
The supervisors and all that came out to check on me and the accident once they had called 911. Luckily one of them is an EMT so that made me feel more relaxed about it all as he knew how to assess everything. I went to the ER, and at that time my town didn't have an ortho surgeon, so they had to find one to take me. I am glad they found the one they did, Dr. Isackson in Dickinson, ND. I really liked him, and his approach in all my dealings with him. Luckily I got hurt on a Tuesday and thats one of his surgery days, so I was able to take an ambulance to Dickinson so that I could have a rod put into my shattered tibia, and have my broken fibula assessed as well. I was in the hospital until Thursday, I had a brace on my right leg, crutches, and one of those cushioned braces for my severely sprained left ankle. What can I say, when I get injured I do it right! Here's a picture to kinda show what went with it all.
That is the actual accident report from work, something that they figured out wasn't my fault due to the 7337 having a faulty handbrake modification. See the walkway by the green switch engine, thats where I wound up, and that mangled part in the foreground, thats where I was standing moving the controller that was there, and that's where I started getting out of the way.
So you can see why I say I got out of it in the best way possible, a broken leg is nothing compared to no leg, or no life, so I will take the scars I got and never say a bad thing about them.
I probably got the idea for the tattoo about the time I was getting the rod taken out of my bone a year after the accident. I had always kinda wanted a tattoo but never knew what to get, or what would mean something to me. Inspiration hit, and I knew what I wanted. I want a train tunnel with a light shining forth from it. I don't know if I want 7337 and 4-4-07 included or not, but I am definitely open to seeing what the artist might come up with on this.
So you can probably understand why I want this tattoo, but let me tell you what it means to me. I often hear about people going through traumatic situations and they get a new lease on life, a new outlook, and I didn't really get that. Sometimes I wonder if I am broken because I didn't, or if I just process things differently. I used humor to get over the trauma of it all, and I think that was good, but I also downplayed it when telling people about it. When faced with the statement "You got hit by a train?" I would always say "Well, one locomotive" and go on with the discussion.
I want to remind myself that things can go differently, that things may have a way of working out, but that doesnt mean you let them be. I want to have something that catches my eye, something that speaks to me about something I have been through, something that reminds me of where I have been and where I am going. That is why I want what I want, and that is why I will get it.
Alk talked about her love of taking blank people to get their first ink, and after sometime towards the end of July, I will no longer be blank.
Think my leg will be pretty?
VIEW 10 of 10 COMMENTS
Good luck with the ink! Though, I'm sure you'll have no problem in Vancouver. They seem chockfull of amazing tattoo artists.