Tat-2'd

In 1993 I didn't have a job and a friend of mine also didn't have a job. We'd both left a job at the same, or almost the same, time and were on unemployment and angry with our prior employers so we applied at lots of places we knew wouldn't hire us... lady's shoe stores for example.  He was an artist, an amazing drawer, and he bought a tattoo gun. He tattooed an orange. He tattooed his big toe. Then, he tattooed my right arm, above the sleeve. I was still employable when I finally decided to quit milking that company's unemployment insurance. (New needles for each tattoo, don't panic.)

Fast Forward to now, 2012 and he's had his own shop for a while now and the color on my almost 20 year old tattoo was well & truly faded. I stopped in to see him and chat and he asked to see it. When I showed it to him he said, "Let me fix that and I'll fix it for free as long as you don't tell anybody who did it until I DO fix it." I said, "Deal."

I thought he meant he'd recolor it. So, today I sat in the chair expecting a quick recolor only to have him start drawing on my arm... a lot. When I asked him what he was doing he said, "I'm going to fix it. Trust me. If you don't like it you can have your money back." We laughed. He told me to be still.

Two and a half hours later he was done with the black part of the tattoo. "OK. Come back in three or four weeks and I'll do the color." I looked at it and was very impressed. I'm still impressed. He really does do good work. He's the only person I'll let tattoo me. It'll be a while though. MAN I'd forgotten how sensitive the inside of my arms is. (My sleeves still cover it so I'm still employable.)

Sad fact about this picture. I had my hand on the inside of my arm to push out my muscle so more of the tat would show and you can't tell. He burst out laughing and said, "It's not working. Put your guns away before somebody gets hurt... from laughing at your chicken wings."

Dangit!

PS: I'm now a contributing member of society and have worked for the same company for almost 18 years uninterrupted.