You had to know this was coming

No I'm not converting to Jackieism. I'm posting an update on the tattoo front. Up first we have the initial chest piece.



This was a particularly painful experience. I'll just say that if you enjoy a bunch of miniature pirates dancing around on your chest with two needles for peg legs than you might like this. Next up is the finished product.



My views on tattoos may seem obvious to you but I have a few things to say about it. So if your bored by my ability to talk endlessly on subjects you don't give a crap about don't bother reading. That said...

Many people have quoted some scripture over the last few years apppreantly pointing to "concrete evidence" that tattoos are "gonna buy you a one way ticket to eternal pain and suffering in satan's playland." Well first off I say to them show me the scripture. Always the first one is Lev 19:28. I say ok cool you can read that's nice. Now lets apply those skills and expand our minds here as long as we are in Lev lets see what the rest of the passage has to say. In Lev 19:20 God says if you sleep with your slave woman you can be forgiven of your sin with the downright cheap offering of a ram. Nice lets see what else. Lev 19:27 says don't shave off your sideburns or the edges of your beard. Looks like even God is not a fan of the sideburnless goatee.

So after sinking their battleship usually they move on to 1 Cor 6:19 Don't you know your body is a temple? Just for shits and giggles lets throw in verse 20. Glorify God with your body. Ok take those two alone and lets look at what tattoos I have. BAM in your face! Now lets be real and look at the verse in whole. Yup that's right he is talking about sexual immorality. OOOOOO sorry do not pass go do not collect 200 dollars. Ok so I think point is taken right? Unless you have no understanding of covenant theology and contextual reading of the bible.

But in all seriousness let me say that I know some people do not have a firm grasp on the Word and that we need to encourage them in love and understanding. So hopefully this will help on getting the word out to the peeps. I'm going to bed and you can't stop me!

When only cops have guns, it's called a "police state".

I keep getting a lot of questions from my friends about why I carry a gun. I carry openly sometimes, meaning people can see it, and other times I carry concealed, meaning at least 80 percent of the gun is concealed. The reason I carry a gun is for my own personal safety. I have 4 years of experience with many different firearms in the Marine Corps and many years of handling them as a civilian. I question you back Why do you not carry a fire arm, or at least keep one in your home. Here are some of my favorite quotes from some men that I greatly respect.

"No free man shall ever be debarred the use of arms. The strongest reason for the people to retain the right to keep and bear arms is, as a last resort, to protect themselves against tyranny in government" -Thomas Jefferson

"The very atmosphere of firearms anywhere and everywhere restrains evil interference - they deserve a place of honor with all that's good" -George Washington

"The best we can hope for concerning the people at large is that they be properly armed." -Alexander Hamilton

"Among the many misdeeds of the British rule in India, history will look upon the act of depriving a whole nation of arms, as the blackest." -Mahatma Gandhi

Men trained in arms from their infancy, and animated by the love of liberty, will afford neither a cheap or easy conquest. -From the Declaration of the Continental Congress, July 1775.

"As to the species of exercise, I advise the gun. While this gives [only] moderate exercise to the body, it gives boldness, enterprise, and independence to the mind. Games played with the ball and others of that nature, are too violent for the body and stamp no character on the mind. Let your gun, therefore, be the constant companion to your walks." -Thomas Jefferson (in a letter to his nephew)

"Taking my gun away because I might shoot someone is like cutting my tongue out because I might yell `Fire!' in a crowded theater." -Peter Venetoklis

Are we at last brought to such a humiliating and debasing degradation, that we cannot be trusted with arms for our own defence? Where is the difference between having our arms in our own possession and under our own direction, and having them under the management of Congress? If our defence be the *real* object of having those arms, in whose hands can they be trusted with more propriety, or equal safety to us, as in our own hands? -Patrick Henry

And finally my favorite

"The constitutions of most of our States assert that all power is inherent in the people; that... it is their right and duty to be at all times armed." -Thomas Jefferson.

When you see someone carrying a gun openly they are not the ones that you should be worried about. I, as many gun owners now do, even have different kinds of rounds (bullets) that I keep in my gun for different settings. One round has a plastic tip and is full of tiny beads. This prevents it from penetrating sheet rock and hitting unintended targets in the next room. The most common one I carry around is the hollow point. In the same fashion it is designed to break up quickly on contact reducing the possibilities of hitting things behind your target. I also go to the shooting range at least once a month to practice with my pistols.It's very possible that the safest place wherever you go in town is right next to me.

The other myth that I wanted to dispel is that having some guns is illegal in Oregon. I assure you that no guns are illegal in Oregon period. There are certain requirements to own things like short barreled shotguns, machine guns, cane guns and other odd weapons, but none are illegal. Also there are very few places that a firearms cannot be carried. Airports, Federal buildings, courthouses and posted private property is pretty much it. That means yes I do legally carry my gun into my bank, church and school. Any private property can be carried on if it is unmarked at the entrance. Of course if you are asked to leave you must.

So if a bank manager came out and asked me to leave I would, but that doesn't mean I wouldn't be on the phone with corporate headquarters complaining of their practices. It has to be marked on the door.

You ain't my moms I got here...Oh wait you are my moms

Now that the cat is out of the bag, with my mom know, I have decided to chronicle my tattoo experience.

A few weeks ago I wandered into the Black Lotus tattoo shop to find an artist. The initial meeting between you and your tattoo artist will always be a little awkward. I think solely because they expect you to blurt out something to the effect of "yea I wanted to get Jerry Garcia's face tattooed on my ass" or "I wanna get a butterfly on my lower back". Random tattoos of ridiculous things are inevitable, but there is the occasional customer that is in for the long haul. I would like to think I'm in this group. First of all finding an artist you like is fairly easy. You just travel around ask to see their work and then have a short chat with them. I was lucky in that I found a great artist who was excited about working long term with me on several projects.



This is Autumn. She helped me with the exact designs and placement. It is important that you allow your artist to make suggestions to you about different things concerning your tattoo. They will know how tattoos sit on the skin how color works in different areas and how to add depth and life to your tattoos. Autumn is very detail oriented and has made this a pleasant experience overall. She has what they call in the business a "light hand" We have yet to come up with a cool nickname including Autumn and light. She likes to give me a hard time when I'm under the needle, I am starting to think I'm a masochist for going back to her, but I give her an equally hard time. That brings me to developing repor with your artist. It will behoove you to make friends with them since:

1. You hopefully like them anyway.
2. They are putting something permanent on you.
3. You want to develop a long term relationship.

Picking a shop can be a daunting thought. There are many shops with many different people. I recommend asking around with people that have tattoos first. Black Lotus has been a really cool shop all around. Felix the Tat is a cool guy that has been with the shop a long time. He is a wealth of knowledge and great to have as a second opinion on art. He is a great artist as well. Brian is another guy that does some work there. I haven't gotten to speak to him alot but he has as well had some great input on the work being done. You will know it's a good shop if the artist will take a minute to sit and discuss how best to approach what the customer is wanting them to accomplish.

Next up on my hit list is Monica. Shes a little firecracker of an apprentice. Her reputation for outstanding pencil drawings and her dedication to keeping a clean shop show an artist in the making. She also likes to team up with Autumn and verbally accost me. But I guess I deserve it even though I did bring her a push pop.



This is my first day under the needle. This is a religous symbol called "Agnus Dei" meaning Lamb of God. I came up with the symbol after seeing it on the wall in a church. The line work is very important to getting the tattoo to look right in its finished form. This usually doesn't hurt very much and heals very quickly with a short turn around to get more work done.



This is the next week The first picture is just the line work for the Chi Rho. This has it's roots in Greek and as you can see inside is flanked by the Alpha and Omega.
The second picture is the finished work of that day. It is possible to do a whole piece in one day but this is gonna be on you forever so I recommend to take your time. This hurt a fair amount and took a little longer to heal up.





This is my third week of tattooing. I switched back and forth between shoulders to be able to go every week and allow two weeks to heal in between. This was a VERY long process and was quite painful at certain parts. That said it was nice to sit through a long session, 6 hours, because you kinda hit a wall with the pain and then you kinda forget.



This is the Final touches on the Chi Rho. It's kinda hard to see in this picture but I had a matching grey with white accents put into the outside.



My next post will be sometime next month as I am working on a piece toget the two pieces linked. Untill next time remember to Tip your artists!

Awsome!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eeOXT_oMHKE