I really don't know if people actually are going out tonight. It seems like Halloween has become this two weekend event. More time for girls to really slut out. On Friday and Saturday, people were already dressing up and going to Halloween parties. So it's Monday and I imagine people are partied out, and their costumes are probably all dirty and ripped up anyway.
I didn't dress up this year. But I did meet my BFF in Los Angeles to do Halloween type stuff. I took the amtrak up there. Except, they are doing weekend maintenance on the track, so I had to ride a charter bus up to Irvine. The bus driver was a boisterous ample african american woman. This man tried to get on the bus as it was pulling away. He didn't have a ticket though. She gave him the bizness. But, she made it there in like 1 hour and fifteen minutes.
After that, I took the train the rest of the way to LA. They were only operating on one track, but I had read the signs that said the train to LA was on track 1. So I was climbing the stairs to go over there, with one other guy, when someone yelled at us that the train was on track 2. The whole hour that I waited, people would go over to track 1, and someone would have to yell to them to come back. If I worked there, I would have just put a sign on the stairs and the elevator, right?
So, I got to LA and my BFF didn't see me waiting, so she parked for like 3 minutes and had to pay $2. Sounds like LA to me. We went all the way to our hotel room which was a priceline bargain by LAX, and we were told we couldn't check in until 3. Which meant we wouldn't be checking in until later that night.
So, we went over to Melrose near the tattoo shop. We had lunch, went to some stores that my BFF liked, which included a necromantic store, called Necromance. It had taxidermy and all kinds of preserved insects and animal bones and skeletons. One thing that was a little disturbing was a box of stuffed ducklings for sale. Poor little guys. There was a lot of stuff. And there was a sign in front of a myriad of mostly animal bones that said that all insects procured had died a natural death. I don't believe it. But whatever. It was a very cool store. Of course, photography wasn't allowed, so no pictures.
We went to the tattoo shop about half an hour before our appointment. They weren't ultra helpful. They asked who the appointment was with, but we didn't know. So they guessed it was Jonny, wasn't in yet. So we waited and waited. And waited. He called about half an hour after he was supposed to be there. He was running late. So, the guy who seemed to be the manager or owner talked to us about what we wanted. So, he told me Jonny would be definitely the best for my tattoo. He thought that Sean would be good to do BFF's tattoo because it was more up his alley.
So, we waited. There wasn't too much in the immediate vicinity, so we mostly waited at the shop. Sean showed up, and he was told about BFF's tattoo. He was busy eating his subway sub, so he took his time. Then he had to set up his station. Then finally he was ready for her. About 2 hours after we had first arrived. He did a crow on her foot, and he added chains to an anchor on her thigh. And he hit on her while he was tattooing her. She was interested. Which was good. Otherwise, that would be an uncomfortable experience. Being hit on my some guy who you don't like but is permanently embedding ink in your skin.
So, when he was halfway done with her, Jonny Ocean showed up. But he had to do a microdermal jewel thing to this girl first, behind her ear. So that took a while. While he was doing that, the apprentice was supposed to prep the tattoo station for him, but the apprentice seemed new or not too smart. It took him a long time, and then he didn't do everything. Finally, Jonny was ready for me. I showed him my little file printout of a sampaguita flower from the internet. It was to go by my mom's name. I wanted something little, but he thought it should be big. He asked me to write down the name, then he looked on the internet for other photos. He picked another one, and printed it big and in color.
Then he used the photo to sketchy the outlines on my skin. He asked me what I thought. I looked. It was big. I wasn't thinking that big. But what the hell. He was the artist, right? So I gave him the okay. And I watched him pull out the neat blending needle with several fine teeth, like clippers kinda. So he drew all over my arm. I really don't know how long it took. Maybe around an hour. But after all that waiting, I totally wanted him to take his time and make it worth my wait. After all, this was permanent. When he was done, it was very red, but I could still see the detail. Definitely worth the wait.
So, this isn't the best picture. But don't worry it's beautiful. I'm so gangsta. So here's the info for the place.
Sacred Art LA41 N. Highland Ave
Sacred Art Tattoo & Piercing
1441 N. Highland Ave
Hollywood CA 90028
323-463-0520
Facebook: sacredartla
Hours of Operations:
Sunday - Thursday 12noon to 10pm
Friday - Saturday 12noon to 12pm
Hollywood CA 90028
323-463-0520
Facebook: sacredartla
Hours of Operations:
Sunday - Thursday 12noon to 10pm
Friday - Saturday 12noon to 12pm
nice that you got a tattoo to memorialize your mom. i like that you chose a sampaguita flower too.
ReplyDeletethe picture isn't really clear...what is your mom's name? is it luzviminda?
LOL, I don't know how my mom would feel about it! The sampaguita was a tough decision because I don't even have that personal connection with them but they are very symbolic.... And yes, you got the name right!
ReplyDeletethat's a really pretty name...the three island groups combined.
ReplyDeletei think that was a beautiful (and symbolic) choice to use the sampaguita.
i know an older lady with the same name but she goes by "Luz". Another lady has a variation of that name, "Minviluz" but she goes by Minnie.
My mom went by Luz also.
ReplyDelete