A successful twenty-four hours
Left work at 5:30, though between filling up the gas tank and hitting an ATM it was 6pm before I headed downtown. In rush hour traffic, of course. And then I managed to get lost shortly after exiting the freeway, despite having taken the precaution of pulling up directions to the studio and e-mailing them to my phone. But I found my way there eventually.
And the good news was that, at some point in the discussion where I explained to the guys in the studio what I wanted done where, I referenced my own previous visits to the establishment and mentioned future work I was planning on getting, and got given a frequent customer discount on the price I'd been quoted last summer. Knocked $90 off, which was brilliant -- I'd been walking in there afraid it might turn out to be more than expected, and so brought extra cash. The bad news was that they apparently only had one artist in there last night, and he had two people in line ahead of me, with an estimated two hour time on each. I wasn't keen on coming back the next day, but four hours was longer than I wanted to wait.
So he called a friend at a studio down the street (Taboo Tattoos) and found out that he wasn't doing anything that night and furthermore really liked the sound of a tangled-up Celtic dog thingy. I walked on down there, and was delighted that they made a point of giving me the same price I'd been previously quoted. I filled out the form, paid, and got taken on back to be worked on at 6:50 (according to the text message I sent Mom while walking to the room, warning her I'd be late but not saying why). I think I got out of there at a bit past 9pm -- at least, that's what the time on the photo I tweeted last night indicates, and I wasn't there much longer past the photo. Just long enough to have my arm covered with a couple of bandage pads and put my sweater back on over it.
Got slightly lost again trying to find the freeway onramp, but not too badly. Nice quick drive home from that point, until I was nearly there and remembered the cash in my wallet and made an ATM detour to stick it back in my savings account. While inputting the transaction details on my Blackberry I discovered A) that I'd missed a call and gotten a voicemail, and B) that I'd missed a text from Mom an hour before asking if I was still at work or what and would I be coming home soon. (This despite sitting there with my Blackberry in my hand the entire time my arm was being worked on, reading. I gave up on catching up on Twitter after I found the link to a Hyperbole and a Half post -- Dogs Don't Understand Basic Concepts Like Moving -- and realized it would be a very bad thing to start laughing while someone was injecting ink into my skin.) I sent a quick reply even though I was about five minutes away from being home -- she hadn't even noticed it yet when I arrived.
The really funny thing was that Lauren was there with Aidyn (since Mom took them both over to visit Grandma that afternoon) and Mom had in fact guessed that I was probably out getting another tattoo, since she remembered me getting home that late the last few times I'd had work done, and might have remembered me mentioning I had another one coming up soonish. (She'd thought of it apparently partway through leaving me that voice mail, as I found when I listened to it later) And this is the other good reason to get an immediate post-inking photo on my phone -- aside from being able to insta-tweet it, I had it there to display while the actual tattoo was covered in dressings.
So I got to bed only a smidgen before midnight, and was perturbed to discover that, though I indeed had lots of big bandage pads and A&D ointment (having stocked up last summer), I didn't appear to have any more bandage tape. What I did have was some trim-to-fit mesh sleeving to use holding bandaging against an arm or leg, so I cut off a piece of that to make sure the dressings didn't fall off in the night. And I'm wearing it right now, over this morning's fresh bandaging. (It kept wanting to creep down from my shoulder, so I safety-pinned it to my bra strap in three places. Now it keeps trying to pull my strap down, but that's a lot easier to keep adjusting.) Oh, and I found the roll of bandage tape this morning -- in the third package of bandage pads, the one I hadn't looked in last night.
I figure I'll change the dressings once in the middle of the afternoon, and again before I go to bed tonight. And then tomorrow I'll undoubtedly sleep until late morning or early afternoon, and spend as much of the weekend as possible wearing sleeveless tops so I can leave my arm uncovered except for bed. (At least the weather forecast says we warm back up tomorrow.) Sunday I should switch from A&D to lotion, and from that point on I won't have to worry about gunking up any clothing touching it.
And today I found the latest ThinkGeek mailing and went browsing on the site. (Needed to anyway -- had a look in the kids section and found a number of things I might like to get Aidyn for Xmas. Next paycheck...) They've added to the Harry Potter category -- the Magic Wand Programmable TV Remote has been there for a while, but now they've got a nicely affordable Voice-Activated Wand Flashlight (in Harry or Hermione wand styles) and the Infrared Battling Wand (in Harry, Ron, Hermione or Voldemort). I'm also enjoying looking over the Doctor Who category -- they've got the TARDIS sound-effects cookie jar in stock (as greatly amuses my nephew, who's learned to push down on the light to make it blink and wheeze), sonic screwdrivers for Ten, Eleven, and Three, and that heat-changing TARDIS mug that I'm likely to get on my next order. Oh, and a squeezy Adipose. And then there's the Chickenborg Egg Cuber -- I don't cook and can't remember the last time I boiled an egg, but it's strangely fascinating to contemplate.
And today, being the Thursday before Thanksgiving, was the office Thanksgiving lunch. Unlike past years, they didn't request we bring food to contribute, and the spread was decent. (Very good pies -- chocolate icebox and pumpkin.) So I got a very nice free lunch today, and no stint at the front desk because the receptionist puts the phone on night service and comes and eats with us all in the conference room.
The yarnharlot is back from a knitting retreat, and made a post about yarnbombing a hotel as a form of territorial marking -- a photo-heavy entry of the various items bescarved, enhattened or otherwise covered in wool. As well as little balls of yarn left like Easter eggs.
neadods linked to the Emission Spectra Scarves for knitters who geek out over the periodic table (or have geeky giftees to knit for). Or you could just commission one from their Etsy store.
So, yes, largely wound up with the work I needed to finish, and pretty much caught up on the friends list as well. Better post this and wind things up to head on over to Dad's.
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