permanent art.

i feel like i've been away from the blog scene for a bit, nothing really new to say and all, but i feel like writing, so here goes.

one and a half weeks ago i got two new tattoos. just about since i got to japan i knew i wanted to get a tattoo while living here. last time i was in japan i had the same desire, but i wussed out and then ended up getting the same tattoo a couple years later anyways. this time i knew that wasn't gonna happen and i was gnna go for the follow through. so since last november i knew i was either going to get the portland skyline tattooed on me or the hawthorn bridge. i even decided on the position (the inside of my left bicep). so then it was just a waiting game to see if i really wanted it, to get a better picture of the bridge, and, eventually, convince my friends here to go with me and get their own. everything finally came into place this june, and on the 23rd we all felt pain and got pretty pictures in return.

we started the day at inokouchi high school (alexis' school), for the school festival. it was five of us gaijin running around, being goofs, and having a rad time screaming in the kids' haunted houses. once the guys heard kate, alexis and i were actually getting tattoos that evening, they decided to tag along. so mark and bill joined in the fun, bill spending his time hardcoring it at deciding what would he get (the tattoo bug is very contagious).

we went to fujiyama tattoo in downtown hiroshima. this location was appealing for the amazing art and it's (clearly) yakuza cliental. for three hours we girls squirmed on our tattoo beds, and cheering was done by all. the main artist was very skilled, and his wife (who was apprenticing) was also gosh darn good. alexis went first, got the kanji for peach (momo); kate started at about the same time with the apprentice, getting a cute godzilla threatening to beat a salary man with a sakura blossom; and i went last, with the lead artist, getting my hawthorn bridge with a reflection of japanese style trees.

now the adrenaline in the shop, the shop that was only 14x6ft (maybe), was intense. this gave bill the motivation to make an appointment for a commitment of a tattoo and mark to think up 20 different things he would or wouldn't get. this intensity also drove me, who was coveting kate's adorable salary man, to get my own little salary man running around on my wrist. i still can't believe i did this, i never do anything without forethought and consideration and procrastination and reconsideration and ... you get the idea. but i have my little testament to spur of the moment decisions to prove that i can change. and i'll have him forever.

success was had, and us three girls will happily share that night together in memory with our fresh ink. satisfaction is what i feel with my new art, and of course the desire to get something else still nags on me; but now there are only a few more things to check of my japan list.