Okay, this story is gonna be a lot longer than any of your Once Upon a Times:Back in HS I told a buddy "I'd probably get a tattoo before I'd ever get a piercing" / "why?" / "because jewelry's for girl... Read More
Okay, this story is gonna be a lot longer than any of your Once Upon a Times:Back in HS I told a buddy "I'd probably get a tattoo before I'd ever get a piercing" / "why?" / "because jewelry's for girls". Fast forward to the end of Nursing School "I'm gonna get a tattoo, dog, both (or even a tattoo of a dog) when I graduate" ...didn't happen. And even BEFORE everyone's treacherous 2016 had started last year, "I'm gonna get one before or ON my 30th birthday" ... nope!On with the not-so-funny story, I got into a Total Wreck with my cousin on our way to a walk-in consult at Guru, January '16. Was it a sign not go through with it? Probably, but here I am a year later quantifying wtf got me distracted from doing something so personal and life-engraving: car replacement, job promotion, the unexpected/continuous mind-racking of girl dealings; the list goes on and on. It only took an anniversary to trigger such thinking, then the rest, as they say, is history...You know how it goes: Facebook sends you an "On This Day" reminder and there's your 2009 Civic crunched up like tin foil in your notifications. One of your good friends rolls into town that same weekend and gets inked up @ Black and Blue SF after a 6-mo standing appointment. You still have some of those lingering distractions but something in your head tells you "go" (again). Aside from another shop and GURU regrettably turning down my design for reasons of being too 'specific' or 'unique'... they actually attempted to draw a mock-up on that fateful day last year. The grounds were clean, staff inviting and The Hut as I'd like to call it just gave off this aura of "Welcome ~~ there is no fragmented Civic shrapnel to be found here". In the end it didn't (and still hasn't) worked out for my original, "first" tattoo idea. So whaddaya do? "Secondary", alternative (finger) tattoo idea, go!This had brewed over after all the turnaways from last year, months of hashtag searching #fingertattoos on Instagram and settling on an image that particularly didn't have much personal meaning; just something to stir conversation or conjure this self-sophisticating image whenever I pulled a drink up to my mouth or scratched my facial hair in thought. A "Gateway Tattoo"---and then came an opportune moment: your parents are out of the country for three weeks--Do you surprise them with a dog on their return, a tattoo or bowf? Tattoo it was. I dropped in on one of my single days off Thursday afternoon and was greeted again by Travis. He consulted with me on three separate images where I mishmoshed the ideas into one. He called down one of the newer artists, Jopie from the second floor and she got her station readied for me in 15.She was pretty warm & communicative throughout the whole process, "you have really beautiful hands" Jopie said xD. She free-handed the image with a pen, made some adjustments and accommodated a lot of the details along the way. It made out so well, Jopie kinda hinted a suggestion to add another line or two. It was overall, a "spicy" experience as her and neighbor Jeff had described for a first inking. Especially towards that bone bend at the end... yikes. After about 20 mins of needling I was wrapped up, given after care instructions and sent on my way with Jopie's number & Instagram handle to contact.Am I 100 on it? No. But I'm picky, and what (high) percentage of people can say so for their First anyway? It's a baby mark. It's done. I took the plunge. It will fade with its placement and use, but the pricing includes touch-ups because of those pre-implications which I can appreciate GURU divulging upfront.So peruse your artist's portfolio, be Confident in your specifics, TRUST and Go for it. No regrets here with Ideas Three (big!) and Four in the works....still want that dog though. Read Less