Remember that time i asked Shige to tattoo a bunch of flowers on my knee?

Yeah, me neither... perhaps because that never happened?
What did happen was that i asked for a piece the same size as my elephant, and someone chose to completely ignore that.

But i'm getting ahead of myself.
Yesterday was the day, finally.
I hate the days leading up to an important event, because i get to damn nervous, so when we got up Wednesday morning (early) i was relieved and excited.
Nervous too, but mostly excited.
The trip to Yokohama was the same as always, except this time i was nervous and Allan, who was not getting tattooed for once, was the happiest camper ever!

When we got there Shige told me that he'd made some changes.
He was a little cryptic and weird about it, but i was ok, i expected changes.
Then he said that he'd made it a little bigger.
Ok, i was expecting that too, no biggie.
Then he took us into the drawing room to show us the finished drawing, and the finished stencil.
It turns out that he'd included all of my ideas and made the most wonderful design i could ever hope for.
Only catch; it wasn't a little bigger, it was a whole lot bigger!
And not in the way that i'd expected either.
He pointed at a large cluster of chrysanthemums and explained that those four huge flowers were going on... my knee.
I so did not see that coming.
But what are you gonna do?
The design was perfect and the stencil was right there, so of course i just said ok.

The session went surprisingly well.
I felt like crap the first few hours, but not because of the pain, which i was actually fine with, but because i'd made the mistake of drinking a Coke, like i normally do when i get tattooed.
Well, normally i also drink 3 or 4 cups of coffee a day, and i had not thought of the consequences of drinking that much caffeine after a break this long.
Worst. Idea. Ever.
It felt like taking way too many caffeine pills, and if you've ever tried that, you'll know it ain't fun.
Anyway, not a great idea, but i kept my cool and nobody noticed, and after the caffeine left my body i felt pretty good.
It's true what Allan always say about traveling to get tattooed, you just sit way better because you have to.

At the station, trying my best to be calm!
At the café buying coffee i saw this sign, pretty funny considering the book i'm reading these days!

I just realized i haven't even told you what i decided on getting!
Ok, so among the first of my (many) ideas, was the idea of getting a fox statue sitting in front of a torii, and some flowers of course.
I decided against it, because i was afraid the statue would be too cold, but i still kept coming back to the idea.
And when the time came to make my final decision, i chose a real fox, since i've wanted a fox tattoo for such a long time too, but sitting like a statue in front of a torii.
I asked for some flowers and wind too, and i got it all.

My glorious fox (seriously, that drawing looks more like a backpiece!)
Oh, so many uncomfortable positions...
Taking a much needed breath of fresh air during a break
Headphones and green tea
Not my favorite thing in the world, but it sure looks pretty
Good thing i had Allan there to take some nice pictures!

And, here's what my thigh/knee/leg looks like today.
Very red, but not so swollen.
And so very pretty.
I can't stop looking at my leg today... in fact, i don't think i ever wanna put on pants again!

Because of the changes in size i now have two sessions in November instead of one, and then one or two next spring as well.

Shige wants Allan to put a huge peony on the other knee... it would look nice too...
The flowers almost meet in the ditch, good thing a wasn't planning to get anything there anyway!
So many friggin lines...

So, that's what i did yesterday!
What did y'all do?

I might stay home most of the day and blog some more, since i still have a bunch of pictures already resized and ready to be posted, so check back later!

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