"Does that have to hurt so damn bad", I say to Scottie my good friend and tattoo artist. A tattoo "colector" has a relationship with their artist like a drunk has with their bartender. A good one knows what you like, and will listen to more or less andything you want to talk about. He has only been tattooing me for a few minutes now, and I am totally pussing out. I hate the first few minutes of tattooing. When your body is saying "Fuck no you are not doing this shit to me again". It is such an annoying pain. Once I am in the grove after probably the first 10-15 minutes, I can sit there all damn night. The only thing that usually stops me is the artist getting tired or we finish up what we wanted to work on. Very rarely will I puss out first.

The new piece I am working on is a japanese arm piece. I will post some pics later. As of tonight, I am done with my second sit of it. I think I still have 2-3 more sits before it is finished. I really want to finish it soon, but I want to be able to swim and have fun for the rest of the summer without having this silly pain.

Scott owns and works at Mercury Tattoo www.mercurytattoo.com Check out his portfolio and Brian Donovan's who also works there.