Do NOT try this at home.

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Must. Write. A . Blog. 

Must. Write. A . Blog. 

Must. Write. A . Blog. 

I know what I can write about. 

We're only 10 days into the new year and boy have things been busy. 

Days 2-4 were spent tabulating thousands of votes for The Best. Now there's a fun time with a spreadsheet. 

Day 5... my older daughter got engaged.  Yeah. WOW. That was something I didn't expect. Well... technically I did, but I didn't expect it THAT day. He was going to wait until a snowfall.  I mean, there were flurries, so I guess it kinda counts as a snowfall?

Day 6... New tattoo. I've decided my body is a great place to collect art.

  • I can't lose it or misplace it. (Barring some sort of disfiguring accident.)
  • I can look at it whenever I want.  (As long as it's not the ones on my back.)
  • I can color them in. (I prefer black lines and shading for that reason. Never know when I'm going to have to kill time with a set of crayola markers.)
  • Every artist I've ever worked with has been fun, and I always have a fun memory and a story to go with the tattoo. 
  • Every tattoo on me is a memory too. A point in time, a place, a person it reminds me of. 

I've been asked, "Don't you think you're going to look like hell when you get older?"

My answer: "Either I'm gonna look amazing, or I'm not going to care. Maybe they can mummify me and I can be some poor college kids archaeological dig in 100 years."

At this point, I don’t have any full sleeves or completely covered areas, but I've got some decent sized pieces on my arms, legs, back and now… my rib cage.

On a scale of one to 10, ribs are supposed to be about a 42 for the pain level.  That's what every chart I looked up online said. I didn't think it was THAT bad. I am, however, supposed to say, they're horrible. They're "squishy" and bumpy and all around not every tattoo artists favorite place to do ink. 

Heck, I read online: "Because the skin in the rib area is thin and is directly over the bones, the ribs is considered one of the most painful places to get a tattoo...There have been cases wherein people end up having an unfinished tattoo on the ribcage because the pain is just too unbearable."

I, for one, was glad to be able to laugh through my new ink. I know that it means I'm not quite right in the head... but it stung just like any other one, until it tickled that is. 

Yes, it tickled. Right around my lower rib.  I have no clue why, but as I laid there with my camera in one hand (of course) and my arms stretched above my head, I had to completely choke back a fit of laughter.  He knew by the way my breathing stopped and he paused, letting the laugh come out. 

I know how odd that is. But hey, I've never truly been normal. (I heard that... if you in the peanut gallery would like to continue, I encourage you to actually make a comment.) 

I continued laughing through the tattoo—which earned the nickname "Squishy"—and I genuinely had a great time with the artist, Craven. Though I'd been to Pocono Tattoo plenty of times, this was his first stab... err... chance at my skin. Bill (who gave me my first tattoo at the ripe old age of 17) actually came in and sat during it. It was fun to sit with two accomplished guys (don't tell them I said that) and swap stories and jokes, all while trying not to giggle.  Because after all, pain level was 42. 

Day 7: Press day. Actually, all things considered, this day was pretty quiet. 

Day 8: Daughter number two, Alex... well, she turned 18. That puts me in the technically-not-legally-responsible-for-a-child-anymore group. Who knew I could raise not one, but two little girls to adulthood. 

Day 9: Thunder 102 holiday party. With Jonathan Charles Fox and Mike Sakel in the car, it was a cross between Driving Miss Daisy (with Jonathan in the back seat) and Clint Eastwood in Any Which Way But Loose (with Mike playing Clyde in the passenger seat). I'll let you decide how funny the ride to that party was.   The party was great, the food was fantastic and the ride to Liberty didn't seem long at all with all the jokes that were flying inside that car. 

Day 10: Besides exhausted, I'm working on things for The Best again, I'm trying to plan what I need to get done this weekend, and I'm trying to remember to not throw my hands on my hips... or rather waist... because that new tattoo still stings. 

Remember kids... when thinking about tattoo placement, steer clear from the neck, the face, and the ribs. As they always say... don't try this at home. 

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