Geri follows her bliss, day one.

I just don’t know where to begin.

OK. I’m just going to be random here. That’s my best plan for getting things written out, as I’m pretty darn tired and it’s been a great experience already.

Let’s see. First there’s my roommates, the other 2 girls in this class. Tara from NYC. 25, awesome, she looks like a pinup girl, loves Betty Paige and flower tattoos. Totally cool. Then Jen, 23, married, from Hawaii. Never saw snow before. And as we speak, the snowbanks on the driveway at the student house (which is pretty sweet) are taller than my Cherokee. So can you imagine? Teehee She’s got zero tattoos. She’s very artistic and does mad crazy stencil work. She’s got a great sense of humor. Tara and Jen both rock socks and I consider it a HUUGE blessing to find myself not only in a class as small as 3 total, but they’re chicas and they’re actually truly sincerely COOL.

OK then there’s the tattoo shop. Here’s a link by the way, check back because starting tomorrow she’ll have pics of us all. http://www.tattoosbylisa.net/ The shop is gorgeous. Warm, inviting, bright, clean, comfortable, not intimidating, sterile. Lisa is amazing. Her work is fanFREAKINGtastic. I totally actually forgot just how fucking good she is (from checking out her work online previously). Her tatts have been featured multiple times in tatt mags, and she has tons of awards and trophies. Anywayz, at this point in time she figures she’s taught about 100 students over the years (there’s about 10 classes a year, average of 3 to 5 max students a class), and she keeps in touch with nearly ALL of them. She was asked today by the guy she tattooed what percentage she reckons have actively persued and been successful in a carreer as tattoists… she figures about 95%. That’s great! Also, she says only 2 people she has taught have gone on from the class straight to an apprenticeship. One guy already had it set up and it was a good friend of his, so it was not an apprenticeship he had to pay for. The other person was very young, 18 I think, and just felt he needed more life experience in general before he did it on his own. Lisa said that she’d be very shocked (I don’t think she used the word ‘shocked’ but I’m tired and fuzzy memory) if, at the end of these 2 weeks, we’d feel we’d need an apprenticeship.

We’ll start tattooing real people on Wed. In fact, between the three of us girls tonight in conversation, we can’t remember if it’s Wed or tomorrow. We know we’re tattooing grapefruits tomorrow though. But come Wed we’ll be tattooing non-stop. There are 100’s of people on the waiting list to get ink from the students. I mean, say what?? Can you believe it? It used to be free but now it’s $5. I mean ya know ink costs big freaking money so I guess I can see why it’s appealing. Esp since Lisa is a very warm, trustworthy, VERY fucking talented person, and they fix up any student tatts that might need it. So hey, it’s no worse than dental school ya know?

Random mentions:
My bedroom faces the street. Kinda funny since our house in Frederick sits next to the highway. Will I never escape the sounds of cars going past? LOL

The house has radiator heat. I LOVE RADIATOR HEAT. I’m not joking.

The washing machine is broken. I can’t tell you how fucking lame that is. Ink gets everywhere.

The bar/resto next door is excellent. Good food, good clean Guinness, friendly people and staff. And it’s literally right smack next door.

I bought Guinness tonight- AT the grocery store. HAH! WOOT!

We went on an adventure into downtown Schenectady this morning as it was the only coffee shop (Ambition) that was not a starbucks or dunkin doughnuts that I found nearby on google. The coffee was FANTASTIC. I got a skim cappuccino large with 2 extra shots.

My bed is a twin bed. But ya know, between all the pillows I have at home, and my cat Chat who hogs up a ton of space, I don’t really notice that I’m not in a king sized bed hahaha. LOL

OH, and I also picked up some Patriots stuff – At the Grocery Store!!! I LOOOOOVED seeing it. I must have looked like a fiend, going thru all the Giants, Red Sox, Patriots paraphernalia haha. I was super stoked.

OH. And the best thing- at my workstation, the first thing I noticed was an EXCELLENT omen- mine was the only one that came with a RUBBER DUCKY!!! It's got tattoos and a pierced devil horn! hahaha! Rubber duckies are the shiznittle man. I was stoked.

OK. That’s all for now my freakish beloved peeps.

Sleep well.

Geri

I have pics, but the internet connection is super lame here. We're hooked into the bar next door. It drops a lot. Meh. so yeah I can't download them yet. Will do asap.