So I finally got my tattoo. I got it Thursday night and overall it was an enjoyable experience. First off, they guy who did it couldn't be more professional. Also the entire process was low stress and what really stood out was the amount of detail as far as cleanliness and sterilization. Sounds dumb, but seeing how much was done to ensure the whole process was safe and clean was really impressive. The actual tattooing wasn't that bad. It was a little painful, but more in a annoyance way and also felt a little like burning. Most of the time, it didn't bother me, but when it came to some of the detail work was where I grimaced a little. On top of fatty here is ticklish but I really didn't cause a problem. The pic here was taken by the guy right after it was over. the whole deal lasted about 3 hours, but it didn't feel like that. the dude who did this, Kevin, is really an artist. Check out his work at www.fatcattattoos.com.

Now I know who I have told I was doing this isn't totally cool with the idea. I'll tell you why I did it. First I am damn proud of my family, and I wanted to show that. Second, it looks beautiful, and I wanted something really fantastic for a tattoo. I did get it just black and white, since the colors on the original photo ate purple and yellow-but I thought black and white would look better, as you can see I was right. Another thing that has been on my mind through the whole deal is that my dad did a lot of genealogy work, and he was planning on doing it for money when he retired. As much as I busted his balls over th work, like saying “what's to know? some Italians fall off a boat at Ellis Island and now we are here”, but I was really proud of the man and the work he did. He spent a lot of time researching various old documents, and stay with it no matter how many roadblocks he encountered. I thought it was cool reading some stuff about my family, and it brought a passion into my dad to get this all done. It would have gave him something to do when he retired, so I can't really fault him. I hope that he did know how proud I was for him, though I didn't really say it. Maybe this tattoo could prove how much pride I have for my family and my dad and all he did and was stood for.