two dolla

tattoo #2: live now

Here’s the thing. Between my electricity not working and Windows Vista having this horrible fetish of wanting Windows Explorer to take a crap all the time, I’ve had a hard time uploading pictures of Tattoo #2 that took place this weekend.

Friday afternoon, I scheduled a consultation with my tattoo guy, Doug. (How many tattoos doesn’t it take, by the way, to officially have a tattoo guy?) The consult was at 4pm on Saturday, so I picked Cindi up and after dawdling at the coffee shop underneath Uptown Tattoo, we headed upstairs. Doug was finishing up a tattoo, and then came to chat with me about my idea. I’d already drawn it out in all of my Sharpie-printing skills, so I had a pretty good idea of what I wanted.

He looked at it for no more than two minutes, and before I knew it, this conversation took place:

Doug: When did you want to get this done?
Wendy: Whenever.
Doug: How about now?
Wendy: Um, okay!

I was all set to schedule something later this week, but there was no way in hell I was gonna turn down the opportunity to get it done right then and there.

So, first the meaning behind it: I’ve had a really hard time the past couple of weeks with a handful of events that have just happened out of the blue and for no reason – some I’ve posted about here and some I haven’t. I got an email from an incredible friend that couldn’t have arrived at a more perfect time, been a more perfect reminder of something I’ve already been doing, or have given me the swift kick in the ass that I needed at a more appropriate moment.

There’s no way in hell I’m copying and pasting the email, because A) it’s private and B) that shit made me cry (in a good, sniffly way!) the first time I read it. Basically, my friend pointed out that it’s so important to live every moment for that moment (that’s kinda copying and pasting actually!) and make sure every moment counts. I like to think I do that on a daily basis, but maybe sometimes I do need a reminder.

And now I have a permanent one.

More »

the power is back

Sometime around 3 a.m. Saturday morning, I woke up to an incredible amount of thundering and lightening, vaguely noticing my power was out. I was pretty much beat, so I made a plan of escape in my head that involved grabbing my Grandma’s rings, my removable hard drive, my dog, and heading out the door should the tornado sirens blow. And then I went back to sleep.

I can’t remember why I woke up a few hours later, but I did – still without power. Nobody at my shit hole apartment complex office was answering the phone, which is no surprise, so I went to take Riley out to go to the bathroom. For whatever reason, the emergency lights in the building weren’t on, so you can imagine the joy I experienced when trying to coax my dog down a flight of stairs in complete darkness and not trying to fall myself. There were a few trees that had been uprooted in my yard, and several other neighbors outside trying to figure out what the hell we were going to do with our day and no electricity.

I called the power company to find out that my outage had been reported, and they were expecting to my electricity restored by end of day Tuesday. Yeah, I swore a lot.

I had a tattoo consult (more on this in a minute or when Windows Vista stops being a dirty bitch when I try to import pictures) scheduled for 4pm yesterday, so my plan was to go over some fonts and pick something out, but that really couldn’t happen. And it was pretty hot outside, so I felt really bad for my dirty ol’ dog panting all over the place, and I didn’t feel right leaving him inside. I also had to take a shower, which was less than enjoyable when I realized the hot water heater was powered by electricity. My stove also happens to be electric, so it wasn’t like I could even boil water. How the hell do the Amish do it?

Some little shit (probably one of the two dozen children that live in the apartment next to mine) ended up pulling the fire alarm in the middle of all of this no-power fiasco, causing the police and firetrucks to come and evacuate the building. By 3, I had to head out, so I left Riley with a bowl of cold water and a bowl of ice cubes, and stopped at Walgreen’s on my way to Minneapolis to pick up a battery powered fan we could use when I got back.

The power evidently came back on around 9pm last night. The power company’s called twice to make sure I have power and the apartment complex assholes called about 10 minutes ago in response to my message from yesterday that said “Hey, someone’s gonna break their neck trying to go down stairs with no lights”. They’re prompt, the folks in the rental office.

Now I’ve gotten sucked into America’s Next Top Model, because MTV is showing all of Cycle 7 IN A ROW.