I’m slightly beveraged as I type this, so it’s a short post consisting of some oddities about me. Or things people say is odd. At least things they say is odd to my face.

– I don’t walk around my own home naked, let alone anywhere else. Being naked freaks me out.

– I used to sleep almost fully clothed. Until the Husbear “trained” me to sleep naked.

– I have what I believe to be an irrational fear of getting a paper cut on my tongue.

– I’m a horrible flirt. Horrible as in I can’t tell when someone is flirting with me. Nor do my attempts at flirting come off well.

– I still have wet dreams. At least one a week, minimum.

– I wet the bed until I was a teenager. Which made for many awkward nights at friend’s houses or camping in Scouts. I still have an occasional accident, which is still humiliating.

– I don’t like needles. I loathe them, actually. Odd considering my career.

– I lack fashion sense and a sense of style. It’s merely an accident that I get dressed each day without causing people to have visual seizures.

– I have a mushroom food allergy. It took me forever to figure that out in college. As a result, I’m afraid to try “shrooms”.

– The “hardest” drug I’ve ever done has been alcohol.

– I tend to get handsy and slightly aggressive when I’ve been drinking. And that’s about the only time.

– I don’t like thunder. Or thunderstorms. Or any kind of severe weather.

– I drink mostly because it lowers my shields.

– I used to have chronic nightmares that did a number on my psyche and my health. I still have more bad dreams than good ones.

That’s about all the weirdness I can think of. For the moment.

Lots of questions were asked. Thank you all.

As promised, here are my answers. I’ve divided these up, and have been posting them here, here, here, here, and here. Here are the last of all the questions:

When are you going to give Dr. Spo his tattoo? I have to be there to hold his hand while you poke him!

To which Spo replied:

Can you give me a tattoo as soon as possible?

When Dr. Spo decides he wants a tattoo, and knows what he wants, I would be honored to tattoo him if he would allow it.

And to Spo: Yes. As soon as you can be here! My license is only valid in Arkansas.

Being from Arkansas, this should be a no-brainer, but…. have you ever had sex with a family member?

I’m actually not an Arkansas native. I just live here now. So I haven’t. However the Husbear is a native. And he has. And I would have too with the one he did.

How are the house repairs going??

They have been on hold since the winter. That’s our slow season in both the Husbear and my businesses, and we were budgeting to get through the winter months. We should be starting up again in May.

Do you do tattoos on yourself? Do you find it frustrating that you cannot reach to tattoo some parts of yourself? (sort of like a hairstylist who cuts everyone’s hair but his own)

Yes I do. I’ve tattooed everything currently on my leg: the Transformer’s Decepticon Soundwave, Lazerbeak, and Ravage, the TARDIS from Doctor Who, GIR from Invader ZIM, me as a rubber duck, the first tattoo on myself, and a few others that I haven’t blogged about. I’ve not had a problem with reach, so far. But I do notice I’m not as limber as I used to be…

Blade or electric?

Electric blade. I don’t actually shave, I clipper up next to my skin with clippers.

…the first tattoo you had done on yourself…

The first tattoo I got was a Bald Eagle on my back in a tattoo studio in Searcy, Arkansas. I had issues with healing it properly, and most of it has faded out. Enough that when people see it they think I’ve had laser removal. Which is good because I have plans for the area where what’s left of it is located.

Does it drive you crazy that most people don’t have any idea what kind of tattoo they want when they walk through your doors?

Actually, a large majority of people who walk in our studio doors do know what they want. Or at least they have a really good idea in their head already. Every great now-and-then someone comes in who just says “I want a tattoo” with no clue as to what they want. And that can be a little maddening.

I’m seeing a lot of tattoo’d dicks and find them kinda sexy but I do have questions. Have you ever tattoo’d one? Does it have to be hard? How painful is it?

I’ve yet to tattoo any man’s junk. A lot have joked about it, but no one has “manned up” to having it done yet. As far as pain level, I really don’t know. Yet. 😉

Lots of questions were asked. Thank you all.

As promised, here are my answers. I’ve divided these up, and have been posting them here, here, here, and here. Here are the next three:

Have you ever declined to work on a tattoo?

Yes. There have been several. I won’t tattoo on someone’s neck or face, unless they already have an existing tattoo in that general location (there are some exceptions to that rule). There have also been several questionable and offensive tattoos that I have declined to do.

When are you going to answer the above questions?
Just kidding. I have 50 minutes till the weekend and I’m feeling a wee bit snarky.

Oh! Here’s one!

“What’s a nice boy like you, doing on a blog like this?”

(still snarky…you and the huzzbear have a great weekend now, ya hear?!)

I tend to get around… 😉

Top, bottom, vers?

Bottom. Bottom. Bottom.

Lots of questions were asked. Thank you all.

As promised, here are my answers. I’ve divided these up, and have been posting them over the course of a few days. The first three were answered here, the second three here, and the third three here. The next question gets an entry to itself as my answer is rather lengthy.

What is your feeling on community (good/bad/indifferent) and are you communal by nature? In other words, what groups that you (technically) belong to do you identify with if any at all? Tattoo artists/technicians? Gay men? Couples (gay or straight)? Men? Bloggers? People from Arkansas? Models? *wink* Other?

I don’t feel I am communal by nature. I’ve felt—and have been—very solitary most of my life. I sometimes envy those I see who have the seemingly natural ability to fit into a group, as well as those who can bring people together into groups.

As far as the groups you mentioned, the ones I *should* technically belong to:

I never “felt” like a computer technician, even back when I was one. Sure I had the knowledge and experience, but many of the techs I knew were of the stereotypical breed one comes to expect when they think “computer geeks”. And I never fit into that mold most of the time.

And up to this point I have definitely never identified as a tattooist, at least compared to tattooists that I know. There seems to be either a laissez-faire attitude or a rockstar mentally that seems prevalent with many in the body modification business, and I don’t feel like I fit into either of those groups. I’m still an “infant” in this industry, and definitely a late bloomer compared to most. Maybe that will change one day. But I doubt it.

Gay men? For the most part, I suppose so. I like men. That’s the easy part. As far as the feeling like I belong to a group, not so much.

Couples, yes. All the “stuff” all couples have to deal with: finances and budgets, the future, sickness and health, etc. When it comes to being partnered with anyone, the same issues exist regardless of the sex of either partner.

Men. I identify as one because I have a penis. But I think absolutely everything else outside of that is conditioned by our society into what is acceptable for or expected of men versus women.

Bloggers. I guess this is probably the community I self-identify with most out of those you mentioned. However, I continually struggle to produce content. Although I guess commenting on others blogs still makes me part of the community.

People from Arkansas. I live here, own property here, pay state taxes here, am registered to vote here, own businesses here. Sadly, with most of what makes it into the news as “people from Arkansas”, I definitely don’t identify.

Models? Bad role models, yes. I totally identify with that group!

As for other groups? I used to identify with being a Boy Scout and an Eagle Scout, but that was a long time ago in another life; Tweeps: There are a lot of people on Twitter that I consider a group, or groups actually. There’s probably other groups out there that I used to identify with, but I’ve since forgotten.

Lots of questions were asked. Thank you all.

As promised, here are my answers. I’ve divided these up, and will post them over the next few days. The first three were answered here, and the next three here. Here’s the next three questions that were asked.

May I have this dance?

Yes. I’m not using it.

Seriously, I’m not. I have the rhythm and balance of a cat after a spin cycle in the washing machine. It’s tragic. People tend to think I’m having a seizure.

What is it like being a gay man/couple in Arkansas? My northern bias says it must be difficult. Even in Connecticut, one of the more “progressive” states, we still have our share of small minded assholes. I hope this question doesn’t make me look like a Yankee snob.

We have a plethora of small-minded assholes in Arkansas to be sure. Northwest Arkansas—where we live—is a little more, er, progressive an area than most of the rest of the state. This is due in large part to the Walmart Homeoffice being located here which does bring people in from all over the country and world. Still, there are plenty of bigoted rednecks and “Christian” churches in this area. At least one on every corner, more so than Walgreens and Starbucks!

Most of the Husbear’s salon clients know he’s a big ‘mo. If one of my tattoo client’s asks, I don’t hide it. And while we don’t hide our being gay when asked, we typically don’t hold hands or kiss in public either. We’d like to, but being dragged behind a pickup truck really isn’t the way either of us want to go out.

What’s your favorite day of the week, and why?

Hmm… I guess I’d say Monday. I’m off work that day, so the Husbear and I usually do some stuffs together. And then I usually get to go have beverages with my buddy Mike in the evening. It makes for a good day!

Lots of questions were asked. Thank you all.

As promised, here are my answers. I’ve divided these up, and will post them over the next few days. The first three were answered here. Here’s the next three questions that were asked.

Have you seen but a white lily grow?

Before rude hands have touched it?

I knew it must have been something, but I didn’t know it. So I cheated and had to Google it.

when you see road kill.. do you think: I wonder if that animal just started its’ journey across the road, or if it almost made it?

Actually, I usually think: “Should I swerve to flatten it a little more, or avoid the mess?” As much as I’d like to flatten them more, those little bones sticking out of the carcass sometimes pop your tires if you’re not careful. Or so I’ve heard.

When did you do your first tattoo? What is it and how did you decide to do it?

I’ll assume we’re talking about on a human, as I tattooed a lot of fruit and other things during my apprenticeship. Here’s a brief timeline:
January 17, 2006: I passed my test to begin my apprenticeship to tattoo!
I killed a lot of fruit during this time.
March 23, 2006: I did my first tattoo on a human. Myself.
I killed more fruit, and starting tattooing on friends who were “guinea pigs”.
July 26, 2006: I passed my final test for my tattoo apprenticeship.

As for the second question: I tattooed the word “kuma“, on myself. At the time I was trying to identify with the bear culture, and I always chuckled about people putting foreign “words” on themselves that they didn’t understand. So I thought a combination of the two would be oddly appropriate.