dreadlock beginnings on katie: click
silly dyed hair on fizz: click, click, click
equally silly dyed hair on phil: click, click
fizz's hippie rainbow looks great considering i was working with only red, green & blue dyes. & phil's blue came out all shitty for unknown reasons - it should be exactly as bright as fizz's, & i've no idea why it isn't. anyhow, i told him to go over all of the blue with red, so i doubt he'll do that. (well, it's true. he'd only do it to prove me wrong. & that's a fine reason!)
one of the greatest excitements this trip was that i was finally tattooed by dawei zhang. it's a small piece (photos available, usual rules apply), but this was not a simple procedure. here's why:
with a quickness. we loitered a while, i ACTUALLY got in touch with the shop (they were cool about my being late), & rj offered to spring for a cab. we split from the group & were driven to the studio by a guy in a cowboy hat & leather gloves while phil & fizz were towed somewhere in the other direction.
gratefully sat down to wait. i swear we walked at least five miles, but rj's calculations say just over 2.5, so whatever. i have short legs, okay? my miles are half as long as most. :D
it's like the whole day was filled with potentially major roadblocks that became minor inconveniences. vehicle breaks down, crap, but you can reach out the window & touch a tow truck. i forgot my designs, oh hell, but i had them on my computer to retrieve. the van's not ready, guh, but we don't really have anywhere to be & i get to hang out with my brother & wander around. pretty rad.
more rad than that, though, was that while rj & i were at walgreens buying his dye, a call comes in on his cell phone. it was lily from the studio. (partner? shop assistant? really am unsure about that one - she acts like his assistant but spoke about the work she does too, so shrug.) i figure maybe we left something there, maybe there was some credit card issue, who knows. well, i'd given dawei one of my business cards (hilarity if you've seen 'em) that links my list of approved tattoo artists, & i explained how he's not only on there, but marked specially as one of my top favorites in the world. lily was calling to tell me that as soon as i left, dawei hopped onto his computer to check out my list, & asked lily to call me immediately to tell me how honored he is to be on my list, to be marked as a favorite, that he is honored to have given me a tattoo & had to make
sure i knew that right away. holy crap. as i explained later to phil, this would be on par with linus torvalds walking up & saying, "hey, i'm totally flattered that YOU, PHIL WHITE, use MY operating system. thanks." so that was killer.
irony: directly next door to dawai tattoo is an auto mechanic. & there were plenty of empty bays. heh.
so, my fourth & most ridiculous trip went great. other than the aforementioned, we played a lot of king's quest (all of I, II, & III, & IV up to the point where we were stopped by a stupid bug that QA should've found). i read a bunch of books recommended to me, & phil taught me that it's pronounced "ka-moo", which i am fine with not knowing previously because i took spanish in high school, bendejos. we stuffed ourselves silly on the most amazing sushi at pink gdzilla & horsecock burritos at jalapenos (that's a description of size, not contents). phil asked if i'd come live in santa cruz as his kept woman, & i politely declined - but can he fly me out again next year? fuck yeah, i'm all over that. thanks again for the trip, guys.
ps. phil has a blacklight in the bathroom that i happened to flip on for a second: well, whaddya know.
