I gots me a tattoo.

It's all downhill from here...


After many different concepts, drafts, and a tragic accident, I got my first tattoo on 4/20 (dude...). I've been wanting to get one for a while now. I didn't want to get one of the stereotypical douchbag tattoos that are out there; barbed wire, tribal bands, Japanese kanji, Cap'n Crunch. I needed this to be different.

My first tattoo was going to be based on a character that was a part of a card game like Pokemon, or Magic the Gathering if you will. Sounds lame, but hold on. The game had a pimping/drug dealing theme. The character's name was "Super Ochenta," Spanish for Super Eighty. Don't know what that's supposed to mean, but I thought it was a cool piece of art...


Super Ochenta

I felt this guy was like a very cool homage to the Latin culture; a big ass cigar, the dope Panama hat, the fly beard, and it kinda-sorta-maybe-possibly looked like me. I was really feeling this.

I was going to get it done April of 2007 in exchange for designing a website for an amazing artist I met through my brother and his roommate. Monica Henk was going to be the one to bless my arm with it. Unfortunately, while riding her motorcycle to school, some heartless bastard struck her with his/her SUV, shooting her over 100 feet, and drove away. She died on impact, but was resuscitated at the scene by EMTs, and taken to the hospital. She died five days later. The killer is still out there.

Getting a tattoo after that didn't feel right, so I sat on it for months. Near the end of 2007, I was feeling that the time was right to get a tattoo done, but I didn't want to get Super Ochenta. I felt that Monica was the one that was supposed to do it, so I decided to get something else. This time around, it was going to be completely original. I wanted a portrait of myself, but with a twist. It's a portrait of me, but as a skull. For weeks, I was thinking about what elements of my personality I wanted in this piece. I decided to have a goatee, a cigar, and of course a 504 Style Kangol.

I can't draw to save my life, so I went to my artist friends to make a few designs. Nothing really caught my eye, until a young girl by the name of Alorah came up with a few dope designs for me...



The one on the top left corner was what I picked, so I was on my way to getting it done. The only pesky detail was finding an awesome tattoo artist. I was researching a few spots in the NY, but I couldn't find the right place. That's where my bro came in. When the new year arrived, my brother visited True Blue Tattoo in Queens, NY. That was one of the shops Monica worked at. He got to talking to a few of the artists, and hit it off real well with Hillary. She ended up doing a few of his tattoos. He had nothing but rave reviews about her, so I decided to get my arm done the same day he went to get a touch up on a tattoo of his.

After Scotty got his touch up done, it was my turn. I gave her the sketch, and she wanted to modify it so the skull looked more realistic. I gave her the green light to make any changes needed to make it as dope as possible. A half hour later, she finished her sketch. The skull did look more realistic, got rid of the cigar ("It looks like a joint"), and changed the look of the Kangol to give it some depth. I was down, and gave here my right arm to do her thing. Two hours later, I was blessed with this...


Minutes after she was done


Obligatory douche pic showing off the tattoo. All that was missing was a Jagerbomb in one hand, and a chick that I'd could never score in the other.

Needless to say, I was blown away by her work. It was everything that I wanted and then some. I show it off to anybody who wants to look (hell, even if they don't). It's been two months since I got it, and it's looking great. I've already got the itch for a second one. I'm hoping to have it done by the end of Summer.

If you're near the NYC area, and looking to get a tattoo, please check out True Blue Tattoo, and definitely ask for Hillary.


Hillary is the shit. You tell her I said that.