Get a tattoo you F'ing pussy!

As I sat at a pizza place in Mobile, Alabama and a guy with tattoo sleeves walks to the jukebox behind me, my friends across the table smile and giggle a lil'- I say "what?" and they point the the back of this guy's shirt. 'get a tattoo you fucking pussy!' I smile and think of the tattoo I have been staring at and talking about for the last two weeks. I decide tomorrow after work I will just get it and stop being a pussy. I felt like it was also something my sister would say and took it sort of like a sign. Americorp's training with Red Cross happened on Friday so we had a half day and I am in the tattoo shop (Jack and Dianne's, the place where many Hand's On volunteers go to get tattoo's) by 4pm. I get nervous and start talking about where, why, what and how I have wanted a tattoo for a while. I have Ben and Sameen with me for support who joined Americorp's with me at the same time. We wait a bit and I see a guy who looks like the pores of his skin are seeping with blood. 'Don't look' Sameen says. Ben goes to buy batteries for my always dead Nikon digital camera. The guy comes back with my tattoo redrawn and its all wrong, I say it need to be exactly how I drew it, he comes back again with it exactly how i drew it and then I ask for a pencil to just fix it myself. This guy probably thought I was nuts. Once I was satisfied with my drawing and ready to start, I actually looked at Ben and Sameen as if they were proud parents, especially since Sameen started snapping photos every few minutes. The guy sprays my back, something feels like he is exfoliating and then as I asked what he is doing as he puts down a shaver. "You just shaved my back?!" - 'Yup' - " You did not even tell me!" - (pause) 'I just shaved your back' Telling a few jokes we laugh a bit and he places the tattoo transfer. Laying belly down on the bench by 5:00pm I start to get anxious. How bad will it hurt? I clench my teeth and get all squirmy like a child who is about to get tickled to death. He starts and I smile, it almost tickles. This is not so bad. Soon I ask how far he is and he is not good with fractions but its less then half. Then, the initials are done. Then it hits... I drop F bombs and make the oh shit that hurts face. My palms are now sweaty and he stops once in a while to get more ink_ he is coloring in. He says I am doing great, he starts telling me about this girl he is dating who is giving him a two-part gift and can't understand why because he has only seen her twice. (like this helps me or something?_I say "she abviously likes you a lot") I want to scream at one point and I found out later that its the lowest part of the tattoo. ( I think, 'thank God I didn't ask him to reposition the tattoo just a bit lower!) 5:09PM I am done. Done?! Already??! This is it. I did it. Forever with me, exactly how I drew it. I smile, can't believe I am out the door at 5:15 and now entered the tattoo community. As we drive back to base I say, "I think this will be it, no more of that for me." For the next few hours it feels like someone is slowly and constantly ripping a piece of duck tape off my back.