Beauty is Pain

So, my tattoo is a week old today. It looks like hell. Actually, it looks pretty good today, compared to Wednesday especially. Yes, I was warned that it would scab up and itch, and I figured that I would just suffer through it, and that's about what I did. Man, though. I really don't handle itching very well. I did find that just rubbing it with the tips of my fingers helped, and keeping it covered. I really like to pick scabs, and it's only the thought of losing the precious ink that has stopped me. I hope that it's all cleared up by Sunday, when I'll have to show it around again.

I just keep looking at it. I'm so in love. On the first day, it was really hard to see the yellow through the bandage and blood, and then it was obscured again by the scabbing, but now that it's reemerging I can't help but be totally enthralled by it. Yellow is not a color that I ever would have thought to permanently apply to my own skin, but it really makes for a great tattoo. I was initially planning on black and grey only, and I'm really glad that Stacie suggested the yellow, and then the red.

It's a little weird for me to be part of the Visible Tattoo Club. I really don't like people very much, and I especially don't like it when they want to talk to me and I don't know them. (Yes, I really am this much of a grouch. It's not MeanRose for nothing.) I'm still surprised when people mention it, but a little exicted, too. I actually like the way that it's forced me to live outside of my bubble a little bit more. It's a new world every day. I think the next thing I'll need to work on is a more succinct explanation for its origin and significance. For now, "It's a family thing."

So, here's my family thing:



I'm still not 100% satisfied with that picture, but I'll need a helping hand and a couple more days of healing to get one that I'm actually going to like, so that's good enough for today.

ETA: This photo is from last Saturday, pre-scabs. Just to avoid any confusion.