Hoo boy

I have a tattoo! Too bad I'm not skilled enough to scan in the artwork and display it, but anyway, after months, months, months of thinking/talking/debating about it, I took the plunge.
Actually I have to thank Kim and Emily at work for doing all the legwork, so to speak. A few months ago I was sitting outside reading at work and they came out and were sitting across from me and talking about, obviously, their desire to get tattoos. They then found this guy, Scott, at Oddity Tattoos on Siesta Key, www.odditytattoos.com, did all the talking and advance looking. In the meantime I was trying to find a design I liked -- I wanted something abstract, not realistic. I looked at a lot of astrological symbols for Capricorn, liked some, not others -- too often they looked like the numbers 76, which I didn't like, or the letters VS, ditto. Finally I found some I liked, and worked in Aquarius as well, since I was born on the cusp between Capricorn and Aquarius. Plus Steve is an Aquarius, so I liked having the two combined.
Anyway, long story short, a couple of weeks ago I was "ready"and called Scott ... who is booked three weeks in advance. I made the appointment for yesterday, then fretted still over both the design and the potential pain.
So off I went, little drawing in hand. Got there, waited for Scott who was not there. Had to walk down to B of A to get cash, since surprise, tattoo parlors do not take plastic. But Scott needed that time to make the stencil of the design and get set up. I can't imagine how many latex gloves he goes through -- I think he put on at least four pairs in the process of setting up. At last I sat down, nervous, and he applied the stencil to my ankle and got to work. It did not hurt as much as I had feared -- my fear based on watching Kim get hers on her shoulder blade a few years ago when she was visiting -- she had to use Lamaze breathing! -- and from Michele at work, who described it as feeling like a cheese grater on your skin -- OUCH!!! But actually it felt more like a buzzing pen being pushed pretty hard against my skin. Slightly irritating, not very painful. It took about half an hour for him to outline the Capricorn, in a very delicate, scrolly kind of style, and then do the Aquarius waves below in black and filled in with blue. Than slapped Saran wrap over it as a bandage! It was a little bloody and oozy when I got home, not too bad. I washed it, put the ointment on it and a bandage overnight so I wouldn't knock the ointment off. Today it is somewhat sore, not bad. It seems like it ought to scab over more -- maybe it will? It's not like an open scrape.
Anyway, I am proud of myself for doing this because I wanted to be able to conquer a bit of fear of it and a bit of feeling like it was not something I would ever actually do. I like where I have it, above and on the inside of my ankle. I'm interested in how it looks in a week -- it still seems to be shedding ink.