christopher575

Over 16 years ago, I had Thomas Graham tattoo panel 2 from Dinosaur Comics on my shin. If you aren't familiar, he created the comic back in 2003 out of clip art and has changed the captions five days a week while keeping the art the same. I discovered it and Achewood at the end of a very dark period in my life. Reading the archives up to that point of those comics was a great way to fill up a very lonely time and they were free, which was perfect because I was beyond broke.

I figured I'd always keep the caption portion of the tattoo empty so people could write in it, and that happened quite a few times over the years. But I don't go out much or work in an office with other people or make it to many events, so when I thought about getting a QR code tattoo, I decided that was the spot for it.



I tapped Gage Young for it because he had already done an incredible job with the pixel details on this mystery box gap filler I have from his Super Mario Brothers flash.



I know the QR code will eventually stop working and when the time comes, I can black out the entire background for a night mode T-Rex, or just keep it because it looks rad.

Our dishwasher decided to die in a very dramatic fashion. It stopped working, but the motor wouldn't stop running. Which is to say that if you turned it off, it would turn itself back on and keep running. We had to cut the electricity to it at the breaker. I already knew because of the last time we had an issue with it that we would definitely have to get a new one. The issue then was that one of the spring/pulley combos that stops the door from falling all the way open broke, and I had to replace it on my own because the minimum charge just to have someone come over to look at it was $150. Appliance repair that's not covered by a warranty is always going to be expensive, and for something like a dishwasher, it's probably not worth it.

It sucks to live in the era when appliances just aren't made to last. We got a full set of new ones for the kitchen shortly after we moved in 11 years ago, and ten years feels like a lot for a dishwasher these days. But since we were replacing it, we decided to go ahead and get a refrigerator, too. The ice maker on the one upstairs has been broken for a while, and again, it probably wouldn't have been worth it to repair that.

The bad news is that black appliances are on the way out in terms of availability, and that's what we had. We previously refused to get stainless steel because magnets didn't stick to it, and what good is a fridge if you can't show off your magnet collection? But they've figured out how to make stainless steel appliances easier to clean and less likely to be damaged, and magnets work on them, too. It doesn't bother me too much that the stove and oven don't match now, but I'm not in a hurry to fix that. Especially since there wasn't a standard setup for the microwave to mount to. Best Buy refused to do the installation, but for some reason it was very difficult to get them to refund the installation fee. Luckily our yard guy's crew can usually do handyman stuff too, and one of them took care of that back in the day. Does he have anyone who could now? Who can say.

We also went with a local appliance company instead of Best Buy this time, and will definitely go back to them when it's time to buy more.

My least favorite thing about the new dishwasher is that it holds less. It's the same size, of course, but the prongs in the racks are further apart. My favorite part about the new refrigerator is that the inside is blue! I've never seen such a thing and I'm so in love with the color.

Meanwhile, the refrigerator in the kitchenette downstairs that's probably 30 years old is still humming along and its ice maker not only still works, but is very productive. I will say I wish the ice maker upstairs was down here. It makes actual cubes instead of that moon shape that always lines up with the curve of the inside of the glass.

I acknowledge that Illustra are not the good guys in Mannequin (1987) but I love their style. I originally wanted to get their logo in neon on the mylar strips background up the side of my torso, blending into my '80s backpiece. Then I realized it wasn't worth taking up the space that could go toward several smaller ones. So I did it on my hand instead. This was done as a walk-in by Catfish at Lion's Paw Tattoo in Everett.





It's so hard to take pictures of one's own hand!

Back in August, Kayla at Foundation Body Arts had a few sheets of flash designs on special for the month, and one of them jumped off the page at me. It was a leather daddy earthworm. Absolutely hilarious and totally the kind of tattoo I wish I came up with. Only problem was, I wasn't getting tattooed in August of last year. Cut to a few months ago, I was in the shop and she was at the front desk, so I asked if I could possibly get that worm daddy. She said yes!



Me being how I am, I had a backup plan in case she said no: leather daddy capybara. And me being how I am, I still want it. I met up with her yesterday to consult about it and one other design, and made an appointment for the capybara next month.

I normally don't go to Friday the 13th events because the ones at Lion's Paw are always mobbed. Garrett went this year to that one and was there an hour early only to find a huge line, and he couldn't even get in the first two rounds of spots. I saw some designs I wanted on Foundation's post about their event, was the first person there, and managed to get two.



This worm on a string AKA Squirmle was from Aubrey's sheet of designs, and she did it for me.



These ice dice were on Jacie Lee's sheet but she was busy so Maya tattooed them for me. That's another thing about those events, everyone will tattoo from everyone's designs. I'm sure that leads to some fun challenging tattoos for the artists sometimes.

Here's that bonus tattoo I got while working on a bigger one the other day with Aubrey at Foundation Body Arts. If you don't recognize it, it's a reference to the movie Me and You and Everyone We Know. And it's definitely one of those things that became bigger than the movie itself. I'm sure a lot of people have watched the movie because they heard about this symbol first.



When I showed her the design in the list on my phone, Aubrey said she'd just seen the movie for the first time a couple of weeks prior. That's a weird coincidence for sure.

I was at my regular piercing shop (Foundation Body Arts) on Friday the 13th to get a couple of flash tattoos. If you didn't know, most tattoo shops do special events every Friday the 13th where the artists draw up new sheets of designs, often with a Friday the 13th theme, and offer them at a discount. Some shops make a bigger event out of it than others. For example, my regular tattoo shop (Lion's Paw) will end up having artists tattoo well into the night.

I'd gotten one tattoo at Foundation before, but it wasn't until Friday the 13th that I was laying on a table in the right direction to notice something amazing hanging high up on the wall. An absolutely pristine print of the famous Duran Duran Rio album cover by Patrick Nagel! You know, the one that's incorporated into my back tattoo.





I told my piercer Ben, jokingly, that if that print should ever go missing, that it wasn't me. He said I could have it! I suggested a trade and sent him some photos of some of my old orange artwork that doesn't really go well in the new orange bathroom. He liked it so I took it over there today on my way to teach a class. I can hardly believe I have this incredible print in my collection now.



It's in perfect shape, unlike my others which have all seen better days. It'll be hard to decide where to put it. There's plenty of space in my room, but I want people to see it!

Garrett has always wanted to try dying my hair, and he did a great job! We had to take the shaved part all the way off with a razor because some of that got bleached and would end up showing no matter how short we took it with the clippers. That's fine, though. I shaved my head with a razor for 11 years and miss it.

We were originally told the pool in Everett would be closed this week for project week, which was a relief. Last time we had project week, there was lots of cleaning and repair activity happening around us during classes and it was unpleasant to say the least. I'd rather have a day off than work in a natatorium with stuff everywhere and people getting in the way, or feeling like I'm in the way the whole time.

Then we heard there wouldn't be a closure after all, and Judy said she'd need a sub because she'd be in Colorado. I said I'd cover even though her class is at 11:15 on Tuesdays and I'd already be teaching my deep water class at 7:45 the same day. Since I'm not doing it all the time like I was a few months ago, a couple of classes in one day is doable. The timing isn't great, though. I basically had enough time to come home and eat a small extra meal between classes, then go back early because I was bored. I didn't want to watch TV because I was sweaty from the first class, but didn't want to take a shower because I'd be doing it again shortly. I put on a fresh tank top once I got back from the first one, but even so, I didn't feel like settling into my spot on the couch.

In spite of teaching five classes this week, I still wanted to go to the Y on Wednesday, my day off. Over in Marysville, where I got my start, one of the lifeguards who was interested in becoming a water fitness instructor when I got my start would be teaching. She's not on a schedule yet, but Connie, my mentor, is taking a lot of days off lately and needed coverage. Unfortunately, she'd already arranged for Wednesdays with Kathy, this new instructor, so I couldn't help at all because her other classes are at the same time as all of mine. But I got to go get in the water, try Kathy's class, and catch up with the people I know up there. It was a fun morning!

It'd been a while since I'd been tattooed and I decided it was time to have a session with Gage to work on my shoulder. I had him do the outline of a design a while back to claim the spot and stop me from changing my mind about what I wanted there. After all, by coming up with that idea I'd already stolen some space that would have been used for another. Once I confirmed with Gage that he was available for a 2-hour session yesterday, I decided I should get another tattoo within a few days before or after. Every session means a couple of weeks away from the pool, so a couple or a few sessions together is the way to go.

Airplane! (1980) is one of our favorite movies, and I recently decided to get a tattoo based on one of the funniest scenes in it.



My original idea was to get a typical pet memorial tattoo of a golden retriever named Shep. Garrett confirmed Nathan had some availability for a walk-in, and saved me some time by telling him the theme while I was getting ready to come to the shop. By the time I got there, he had something funnier drawn up. Most of it's in the ditch of my elbow, but it extends to either side, which means it'll be hard to get a still photo of. Here's a video instead:



Nathan's station is right under the shop TV and he played the movie while we worked. It was on mute because music was playing in the shop, but I've seen it so many times that it's still fun to watch without the sound.

I had a bandage on it during yesterday's class and didn't really feel like having that visible while I taught yesterday, so I got out one of my Waffle House sport sleeves just like the ones employees at Waffle House wear to cover their tattoos. And because I didn't want to wear that with a tank top, I got out my YMCA "Everyone Belongs" shirt, which was perfect because we're running that campaign again this month! I knew I'd be even hotter than usual as I taught, so I packed a sweatband to wear on my forehead so I wouldn't have to wipe with my towel as much.

I wasn't sure I'd wear it, but when I decided to, I did the "keep going" motion while I grabbed it from my bag, then made a big show of putting it on like I was gearing up for even more effort. I got big laughs from the crowd. And honestly, it was nice not to have to constantly wipe. I have two, and think I'll wear them Tuesdays and Fridays when I'm in Everett. And now I may have to also look for funny sweatbands the same way I'm always on the lookout for funny tank tops.

We're lucky that the Seattle Men's Chorus decided to end the run of their new Dolly Parton tribute show with a Sunday matinee in Everett. Claire will join me but unfortunately Garrett can't come now because of the new job at the tattoo shop. But we can walk over and say hi to him there afterward.

I can finally announce our big change to the Everett water fitness lineup publicly! On Tuesday, May 6th, I'll teach our new deep water fitness class for the first time, and I'm so excited to do it.

For deep water classes, participants strap on a flotation belt so they can float effortlessly in water that's deep enough that their feet won't touch the bottom. That means I'll be off in a different corner of the natatorium by the platforms swimmers dive off of at the start of a race. In a normal class, I stand on the pool deck and participants stand in the water, which means I can demonstrate all the moves with nothing more than a stool. Over in the deep pool, they'll all be floating, but I can't. Unfortunately! So for that class, I'll put on the headset microphone so I can overcome the limitations of dry land with descriptions.

This helps overcome one of the shortcomings of my regular class, which is that I don't normally do a lot of core strength exercises. Instructors who are in the pool with the participants often do a lot of crunches and shooter moves with them, but I discovered right away when I started teaching that nobody really wanted to watch me try to do crunches on a stool while they did them in the water. I never worried about it too much since most people work with several instructors each week and get a variety of workouts. And I ask for feedback constantly and get lots of great comments directly and also via the branch.

But with this new class, I can devote a full 15 minutes each to aerobics, dumbbell training, and core strength! Another big change is the music. Since I'll be talking a lot, I decided to go with electronic music with fewer lyrics. And I won't be changing the playlist every week like I do in my regular class. It just doesn't make much sense to narrow down the scope of what I'm playing and then try to find tons of music within those genres. Check out the first playlist.

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Yesterday I picked up Melissa and Jason at their house to give them a ride to the Lynnwood Transit Center so they could take the light rail to the airport. When light rail service to the airport launched, it originated in the transit tunnel in Seattle and ended at the airport. They've only expanded one more stop south of the airport, but it comes all the way up to Lynnwood, which is one city south of Everett. Pretty neat! There's an additional line in Redmond and Bellevue that I just learned about, I'm definitely curious how busy it is and who uses it. The orignal line will eventually come all the way to Everett, but these things take time.

Anyway, Melissa and Jason decided to take the light rail rather than drive and pay to park, which I think is great. They asked for a ride since there's no telling whether any Ubers will be available when you open the app at 4:30 am. I get up early anyway and they gave me enough money to fill up my tank and have some left over, so it's a win for everyone involved. I mainly mentioned it because when I pulled out the dog seatbelts and wiped the back seat, I leaned wrong and nearly hurt my right knee, which isn't even the knee I've had a problem with!

After I got back and had some breakfast, I decided to go for a walk. My first walk in ages because before I hurt my knee I decided I wasn't really into inclement weather walking any more. Though I forgot to turn my app on, I know the walk was about 3.5 miles. There was just a little soreness after and when I woke up this morning, I couldn't even tell I'd gone for a long walk yesterday. That's fantastic progress.

I got a text from Judy a week ago with the message, "You should be photoshopped into this!"



I ended up going to class today and was surprised Judy still had most of those temporary tattoos on. Since everyone was there, we took a group photo.

( Cut once again for various states of undress... )