Been wondering what to pair with your snake? Wonder no more. I did some research.
The following are common pairings in tattoo, but never all-inclusive, based simply on the magazines I could browse at the time. hee...


Tiger- Bamboo (strong association), Chrysanthemum (strong)
Koi- Peony (med), Momiji [autumn leaves] (medium association), Sakura (weak)
Snake- Peony (strong), Sakura (med), Rose (western)
Spider- Rose (western)
Dragon- Peony (strong), Chrysanthemum (med)
Cat- Sakura
Butterfly- Rose
Foo Dog/Shisa- Peony (strong)
Crane- Sakura
Sparrow- Sakura [or other small flowers]
Swallow or Flying Swallow- Clover (strong), Sakura (med)


======================================
Today i went out with K and bought more kimono stuff. I really NEEDED a new kimono-bra and tabi socks, and she needed a stiff thingie you put under your obi that keeps it flat I don't know whatitscalled, but I wound up buying royal-blue girls' hakama and an arrow-print kimono in offwhite and purple--it's extremely Meiji period if I can find some excellent lace up boots with heels, like Victorian riding boots.
I also bought a few more kimono accessories (obiaage and cords) and a red fake-obi which can be put on in about 1 minute cuz it's pre tied. They're cheating and they don't look as cool. They're basically a clip-on necktie. But if I want to get dressed and don't care, and want a red obi with a pinkish flower on it, I can do that now.

Next year is the Year of the Tiger (I keep thinking "Year of the Meowmeow") and the most eye-bleedingly ADORABLE stamps, stickers, postcards and decorations are already going on sale for New Years festivities. Of course everything is just striped squishy cats, not so many muscled ferocious tigers. Just like this year was sold as the Year of the Fat Little Harvest-Moon Moocow, not the Ox.

In preparation I'm looking at tattoo tigers and trying to figure out how to draw these bastards.

I did twitter it a bit, but here's photos from the Cultural Center's art show, which ended yesterday.

PS My HTML is horrifyingly broken, my LJ cuts didn't work and I can't find them in the mess, so you'll have to scroll a bit today... I apologize.

( Art show photos--others' work and mine )
Paintings of Kanji by Hermann Pikus



Dinosaur/Modern movie pop art by Stu Nankivell



Photos of Brazil and Suica by Vanderlei Guedes



A huge painting made of all teeny little blobs of fabric paint or acrylic or something, by Kathryn Elizabeth Dewar


Red and blue paintings by Martin J Weaver



Photography by Susanne Bund


I tried to take photos of the good ones, and there was plenty of stuff there that was hobbyist or unprofessional or weekend-artist, and as I prophesied PLENTY of flowers in vases, photos of flowers, photos of Japanese people, and landscape paintings. Between my drawings and the clay/latex dinosaur, that was the most exciting art in the room.
K, my kimono friend, came with me yesterday to the closing 'party' at which I needed to take down my art. I wore a casual kimono for it, and she wore a black dress with a shawl, and a flower in her ponytail.
"Whatcha want to bet everyone will be in jeans?" I said as we were on the subway.
"Well, this kimono is the kimono-equivalent of jeans," she told me. But when we got there I saw one man in a suit, three skirts, and 30 pairs of jeans.
A couple of the jeans were paired with blazers, which I thought was acceptable. But the others had t-shirts and sneakers. K and I were wildly overdressed, but that one man in a suit nearly redeemed us. We got there too late for the food (they said the party was from 5:30 to 8, we got there at 7, and they were literally gesturing us off the tables so they could clean up and take everything away), so we drank the dregs of very cheap white wine and ate peanuts.
Yes, we went there for peanuts.
And to pick up my art.
heehee.

As for me:
Just my drawings...


Here's a couple of them, if you can't see them embiggened and don't remember what they look like:

</div>
I included my monsters..
etc. etc.! Of course they were very 'shocking' in that kind of environment (housewives painting sakura trees from the kitchen window), but... well.... deal with it.
The man in the suit kindly introduced himself to us--in fact, came right over to me and said "I've been enjoying your art all week" and introduced himself as Andy. Wait--he could pick me out of a crowd having only seen a tiny photo of me near my work....wow!
He said "The sophistication shows in it--did you study art?"
"I was an illustration major. thank you," I said. We shook hands and what-not.

After he politely left, K and I pow-wow'd that he probably also meant "the sophistication" of us in appropriate art-show clothing and not flopping around the room guffawing "I've had too much to drink!!!" in jeans like the other middle-aged white people.

Well, it sounds like I'm being slightly harsh, when in reality it was an un-juried, totally open, minimal cost show that was probably supposed to be more about making business connections and socializing with foreigners, rather than having An Art Show. I mean, it wasn't in the Matsuzakaya Department Store (they have gloved guards at the doors), it was in the cultural center.
But then again, the Embassy is also housed in that building, which we theorize is the safest place in case of zombie apocalypse. So for the sake of the Ambassadors we should conduct our Art Shows with a LITTLE decorum.

Anyway I went to art school and I know how to behave myself at a gallery opening and closing.



Meanwhile tattooing is the greatest and most satisfying thing in my life right now, apart from Yakkun, who is SO SQUISHY AND I LOVE HIM SO MUCH KISS ( FLAT FERRET AHEAD )
This is a flat ferret. Sometimes after ferrets have been moving at a certain speed, feel bored, want water, need attention, or are trying to remember where they put something, they become flat. Nobody knows why.</div>


So I checked out Kaori's hummingbird ankle tattoo from last week and it's healing very well. She says "it's itchy". Perfect. The colors are holding up and it doesn't look like anything's falling out of it. YATTA!

And yesterday I brought K in to the shop to do one for her. It's her first one and she wanted a swallow with chrysanthemums. ( 2/3 done Swallow and Chrysanthemum )
http://twitpic.com/oqguh
It's blurry cuz it's my camera phone.</div> Poor K was squeaking and yelping through the whole thing every time I got a good line (that is, a very smooth application of ink, into the proper layer of skin, without the needle skipping or going too shallow). It started to make me laugh because exactly as I could feel the proper texture with my hand, she would go "ow, ow oooaaaaaaaww" and I would get confirmation that it was a good line. So I got the giggles and she didn't know what was so funny until I explained it. :D

Here is what we accomplished yesterday:

http://twitpic.com/oqjtv
I did the shading on the bird because it doesn't take long and doesn't hurt nearly as much as the linework. I changed to the shader-needle without telling her, and did one wing, the head, the body, and moved to the other wing before she said "Are you coloring?" hahaha
More better photos will come when I get them off my camera, and especially when the whole thing's completed.

In three or four weeks we can move on to the color. The bird will be storm-blue with some ochre and purple in the wings, and the flowers will be red with yellow centers. I might put some white into the bird's lower face, just to make it pop a little, although white will fade within a few years. But K never gets a tan and always keeps her skin covered up from the sun, so it should be in excellent condition forever. Yay!!
We did this in about 2 hours. Those flowers took forever. heh

But anyway this freakin ROCKS
Back skin is very stretchy, must remember this. It stretches in all directions. Maybe next time I'll get her to lie on her side and hug a pillow to pull her arms forward? hmmmm. The lines look a little jittery close up, but considering where the color will cover it, it's not too bad. It's not excellent work IMO but it was VERY good learning experience...now I know what it feels like, in my hand, to get a proper line. That's important information. And besides, it was free. XD

Names:
Fu Dog/Foo Dog
Shishi
Shisa (Okinawa)
Lion of Buddha
Koma-inu
T'ien Kou (Celestial Dog)
Korai Inu ("foreign" dog, the word Korai referring to Korean, with the
meaning of Outside/weird)

all of them came from China, but they took 3 routes to come to Japan
and they created different products at the end.
China directly to Japan = Chinese Lion
China via Korea to Japan = Guardian Dog (at shrines)
China to Okinawa = Shisa

The Shisa was normally one large statue placed at the edge of the town
to protect them from fire (which came from the South) and evil spirits
(the Demon Gate is in the Northeast). After the Meiji period they
started putting Shisa on the roofs.

Shisa in general are supposed to protect from fire.

Guardian dogs (Koma-inu) at temples are somewhat arbitrarily gendered...

Left side: mouth closed, speaking the "mm" of "Om", known as the
Shisa, is Male and keeps bad out with his closed mouth, or is Female
and keeping in the good.

Right side: mouth open, speaking the "aao" of "Om", known as the
Guardian Dog, is Female and sharing goodness with her open mouth, or
is Male and scaring away evil with his fangs.

Female Shishi are playing with a cub and Males have a ball.



Japanese painting of Shishi with Botan flower, which seems common...these also have scales!!

Chinese-style lion in bronze.


Very cute foo-dog tattoo!

Friday night I finally did Kaori's hummingbird. Quickie photo is available to view at my twitter HERE: Hummingbird on ankle.

I did the whole thing in an hour flat, with her also having to run off and make food and bring peoples' beer to them. I used Ryuji's machine, which was a first for me. Although I did have a spot of trouble with the liner machine creating sparks between the top bar and the tension screw (it looked like awesome blue lightning, like when you plug in something that's turned on), Kaori was saying "abunai, abunai" ('dangerous!') and Osam tried to adjust it to stop sparking buuuuut it would not. So I changed machines.
I noted with pleasure that the machine I was working on felt very smooth and cool...if it used oil I'd say it was oiled. I had a slight moment of hesitation, gathering my testicular fortitude again, just like before I tattooed myself for the first time. I brought the machine to her ankle and kind of paused... I let my focus zero in on the purple stencil, popping out in my vision...I wasn't NERVOUS, particularly, just getting ready.

It turns out Kaori's ankle has very smooth and tight skin, and my speed must have been perfectly on the money, cuz the needle went through her like butter. No, really, if you imagine drawing in a cool block of butter with a ballpoint pen..that's what it felt like. It was SEXY. It went "hmmmmmm" and when I wiped the ink I had a gorgeous solid black line. Kaori didn't squeak or complain about the pain, though she did say she was "doki-doki" (heart-pounding/nervous) before we started. ドキドキ。。ごめんね！
So Ryuji's line about "tattoo wa kantan" is finally proving itself true. I thought he was just fucking with me when I was fighting with my jellyfish tattoo and I was ready to throw the machine through the window. But doing it on someone else is freakin' kantan (easy).
本当ですよ！タッツはすげーかんたん！楽しいかったよ～～～

After the linework, which was careful and controlled, the coloring was a breeze. It was a breezy breeze. It was pie-in-the-sky sunny day breeze. It was just like coloring with pencils. Mostly cuz I don't feel a thing (except, like, emphathetically) and I can just magically zone out and do the art.
When I saw she was bleeding a fair bit I knew it was time to wrap it up. o_o
But she did GREAT and didn't whine or complain at all, though she limped off the table (I'M SORRRRYY!! O_O)
When it hurts less we'll see if she still loves it. Poor girl. My first victim, though, so it's gonna be kind of violent.

Well it's Hallowe'en E'en, and I'm sitting in the shop, possibly nursing a small fever (...huh? wha? ... I... I'm sleepy. ...wha?) and waiting for Osam to finish the final touchups on this guy's half-sleeve and chest piece (a phoenix with black background). I guess I could use the other table too.
Today I'm going to do a hummingbird on Kaori's ankle, above a hibiscus she's got there. Compared to the other dudes in the shop she doesn't have many tattoos...or does she? I haven't ever seen all of her arms. she does have tattoos across her fingers, a tribal on a forearm, and a scarification or branding on one arm. On one ankle she has a big gothic K for her name, and the other ankle has the aforementioned hibiscus in yellow. Very cute.
For K I designed a swallow and chrysanthemum (kiku) composition today and started working on a drawing of a Shishi, which is something like a Fuu dog, and I'm too tired to figure out what the real difference is. Turns out that Shishi and Japanese dragons have the same face, only a little shorter in the muzzle. But same wide bald forehead, bushy eyebrows and beard, wide mouth with side-fangs, googly yellow eyes and little doggy nose. Then you put a sort of doggy body on it and a mane and it's a shishi as opposed to a dragon...

crap, work just called me... I should call them back... this probably means I have an extra class tomorrow. booo.

I only have a couple of minutes to write this before I have to leave for training and then work.
I have a cold, which was just a runny nose 2 nights ago but has developed slowly into a throat-dripping-cough. I've changed my costume from Samurai to Shinsengumi Dying of Tuberculosis.

K lent me the blue coat.
no... don't bother... saving me.... i'll just burn your village. just pass...me.... my bloody handkerchief.... khoorrk khoorrk kkkhork khorrrrrrrggggkk

In other news
Tomorrow will mark a magical point for me as Ryuji has agreed I've done 10 self-tattoos (I counted them for him to prove it) and next I can work on Kaori-chan (one of the shop lab-rats, as you remember). she's got a yellow hibiscus on her right ankle, so she asked for a hummingbird above it. I need to draw some hummingbirds. That's a little tough as their proportions are wonky, but I'm so excited about this I'll give it a shot.

So as usual when I asked Ryuji "can I do ____?" he just said "ii, yo" (yeah, 's fine) and offered me 0 resistance. ROCK. So I'm moving up and being vry vry polite about it. I'm sooooooo excited and freaking out & trying to get rid of this cold! COLD GO GO GOGOGOGOGO

I forgot to mention I've been accepted to the "Nagoya International Center 24th Annual Foreign Artists' Exhibition". View at the bottom of this page.
It's hardly exclusive. Miguel encouraged/harassed me to enter, although I pointed out A.) I hardly have a body of work, and what I do have is ink drawings on paper that are A4 size or smaller, hardly gallery-size; B.) Real shows want your work mounted and/or framed, and the cost of that is extraordinarily prohibitive, not to mention once it's framed you'll never get it out, which leads me to B.1.) I don't have the space to store said framed art, it lives in a portfolio most of the time and nobody's buying it which would make up for the cost of framing and B.2.) I don't have any high-quality copies with which to replace my originals if they were framed and ergo restore my portfolio, or vice versa, and B.1.a.) The show instructions specifically say "all work must be originals".
And C.) Even if it's not a juried show it's gonna cost me to submit art.

Miguel ignored my totally justified reasoning and told me "just try it anyway" although I was already calculating how much mat-board and submission fees are going to eat my budget. I've done this twice already for Specialization Review (sophomore year) and making my portfolio (senior year) and it is NO fun at all. In fact I'd go so far as to say screw it. Purchasing, measuring, cutting, mounting and agonizing over mat-board is stupid stressful.

But I sent the email asking for an application, and when it came in the mail I filled it out. It only wanted my name, vitals, "Type of Art (required)" which meant media, and an "Artist Statement, please use space below". Okay, I made up some stuff and wrote "ink drawings and lino prints". I faxed it in. I waited a week. nothing. I waited another week, having given up.
Suddenly I got a big fat envelope of advertising postcards with a half-sheet of paper that started off "Thank you for your application to the Foreign Artists' Exhibition."
Yay, I've been rejected. I bet they were full up with landscape painters already.

"Please set up your work on November 1 between 10 am and 5 pm. No other time will be available. Your space is limited to *blah blah inches by inches*." Then a couple of other sentences about "please give these postcards to your family to get them to come to our 1 week show."
It's gonna cost me 2000 yen to set up, payable at setup day. I get one "panel" to hang my work on, and everything must be "mounted or framed" as I expected. I must also "provide my own titles". Nothing can be sold, they don't guarantee the security of the exhibit, etc.

What really surprised me was they didn't want SUBMISSIONS. They didn't look at portfolios or samples or anything. It was literally first-come-first-served.
I find this vaguely pathetic and kind of nice, but it sort of oozes desperation. Also the papers mentioned "artists participating will automatically be sent an application form next year" which makes me think it's been the same Foreign Artists for 24 years.

A couple of weeks ago I went to the store called LOFT that has everything (EVERYTHING) and they have some pre-cut pre-sized mat board in B5, A4 and A3 sizes, individually wrapped in plastic, priced really nicely at about $1 a sheet. As usual I find Japanese prices for paper are roughly half of American. So I got black everything and am concerned I don't have much to show. I don't do paintings cuz paint here is more expensive than good whiskey (it is!), and canvas is double the price of America's. Also I don't have space for all that mess. Also I have a naughty ferret who's figured out how to climb into the silverware drawer from underneath the counter. Nothing so surprising as opening a drawer to get a spoon and finding a sleeping weasel.

Teenager brands himself with 'laser tattoos'
By staff writers

NEWS.com.au

July 04, 2008 02:00am

He was filmed being branded by the industrial machine and then uploaded the video – along with full instructions – to the internet.

Watch the video below:

The instructions, posted on do-it-yourself website Instructables.com, describe how dangerous – and how easy – the amateur "laser tattoo" process can be.

An industrial laser-etching machine looks similar to a photocopier and works by moving a red-hot laser at rapid speeds to "print" intricate designs into hard surfaces such as metal and wood.

The machine normally has a safety system that stops the laser when the lid is opened, but the teenager, under the screen name Tetranitrate, managed to bypass that with a six-sided die and a magnet.

Once the safety feature was disabled, he loaded the designs into the machine, tested its position, then stuck his hands in to burn each design in to his skin.

He can be seen wincing as the machine burns a picture of a robot into the back of his hand, and a close-up shows small sparks and smoke emerging from his flesh.
The instructions did not note the long-term effects of "laser tattoos", but recommended that the machine be set to a higher speed for lighter burns. Aloe vera cream was found to be an effective balm, but it also had an effect on the image's contrast against the skin.

While branding is common in the tattooing and body modification worlds, this is the first apparent use of a laser engraving machine for a similar effect.


I think this is potentially dangerous, stupid and obviously painful... but damn, it's a cool idea. I've been wondering when we'd do laser tattoos. We can laser tattoo anything else, right? And he's doing it voluntarily without the waste of university funds and research. Good on ya, kid.

First of all, Yakkun seems to be 98 (where the fuck is the percent key on this son of a bi--oh, it's on the 5)% recovered at this point. Today he ate a full breakfast of The Secondary Food, which is Marshall's and not very good quality, but better than the 300 yen box food. He has also been picking at the Good Food, which is Evo, but he really wants me to dip the corner of each piece in Ferretvite and get it all saucy and oily before he eats it. This involves me getting oil all over my hands, corn syrup all over my tatami, and food crumbs glued to everything else. But at least he's eating (and poopin!) well again. So I think that's all blown over.


I'm at the shop again, after taking last week off (I think my call last week was misinterpreted as MYSELF being sick, but that's all right) and today I have a sort of pounding headache but that's about it. That's been going on since Tuesday anyway.
Osam has been working on a woman since about 1:30 today. She looks like anybody's middle aged mother, not slim like most Japanese women, not beautiful, dressed in jeans and t-shirt, and now getting a HUGE tribal dragon on the whole front of her right thigh. And for some reason they're completing it all TODAY. They've been working steadily on it, with small cigarette breaks here and there, for about 6 1/2 hours now. Osam said they're almost done. He's starting to look fatigued, and with extremely good reason. She seems to be bearing up very well too. And by the way, I may have mentioned it's a TRIBAL. It's solid fuckin black, every square centimeter of her skin pounded full of ink, absolutely saturated with it, it'll be leaking ink and plasma for three days straight. Her skin was puffed up within the first hour. I can testify that thigh skin is pretty sensitive--it doesn't stretch much, is usually covered by clothes and doesn't get rubbed or abraded often. It doesn't like being stabbed, and especially for 6 hours it doesn't like being stabbed.

I have to wonder what kind of person this perfectly nice, homely and motherly looking woman is, to sit down on a Friday and get a gigantic tattoo in one sitting. This makes me think it's a surprise or a secret. And it's not a branch of flowers or a butterfly, it's a big black dragon, a powerful and aggressive piece. I'm deeply intrigued by her. I don't know if she has any other ink, but I can see both of her legs and there's nothing else there.

I went through one of the coffeetable type books we have here, called BACK PIECE TATTOO which is full of many photographs of pathetically small size. Each one could and should be a full page photograph, but they put a dozen on a page instead. This makes me spend many many many minutes staring into the pages in dim fucking light and aggravating my headache in order to see how they drew the phoenix's eye or whether the scales are shaded or just colored with a blank edge. Anyway, each photo has a credit beside it and it seems like there is a lot of incredible goddam tattooing going on in Nagoya. Of course Osaka is carrying its weight admirably, and Tokyo is well represented, but Nagoya is fighting them both tooth and nail. I mean there must be six or seven really really tight studios churning out gorgeous traditional Japanese back pieces. I came upon one phoenix that literally gave me shivers. I felt a reaction in my stomach when I saw this thing, glowing, absolutely shining against a slim man's pale skin. The artist used a few watered-down colors in the tail plumes--baby blue, pale green and yellow, with lots of bright red and the emerald green and gold you see in scroll paintings. It looked jeweled. Since it's impossible to finish such a piece in a short time, that means those are the HEALED colors, not the freshly applied ink.
Sure, there's probably some Photoshop involved with a little color bumping, but there's only so much you can do to it before you lose detail. It's the kind of image that makes me want to go immediately to Toyohashi (where the studio is--not far by train, actually) and demand to meet this customer. I just want to touch his back and feel the heat radiating up through that art. It's mystical looking. It's too beautiful to put on a living person or on a paper or anything that will eventually die. If this guy goes out in the sun and ruins it I'll kick him in the eye.

I've been waiting, today, to do any work on myself, though I have a couple of jellyfish designs ready. I'm not confident with the other machines. I know that makes me a pansy but I also don't want to scare myself and mess up. I think Osam knows I'm a pansy and only want to use his table.
I feel stupid for having a superstition about which table/machine to use--it shouldn't make a difference, for god's sake--but I do know the feel of that machine and am coming to know its moods. They're all like cars, whose temperaments you have to get used to. I'm not good enough a driver to just jump on anything and go. You're thinking of Vin Diesel.

so all day I've been kind of wasting time, absorbing smoke and images, and working on drawing my own phoenix, noticing that each one keeps getting better. However, I'm getting worn out using all these colored pencils. They keep getting shorter and shorter.

Last year's yukata (the blue one) turns out to be too small and too short, so I've been trying to think of what I can do with it.... roll it up like a miniskirt, open the collar off my shoulders Yakuza style, wear it over leggings or jeans, pair it with boots? K has inspired me with this nouveau kimono stuff they call Kimono Hime, which is ultra-modern haute couture kimono for modern wear. It's so ultra-modern most people have no idea what they're looking at when they see it.

Yakkun hasn't eaten kibbles since I got home an hour and 20 minutes ago. He has happily accepted about 7 little treats, drank about a quarter cup of ferret-soup (but stops when he gets to the gloopy part at the bottom, the food bits), and licked some ferret-vite off my fingers. He moved some kibbles from the floor to the umbrella cage, and from my bed to my closet, but he didn't eat them. I was going to cook tonight, but my stomachache and headache and exhaustion and worry are back and the thought of standing again is almost killing me. I don' tknow if I need to call the vet again tomorrow and say "He ate breakfast on Thursday but that's the last meal he's eaten" or if there's nothing he can/will do. I don't know if Yakkun is being picky now that he can eat nothing but treats. That does make me worry.
I just want him to eat some ferret food. That's all I want. I'm so damn e



(continued 1 1/2 hours later after passing out fully dressed on my bed) --xhausted.

Yakkun poo'd a normal looking poo today, and he's had 3 doses (24 hrs) of antibiotics, but he's still not eating properly. He still accepts treats, but they're just kitty treats and that's not a meal. His energy is almost nil. I got him to eat a little ferret soup, but it equated to about a teaspoon. He's still rubbing his nose and acting sleepy. I feel such a heavy rock in the pit of my stomach. He gets up for a few minutes, then slumps back down with glassy eyes.
i guess I could say he's had *only* 24 hours of antibiotics, but this means he hasn't eaten a real meal in like 2 days. At the vet yesterday he weighed only 96 grams. On Monday night he was 108.


[edit 16 mins later] - He just came in to my room here and sniffed his food dish (he's been doing this on and off), then FINALLY picked up a kibble, carried it to my futon, and ate it in my bed. He has eaten six or seven pieces at this point and I'm trying not to move or distract him.

[edit 10 mins later] - He's eaten pretty much a full meal's worth at this point, which relieves my stomach and mind so much I'm almost in tears. He just lay on my bed and ate kibbles, and I got up quietly a few times to give him another small handful, and so on, which he ate very hungrily and stopped after a normal (healthy) amount. I praised him thoroughly and gave him kisses. he should perk up soon. Tonight I may have to repeat the procedure after medicating him, but since he's had the 3rd dose his body should be recovering soon, right? 
I'm in a very weak emotional state from worrying for 3 days solid, have been neglecting my bugs (I'm sorry, bugs)

Monday morning:
Ferret may have a hairball or something worse. Had a coughing/gagging/try to puke episode that gave me a heart attack.
Ferret still wheezing and coughing whenever he moves, ate 'hairball remedy' but coughed during it, now trying to sleep, i'm worried.
vets closed 12 to 5 pm, I work til 9:30, emergency vet doesn't open til 9 pm... not much i can do til i get home from work D:
I'm worried to leave him alone while I go to work...

Monday night:
ER vet spoke like no english, basically told me that Yakkun "was genki' and that if I wanted to keep him in the hospital for observation, it would be very expensive, and if they see him poo and look genki then they will consider him not sick. he doesn't have a bump in his tummy or a fever. He gave him a shot of antibiotics and cough medicine, heard him coughing, said it could be several things including a blockage, flu, hairball or something called "andalusian syndrome" I think, which looked like a huge tumor in the scary book he showed me. He said without blood tests and x rays it would be impossible to tell, and if i do those tests in the ER it'll be much more expensive. In his opinion Yakkun was not at death's door so he said i should take these documents to the usual vet tomorrow morning.
I think I'll call out because tomorrow is my early day and I usually leave to catch the train at 12:30. I'll say i have 'internal girly problems' or something, or just say i need the day off, or what should i say? I want to get my ass to the vet asap but don't want to call out from inside the vet's office. it might sound suspicious to have doggies barking while i'm calling out.

yakkun is still coughing like crazy and sneezing a bit too, but the vet said he didn't have a fever so i dont know if a cold is possible or what. maybe it IS flu. I don't know. The rest of his body *seems* fine except he hasn't eaten dinner and he's still coughing. So SOMETHING is wrong. I hope I have enough money to cover this.

yakkun's resting now but not altogether quiet, still *hyeek*ing a little bit even in his pineapple. He wanted to play SO BAD earlier he was running around the house, but the more he exerted himself the harder he coughed. D:
I'm so exhausted... cried twice today, once during a lesson and once between.

yakkun is saying he wants out of his cage but still coughs like crazy if i give him a treat or if he moves around. i dont know what the hell is going on.

Tuesday Morning:
Well i just got up and it looks like he ate in the night and pood, and this morning he woke right up and pood again and it looked great, and he drank water, and he's bouncing around. currently no sign of the cough, but he hasn't eaten anything yet. Since the doctor last night said "He's not sick deshou" and his main symptom is not appearing, i'll call the doctor instead of rushing out, cuz there's no good taking a perfectly genki ferret with no symptoms.
Called the vet, he said "please fax me the papers they gave you at the ER vet, and keep watching him, and if he continues to be better then he's probably better" lol. I said "If he starts coughing again I'll come see you tomorrow" and he said "I hope he doesn't, lol". So he wanted to know what kind of injections he got, but it being in Japanese I couldn't tell him. He played and ate and poopd today and is now sorta sleeping in the umbrellas. So whatever he got did the trick, or it was sleep, or eating a meal, or a hair stuck in his throat or something.

Tuesday night:
...
faxed papers to vet when I got to work.
...
yakkun has lost his energy and has a runny nose now. i think he has a cold. i woke him up and he just lay on the floor, then went back into his pineapple bed. he didn't eat anythng during the day and didn't show interest in food just now when i woke him up either.

he looks like he's trying to sleep in my bed now. After i woke him up he walked around with me, drank some water, then passed out right on my bed. Woke up to scratch an itch, then walked around under the blankets and how isn't moving much, he's just a lump. oh, he just sneezed. I've seen him licking his nose like it's runny. If he won't eat he'll need to go to the doctor for drugs cuz he can't last days without food.
he woke up and sniffed his food and walked off, so i put some food in the closet and now he's eating it there, a couple of pieces. wtf. why it tastes good in the closet i'll never know.
He ate about half of it, which was barely a palmful, and regained some energy and pushed a ball around. But his nose is still runny and his eyes look a little glassy yet. Is currently messing with some toys. Miguel seems completely unconcerned and called me asking what movies to rent and if I wanted to go out to sushi dinner. I said no, I want to monitor the ferret. Miguel's technique is to glance up and say "he looks fine--if the doctor says he's not dying, it's not serious" and that's his diagnosis. The doctor only said "I don't know without more tests".

I think it's *only* a cold but with diminished energy and appetite that means he's feeling it. even if I just get fever medicine that'd be fine. I'll call doctor again tomorrow and possibly go in. again.

( Blow bubbles... fear bubbles )</div>

Alice has complimented me a few times today, and I continually appreciate his kind nature. He asked if I was going to color the botan on my leg today (he remembered! that alone is pretty cool) and said something about (I think) that my self tattoos look pretty and interesting. He never speaks slowly to me so I miss a lot of his dialogue. But he also asked if I cut my own hair and I said yes and he said it looks good. That's somewhat rare coming from a guy. Yay :)
Osam has been working on this customer since 1 pm, it's now nearly 6:00 and the poor guy is writhing on the table and blinking a lot and covering his eyes. He's doing a huge shoulder/top of chest piece and--oh, he may have *just* finished. Two hours ago I was thinking the guy looks like he's had enough abuse. Twenty minutes ago I thought he was starting to look traumatized. I can't look over there without being obvious, but his skin is all puffy and he's rather glassy-eyed.
Oh wait, they're starting up again. I think it might be the final touchups. Osam is absolutely merciless. He generally doesn't acknowledge signals of pain, just keeps truckin along until HE'S done. LOL
Yep, now the guy has one leg bent up and both feet are curling and squeezing toes. He's been covering his brow with one hand and the other one is resting on his stomach, classic posture of the uncomfortable. Poor thing. XP

Mig has been incommunicado all day since calling me at 1:30 to ask me to lunch (I was already here) and I wanted to get him over here to talk to Osam about his tattoo reservation, but I can't get ahold of him for beans. So I've been waiting for this table and inking and then copying and then coloring this weird drawing I did of a "preying mantis"...
Here he is

the theory is that, like an orchid mantis (look em up, they're cute), he tries to disguise himself passably as a human in order to CATCH and NOM them NOM NOM NOM NOM. ergo the bones. It's not an excuse to draw bones (nobody LIKES drawing bones) nor are the bones a default space-filler.
They're not.
They're...
okay, they kind of are. But I figured out a good excuse for them as I fleshed out the drawing a little more. I love drawing predatory monster thingers.

tomorrow, don't know what I'm doing. I've been invited to two different parties and I should *probably* go to at least one of them, but I don't want to spend ye olde 3000 yen just to go to a party. what the hell kind of party costs thirty bucks?? I don't like this adult style of party. I like the good old fashioned BYOB chips-and-Boggle college shindigs.

I have a weird feeling I'll be a college student, mentally, until I'm at least 35.

Stillll waiting for a table. blargh

Tired. It's "Silver Week", an unusual set of holidays. I've been fighting with Miguel, and he's been fighting with K, for a couple of days now and it's wearing me out. The two of us (not K) are PMSing and that doesn't help matters AT. ALL. But for some reason I was invited to go to Ise Jingu with him and his girlfriend tomorrow and the ticket is already bought, so I'm taking 2 senbazuru (an ugly multicolored one that's not very good and a rainbow one) and some of Stephen's ashes to The Holiest and Strongest Shrine In Japan. So they say.

Everyone has just been at each other's THROATS for about a week and blah blah, whatever blah, went to the pet store and took some photos, wanted to go to the Amusement park near Fuji today but the package tour won't go on Silver Week, it's a black out date, so I have to wait 3 weeks for it. Miguel is getting to the point where he doesn't even want to be in K's vicinity. I'm getting to the point where I can't be in the vicinity of both of them. I'm the Hermione in the epic Potter/Weasley hatefest hoedown.


This shit is mangoes. M-A-N-G-O-E-S.

again moderating between two people has left me stressed and pissed off. I'm going to Fujikyu Highland Amusement Park next week no matter who's going with me, but that "who" are getting fussy and unsympathetic and temper tantrumy and psycho and aggravating.
Anyway, blah blah, I'm at the tattoo shop but I was so irritated and freaked out I didn't really want to bring needles that close to myself, although I had a botan that needed coloring. I recognized that I was "in a bad place" and art was just aggravating me, I was feeling restless, I wanted to talk about it to someone but both 'someones' I talk to are involved in aggravating one another, and going home would just bring it down upon my head like the first sunflower seed dropped in a hamster pit. A depressingly cute metaphor for an unacceptable state of mind.

I tried to calm myself a little bit, then set up to work on my self tattoo anyway, and after checking my phone 5 more times (nope, nothing) I set to work. Wouldn't you know it, tattooing yourself can be pretty zen. I know I was making awful faces and there was a little self-mutilating violent pleasure in the beginning of it, but the endorphins soon kicked in and I was able to concentrate on just making a pretty flower. It did come out very pretty. At the end the endorphins won. I decided I wasn't going to let so-and-so bother me (easier said than done, yo) and fuck him, I'll do what I want because we've planned this trip for ages and I'm not giving up on it now.

I've used the word "aggravating" a lot in this post, but that's what it's been: people purposely pushing each others' buttons and saying nasty things back and forth (I, naturally, being that middle ground and hate-filter) and refusing to show restraint or forgiveness etc. It's driving me absolutely nucking futs. The bitch of it is, if I refuse to be a go between I still have to hear it from both sides. There is no way to escape it, physically. And if I remove my influence it will never ever fix itself. Ergo today's twitter status is stuck at "For fuck's SAKE".

I just have to get through tomorrow, then on Sunday I might get some relief, and Monday I plan to go to this amusement park if I have to break fingers with both boots.

As of yesterday night, I'm on Ryuji's website!
Here's the main site (I think I gave you the main tattooing website before, because I didn't know there was one encompassing the piercing as well): http://www.body-pierce.jp/bm/   (will resize your window, I'm sorry) :(
But go down to the third link first, it's easiest to read.

If you see in the center box, it says Victoria 追加  which means "addition"! YAY ADDITION
and that little magic box is a barcode that can be read by cellphones, you take a photo of it with the barcode scanner in your keitai/cell and it can read the URL inside it and goes to the page. I don't know if they've done this in america yet but it's standard/old tech in Japan.
DO I HAVE MY OWN MAGIC SQUARE NOW?
Anyway, the keitai site is easier to read:  http://ryujitattoo.com/i/  Scroll down and I'm at the bottom, "Artist Victoria".

And the site that is less framed/weirdly set up is here: http://www.body-pierce.jp/  and you can click on my name, and see 2 pages of my drawings. There's no profile up yet, though I typed one, and they didn't post photos of my finished tattoos, only my art.
Ryo-san is in charge of all the website stuff, along with Ryuji I believe, and I haven't talked to him much so I can't ask anything about his design or choice of what information to post. I know it's a little higgeldy-piggeldy at the moment but my GAWD I'm stoked to be on there, in as minor a capacity as this may be (though it isn't, not really).
 
Anyway, EEEEEEEEEEEEEe and other vowels of exclamation!
I'll have to teach english for a long long time now to support my *real job*!

I think Yakkun is feeling better, as he's bouncing around and sniffing and playing by himself as per usual right now, and was happy to see me, and very interested in my hat. Even if he's still bruised I don't think he's broken.

K sent me a message that one of her students at Nagoya Station (a 15 minute bike ride from my house, or 2 subway stations) had Swine Flu. Yay! It's in Nagoya. >_< Just what I need to worry about.

Today I gave my tattoo photos, drawing scans, personal profile, Note To Customers about special price, and English aftercare sheet to Ryuji. I've been hella busy regarding that and I hope it shows.
I touched-up my yellow octo (now it's done, I think) and did the lines of another botan, the first one not yet colored either, but probably next week I'll color the first one and *possibly* start the lines of another design. When these two botan are done, I'll have done 8 self tattoos. I didn't know how many drawings Ryuji wanted scans of, but I did about a dozen.

View at Twitter (sorry, it won't let me embed this): BOTAN AND OCTO

I really need to eat something because the doctor has me on medication for my stomach. I went on Wednesday with stomach discomfort, as it were, Tuesday night was gross and on the knife-edge of puking for apparently no reason. But even since Tuesday I haven't felt right. The doctor gave me 3 kinds of medication that I'm concerned may be antibiotics, so I can't skip them. But they need to be taken *after food*.

~~~

Okay, I ate a bread.

So when I asked Ryuji "Who will put this on the webpage?" (said the Little Red Hen), he said, "mm. Ryo-san will do that. Ne, Ryo."
"What's this USB?"
"Victoria's pictures are on it. Make her a gallery on the webpage. She wrote a profile too."
"On the keitai webpage too?"
"Yes."
"Yes sir. Should I put her name on the page?" (various other Japanese I didn't catch too well)
"Mm, do that."
"Yes sir."

Me, meanwhile: :3

Ryuji seemed tired today (I saw 4 people get tattoos today! Everyone but me was working on customers!) and there were several piercings, including 2 tongue piercings which are occasional but not common. I consider it a surprisingly busy day.
I walked with Kaori to the grocery store to get foods and beer, and we talked mostly in Japanese, though her English is quite fine and when she makes a sentence it's almost always exactly correct. Of course this motivates me to try too, and she doesn't seem confused by my "Japanese" when I speak it. LOL..
I also talked to Alice a bit, who was in a pretty perky mood, although he doesn't really understand that much English and he always talks rapidly to me. I asked him "what are you doing?" when I found him in the kitchen and he said "I'm doing everything... cooking, cleaning, package stuff, (something something something)." He also told me "The botan you did today looks nice. It looks cute." 
Of course I smiled at that, but he looked away just as he said it.
hee ;D
Well, I like him, he's so friendly, but I wish I could say more to him. I hope he doesn't think I'm annoying. >_<

I got a good picture of my new octo and the botans, but it's not uploaded yet. I also did about 3 or 4 new drawings that are spanktastic. I'm gonna need another folder soon for designs. X3

BTW the weather has been absolutely fantastic and I wanna be out in it. But it makes me melancholy that winter is coming. :c
I think my next self-tattoo will be a little jellyfish, cuz I want some. Like sea angels, you can't really keep them as a pet. so a tattooed one would be perfect.

Okay, so we might be going back to the vet tomorrow.
I was picking up Yakkun's big PVC pipe to clean under, and it fell apart at the joint just as I lifted it rather high, and of course the ferret WOULD be right under it when it fell, and he ran away with his tail puffed out, but didn't make a sound, and I panicked and he ran into my bed and then walked around slowly after that.
After all THAT he's been a little slow on the uptake for the last hour, not bouncing around properly, and I have a bad feeling he is still in pain though it hasn't been long so of course he is, and I am haunted by the story a woman posted about her ferret who fell off a 3 foot bookshelf and played *happily* for 3 days with a broken leg, never made a sound about it.

I don't think anything is broken when I think it through, probably he's got a sprain and for gods sake a big old piece of PVC fell on him, but do I need to take him in for x rays? The vet isn't a ferret expert, he'll say "is he moving around? is he eating? Is he limping? whining?" and he's moving around and eating and I can't even tell if there's a limp or not, and he hasn't said a single squeak, so if he was a dog or cat he'd be fine.
But he's a ferret and they can PLAY with a broken leg.

I'll wake up at 9:30 and see how he's doing then. Mig is pretty convinced that I'm "jumping the gun" and he'll "be fine". I can tell he's still in pain, the question is whether it's broken or just a sprain, and whether I should get him some pain meds.

He's a little bit listless, and went right into his bed when I put him in his cage.