99% off-topic

We’re posting late again this week — but this time, it wasn’t because of a medical emergency. I was busy getting two new tattoos. NERDY TATTOOS! I got a D20* behind my ear, and an OPA neck tattoo from The Expanse.

* Dice tattoos makes this officially 1% on topic for a roleplaying blog, right?

Obviously, these aren’t my first nerdy tattoos. That KA in the circle is right out of Stephen King’s The Dark Tower, and was the first tat that Aron and I got together.

I made the appointment to get this new ink months ago, and have been both so excited and so nervous the entire time. Most of my tattoos are hidden when I wear clothes, but neck tats are… something else. There is a lot more social stigma attached to them, and unless I go buy myself a turtleneck, it will always be visible. It took a lot of time and long discussions with Aron before I was willing to make the jump.

And even so, I was terrified when I showed up to the tattoo parlor. I’ve worked with the artist before and love his work — Eric did a full sleeve of leaves that covers my right arm. But when even he was nervous for this neck piece, I just about crapped my pants and ran for the door. He has his own neck tattoos, but this design called for a long, skinny, perfectly straight line that goes 95% of the way around my bumpy neck. It took about an hour just to get the stencil on right!

But after checking in with each other several times to make sure we were ready for this, Eric got to work inking up my neck. And I love the results! Eric took it slow and careful, and managed a perfect execution of that straight, skinny design. And getting my neck tattooed didn’t even hurt as much as I feared!

After that, my D20 was a breeze. Stenciled and done within 20 minutes, and I had my two awesome new nerd tats!