Sunday, December 10, 2006
Alright, I'll post something new and save your eyes getting burned out by my porno tattoo.
I'd really love to get some Latin help so I'm not making any major mistakes in the year end shirt… Here's a rough picture, and I'll translate below what I think I'm saying (and yes, I know I'm mixing Greek and Latin in a few of the substance names — feel free to correct it).
Hic Mentis and Mutatis de Homo Modificatus The Mind and Mutations of [new species] [Homo Modificatus]
1. Polytetrafluoroethylene tergum auxilium
Teflon Skin Elevators (ie. subdermal implants)
2. Lacuna prudentia
The Hole of Wisdom (ie. trepanation)
3. Adfero “BMEzine.com”
BME Staff
4. Perduco beryl-chromium perduxi tergum
Device for transporting emerald through the skin (ie. transdermal implant)
5. Septus lacuna “ASTM f138″ ferrum
Surgical stainless steel septum hole
6. .75 sactimonia aurum
.75 purity gold (ie. 18k gold)
7. Labrum diospyrus ebenum
Ebony labret
8. Uvulum ornatus de Columbium
Niobium uvula jewelry
9. Collum Manaccanite
Titanium neck
10. Polyamide ligamen
Nylon strand
11. Apparatus traditum “RFID” penitus borosilicate
”RFID” transmission device inside Pyrex
So yeah… any help is appreciated. Feel free to offer improved, alternate, or totally different translations. I make no claim to be any sort of an expert…
(Original forum unavailable, sorry)*
I haven't made any decisions on the color, or suplementary designs, or anything like that… Just the main theme. So who knows how it changes before the end…
Saturday, December 9, 2006
My old friend Shane Faulkner at King of Fools did another (nearly final) round of shading on my chestpiece. Next step is to lay color over pretty much everything, so next time you'll see it it will look radically more finished as well. I'm really stoked with how it's turning out, and I'm really feeling excited about tattooing lately because my ideas for a full torso panel (well, a left and a right one, with an 1/8″ gap down the middle) and backpiece are starting to congeal as well.
Thursday, December 7, 2006
The Toronto Winter Swimming Club met up again today for another swim at Cherry Beach. We had (birthday) a little more gear this time (water shoes, water gloves, and swim caps) which helped a lot. We're slowly swimming for longer to get a good idea of how we feel. Today we were in the water (real swimming, not just wading in cold water with the occasional dunk) for about five minutes, and I don't think that was long at all in terms of what's comfortable. My feeling is that fifteen minutes is about how long I'm comfortable swimming right now in winter water.
Those are stills from a six minute video that we shot that unfortunately wasn't quite wide angle enough to capture us while we were swimming because it was thirty or forty feet from the shore (so all I have is some shots of us going in and out because today we didn't bother with support people). Anyway, we're doing this once or twice a week so drop us a line if you'd like to come along, and there's a big swim planned for Winter Solstice (December 21st for those of you who've been Christianized), again at Cherry Beach, that we'd like to attract at least a couple dozen people to.
Other than that, the trailer/commercial shoot for Test The Nation (Canadian version) was a lot of fun. They're pitting a team of thirty-six tattoo artists (I'm on that team) versus the same sized teams of millionaires, mayors, fitness instructors, surgeons, and I think one other team that I can't remember right now. They wanted to do a team of “all people who look like Peter Mansbridge” but the CBC brass vetoed that (I'm not even kidding — I hope there are at least a few Canadians chuckling about that idea).
Anyway, watch for me and I think at least one other IAM member (please drop me a line, I can't remember your IAM name) was in the commercial that will probably start airing in February, and the show is being shot LIVE (ack!) in March.
Thursday, December 7, 2006
As of I think about 4 PM today, BME will officially be entering its thirteenth year (first posted to the WWW on December 7, 1994). I'd say that makes it one of the oldest sites on the Internet; certainly older than any other site in the same realm or type — not including stuff like hp.com of course, although we still beat most of the big players in longevity. I think the fact that we've managed to keep BME alive and growing after all these years deserves a collective pat on the back (and to be clear, I mean all of us who came together and created it, even if you just submitted a single navel picture back in 1997). Thank you to everyone who believed in the idea and made it possible.
(Original forum unavailable, sorry)*
Wednesday, December 6, 2006
So tomorrow morning I was supposed to have a meeting with a surgeon to talk about my surgical options in terms of removing this big tumor that's been messing with me. After my MRI paperwork was first lost, rescheduled, and then ultimately cancelled due to issues I'd warned them about from the start, I was rescheduled for a CT scan so we'd have a good idea of what the options were. So now the process starts again.
Even though I've confirmed three or four times (after having to beg them to do it in the first place) that my doctor's office has requested the scans, I've gotten no call back from the medical imaging department. And we're kind of down to the line. First I called the doctor, which was an all around shitty experience because they made me feel like it was my fault (and I'm sure it sucked for them because I kept them on the phone so long all distraught), but they gave me the number for imaging and I called them to make sure that my paperwork hadn't been lost yet again.
As will come as no surprise, my paperwork has not been received. They say there's a chance it's in some unprocessed pile but they have no way of verifying. I told them I had a morning appointment to discuss the results, and asked them if I could come in at 3 AM or anything at all (since they're 24 hours), but they told me that wouldn't be an option, and that the earliest they'd be able to see me was well into the new year… and that they wouldn't even tell me over the phone, that they would mail it to me!
So I called the doctor and told them that there wasn't any scan for us to talk about, and he told me pretty much the same… that he wouldn't be able to reschedule me this anywhere month anyway. I've asked them if they can write down exactly what scan I need so I can just pay to have it done at a private clinic in the States or something… As much as I think it's morally wrong that those who are well off financially can force themselves through the medical system faster, it's extremely distressing and depressing feeling screwed over by a series of poorly connected systems and random mistakes.
And then right as I'm in the pit of being really upset at the medical system here, I get a cheerful call back from the CT department who found my paperwork and saw that it was one of the “marked ASAP because that's a big tumor” requisitions, so they've got me in on next Tuesday… So I called my doctor back and told them all that, so they're going to try and ASAP me in right after those results. I still feel a little crappy about it all but I feel better at least knowing that it's scheduled.
