The hardest part was trying to find Neosporin at the store

I need to leave you guys hanging in the balance more often. Receiving a whole messload of emails wondering about the tattoo has been more fun than that one time I was in Greece, got really drunk with those Italian guys, and ... well, anyway. Last night I got a tattoo!

Gosh it's pretty. So, so pretty.

By now you've probably figured out this is a picture of the symbol I chose ("aum"). You're a curious lot, I know, so you can read more about its history here. To be honest, there's about 999,000 variants on the "design", ranging from sanskrit to Japanese, back over to Egyptian, and then on its way east again. I chose the sanskrit version and morphed it in to my own, beautiful, wonderful, perfectly perfect design that has been close to me for several years. I mean jesus, I *am* a designer and the last time I checked my powers not only can, but SHOULD! be used for good and not evil. And what could be more good than designing my own tattoo?

Eggggg-xactly.

(Right now, my mom is probably shaking her head and wishing she hadn't bought me smelly markers for all those Christmases and birthdays when I was growing up. God how I loved the smelly markers...)

Details, details, you guys are a bossy bunch. At the 11th hour a friend of a friend called to inform me that he hooked me up with an appointment with an amazing tattoo artist located somewhere between Minneapolis and Wisconsin. This was a little bit of alright in my book because that meant I had to drive *right* by Big Bowl on the way home (and you guys know how much I love me some Big Bowl... SHLP!). I'm practical, if nothing else.

I got the tattoo on my low back... you know the spot. Above your tailbone on that sexy little "flat" part. Of course it hurt, but man you'd think the pain is worse than childbirth the way some people described it! Come now, it wasn't that bad (or it's possible I have an unusually high tolerance for pain). For 45 minutes we stood around talking about the stupid thing, and within 10 minutes the actual "tattooing" was done. Fod goodness sakes it takes me longer to do my hair in the morning!

Right now the tattoo is healing so you won't see any photographs for at least a few weeks. Unless of course you go by the moniker "Welly", but that only because you're sending me lots of presents from the other side of the world. And I certainly don't mind being bribed with presents! It's so beautiful and its loveliness will be showcased in a series of high-key, scandalous, photographs as soon as I can manage, rest assured.

That's all I got. Is it just me or would the story be more interesting if it were set in middle earth with a dramatic (not to mention, lengthy) chase sequence culminating in victory at Helm's Deep, the destruction of a certain ring, and the etching of a certain sacred symbol? I'unno. I guess it's just me.