with summer in full effect nina and i decided to take a vacation. we were discussing a trip to ocean city at willy’s house when his (now ex) girlfriend saunda proclaims she’s never been to the beach. so we invited her to come with us.  in ocean city we stayed with one of my dad's old navy buddies (since hotel prices are astronomical these days). the first day was awesome, the weather was nice, the beach wasn't crowded, and we ate at spiffy italian place. day two however was rainy and overcast. so we decided to kick it on the boardwalk. we ate some uber-sweet cotton candy, i bought an aqua-teen poster, nina and i laughed at saunda’s failed attempts to be funny. after a while we were just chillin' on a bench trying to decide what to do next, when out of nowhere we see this dude with a pink mohawk and a fu manchu. then i realize, “hey i know that guy”...

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so i got a new tattoo. this one fuxx0ring hurt!!1!#@!~ i wanted to get a tattoo that every time i saw it, it would make me laugh. i think i totally succeeded. i ended up getting a letter from a font i made. the aqua teen hunger font. it’s a zombified chainsaw wielding master shake. ridiculous to say the least. it’s on my ribcage (which is a place that’s very painful to begin with) but i ended up getting it tattooed by BOTH the varlas brothers simultaneously! eric did the outline and was finishing the fill work. he was discussing shading techniques w/ his older bro tony and the next thing i know tony shoves eric out the way and starts working on me too. props to the whole egobrain crew!

man! I just got home from the tattoo shop and its 4:15am!!!!! these kids who think they are baller's came in at closing time (that’s 9:30pm btw) and all 3 wanted to get a piece done tonight. don’t get me wrong, i seriously don’t mind staying late at the shop, but 3 pieces! and of course, they were all large pieces. tony had to have make at least a G tonight, and i got a . how generous, after i looked up all these classic pieces of artwork, showed them to the guys, helped them decide which one to get and where (cuz they had no idea what they wanted) then scanned in all the images, cropped them, sized them, adjusted the contrast, and printed them. then had to wait around while tony tattooed them all night long. whatever. all i’m saying is 13 hours is a long time to hang out at a tattoo shop.

so i guess that quasi-apprenticeship at hot-rods paid off. i was recently approached for a job by a friend of mine named tony varlas at egobrain tattoo. as a graphic designer, webdesiner, computer technician, photographer, and piercer. the shop is located in downtown steubinville, so the work is mostly walk-ins. business has been slow so far, the shop is brand new, so i got paid yesterday in free work. a note about my new tattoo. the * in computer is called the wildcard. it is anything and everything with in a set range. it is used in random number generation and search algorithms. so yeah, i got an asterisk tattoo in my mouth.

today nina, channing, pete, and i ran a mission to an industrial wasteland. the rubble of smashed buildings all around us, mangled pipes, and twisted support beams. seemed like a nice place to take some photos.

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the greatest kool-aid mix ever is black cherry, fruit punch, and cherry strawberry. that's some sweet aid!