First Tattoo Experience:)

I got my first tattoo when I was 18. I had wanted one for several years..but wanted to wait till I could do it legally, and also my parent's are very much against tattoos so I could not get consent from them. I figured waiting awhile wouldn't hurt me..other than the fact I was dying to get the tattoo! Well my 18th birthday came and went and I did not have my tattoo. I simply did not have a good oportunity to get it. I live in South Carolina and tattooing is not legal so I couldn't just drive down the road and come to a studio. Well then the perfect opportunity arose. The day after my high school graduation me and two friends took a trip to Atlanta. This was the perfect place..plenty of artists to choose from and my parents weren't around to stop me! And one of my friends wanted a tattoo herself..so she was all for it! Well once on the trip we kept getting sidetracked from the tattoo. Finnally the day arrived when we decided to get it. We didn't know of any well known tattoo studios in the area so we just got out the phone book. We found one that we knew where it was and headed over. We ended up at Timeless Tattoo, home of Cap Smuzki. I had no idea he was as famous as he was. The studio was very clean and neat..with lots of pictures of flash and albums showing the work of the tattooists. I looked over the flash on the wall for awhile. I had many ideas for tattoos, but none which I could very easily get without my parents knowing. I chose a shark off the wall to put on the side of my breast. I know lots of people are against picking a design straight off the wall, but I liked it alot (love sharks...think they are so beautiful) and didn't see any reason not to get it. One of the artists..I believe his name is D.C. (forgive me if I'm wrong!) had been discussing the tattoo with me. He made the design a little smaller to fit right on my breast, then went back to get everything ready. I sat in the waiting room looking over magazines with my friends. The D.C. came out and called me back to the room. He finshed setting up everything...explaining about how everything was sterilized..and then put the stencil on me. At first I was a little shy about being half naked in front of a stranger...but D.C. kept joking around and soon put me at ease. Now, this whole time I had been EXTREMELY nervous. I had heard horror stories about how bad tattooing hurts and was sure it was going to be excruciating. I told D.C. how nervous I was and was asking him about the pains..and he told me that everyone exagerated it..that it really wasn't that bad. He said it was a different sort of pain. Well I was still sure it was going to hurt like hell. He told me he would do a short line first so it wouldn't be too bad right off. Well then he started to do the tattoo...and the first words out of my mouth were, "That's it?". It really didn't hurt to bad. Certainly not the torture I had heard it would be. It was a vibrating pain..like a sting kind of. The tattoo took about 3 hours to complete..it had very complicated colors in it. All in all it wasn't very bad....kind of a good pain. I was very pleased with it! My friend went and got a small tattoo on her ankle..only took maybe 20 min or so..then we left. It has been about 6 months and I still love my tattoo! In fact I have already gotten another..done by Chase at Timeless Tattoo. It is a sun on my lower back with Celtic knots in the middle...again from flash but I love it! I am very addicted to tattoos now! I have big plans for both my arms...but won't get them till I am out of college. Want plenty more tattoos! I love the whole process of getting tattooed..the anxiety beforehand..the pain...and the wonderful high afterward! I would definatly reccomend Timeless Tattoo to anyone. I soon hope to have Cap himself do a piece for me..but everyone else on the staff is wonderful too. The only thing I would do differently now is I would have done more research beforehand. I was very lucky that I didn't end up at some crappy studio. I was very lucky with getting Timeless Tattoo. Anyone who would like to comment feel free to..my email is csikes@clemson.edu