Absentee again

Yup, I've been MIA again.  Not much going on to report so no need in boring you with senseless ramblings.

I'm still working on a new tat design for my leg and have some ideas which I think will work, it's just a matter of making the time to draw something together that I can bring to Jerry and discuss with him.

Bike project; Stu (build guy) explained the sheer volume of headaches that our lovely state of Mass has in place for do-it-yourselfers who want to build a bike.  In an effort to combat building with stolen components, it would take me an untold number of trips to the DMV, to meet with State Police and review every single receipt for every single component I was using.  And when I say 'receipt', I don't mean something hand-written, or simply printed out from a catalog, or even my own receipt for buying something.  I would need the source receipts from whoever supplied me with components.  For example; if I bought a set of handlebars from my good buddy Jon Cook, I'd need him to supply me with a copy of his receipt, from the maker, showing that he'd ordered and received them, and then sold them to me.  I would have to satisfy this for everything that was going on my bike.

Thus, my plan has morphed once again.  Now I'm just looking for something that's already built and titled, and which I can then bring down to what I want it to be.

So if you happen to come across a rigid with a shovelhead engine in it, please let me know.

Thanks, have a great day.

Bike Project and Tattoo Defect

Winter has decided to stick around for a while longer.  Yup; those record setting warm temps we had a couple weeks ago are nothing more than a fond memory at this point.  We had snow yesterday/last night - only a few inches, but ya see...there's this thing called a Nor'Easter that looks like it's going to hit us on Tuesday into Wednesday and is bringing a whole ton of white fun with it.  Good times, good times.

So what's a guy to do when he's going stir crazy inside?  He sets his mind to dreaming of things like his long-overdue bike build project, and also on a new tattoo piece.

First; the bike.  I pulled the trigger and am meeting with Stu (The Harley Healer) this morning to get a plan moving.  I've got all kinds of components picked out (frame, engine, transmission, oil bag, rims, primary, etc.), and will discuss other things like wiring, hand controls, oil/brake lines, etc. with Stu.  I want this to be an experience where I learn the process instead of him just doing the work so we'll see what kind of schedule we can line up.

Secondly; the tat.  After getting the last one, the ink itch was renewed and I've been thinking of what to get to fill in the rest of my lower leg with to make it a complete half-sleeve.  I wanted to tie something in with the Elric image, and a dragon seemed the obvious way to go.  I've been looking fro cool dragon drawing ideas for a couple months now, and had found one that was amazing;

I loved the snarling face, the back ridges, the sweeping cloak-like wings...it was perfect!  Just needed a little modification to it's positioning to make it fit the space I had, and we'd be in business.  I had an appt with my tat guy this morning to get some appointments put into place.

And then yesterday morning, I was fiddling around a little more, gonna print some close-ups of the face and the feet so the detail wouldn't get lost in the transition from paper to skin.

I'd found the image once, and had copied it to my PC, and had been working off of that.  But to get some close-ups, I wanted to go back to the original image, so back to the interwebs I went.  It took me a while but I finally found it.  This time, instead of doing a screen grab, I pulled up the actual photo.

And that's when I saw it...

Down in the lower corner was a title/tag.  What the...??!?!?

Back to the interwebs...I need to see if this is true....

Dammit...it WAS true.  This tattoo...the one that had the length to fit what I needed, had the perfect look...was from a movie.

What movie?

*Sigh*..."Girl With The Dragon Tattoo".

Son of a bitch.  :-(

I obviously couldn't get this for my tattoo now, so it was a mad scramble back to the interwebs to try and find a suitable replacement.  The clock was ticking - my discussion appointment was in 24 hours!  I looked, searched, hunted the corners of the interwebs, but found nothing that both fit what I needed and which caught my eye.  I had no choice.  I let my tat guy know what had happened and that I needed to postpone. (If he was laughing, he didn't let on.)

So the search continues.  I still love many aspects about that image so I may wind up using it as the template and changing some aspects to make it more "mine", but I don't know how well that will go.  I'm not an artist by any means.  Hell, stick figures give me a hard time.

So one project is moving forward, the other is on temporary hold.  Better than nothing.

Ride Hard, Take Chances

A Misfire Of A Different Kind

The indoor range I've been renting guns at has placed itself officially on my no-fly list.  I've been going there for weeks, either on Saturday or Sunday mornings.  Normally it was me and someone else but last week, nobody else was available so I went by myself.  I was eager to try out the S&W 9mm, as I haven't shot that one yet.

I went through the normal process, checked in with my ID, then said I was going to be renting again.  The guy asked if I had any of my own guns with me.  (I'd planned on bringing my shotgun with me but at the very last second, had opted not to, so I didn't have any of my own with me.)  He says no dice; if I come in alone, I need to bring in a gun of my own in order to rent one.  I said Ok, no problem - I thought once someone's been coming for a while, it'd be ok to come in an rent on my own?  No, he says; you have to have a gun of your own, with you.  Ok, sounds good, I'll try again next week and bring my gun with me.

Fast forward to this morning.  I was excited once again to go try the S&W, and I made sure to bring my shotgun with me.

I get in, hand over my ID, tell the guy (different guy)  I want to shoot shotgun, as well as a rented handgun.  No problem, the guy starts to reach for a lane card...

...then the douche from last week (working a different register) calls over and says a shotgun won't cut it, that I need to bring in a handgun.

Huh?

That's not what you told me last week, I said.  Last week you said I needed to bring my own gun - here's my own gun (lifting my gun case to show him).  Nope, he says, it's gotta be a handgun.

WTF.  Last week's wasted trip was my fault, but this week it felt like the prick was just making up rules on the fly.   So, I won't bother going there again.  I'm sure they won't care, or miss me, but at the same time, that's about $75 a week (range time + ammo)  that I'll find some other place to spend it at.

So feel free to spread the word.  American Firearms School in North Attelboro.  They can kiss my ass.