Goodbye Vulcan...

Sold my bike today, took a little less than I wanted for it. But I'm happy to have the money. I bought this bike two years ago, put almost 9000 kilometers on it. Took it on a lot of trips in the two summers I had it, the best one was done to Washington state with my friend Bryce, my dad Bill and his buddies. Me and Bryce split off in Washington and heading north to Vancouver Island, went from Victoria to Comox, spent a few days in Powell River with our buddy Colton, then rode back to Edmonton.

I'll really miss my bike.

Well today I finally got my first tattoo. I've been wanting one since high school but my ideas were always changing and I never could settle on something. But in the summer I decided that I wanted to go to Showdown Tattoo in Chinatown. I rode past it on my motorcycle and figured it was probably a shit hole since it's located in a sketchy part of town. Luckily my friend Colin also wanted a tattoo. I recommended he go there, I used him as a guinea pig to check the place out. He spoke highly of it so I went awhile later and had a consultation with Heath. I loved his take on the American Traditional style of tattoos. Well fast forward to today, Bryce and I drove down and Heath had changed the original image I gave to him (that my very talented friend Cowie drew up) He made it more narrow to better fit my arm. Getting the tattoo was kinda like being at the dentist, there's constant buzzing of equipment, some small talk, and some slight pain from the work being done. For the most part it didn't hurt like I thought it would, shading the leaves was the most painful part but I didn't have to take a break or anything. It only took 3 hours and I was out the door. I used the money my grandma and two aunts gave me for Europe as part of the payment. Haha.

I highly recommend Showdown Tattoo in Edmonton, AB. I loved all of the portfolios but liked Heath's the best. Everyone who was working was really friendly and made me feel comfortable.  I will be back for sure for more work.

Here it is right after we finished, it's still pretty red in the photo and you can still see some blood.

Well I figure I should get into the habit of actually making some posts. It's Sunday and some cool shit happened this weekend. On Friday I went to The Soup and Sandwich Shack in Campbell where I go for lunch at work almost every week, I told the owners about my adventure they were pretty stoked on me going. I guess they're retiring right after I leave and I won't be able to have their amazing Mulligatawny soup ever again.

Saturday was our going away party, started drinking at my house with some friends and family, I have some pretty generous relatives and family friends and received some cash. Went to the local watering hole and I was amazed at how many friends showed, especially those from Edmonton and the ones I haven't seen in a while. Luckily Cam showed up despite having to work, and many pints of beer and shots were consumed with my friends and some co-workers.

Sunday I woke up with the worst hangover I've ever had. The one I had after consuming a 26 of Jager in 45 minutes, then passing out on a toilet wasn't this bad. I didn't think I drank that much but I only got out of bed at 12:30 to go for Pho with Colin, Ryan, Nigel, and Catlin. I could barely keep my eyes open, and felt like my soup was going to come up in the parking lot. I immediately went back to bed at 2, and didn't leave all day. Just stayed in watching Anthony Bourdain and The Wire. I also sent Frank Turner, the musician we're seeing in London, an email asking him to play a specific song during his set (Live Fast Die Old). I read that he actually responded personally to emails and tweets, I didn't think I'd here back from him. Amazingly he emailed me back only a few hours later and said he was still figuring out the set list and would see what he could do. It was pretty cool.

This is my last full week of work my attitude towards my job is becoming more and more apathetic and I just don't have the drive. I'm also getting my first tattoo on thursday, I'm incredibly nervous.

So yesterday they posted all three of our jobs up on the board at Public Works. They all close on the 28th, so maybe I'll get to see who takes over our positions. Seeing those blue sheets on the wall really reminded me that this was real, that we we're actually doing this.