bethofalltrades

It was... what I needed it to be. Exhausting, epic, beautiful, meaningful, full of work and friends. I will write something more comprehensive when I'm not still half a human. We got in at 8:30.

I got a new tattoo. I'd planned on getting something completely different and decided yesterday morning that I wasn't ready for it. So I did something else, which turned out to be the Right Choice.

Placement:


Close up:


(I had the key retouched as well.)

Nemo perit. It means "no one dies." Not as in immortality, but in the sense that... I am not a brain surgeon. If I fuck up, no one dies.

Love,
Beth

I had a dream recently... in the dream, I had a new tattoo.

The last time this happened, I got the tattoo three days later. Impulsively.

Before that dream, keys were interesting trinkets, random objects I held on to long after they served their purpose because I liked old things that had no use.

The dream created a tattoo. The tattoo created a project.

The project changed my life in more ways than I can count.



---

But this isn't about keys, it's about new tattoos.

I'd been contemplating my next one--- "Nemo perit." It means "No one dies." It's not immortality, it's the concept that if I fuck up, no one dies. I am not a brain surgeon. I remind myself of this fact on an almost daily basis.

But a few weeks ago (the night of the NYC show), I had a dream. And in this dream, I had a tattoo on my shoulder.

And so it shall be. I'm not sure WHEN, but it will happen. Because after what happened the last time, there's no telling what will happen next.

Love,
Beth

If only I hadn't maxed out my credit cards going to London, I would have gone to the Boston Tattoo Convention next weekend and told Sarah Epperson that she could do WHATEVER SHE WANTED to any bit of skin on the right side of my body.

Seriously. This woman's work is exquisite. If any of you are in Boston and looking to get tattooed, she is traveling from MINNESOTA to the con. And if you're in St. Paul, you've got her the rest of the year. Lucky bastards.





I love that this one has NO BLACK in it:


Love,
Beth

For those of you who haven't seen it already, Neil was amused by my last blog entry.

It is 2:25 AM and I am just now settling down to try to go to sleep. My sleep schedule is ridiculously malformed at this point.

A lot of people commented on the past few entries in my journal with some variation on "you're so lucky" or "I'm so jealous." I have mixed feelings about this.

Being inside of my life, I know that, no matter how cool my job can be, it can be equally frustrating. 90% of my job (probably more) is the same stuff you hate doing. Tedious returning of emails, paperwork, organizing things. The hours are longer than you can imagine, vacations are non-existent and the pay is super low.

BUT... do not think I am complaining, because I recognize that 10% of my job is insanely cool. The perks to this gig are awesome. And I get all the groupies I can handle! I think that alone is worth the $35,000 pay cut from my last job.

...

Lucky. I struggle with the idea of "lucky." There are huge parts of my life (this job, for one) that would not exist if it weren't for fate. Fate put me on a plane next to a person who changed my life by connecting me with Amanda.

Fate opens the door. Had I not worked my ass off developing a wide range of skills at a ton of soul-sucking jobs, I never would have landed this gig. Had I not been brave enough to take the risk of saying, "I'm good at what I do and I think I can help you," I would not be here, now, lying on a mat on the floor of the Cloud Club, looking up at the plants and the Christmas lights.

Fate could blow and writhe all day long, but if one does not also act then it is but a hollow play for impressionable children.

When I got my wrist tattoo, I decided on "aut viam inveniam aut faciam"-- "I'll either find a way or I'll make one"-- but I still think fondly of the runner up.

Audentes fortuna juvat.

Fortune favors the fearless.

Today, KT, David and I saw two movies. Mamma Mia and The Dark Knight.

Hate musicals. HATE. KT and David put me in between them, in the middle of a row with people on all sides. I couldn't escape.

LOVED The Dark Knight. So much. That was nearly a perfect movie for me... shit blows up, good triumphs over evil, more shit blows up.

There was one moment in the movie that is my very clear favorite.

( Cut for spoilers. )

Anyone who knows me well knows why that particular scene strikes a chord in me. It's hard to explain... I suppose it's the same thing in me that responded to one particular scene in Titanic. I couldn't care less if Rose or Jack bit it, but when the musicians argued "Why are we playing? The ship is sinking" and "We're playing because that's what we do. We're musicians" and then started playing again... I felt it.

Ordinary people in extraordinary circumstances doing The Right Thing is more heroic than the greatest superhuman feat.

---

I hit upon the right word for my matching wrist tattoo, the one that sums up all the principles I need to remind myself of.

I considered "kindness," "patience," "happiness," "work," and "moderation."

The word I was actually looking for is "choice."

I can choose to be kind, I can choose to be patient, I can choose to be happy, I can choose to work hard, I can choose to drink too much, I can choose to eat too much sugar, I can choose to fuck around, I can choose to be a blight on the world and a pain to my fellow human beings or I can choose to be a help to them.

Now to find a Latin teacher who can tell me WHICH translation of choice is the best one.

... I kind of wish I could get away with doing it in Hindi or Sanskrit or Arabic instead of in Latin. A non-Roman alphabet language. But there's a part of me that feels that's a bit too poser-y. Tattoos in languages I have no connection to.

I am also going to expand on the key design. The arm is begging for it. I will probably go down to the place I had it done and jam with Mike the artist to come up with something... I'm seeing something in my head that covers most of my inner forearm and is swirly and vintage-looking and incorporates a penny. I have no idea how well a penny would tattoo. I guess I'll have to chat with him about that.

Ramble ramble. Movies tattoos. Love love.

Love,
Beth

Two days ago I had a dream. In this dream, a key was tattooed on my arm.

A friend told me of her dream two weeks ago. She said the woman told her, "Mary Jo... You have to find new ways to open doors."

Six months ago today I met Amanda Palmer. It was the beginning of the rest of my life.

And so is this.

Love,
Beth

It means "I'll either find a way or make one."