My FIRST Ireland/Scotland post
Aug. 12th, 2010 05:30 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
alliecat8I'm gonna post by subject, like, 1) tattoo, 2) Elf Meet, 3) Dublin and the rest of Ireland, and 4) Edinburgh and the rest of Scotland. I might think of other things as I go along...![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
eponine119, whom I am defiantly shouting out to :P, wants to hear about how I fell in love, how and with whom and all the juicy details (omg, Irish men...!), but I dunno. Not if it'll bug the rest of ya. /:)
Yeah, I jumped into my adventure feet first!
Actually I couldn't get my tattoos done in Dublin, our first stop, as I'd wanted, or anywhere along the way (tats are POPULAR in Ireland and there's always a waiting list!) until the LAST stop - a place in an alley that the very prim and ladylike woman who ran the B&B had gone to town to inquire about, lol - she said she'd been running a B&B for 25 years and this was the first time anyone had inquired about a tattoo parlor, but it might be good to know in the future! This was in Killarney, which felt like home. I think the genes of my long-gone relatives recognized County Kerry and Killarney, since that's where they came from before they had to flee or starve during the famine, and wound up (via Ellis Island) in North Carolina - my Smoky Mountains! If you're ever near Asheville (beautiful, HAPPENIN' town) and meet someone with the last name Tweed, they're almost certainly a part of my clan. But I'll wager I'm the first clansman to get a tattoo. ;)
It was actually a nice experience. I made my mom go with me. My 72-year-old mom in a tattoo parlor, HEE! She was more nervous than I was and *I* was the one getting inked! They were booked up for a couple of months, but the owner called his artist and got him out of bed by asking him if he'd be willing to come in a couple of hours early, seeing as how I was a bit of a scheduling problem. The dude was so sweet he came right in - after he'd showered and brushed his teeth; I kinda sniffed to make sure 'cause that says a lot about a guy, and you don't want a dirty tattoo artist - and he turned out to be such a perfectionist it almost got on my nerves! (If it looks crooked in the pic it's because I have a blister on one foot so I was turning it sideways.) I told my mom I was fine and to go shopping, and Tattoo Guy (TG for now, but when I unpack I'll get his card and give him some free advertising to you guys, just in case you're ever in Killarney and feel the need of a tattoo) worked so gently I could hardly feel it. I almost went to sleep at one point, and at another I was reading a magazine and completely forgot I was being tattooed. That's kinda amazing, seeing as how I got a tattoo at the GFG in Vegas and it hurt the whole time, which was what I expected. Maybe TG was a leprechaun and his touch was Irish magic!
Other magic: the B&B lady found the place for us (talk about going above and beyond the call!), the owner was willing to work me in, TG was willing to come in 2 hours early, he got every word right and perfectly straight, I could understand him! (the further West we went in Ireland the harder the people were to understand), and MY MOTHER DIDN'T FAINT!.
I borrowed a bit of artistic license in interpreting "music" as art in general, to include writing (of course). What would the world be without all of our Irish writers and poets? Of course I had to cut a lot of it, and my LJ beta-ing helped me there because it's taught me to find the words that sum up the essence of a piece. Drabbles are a great tool, too. I hope the writer, Arthur O'Shaughnessy, won't mind! So here's what it says, and if you have a drop of Celtic blood in you, this poem refers to YOU, too!
We are the music-makers
And we are the dreamers of dreams
But we are the movers and shakers
Of the world forever, it seems.
eponine119, whom I am defiantly shouting out to :P, wants to hear about how I fell in love, how and with whom and all the juicy details (omg, Irish men...!), but I dunno. Not if it'll bug the rest of ya. /:)Yeah, I jumped into my adventure feet first!
Actually I couldn't get my tattoos done in Dublin, our first stop, as I'd wanted, or anywhere along the way (tats are POPULAR in Ireland and there's always a waiting list!) until the LAST stop - a place in an alley that the very prim and ladylike woman who ran the B&B had gone to town to inquire about, lol - she said she'd been running a B&B for 25 years and this was the first time anyone had inquired about a tattoo parlor, but it might be good to know in the future! This was in Killarney, which felt like home. I think the genes of my long-gone relatives recognized County Kerry and Killarney, since that's where they came from before they had to flee or starve during the famine, and wound up (via Ellis Island) in North Carolina - my Smoky Mountains! If you're ever near Asheville (beautiful, HAPPENIN' town) and meet someone with the last name Tweed, they're almost certainly a part of my clan. But I'll wager I'm the first clansman to get a tattoo. ;)
It was actually a nice experience. I made my mom go with me. My 72-year-old mom in a tattoo parlor, HEE! She was more nervous than I was and *I* was the one getting inked! They were booked up for a couple of months, but the owner called his artist and got him out of bed by asking him if he'd be willing to come in a couple of hours early, seeing as how I was a bit of a scheduling problem. The dude was so sweet he came right in - after he'd showered and brushed his teeth; I kinda sniffed to make sure 'cause that says a lot about a guy, and you don't want a dirty tattoo artist - and he turned out to be such a perfectionist it almost got on my nerves! (If it looks crooked in the pic it's because I have a blister on one foot so I was turning it sideways.) I told my mom I was fine and to go shopping, and Tattoo Guy (TG for now, but when I unpack I'll get his card and give him some free advertising to you guys, just in case you're ever in Killarney and feel the need of a tattoo) worked so gently I could hardly feel it. I almost went to sleep at one point, and at another I was reading a magazine and completely forgot I was being tattooed. That's kinda amazing, seeing as how I got a tattoo at the GFG in Vegas and it hurt the whole time, which was what I expected. Maybe TG was a leprechaun and his touch was Irish magic!
Other magic: the B&B lady found the place for us (talk about going above and beyond the call!), the owner was willing to work me in, TG was willing to come in 2 hours early, he got every word right and perfectly straight, I could understand him! (the further West we went in Ireland the harder the people were to understand), and MY MOTHER DIDN'T FAINT!.
I borrowed a bit of artistic license in interpreting "music" as art in general, to include writing (of course). What would the world be without all of our Irish writers and poets? Of course I had to cut a lot of it, and my LJ beta-ing helped me there because it's taught me to find the words that sum up the essence of a piece. Drabbles are a great tool, too. I hope the writer, Arthur O'Shaughnessy, won't mind! So here's what it says, and if you have a drop of Celtic blood in you, this poem refers to YOU, too!
We are the music-makers
And we are the dreamers of dreams
But we are the movers and shakers
Of the world forever, it seems.
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no subject
Date: 2010-08-12 11:32 pm (UTC)um, even if you don't post about the other stuff you need to tell MEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE
I demand ALL THE SECRETS!!!!!!
no subject
Date: 2010-08-13 02:06 am (UTC)*fist bump* Methinks the baby bird is coming out of her shell. *grins happily, sloppily, and sillyly, and doesn't give a hoot whether that last one's a word or not.*
I'm gonna post about everything I can thing of...with a few details censored. Are you gonna make a big sign and instigate a rally against censorship? Will you burn framingos on my lawn? OMG, will you send New Alice to fight me with her Vorpal sword? I'm getting a little shaky here. I know how to kill a Smoke Monster but I'd never kill Alice. *thinks hard...and giggles* Of course I'll tell. Dummy, you know I tell everything, eventually. I'm just gonna string you along for a while, like til the grace period ends at the luau 'cause I've gotta write a couple of stories or I'll be banned! So, just comfort yourself, when impatience keeps you awake at night, that GUT-SPILLING IS EMMINENT! Ya might wanna duck before the words start to fly!! ;)
no subject
Date: 2010-08-13 12:50 am (UTC)OH OH OH Killarney, some very nice and hot men there..and gorgeous..there's a few actors from there aka Michael Fassbender (my icon i'm using)..actually I think his mom and dad run a B&B there..or own a restaurant, and personally, I think his accent is GORGEOUS, makes me go weak in the knees..love the Killarney Co.Kerry accents, they are the best.
I'm so happy for you, that tattoo is MADE OF AWESOME, omg, I love it, he did a great job and you picked the PERFECT quote, everything from my email address to my lj to my twitter has to do with music..so I totally understand why you picked it, actually when I get brave enough to finally get mine, it will be music related as well, already have the spot and the word picked out..just haven't gotten around to doing it for oh...six years since I wanted to.
you rock my socks, you do, so SO SO HAPPY!!!!!
no subject
Date: 2010-08-13 04:14 am (UTC)It IS glorious; unfortunately, it's doomed to be unrequited...but I will never forget his name or how to text him or how to find him on Facebook or about a million other ways, and I do have some devious ideas for the next GFG....
See, he tours, we travel, that's how we met, and that's how we'll meet again. Only this time he might have HIS friends for moral support, but I'll have MINE, too and I'll feel much more sparkly and flirty. Having my mom there wasn't exactly shiny, y'know?, but he's such a charmer he had her wrapped around his gorgeous pinkie finger, too. If Thing 2 had been there I guarantee he'd have had 3 generations melting into a puddle of goo.
Y'know, I expected country bumkins in Killarny...how wrong could I BE? I knew the accent would be amazing, and it feels familiar to me; even now I haven't forgotten it though I've been in many other Irish counties and all over Scotland and back HERE *sigh* again.
Thank you for saying I picked the perfect quote for my tattoo. I've kept that O'Shaunessy poem by my desk as long as I've had this desk (come to think of it, it's been by every desk I've had since college...I guess I don't want to let it out of my sight!) and I say it to myself when I need a wee bit o' sunshine in my day.
It took me 6 years to get up the nerve to get my first tat, and I was only able to do it because some of the GFG gang went with me. (Thanks Megan and all you others!). I'd kinda wanted it to be a Lost quote ("baby, I am tied to a tree in a jungle of mystery....", heh) but then Megan sent a pic of the quill pen and rose, and it was too perfect to pass up. That's where my Facebook name (Allie Rose) came from. After that, getting the two next "babies" was nothing...I mean, it hurt, of course, but there was this chick at another table who was getting her 11th and she was squealing and squirming and sniffling and putting on quite the Irish Drama Queen show, obviously for the tattooist's bebefit. I'm surprised she didn't just go ahead and cut loose and have him write, "C'mon baby, fuck me into next week" on her boob. It was that obvious, ugh.
Glad I could make you happy, darlin'! %%- (<< that's the symbol for a shamrock, btw)
no subject
Date: 2010-08-13 02:08 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-08-13 03:04 am (UTC)I'm actually considering a tattoo now. You'll have to call me sometime (Sunday afternoon?) and advise me. And, you know, tell me about all the juicy bits of your trip.
no subject
Date: 2010-08-13 03:53 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-08-15 03:00 pm (UTC)