Greetings All,

   This is just a short post to let you know that I FINALLY DID IT!  As of May 19th, 2008, I am officially completely DEBT FREE!!! I just paid off the last $2653.91 that remained on my student loan, and the $2550.00 that was remaining on my Mom's air conditioner...  It was only ten months behind schedule, but the important part is that it is FINISHED!

   Sorry I've not been online lately... I've been working solo while my boss hase been on leave for the last month... he will be back at the end of the week though... I've been making some serious overtime though, with a temporary pay raise to Chief Steward...

   I've got some posts in the works, more about Leesa on the way, and other stuff...

Stay Tuned!

Love and Light,

Cedalion

 So, the tattoo sleeve on my left arm is something that I have been planning for a while.  If you look at my photo gallery, you can see a drawing of a piece that is going to go on my back eventually, and on the left arm is a brief sketch of what would become the ink I have begun there.

When I started thinking seriously about collecting tattoos, I mentioned it to my Dad, who said, "If you do get a tattoo, make sure it is somewhere that I can't see it!"  I could never quite figure him out, you know?  How could someone have led the life with all of the partying that he did, and still have such an old fashioned attitude about something like tattoos?  Actually, I think he knew I would do it anyway... but he passed without ever seeing any of the work I have had done... just damn.

So... I designed the elements of the sleeve to include my love for all things Halloween, so I knew I wanted some spooky fun things, like a big haunted house, and the skull moon, bats, jackolanterns and punkins, a graveyard (which became the Memorial for my Dad, too...) complete with his rotting zombie arm thrusting up from the grave and flipping me off, LOL!

So, I decided that I wanted to get that started while I was on leave in Nashville, and the only day I could actually get it done was on my sister's birthday, so I missed her celebration sadly, but it turned out to be a significant event that I did not originally intend.

I talked to Kat at Mantis Tattoo, and she started working on the design.  She called me to start on the 25^th at about 3pm.  One of the elements that I wanted on the sleeve wasn't going to fit, so she added some things that she thought I'd like, like the spooky owl on the fence and the key to the house in the graveyard!   I really think she did an excellent job!  The zombie in the zootsuit will wait for later.

So we started laying out the transfers, and filling in the details between them with pen.  That took until about 7:30 that night.  Then we started the actual line work.  She said that she was going on vacation to New Orleans like the next day or so, and she knew that she wouldn't be able to concentrate if she didn't get the line work done. It is her very first sleeve, and she asked me to promise that I would not let anyone work on it but her.  I thought that was an awesome idea!

She worked tirelessly and took minimal breaks until it the linework was done.  It was 3:30am when she was wrapping it all up. So, I was EIGHT HOURS under the needle!  That was a marathon session for even the most seasoned tattoo collector, I believe... anyone else know of longer sessions? I'm interested in finding out, okay?

So, I paid her, and tipped her for her excellent service, and drove back to my hotel with my arm all wrapped up.  Where I laid in bed most of the next day and ordered food in.

 Oh yeah, the significant event that I talked about? We finished the first part of the tattoo one year to the day of my Father's passing... it didn't occur to me until later that day when my sister called me. She took (takes) his passing harder than I do as she was trying to re-establish their relationship.

So, I am getting ready to have some more work done on it, and I discovered that Mantis Tattoo is apparently closed.  Their number is disconnected and I have no way of knowing where I can find Kat so she can continue her work...  hmmm.  Maybe she went to New Orleans... wouldn't that just suck to have to go down there? What a shame, hehehe.

Love and Light,

Cedalion

 So, I was telling you all about the date I had with Leesa back at the end of November.  I asked her if she would go to a concert with me, because I had learned the one of my Favorite bands, Lynyrd Skynyrd, was going to be in Seattle in December.

I asked Leesa if she wanted to go, and she seemed sort of non committal about it, but said she would go.  It turned out that skynyrd had to cancel due to an illness in the band, but we ended up getting tickets to VanHalen instead, and we had really excellent seats in the tenth row just to the right of the stage.

Getting to the concert was another story altogether...  I got lost on 99 and couldn't find my way back for a long time, so we missed the opening act.

During the show, the guy on my left had some girl come up and stand in front of him while he stood up to make room for her, and it became a full contact event. She was gyrating and jumping all around, knocking into me... and one time I felt her caress my freshly shaved skull so I looked up to ask her what the hell she was doing, and she was just looking down at me with this sort of half-dazed expression. I think she was on something, personally. Leesa was sitting on my right and I kept telling her that people would think I got beat up, since I would be bruised from neck to knees tomorrow.

The show was awesome!  We left and while we were waiting for a crosswalk, I leaned in a kissed her.  It was not really more than a peck, but I wanted to...  I don't know why I was so hesitant, I really wanted to kiss her, but I was really intimidated.  She was so pretty!  (and I always find myself sneaking peeks at her when we are together...  I keep pics of her both on the reach-in in the galley, and by my rack, so I can look at her while I am away...)

 So, we talked during the drive home, and we stopped at a Denny's on the way home and got something to eat.  We got to her place and I came in for a short while, but when I had to leave we shared our real ‘first kiss'   I think it was so powerful that it erased part of my memory, because I can barely remember leaving her place that night, lol!  I do however, remember her turning and going back to her apartment... and me just sort of standing there, stunned... and I remember thinking that I was lost on my way back to Seattle!

In the days and weeks that followed, I drove down to visit her several more times, and even started taking the train down, where she would pick me up.  I remember the first time she drove me back. She said, "I must really like you, because I don't drive in Seattle!"

Now, I should talk a bit about her cats, because they are a large part of this whole story.  At that time, Leesa had 11 cats... but now there are ten...  (Little Pebbles was adopted!) and I was surprised that you couldn't really tell how many there were in her place... I've been in places that had three cats, and it smelled awful... but she uses a really good cat litter, and is an expert cat-mom=)

So, the eleven (uh... ten actually) remaining cats are:

Josie (Leesa's most beautiful girl!)

Poison Ivy Tiger Lily (a reddish tabby who is aka Tiger T)

Paulette (a female black cat, who is a foster kitty, and would really make a great pet!)

Lenny (a HUGE orange and white male, who likes to lick your arm.)

Baxter (really needy male tabby that loves to snuggle)

Freckles (a thief who likes to show you his butt, so he is called butthole, lol! We think he stole one of my rings.)

Darla Mae (a sweet little pixie face tabby with cattitude)

Tootsie (a female tortoiseshell who is kind of cranky)

Gretchen (a really sweet smoky grey female who really wants to snuggle, but can't seem to override her fear. She LOVES Lenny, though!)

Ginger (a female orange tabby, who likes to lay on her back and play ‘ottercat')

So, I realize that I made a typo in the last part of this blog, there were only eleven originally... but I tried REALLY hard to remember them all until I got it down, lol! Anyway, there was one weekend where I wanted to come and visit, but Leesa said she had to go to an adoption day for CAPS, so I told her I would go too, if it was cool.  She seemed surprised, but it was all good.  We went and I got to help with the dogs, and talk to the people about the friends that were up for adoption, and we had a great time! 

Sometimes though,  Leesa  says it would be nice just to not have any cats.  So, I asked her ig she could find someone to take care of her charges for a day or two... and I would take her away for the weekend, so she could have no cats for a short while.

This was New Years Weekend, and I will tell about that in an upcoming post! Stay Tuned!

Love and Light,

Cedalion

Okay, so I promised you a long time ago that I would upload photos of my new ink that I got while I was on leave.  Well, I FINALLY got the pics up, and they are in my gallery, so you can all see them.  The Golden Dragon was done at ASI Tattoo in Salt Lake City, and there is of course a story attached to it.  My boss has a thing that he says.  He says, "Scars are tattoos with better stories."  I can't disagree with him on that, but at least tattoos don't involve a trip to the emergency room.

Anyway, when I called ASI Tattoo, I chose them because they are the oldest shop in SLC, and I figured they were established, therefore reputable.  Yes on both counts, but when I called to have a custom piece done, I was told that I had to come in and "pick a dragon out of the book".

So, I went in and talked to them, and started talking to them about the custom piece again, and was again told to "pick a dragon out of the book".  I should have turned around and gone to another place, but I was limited in my time.  So, I "picked a dragon out of the book".

Once that was done, I talked with Don, who was the owner and headliner of the shop, a crusty, grumbling individual who had little patience for my questions and interest in the details.  We discussed the size, placement, and color, and the coordinates that were to be done on the banner, showing where we crossed the international date line, as well as the inclusion of "finger waves" which are the Japanese styled foamy waves.  I didn't know what they were called, so I remember distinctly Don grumbling that fact.

I was scheduled to come in the following Friday, as I was on my way to Albuquerque to visit my friend Vlad and his family. 

It was when I was at the airport, on my way to NM, that I realized I had given don the wrong numbers for the coordinates on the banner, so I called, and talked to the receptionist to make sure I could get that info to him.

When I was talking to her, I could hear Don yelling in the background that he had no idea who I was, and that he didn't even have any artwork, and that I needed to come in and "pick a dragon out of the book"!

I told her that I wasn't to sure that I wanted him to do that work, because he didn't seem ready, and she assured me that he had found the artwork, and would be ready.  She even gave me some advice.  She said, "When you come in, don't ask him how long it will take, or how much it is going to cost... he will give you a better price."

Now, although I had only one tattoo, I am not stupid.  I do my homework on stuff like this, and in being an aspiring tattoo artist myself, I know how long things take, and roughly how much they cost.  I still wasn't feeling too confident, but, I agreed, and told her I would be there.

When I got there on Friday, Don was sitting right there, and he said, "So, I heard that you were going to cancel on me... What, did you think I wouldn't be ready?!"

I looked him in the eye and said, "Hey man, you didn't even know who the hell I was... so what do you want? I'm here, right? So let's do this."

He took me back and we started.  I asked him a few questions as I was interested in tattoo artistry myself, and he was very guarded at first, but then realized that I was serious, and located in an entirely different city.

He was of the opinion that when getting a tattoo, you either "Go Big, or Go Home"  Which I tend to agree with for my own work... but, I digress...

He talked about guys coming in and wanting something really badass, like a panther or wolf and then as soon as the needle hit the skin, they would back out of the whole deal.  I like to view tattoos like this: It's all about the pain; the ink is just a souvenir.

So, once we got the lining done, we took a short break and I looked in the mirror.  It was then that I realized something was missing. I asked him, "Didn't we talk about Japanese finger waves?"  With that, he looked down and muttered, "Sh*t... I knew I forgot something."

He then told me that he would have to go and get a book and look at it in order to do the waves, and he did.  He tried to get the waves worked into the drawing several times with a ballpoint pen, but ended up getting more and more frustrated, which I could sense off of him like a bad case of halitosis.

He then grumbled something about being able to do flames a lot better, so I told him to go ahead and do the flames then. He proceeded to draw the outlines for the flames and when that was done, we went on to the shading.

When we originally talked about it, I told him that the tattoo was for my Golden Dragon... and when he started to get out the colors, I saw a distinct lack of anything that looked like gold, so I subtly commented that, "This Golden Dragon is going to be the largest one of any of my shipmates... they are going to love it!" That was exactly what I needed to do, because he said, "Golden Dragon?  I was going to make it green."

We got the right colors selected, and he did the shading, which went smoothly.  I was getting text messages from one of my friends who was throwing a barbecue and wondering when I would be there, but that friend is also a collector of ink, so he understood why I was going to be late.

All told, the Golden Dragon tattoo has made me decide that I am only going to have female artists work on my ink from now on.  I have been much more pleased with the work that I have received from Heather, and Katherine (the artist who started my sleeve...)

Okay, I've got to go get some work done, but I will write more about the sleeve later...

Love and Light,

Cedalion

Well, once again I find myself wondering how I have let such a long time pass between postings... but, looking back I can see how that happened quite easily.  So, where do I begin?  I left off with returning from leave, and taking the ship into dry dock.  Spending the winter in the shipyard is nobody's idea of a good time.  Yeah, the ship is up on blocks and we have to climb a four story gangway just to get to the main gangway to the ship, which was really no more than an expanded steel stairway, lying flat so instead of the stair treads being like well... stairs, they were more like steel ankle breakers!  Carrying provisions up that gangway and across the ankle breaker was a huge pain in the arse! 

Additionally, they had the aft deck covered with cables and welders, racks of bottles of various welding gasses, dumpsters, paint lockers, and tool lockers.  The cables were banded together and suspended like an umbilical that led into the depths of the ship through the open aft hatch, and sometimes a cold wind would howl up through the main passageway and into the mess deck where we mostly hung out since other parts of the ship were torn up awaiting the next phase of workers to come through and finish what the previous ones started.

Part of the work that was done involved welding a steel rub rail to the starboard side of the ship, which necessitated the displacement of several crewmembers, I among them.  Fortunately, my shipmate and friend Colleen was going on leave, and her room-mate Faith had moved into one of the vacant scientists berths on the 01 deck, so I was able to move into their room for duration.  The bad part about that was that I had to either lock up, or move all of my stuff out of my room, since they were going to have it torn apart for welding, so most of my stuff was in a pile on the floor in colleens room.

We were initially told that we would be well advised to lock our rooms while we are in the shipyard, as there would be temporary laborers working aboard, and there were a few instances where someone found a laborer in a space where they shouldn't have been.  Often their excuse would be something like, "I was just looking for where they were doing the welding..." to which we would reply, "Well, it certainly isn't in HERE... go look for the big hole in the side of the ship!"  They were removing the generators for repair, and they had to take them out through the side of the hull, lifting them through holes you could drive a car through.

So, winter began like that... and during that time I was sent to two weeks of school to get my Able Bodied Sailor endorsement on my Merchant Mariner Card, but I soon learned that it was pretty much a waste of time, since I would have to go work on deck if I wanted any of my sea time to count for that... and I really enjoy my job, so I decided to just let it go.

Here is where the best part comes in...  Okay, so I have used online dating pages before with mixed success, and suddenly I found myself thinking about how nice it would be to meet someone to spend some time with.  Obviously, my job doesn't really allow for a typical relationship, so I decided to be completely frank about that aspect of my life and put out a new profile just to see what would happen.

I was surprised at how many responses I got!  Who knew that honesty would be so popular!  LOL!  I found myself chatting via email with several attractive women in Seattle and Tacoma areas, and began to set up dates.  To my surprise, I found myself one weekend with three dates in three days. 

Okay, the Friday date was a coffee date, and we ended up spending a good amount of time sitting and talking, which was great, because I had not talked to anyone other than shipmates in a year, really.  So, we said good night and exchanged numbers so we would get together again soon. She was nice enough and we had a good bit in common, since she was a baker. But, I got the impression that she was really looking for a f*ckbuddy...   What's wrong with that? Well, nothing really... but, it's not what I am about.   But, as a friend, sure, I'd hang out with her again.

The second one actually had to become the third one, because they each wanted to meet on Saturday evening at about 6pm, so I had to pick one to ask to move to Sunday. 

So, I go to meet the Saturday Date, and meet her at a little pizza joint in Georgetown.  It's called Stellar Pizza and it is really good!  So, if any of you are in the Seattle area, go check it out!  Anyway, she seemed nice enough at first until she started talking about her ex-boyfriend and how she was getting back at him by giving away his leather jacket that was in the trunk of her car.  She even offered to give me one of his DVDs that she took from him.  She actually searched his cell phone messages to see if he was cheating on her... I guess he was.  Anyway, while she excused herself to the bathroom, the server  came over and checked on us, and I told her that it was sort of a blind date... and that it wasn't going well, so I asked her for her phone number... and she gave it to me right there!  The date ended , and she said she wanted to go out again, and I said something non-committal and left it at that.  I never called her though... because of the Sunday Date. 

Sunday, I met Leesa.  We had been emailing over the past couple of weeks, and she seemed really genuine and down to earth... She loved horror movies and she had a lot of passion and conviction for her involvement in homeless animal rescue.  I was to meet her at a Borders bookstore where she would be volunteering to wrap xmas gifts for donations to their organization, CAPS (Cascade Animal Protective Services)  Like I said, she was going to be there on Saturday, but I had to change it, and she decided on meeting there since it was a neutral location.

I signed out a vehicle, since it was a Sunday and there was virtually no one onboard for that week. It was three days after thanksgiving.  I followed her directions and met her at the bookstore.  I walked in and looked around for their table, and saw her peeking around at me.   I first thought that she was a lot prettier than her pictures, which really do not do her justice.  She was all sparkly with ‘pixie dust' that she wears.  We were initially going to just meet for coffee, but I had not eaten yet that day and it was almost 2pm. So I asked her if she would like to go to lunch instead.

She said yes, so we took her car over to Olive Garden and had lunch.  We had not been sitting for ling when she said to me, "I have something I need to tell you, and it's okay if you get up and walk away, after you do."

My curiosity peaked, as well as my apprehension, I urged her to go on.

"I have a lot of cats." She said.

"How many cats?" I asked warily.

"Twelve."  She replied.

"Oh... That's a lot of cats." I said.  "I thought you were going to say twenty or thirty... then I might have walked away."

She had mentioned in a previous email that she fostered cats and kittens for adoption, but I didn't know just how many she actually had.

"I thought you were going to tell me that you were actually a man, or something."  I said, in an attempt to break the tension.

We chatted through lunch and I knew one thing for certain; I did not want the date to end so soon.  A thought popped into my head.  I wanted to ask her what she was doing for the rest of her life.

Yes. I really thought that, and I honestly had to curb my instinct to say it right out loud.

I asked her if she wanted to go to a movie instead. 

She said yes, and we decided to go to Stephen King's The Mist, which for anyone else might have been a real mood killer, but she and I are dyed in the wool horror fans, so it was a perfect choice.

After the movie, she drove me back to the bookstore, where we decided to go in and have the coffee that we originally intended to have while we looked at books and wandered around the store.  She had a ‘steamer', caramel... I think it was, and I had a white chocolate mocha, while we spent a good couple of hours poring over this book that she showed me, called Death Scenes (A Homicide Detective's Scrapbook) It is a grisly collection of crime scene photographs and mug shots dating back to the twenties that proves without fail that there in fact, were no ‘good old days'.

After that, it was time for me to get back to Seattle.  Remember, I had signed out a vehicle, and even though there was no one really around, I knew that the Officer of the Deck would be checking in and he might wonder why it had been gone for so long.  I was right, because as I was driving back, I got a call wondering where I had been with the truck for so long.

So, I said to her, "Well, I think you are completely lovely..." leaving the statement with a pause. 

She responded with, "but...?"

"But, I don't think we have enough in common..." I laughed, hoping that she had a sense of humor and understood that I was joking.

She laughed, so I released a breath that I was not aware I was holding.  I told her that I really would love to take her out again, if she would go out with me.  She said yes.

We walked out to the parking lot, and I walked her to her car, where we hugged and said goodbye.  I drove back to Seattle ...

To Be Continued, my friends... The best is yet to come.

Love and Light,

Cedalion