A) Started eating meat
B) Smoked a substance for the first time
C) Took a new boy to meet my mother
D) All of the above

We love winners in this country right? Well you’re all winners. Because in the past week I have done all of the above! (D: or :D ?)

It all started 2 weeks ago as we had a final gathering before Kate and Jason left for 2 months of honeymooning in America. Jason made pulled pork and I’d heard about his pulled pork since the day I moved into 361. I gave in. I realised I wasn’t so disgusted by meat any more. And I haven’t stopped eating it since.

At some point at the gathering a (I’m assuming very drunk and stoned) friend dropped a wee bag of weed on the kitchen floor and I found it while cleaning up. It had been decided a while ago that I would try marijuana at some point, so this opportunity was kind of perfect. Prior to this I’d never even had a puff on a cigarette. So my throat burnt, and my eyes stung a bit. But I did it, and am apparently one of the few that is affected in the first try. An odd feeling of knowing what I was doing but not being able to control it ended up making me think throwing a marshmallow back and forth was pretty damn hilarious.

Last but not least I am writing this from Mum’s house. All the way up in Ngaruawahia, an 8 hour drive from home.
Having not seen Mum since January, when I finally convinced my friend from school to come see me in Wellington I decided to drive back up with her. B (man friend for the past 6 months, have I told you about him yet?) agreed it was time to meet Mum as well and so we all piled in the car for the long drive. Mum says ‘he seems like I really nice guy’. I say ‘he’s just putting it on to impress you’. I kid.

I’ve been trying so hard to be tough and nonchalant this week that I almost convinced myself I am those things. For a while I managed to think about having an amazing life as a single person and decorating a bedroom all of my own. Thinking about all the friends I can party with, about all the travelling I’ll do, about all the fun I could have meeting new guys.

And then tonight, my last night in Hamilton, I went out dancing. It was great fun. But saying goodbye to my friend it really started to hit me. Tomorrow I’m going back to Wellington. Tomorrow I really have to start sorting out my life, whatever it is going to be. Getting into my room at Mums I see she has left me a little box of chocolates and I burst into tears. I don’t want to go home. I’m not ready to be on my own.

The long awaited reveal is finally here. I’m still shocked that y’all care so much about my ink, but I really do appreciate your interest and your twitter help with quashing my fears that my arm was going to fall off (ok that’s an exaggeration but I thought it might heal horribly or all the ink would fall out) because it scabbed over.

My wrist tattoo scabbed a bit too so I might just have the type of skin that does that. Or I might have been leaking too much plasma. Or I might have kept it too moist. Or I could be mildly allergic to the black and red inks. Who knows.

What I do know is that I’m still going through the sunburn peel stage and that means it doesn’t look as amazing as it could right now. But I gave myself a deadline and made a promise to reveal on Giftmas day when my Mum had seen the tattoo and so I’m sharing some photos anyway. When it is completely healed I’ll share better photos.

I can’t draw at all so in early October I took a sheet of designs I liked to Tattoo City and asked for a Mum heart to be designed. I was the annoying customer that doesn’t know what the fuck they want, but amazingly Ben came up with a design from my very vague instruction and as soon as I saw it I knew what I wanted. The original puffy waves things turned into splatters and the ochre turned into blue. The text became fatter and turned into a cut out, and the heart turned into black. And just 2 days before my appointment I saw the finalised design and it was exactly as I’d seen it in my mind.

The 14th saw me freaking out in nervous anticipation. I had so many butterflies I didn’t feel I could eat anything (but forced myself to) and ended up feeling a bit nauseous. Thankfully Sarah-Rose suggested I have some rescue remedy and my buddy, and companion for the day, Stacey had some on hand to calm my nerves. It worked a treat.

Outline Done

Adrenalin is working!

Anyway, everything went as planned. It hurt most in the elbow crease and inner arm and after an hour and forty minutes I was very ready for it to be done. I breathed through the pain and closed my eyes. Stacey took photos and made me laugh. It was bandaged, I bled, and leaked, and swelled like a balloon. And I’m so happy with it.

Swelly bruise

Just finished…and bleeding

Yep, I put up with this ugly scabbing for about 5 days!

Consider me addicted.

Happy Giftmas! I hope you got something you wished for.

20 points to the first person to correctly guess which song I stole my title from.