I’m now fully in the flaky phase of the tattoo process, and am losing large black/grey flakes at a pleasantly quick rate.

It’s really, really hard not to encourage the process, though, especially when (squick alert!) attached flakes are catching on my shirt at work.

Grody!

Sleeping has been rough since Saturday. When it was all raw and fresh, it just (ha!) hurt badly. Once it dried out, it hurt to do anything that stretched the skin, like lie on my stomach. Or lie on my side. Or relax my shoulder.

The winning solution for sleep so far is to use a small pillow under the front of my tattoo’d shoulder so I can sorta sleep on my stomach and keep the shoulder propped up. It’s not unlike my sleep solution for when I first hurt my shoulder, except that was on my back.

An even better solution (thanks, Angi!) was to switch from using lotion to using vitamin E oil. So soothing. Difficult to avoid overuse, though.

I’ve been conflicted between wanting all this to be over with–to just have a damn tattoo already–and enjoying the strangeness of what’s happening. Now that the pain’s mostly abated, I’m feeling more in-the-moment.

Anyway, in the midst of all of this, I’ve finally caught up on some innernet reading:
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This is what happens when Greg asks, “What’s the Harlem Shake?”

I just about feel off the couch. Especially when I realized at about 2:40 that that’s a DVD in his belt, not a buckle.

Greg may never ask me another dancing-related question ever again.

A few other nuggets:

• Three Word Phrase, by Ryan Pequin – I’ll confess, I started watching Hoarders recently. Just entered Season 3. I’m not sure how I feel about myself anymore. In my defense Season 3 fired off with enough drama that I’ve skipped episodes.
• Autumnal equinox – It’s almost time to break out the sunlamp.
• Capital One Says ING Direct Deal Will Create Jobs – Capital One taking over ING is a bit worrying…

And one more awesome (no, really) video: Splinter Cell: Lightbulb Assassin:
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This past week(…s)’s internet surfin’:

• A Newbie’s Guide to Publishing: What’s Wrong With Sex? – Sex in a book doesn’t make it erotica.
• Hyperbole and a Half: This is Why I’ll Never be an Adult – As always, I love Allie’s art and humor, and her point here is so well taken. I know very few people who don’t do this.
• Twitter / @violetblue: They made me wait a long t … – This is definitely a WTF. Also a “what in the world do you do?” Do you make a kerfluffle about being able to see your stuff when you’re about to be patted down? Do you just wait in silence?
• BBC News – Gay men blood donor ban to be lifted – Better than a permanent ban, but a one-year deferral is still discriminatory. And how often are people not sexually active for one year? o_O I ended up in a poorly handled (on my part) Twitter fight about the issue of safety vs. discrimination. Ugh.
• Client management: [Forget] you. Pay me. – A contract focus on handling clients that’s polite-but-serious while ensuring you get paid. The video’s funny, though.
• finkenstein: TREK JAMMIN’ – Geordi knew better than to participate in this.
• Flash Orrery – Planets! Moons!
• Just be honest for now – I DO NOT HAVE AN EATING DISORDER – This was a difficult read (it’s a comic) for me, but very, very good and worth the discomfort.
• Draw – Google Correlate – Correlate a graph to search terms. 
• 100 ways to get more done – I do so love lists like this. The dubstep background was new to me.
• EA’s Origin EULA Proves Even More Sinister | Rock, Paper, Shotgun – More on the EA usage agreement that’s rolling out on the un-Steamed games.

Finally, finally, finally, after eight years of hearing about local Pride events after they happened, I found out about this year’s before the big day.

So we went!

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This week’s internet cruising:

• Big Rocks First: Double Your Productivity This Week – This is an old, old Zen Habits post (and one I read a long time ago), but I’m finding it necessary to think beyond the day-to-day MITs lately to get bigger things done. …Like, you know, the upcoming wedding posts and pictures.
• Reader Story: How I Built My Own House — Without a Mortgage – Sustainability, small and frugal living, and willingness to be nontraditional. I'm still not interested in truly going off the grid, but his solar energy and house design ideas are interesting, and earth sheltered houses are adorable, although me being me, I’d worry about ground-loving bugs. I'm not sure if solar power is as helpful in North Carolina as out in Arizona (if I judged the landscape correctly).
• Should you fly or drive on your summer vacation? – Greg and I have been thinking about planning for future vacations (my family was never a vacationing family). This article hits on some good considerations in flying vs. driving, although it doesn't really address a flyer's resistance to participating the sham of airport "security" as a major deterrent to flying.
• School bans graduation "Bohemian Rhapsody" because Freddy Mercury was gay, but gives in after uproar – Seriously? "Wasilla High School officials said parents had complained that it was inappropriate for the school's symphonic jazz choir to perform 1975 smash "Bohemian Rhapsody" because Freddy Mercury, singer of the bombastic operatic rock act, was gay."
• Jellyvampire :: Bloom Like an Artist – This is very cute and well done. Love the art style.