Bzzzzt!

I just paid $250 plus $30 tip for a man to poke me with needles for two hours. No, it wasn't acupunture (which is what my roommate SN thought when I said that).

The picture is from a shot of what Jodi calls "the most beautiful bat in the world", Myotis rufopictus. The artist is Dave at Steve's Tattoo on Williamson street in Madison.

It's a lot of money, but in terms of cosmetic spending...there are some silly cows who spend that much on makeup and clothes in a month. I've never so much as had a haircut that cost more than USD 12. Consider that my 10 years' worth (from puberty till now) of makeup expenditure. =P

Tattoos seem to be pretty mainstream among younger people in the US, at least in metropolitan areas. There are regulatory rules and the studios have nice storefronts, et cetera. Back home it's the freaky skulls and samseng stuff you see on drug addicts and gangsters. SN's facial expression when I told her about this was priceless, because in Japan they're associated with the yakuza (Jap samsengs). "My mom would kill me."

Will post picture when it's healed more...it's bandaged at the moment. Here's M. rufopictus (different specimen from Mt. Banahaw in 2004) and Danny Balete, who's a Filipino wildlife biologist.