Posted: December 19th, 2008 | Author: Darren Chartier | Filed under: travel | Tags: crosspost, thedinerdash | 1 Comment »
Well I can’t imagine any of you reading this blog who don’t know, but just in case… for the next week and a bit I’ll be blogging just about daily @ http://thedinerdash.wordpress.com, check it out and let me know what you think!
d_c
Posted: December 13th, 2008 | Author: Darren Chartier | Filed under: deardiary, questions | Tags: help, rambling, tattoo | 1 Comment »
today i was supposed to get more work done on my tattoo, unfortunately it’s also flu season. i made it all the way out to the warden station near where Leah Miller runs her tattoo business from her home, only to discover that she, and her whole family, is struck with the seasonal sickness i just got over.
strangely, i’m not really pissed about this. sure i spent a couple hours on transit on a saturday morning where i might have otherwise lain in bed catching up on my rss reader, but really, that’s not a great loss. in fact, it’s probably a good thing that i didn’t spend my day getting tattooed.
first, i’m about to embark on a two week trip through north-eastern north america, which is sure to put a bit of a dent into my bank balance, so not spending $600 on a tattoo appointment is going to help that cause. also, spending so much time in a car and traveling with a freshly tattooed arm was probably not my brightest idea anyways.
second, i’m just getting better from having been sick so perhaps i’m better off letting my body heal itself completely before spending four hours with the incessant buzz and painful sting of the tattoo needle.
and finally, i really need to do some thinking and find some really good source/reference imagery for the next phase of the tattoo.
you see, Leah and i are basically making this up as we go along. Leah’s style really requires freehanded drawing on your body, and she makes some really beautiful tattoos with this method, but it’s important to have some reference material with you when you go in for a session. we started with a great design that Emily drew for me, based on a rather abstract concept that’s been floating around in my head for the better part of a decade or so, but have since tried to expand the design/concept on our own.
so far we’ve been successful, but i know that i need more source material and i’m having a difficult time finding stuff i like. i’m hoping you, my dear three readers, will be able to help me out.
i’m not going to get into a description of the concept that underpins the tattoo, the original email was some obscene amount of words and contained all sorts of unpleasant philosophy jargon, but i don’t think it’s necessary for you to help me out.
what i’m looking for right now is an organic element that will sit in contrast to a CPU’ish looking portion of the tattoo already in place. i’m not sure what it should be, i’ve looked at images of seeds, microscopic cellular structures of all sorts, different types of nervous tissues and structures, but I can’t find the image that really gels and that would work for me.
so, if you’ve got any ideas, please hook me up with a link as a comment (or send me an email darrenc at gmail), you never know, something you find might end up being tattooed for all time on my arm =D
Posted: November 8th, 2008 | Author: Darren Chartier | Filed under: deardiary | Tags: tattoo | 2 Comments »
i had more work done on my tattoo today, i’m very happy with the results.

it’s still early days but i’m beginning to get an idea of what the complete picture is going to look like.
Posted: October 25th, 2008 | Author: Darren Chartier | Filed under: deardiary | Tags: change, coins, coinstar, money, moving, savings | 1 Comment »
i’m a bit of a nomad. i think i’ve lived in 15 different apartment since i moved out at 17, and it’s entirely possible i’ve missed one or two places. it should come as no surprise that i’m moving again.
this post isn’t about moving.
when i get home i always empty my pockets. little bits of paper and coins mostly, and they all get dumped on the nearest available surface. the paper ends up either shredded, filed, or thrown out with my infrequent bouts of tidying, the coins get stashed in the nearest available coin vessel. it started with an old plastic ice cream container, when that filled up i grabbed an old juice jug, which eventually spilled over into other containers over the last decade or so.
today, while packing i drew the line, no more. not again. i would not move those damned coins into yet another apartment.
instead i emptied all the various coin collecting vessels into a fabric shopping bag and realized that i had perhaps waited five years too long to get this done.
I had 40 pounds of pennies, nickles, dimes, some quarters, maybe a couple loonies and toonies.
in my head i always knew i had lots of change lying around, but holy shit batman. how much were they worth?

$258.32
unbelievable! that’s after a 9.8% service charge too.
the responsible thing to do would be to put this money down on my student loans, but a certain friend keeps on telling me that i _need_ to get an xbox 360.
maybe one of the six people who read my blog have suggestions on what i should do with this windfall?
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