Just so you know, I’m going to hijack this prompt today. This question makes me cringe. The phrase “lifelong learner” was beaten into the brain of every teacher I worked with over the years. As teachers, we were encouraged to be lifelong learners which was a nice way of saying we had to earn a certain number of Continuing Education Units every five years in order to renew our teaching licenses. To earn those credits, we had to take classes and workshops and well…learn new stuff! We were also highly encouraged to make “lifelong learners” out of our students. I don’t know what their idea of lifelong learning is, but I think that applies to all of us. I’m thinking of my husband. He was a fairly average student in school. He could have been better but he just didn’t care about school, which may have been because his dad was such a revered teacher in the community. But I digress. So even though he was not that great of a student, he is still learning stuff. He watches YouTube videos about fishing so he can learn new techniques and what equipment the pros are using. When we moved into this house, he watched videos about how to replace electrical outlets. He reads books about Catholicism, history, UFOs and the government cover-up (seriously, it’s not just a conspiracy theory). There’s no right or wrong way to learn new things. Nothing says you can only learn from a school setting.
I also am learning new stuff. With learning about writing, I am actually doing it the traditional way by taking a class. But also, last night, I learned something new and here’s where I’m going off the rails with the topic.
On Friday, I had a tattoo appointment. Yes, another one. But to be fair, this was to finish adding the pieces that I originally planned for on my right arm. We didn’t get to all of them three weeks ago. All I can say is, there’s space for more, but I’ll be damned if I go back to this same guy to have more added. Picture a little kid with a crayon in his fist. And then picture that little kid gripping that crayon super tightly and bearing down on the paper and scribbling as hard as he can. I feel like that’s what my artist does when he colors in the outline of these tattoos. My arm is throbbing just thinking about it. I mean, it’s throbbing anyway because it’s only day 2. I may go back and have something else added to the underside of my bicep. I don’t know. For now, I just want to let this poor beat up arm heal for as long as possible.
Back to what I learned. Artists typically put saniderm on new tattoos and you’re supposed to leave it on for five days. My artist knows not to do that. My skin is super sensitive to the adhesive in that stuff and it always makes my skin break out into bumps. Not only that, but my tattoos always ooze out from under the saniderm which is gross. Instead, he tapes gauze to my skin and then I take it off when I get home. I guess the rule at that shop is they have to cover you with something before you leave. Anyway, I was talking to him about the healing process and I complained about the ooze. Tattoos do get kind of oozy for the first couple of days. He said, “it’s just a little plasma, no big deal.”
I’ve heard the word plasma before in connection to blood, but I never knew what it was. So, lifelong learner here…I googled it last night. Google is a very valid way to learn new things. And come to find out, plasma is the clear liquid that is inside blood. Your blood is a composite of different material. So, when you get a tattoo, you’re basically getting your skin punctured open repeatedly. Sounds fun, right? Your body sends the plasma to the wound (the tattoo) along with all the white blood cells to start the healing process. So the ooze is a good thing. It’s a sign that your body is starting to heal. It’s just annoying as all get out because it’s kind of sticky and since it comes out through your skin where there’s colored ink, it doesn’t come out clear. When it sticks to your clothes (or your bedsheets), it’s mixed with ink and of course, it stains. I’ve been wearing tank tops yesterday and today so my tshirts don’t get stuck to my skin which is super irritating and kind of painful to pull off. At night I’ve been wearing tshirts to bed so I don’t add more stains to the sheets I had on the bed last tattoo cycle. This piece that was added is on my upper arm so it’s completely covered by sleeves. But I didn’t account for the addition on my forearm. That little guy did some oozing last night. Time to wash the sheets again.
So, dear readers, or should I say, lifelong learners, if you didn’t know about plasma before, now you do. You’re welcome. Also, here are pictures of what I got done. And the inspiration pictures:
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