My current favorite tattoo artists

I have been so preoccupied lately between life, concerts, and my music blog I have neglected my personal blog too long. Here are some of my favorite tattoo artists that I am following on Instagram whose work I absolutely adore. These people are crazy good.

Grindesign_Tattoo

Pony Reinhardt Tattoo

Phil Tworavens

Justin Oliver

Esther Garcia

Stephanie Brown

Paula Rueda

Release852

Nomi Chi

Jonald Juck

Shannon Elliot

Emilie Robinson

Sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never hurt me

Apparently I pissed off a Trump supporter and he sent me an angry message on Facebook saying "fuck you", tried to insult my physical appearance (i.e eyes), and then finished off the brief message with the derogatory word "chink". Here is my response on Instagram.

The rare, elusive selfie of me 😅. Seriously though, I am going to take this opportunity to express my thoughts this morning. This morning when I went to check my FB, I received a hateful message from a troll telling me "fuck you", made a reference to the shape of my eyes due to my Asian heritage, and called me a "chink". That was water off my back so to me it meant nothing. I am guessing this loser who shall not be named saw my IG account or my FB account and was offended. Good! I am an unapologetic leftist. I believe black and native lives matter, immigrant rights are human rights, not all Muslims are terrorists, immigrant rights are human rights, science matters, women rights matters (I am not a goddamn chattel or host nor is The Handmaid's Tale is an instruction manual), clean air and water is a right, healthcare is a right and not a privilege , separation of church and state (this is not a fucking Christian nation), and LGBTQ rights matters especially trans women of color. If you think this country is now great, think again. White supremacy needs to go the way of the dodo bird. America was never great to begin with since it was built on genocide and slavery of African slaves as well as the indigenous population of this country. President Agent Orange has no vested interest in the working middle class. His interests are his bank account. Those who voted for him just conned big time.I could go on but I will not. If you try to come at me, it will not end well for you. #sorrynotsorry #justsaying #notalternativefacts

A post shared by Erica Anderson (@eanderson1974) on Feb 16, 2017 at 3:07am PST

I also mentioned that for any future trolls that if they think insulting my heritage and physical appearance will hurt my feelings, they will not succeed.

For the first time in the 42 years I have been in existence, I have never had someone throw the word "chink" at me. Until now. I recently decided to let people see my FB feed (although non-friends cannot post on it which I will not change that policy on). Considering what a huge non-fan I am of Agent Orange, I post a lot of anti-Trump memes and gifs. I'm guessing this wonderful individual who sent me the email last night after I had gone to bed saw my wall and was offended. All I can say is good. I am not sorry.

I probably should have been offended by seeing some troll throw a derogatory word in my direction but surprisingly I was not. To be honest, I am more amused to be on the receiving end of hate mail from an obviously racist jackass. I cannot speak for all Asian-Americans but only for myself. Internet trolls can throw the word "chink" at me as much as they want to but that word means nothing to me. All it says is that the person is a bitter, hateful, ignorant asshole. I'm not sorry for all the shit I post on Facebook or Instagram. It is not my fault that there are people who are small-minded and ignorant as hell, and that lives in fear. I am a naturalized citizen of the US. America is my home. I am not going anywhere nor will I be intimated by morons who have been emboldened by the asshole in the white house. I don't respect this awful administration or its supporters. That ship long sailed when the angry apricot began spewing the birther bullshit ages ago. 

Random thoughts

Well I knew it wouldn't take long for the new president to piss me off. As a person who was not born in the United States, I am deeply offended by Velveeta Apricot's executive order banning Muslims from the list of countries (that he does not have business ties to or nor had any terrorists from those countries attack the US). Being a person who came to this country as an infant from Vietnam in the mid '70s, I am pissed off as well as hurt that immigrants are being treated so shitty by this new administration based on fear and ignorance. I hate that all Muslims gets lumped as terrorists but when white people commit a mass shooting, their peers totally dismiss them by saying that they aren't one of us. This is complete and utter bullshit. White people need to own that shit and stop lumping all Muslims as this awful boogeyman. If some people are that afraid of certain groups of people then maybe those people should not even bother leave the house. They would do humanity a huge favor.
Although I am a naturalized citizen, I still consider myself an immigrant and what the president did is unforgivable. I will never respect the man as long as he views people who are different from him with very little regard.

If the recent actions of the new president isn't bad enough, today when I arrived at my condo from my bus stop. I noticed the familiar yellow tape around a segment of the courtyard where I reside. As I continued to walk towards the building b to get inside of building a where I live, I saw a dead man lying face down on the sidewalk. It was a horrible sight. I had never seen anything like what I saw before.I looked up and saw one of the windows on the twelfth floor opened and without the screen. The windows were designed to make it difficult (but not impossible) for a human being to fall out. The windows opens vertically and not very far but clearly this man was able to get squeeze through which makes me suspect this was a suicide. There was no way this was an accident considering how the windows were designed. Right now I am both stressed out over the new president and completely in shock over what I had seen this afternoon.

I am so going to try to make it to tomorrow's protest outside the government building and then there are some local shows this weekend I want to attend. I think getting out of my condo will do me a world of good. I am also in the process of looking up some local grief therapists too.

Current favorite tattoo artists

Here is my latest crop of favorite tattoo artists I have discovered on Instgram. I wish all these talented artists were in the Twin Cities or at least in Chicago. lol. Their work is amazing. Still plan on making a trip to Chicago to get work done with one of the women at Black Oak Tattoo in the near future. Probably not until next year. Gotta save up that money.

https://www.instagram.com/the.girl.with.the.matchsticks

https://www.instagram.com/tylerallenkolvenbach

https://www.instagram.com/lindsayapriltattoo

https://www.instagram.com/mr.k_tattoo

https://www.instagram.com/jonald_juck

https://www.instagram.com/hanaroshinko

https://www.instagram.com/shannonelliott_y2k

Random thoughts

* I would like to go on record and say how annoying it is when some (not all) white people try to make certain events about themselves. I kinda got into it online today when some white lady started whining about how the unity principles on the Women's March website did not include white people in the list of marginalized groups of people that this event is marching in support. I hate breaking this to you white people, YOU are not a marginalized group of people. Here is the quote in question "We must create a society a society in which women - including Black women, Native women, poor women, immigrant women, disabled women, Muslim women, lesbian queer, and trans women -are free and able to care for and nurture their families...". This woman had the audacity to complain that white women were not included. Apparently good reading comprehension skills was lacking in this woman because tried to make it about to deflect the reality of how oppressed and marginalized non-white women are. In my first comment I told her how I interpreted the statement but of course she responds with more whining about the exclusion of white people. UGH! I didn't want to but this woman forced me to play the white privilege card and gaslighted her comments (in the nicest way possible without resorting to using any obscene language). Never heard back from her which I took as a sign that she realized that I wasn't going to put up with her bullshit.

*If that online encounter wasn't enough BS for one day, having to deal with my bitchy coworker who tried to shame another coworker for not wearing jeans on casual jeans day (which is Thursdays and Fridays at where I work). I immediately got involved and said politely if wearing a dress floats her boat so be it. That quickly put a kibosh on the bitch who tried to shame our coworker. Women say women should support all women. Apparently ya'll never had to deal with my coworkers (who are mostly women) and their pettiness. These people get on my very last nerve. They have made me just hate being around people in most social settings.

* Tomorrow is the big day when that angry apricot becomes the 45th president. I will just let this playlist I created a few days ago speak for my mood.

Social media: the good, bad, and the ugly

Social media are computer mediated technologies that allow the creating and sharing of information, ideas, career interests, and other forms of expression via virtual communities and networks. That is how social media is defined according to Wikipedia. I am not going to pretend I am not a social media junkie. Truth is I am. I have accounts on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. Social media has its plus and minuses. I love being in contact with my friends from all over the state, country, and world. I also love being able to share my photos that I take.

What I don't like about social media is the occasional douchebag who thinks Instagram is also the same thing as OkCupid (I had some guy hit on me on my IG account and I was not amused, and of course his account was set to private), and the online bullying.

Today I came across this photo on Instagram and a small percentage of comments were by ranged from "This looks horrible" to "Looks like a bad case of road rash". Before I really get into my rant, I will say that I do not believe in censorship. What I do believe in is having some common sense and manners towards other people online. I personally think this tattoo is beautiful but of course as soon as someone said something negative, in came the internet trolls.

Reworking/adding onto this backpiece. Many constellations were already there, added a moon (sun on the chest) and expanded Northern star. Making the constellations special stars and adding a milky way effect! Sort of unusual but really fun project in progress ✨ done at @tenderfootstudio

A photo posted by A. Junko Osaki (@ajunkysock) on Jan 11, 2017 at 1:26pm PST

It seems like everyone has to inject their opinions especially negative on photos by people they do not follow. What do these people get from insulting the artist's work or the person's body? Ever since social media has exploded in the past several years, total strangers think they have the right to make other people feel bad about themselves. While I do not blame social media entirely on the continuing decline in morality in recent years, I will say it has contributed to that decline. Constructive criticism is one thing but being a complete asshole (like the person who said that the tattoo looked like a bad rash) that is a whole 'nother can of worms. If you don't like it, fine but no need to be a jackass about it on social media. People do have feelings. Tearing other people down online accomplishes nothing. If you feel good about tearing other people down online, then I hope you do some serious thinking and come to realize that your character as a human being isn't that great. All that says to me is that you are a complete asshole.

My current favorite tattoo artists

I love Instagram. It really has opened my eyes to the world of tattoos. I am always finding some excellent artists on the social media network. Here are my current favorite artists whose work I absolutely adore.

01. Alli Shelly of Tailorbird Tattoo

"your eyes are the first thing to start to decay when you die". For my femme wife @lowwbones ❤ #blackwork #blackworktattoo #btattooing #ladytattooers #dotwork #dotworkers #handofglory #tattoo #qttr #eye #hand #minneapolis #tailorbirdtattoo #blackclaw #blackworkerssubmission

A photo posted by Alli Shelly (@alli.shelly) on Oct 20, 2016 at 6:05pm PDT

02. Cloey Nathaniel of Black Oak Tattoo

Last tattoo of 2016. Thank you, Dakota! And thank you, everyone who got tattooed this year!! #blessed #222 #blackink #blacktattooing #btattooing #blackworkers #blackworkerssubmission

A photo posted by Cloey Nathaniel (@inkbrambles) on Dec 30, 2016 at 7:50pm PST

03. Rachel Hauer of East River Tattoo

Something unBEARably cute 🐻💕

A photo posted by Rachel (@rachelhauer) on Dec 14, 2016 at 2:02pm PST

04. Ryan Murray of Black Veil Tattoo

what have I become, my sweetest friend

A photo posted by Ryan (@ryanmrray) on Dec 24, 2016 at 7:21am PST

05. Matt Murray of Black Veil Tattoo

there's the chill of death in the silent air

A photo posted by Matthew Murray (@mattwmurray) on Jan 5, 2017 at 4:10pm PST

06. Ghost Meadow at Black Medicine Tattoo

A photo posted by @ghostmeadow on Dec 1, 2016 at 5:32pm PST