Belated 4th of July post

Uh, happy late birthday America.

So the 4th of July happened, and there were fireworks and water ice and sunburn. I was cat-sitting at my dad's over the weekend because poor geriatric Stripes can't eat on his own and needs to be hand-fed. Poor kitty is so skinny now. He's still very good at waking me up at 5am for his food, though.

On the 4th I went to the Art Museum area for the street fair and concert and fireworks. Saw a few breakdancing groups, a guy who was doing flips over the heads of volunteers, and one guy with a GIGANTIC python who was charging people to drape it around their shoulders and take pictures (idk...snakes for America, I guess). It's also interesting that, considering the holiday, there were very few American flag around. I think I saw only two vendors selling them and very few people carrying them, even the mini ones. Glow sticks and coloring flashing accessories were far more popular.

Anyway, I pushed my way through the crowd to get a fairly good view of the concert stage. The Roots were fantastic. They were really into it and good at working the crowd, and the music was the kind of upbeat funky stuff you want to hear at a summer holiday party. The Goo Goo Dolls were the last act (there was some other band before The Roots, but idk who they were and they only played two songs). I don't know if it was bad planning or what, but the whole concert was running behind, which delayed the fireworks, so by the time the Goo Goo Dolls were on I just wanted them to get on with it and get to the fireworks. I left the stage area to find a better view for the fireworks shortly they started playing, but the concert ended up being an hour and a half longer than scheduled. When the Goo Goo Dolls came back on stage for an encore some kids near me booed, haha (I didn't boo, but I was fucking tired at that point and just wanted them off the damn stage).

The fireworks finally went off at 11:00, and they were shiny and colorful and wonderful, and there were some weird music choices happening in the background. Afterwards I practically ran back to City Hall to get the subway before the masses of people clogged it up too much. It was a good day, if unreasonably hot, and I'm glad I took advantage of the free concert. Yay America!

Moar dots

Went back to No Ka Oi today to finally get my constellation tattoo fixed. Luckily Anna remembered our consultation months ago and knew just what was up. BUT when she was explaining my options for fixing it she said that the shop doesn't guarantee brown ink and won't touch it up for free - which NO ONE TOLD ME. I talked to FOUR different people there about this tattoo, and not one of them mentioned that brown ink is harder to heal, or that it would cost me more to fix it if something went wrong. The original artist barely spoke to me, and though Anna was much better on that front she never told me that policy about brown ink. Uuuugh. She made an exception this time and didn't charge, but I definitely don't want to go back there for any further work. Not when they suck at explaining store policy and crucial tattoo info to their clients.

Anyway, ranting aside, I got it redone in black ink rather than brown in the hopes that there won't be any color loss issues again. It hurt less than the first time, weirdly. It's swollen and red and gross looking at the moment, and it's staying slathered in lotion so it doesn't scab up as badly as it did before. Also finding it very hard to position myself so that my inner arm isn't touching anything. But if it doesn't heal right this time I'll probably just say fuck it and chop off my arm.