07262016
   Aw shit, how long does this book need to be?
   The truth is I tried to write another one. Deep Convictions was too hard. I felt like too much work would have to go into it to fit the genre of the title.
   I didn't just get to talk to you like I am now.
  It's a one sided conversation really. I know that. But I get to talk to you either way. And honestly, I've been writing this way all my life and it seems to be a little more natural for me.
   I hope you understand.
    It seems I have stuff that never gets told in an average day anyway. Things that have some weight. Some of those things very shallow.
    Untold stories. Untold adventures and mind speaks.
     I've walked away for awhile. And I'm not sure what it is about this app that makes me want to run deep into it. But it was good for me. For awhile.
   And it's still good.
    I've been checking in.
   I've starred into the blank white page of deep convictions and just waited for the deep convictions to just flow through my opposing thumbs like magic but more often than not, I just kept coming across deeply depressed.
   Even though I truly am not.
   The 76th annual Black Hills Sturgis Rally is coming and in just a week from now, I will be swamped as fuck, neck deep with Motorcyclist from all over the world! I probably should not be starting another chapter here for the sake of time, but without this venue to vent my radical vernacular, I am afraid I would be depriving you of the rad sights of this place I call home and the thousands who come to visit.
   Conversations with people I could never meet anywhere else.
  Only the best. I promise. So tell your friends. Tell your mamas. Yo daddies. Star that shit.
   Most of all comment and let me know you were here. Also if you have questions for bikers, I will ask them and write their answers here.
    In the shop, a lot is happening.
    We have a new credit card machine. Chip reading and all that. It's pretty cool.
   I will be going to Harley Davidson to work for the two weeks of the motor cycle rally and while we are out of our shop, our boss is upgrading our lunch room to storage and creating a clean room.
    We work with blood and stuff so it isn't good to scrub stuff where you eat. And we aren't going to have to do that anymore. Pretty cool.
   A lot has to be done. So I'm going to check out for now.
   Anyways, the journal is back on. Missed you fuckers. Much love.
   Have a great day. See you around.

7282016

So. Every year around this time, there is much work to be done and very little time to do it.
I may be speaking to you as if I did it all myself but I assure you that I did not.
The top photo is a picture of our makeshift tattoo studio inside the Black Hills Harley Davidson. In this room there will be six artists and a counter person. We will be working from 8am to 8pm.
We take over the rental department during the Sturgis Biker Rally and this year is not going to be as busy as last. But with six of us only, it will not seem like it.
We are exclusively the only Tattooers anywhere on the lot of 50 different vendors so basically, the Harley Davidson, is its own miniature bike show.
There is everything on the parking lot from clothing to hammocks and chairs. People selling stickers and patches to mufflers and all American bike accessories. Fenders to chrome wheels and upgrades.
Pint striping done while you wait as well as food that stereotypically, only bikers would love. Burgers, dogs, cheesesteak, and ribbon fries. Ice Cream, and believe it or not, salad.
Salad for those bikers trying to keep their figures.
They sell sunglasses and sunglass cleaners. Coins and chrome covers.
Basic jewelry to windless fairings. Windshields. And what not.
So basically, if you want a customized Harley Dave, you come here and get it done. And if you already ate, and drank enough beer, or liquor, you may grow tired of the August heat, you may venture inside to the air conditioned tattoo shop and sit with us and laugh or cry for that ultimate Sturgis Rally souvenir.
You can get get tattooed anywhere. You really can. In the city of Sturgis there are about 300 licensed Tattooers and many more who are not, in the campgrounds.
But you may only find me in one place. Black Hills Harley Davidson. I-90 Exit 55 Rapid City.
My day today was filled with the insecure people who wanted to know what I thought about their tattoo decisions. As if my opinion matters much when it comes to what you want.
I know, maybe you think my opinion matters to some degree.
But it doesn't.
My job is to do the best job I can do for the idea that you have.
But if you come in and throw ten different tattoos right off Pinterest and tell me to choose for you, that isn't my job. Not at all.
If you choose a tattoo and I'm willing to begin, and want to change something at the time of our departure, I will do it. But don't tell me you want to change it back. It annoys the fuck out of us Tattooers.
It's as if your saying to my face that I didn't know what I was talking about in the first place.
I did.
If it's any indication of how it goes during rally, I'm in for a trying adventure for sure.
During this rally, my path crosses the paths of many more. That is what it's all about. At least for me.
Meeting and marking many. People from everywhere. Coming to here. Where I live. To pass time and have it good in my neighborhood.
This life is awesome man. You have to experience everything. Youth is short and life itself is shorter than you ever believed. There is so many things to take in. So many places never seen and only wondered, waiting for you to wander into them and taste their flavors. Their textures. Feeling their heat or their sweetness.
Truth be told, it could be just outside your own circle. Your own ten block radius. Or even outside your own realm of thinking.
It takes time to have courage, strength, and hope.
Fare well into it. Stand up against your own insecurity. Beat it's fucking ass.
Goodnight.

08292016
   Today was a busy day.
   Today we before I came to the shop all the cupboards and sinks were ripped from our break room before I showed up to the shop this morning at 9:15 am.

   It was pretty cool to see.
   We loaded up the copy machine and thermo fax and headed to the Harley Davidson to set up those things as well as the computers and the wifi.
   I wasn't supposed to set up my station before that was done but I help wire up each station so they all had power and that there was room For each of the six artists including myself.
   Got the computers set up where they go and then went back to the shop to pack up my station. It was harder this time than in years past.
   It seems as though for the last few years I've spread my things out more and more.
   I also had to take all my stuff off the wall so that the dudes could wreck any of the walls in the back.

Everything in my station was way out of whack. So yeah, it took some time to pack it up.
   After that, I went to Best Buy to pick up a power cord for my Bluetooth speaker and then home.
   I had to let my boys out to go pee. You've met those cute little fuckers in chapters past. Hung out for awhile and then locked them back up, and then headed to Fuji's Steakhouse to get my grind on with my love, Tancy and my son, Brody.
   I kept it easy. I got the seafood udon.
   It was good.
   Then I headed over to my favorite vape shop! BLACK HILLS VAPES!
   Gotta get my glow sticks!

  Vape Juice! My favorite shit right here.
   I do 12 nicotine. Most vape guys do 6 or zero.
   I'm like. .... "Why do it if you don't get nicotine???!! That's dumb!"
   Jajaja vapings dumb already! But it tastes better than cigarettes. And it smells good.
   So if I want to inhale air freshener, it's my deal right? 
   Just this sentence makes me feel dumb. Jajajaja but a guy likes what he likes I guess. 
   So after I get my "glow sticks" I head back to the shop to pick up some more forgotten little things and all the lamps.

Just a little progress on them ripping up the break room/clean room.
   They're talking about cutting the floor up to put new drains in. When it was going to happen and how. I decided to get the hell out.
   Rock and roll! Head back to the Harley Dave.
    I set up my station and tune my machines and make sure everything is in working order! I'm a beast when it comes to this.

  This picture is of me putting together my stuff here. Our little corner inside a very big store looks as though we are here all year around.
   Cool right?
   I hope you all are still with me. Haven't got any comments on what you would like me to ask bikers from all over the world. So I guess, it will be all on me to make them up. Jajaja
   So after I set up, my wife and I decided to take the dogs on a walk. And so I opt her into going to my favorite place, Buzzards Roost. So all in all, I walked a total of 5miles. Most people run that in less than a half hour.
   I'm heavy. Jajaja
   Anyways. I'm exhausted and I have to be to work before 8am.
   Alright well. Good night.

07302016
Today was opening day down at the Harley Dave.
It went well, really. I met some good folks down there as I worked through the day.
I tattooed this kid today, who wanted a memorial tattoo for his sister who recently passed away in a car crash. Car full of kids with a young guy who was showing off at the wrong time. Lost control of his vehicle and a lot of people were hurt. One fatality was his sister.
Just yesterday,Tancy and I were just talking about it with my son who also knew these kids a little. The driver was sentenced yesterday and I don't think we all agreed on how much time the guy should do.
Fifteen years. Ten of them suspended.
Meaning he will do fifteen years of probation. One year in jail. Have to do some treatment and possibly counseling. And of course not commit a crime for fifteen years or he will have to do the other ten years plus time for any new crimes he commits.
Shitty way to start your adult life. Plus you have to live knowing you had hand in killing someone else.
Difference between he and my 18 year old self? I never had a hand in hurting anyone but myself.
It's gonna be tough living with that shit.

The lot was full and of people today awaiting a chance to win a beautiful black 550 Harley Davidson! People galore but I was only able to tattoo a few of them. I got to meet some new folks who came from Minnesota. A few from Atlanta who showed up early cause they were confused about the dates of the rally.
The rally is the first full week of August. Sunday to Sunday. So if you show up early, you come to the pre rally roll out. That is this week.

The guy with the mic is Terry. I don't know exactly what he does at Harley. But he is high up. He is calling up a vet named Eric who won the bike give away. Lucky dude.
If you ever saw Sons of Anarchy. It was the bike Jax was riding throughout the series of that tv show.
This is nothing to the number of bikers I will see next week. Crazy right?
Alright ..... Good night.

07132016
     Sunday.
    The traffic is slow here at the dealership.

   It's still cool here though. We are all visiting and chilling. That's when you find out who you're working with.
   You know it's cool when everyone is happily chit chatting. I did a  lot of that today. Hanging out. People watching.
   Do you ever people watch?
   I would bet that you probably do more watching than I think.
   Just taking in sights and doing your best to not criticize folks but somehow, smirking a little. It's hard not to.
    People give you so much to watch. Especially in a venue like this.

like this dude from somewhere else.
    I have never seen him or his dog anywhere around here. You would remember something like him. His dog is in a riders bag with the same goggles. They match in more ways than one. Scruffy and all.
   This guy was nice enough to allow me a pic of him and his dog.
   The dudes above are Mark Warnick and Tom Meyer on the right.
   Tom is my homey. He traveled from Florida to kill tattoos with us. He comes every year and honestly is one of the dudes I look forward to seeing every year. Good hearted and funny as hell.
   I can never catch him on camera. Even if it's video or even just trying to record some of the shit he says. He's our comedian. He is one of those dudes who loves bed in the moment and has his eye on the future all the time.
  We usually can make a laugh out of a turd on any given day. Pretty cool.
  Marc Warnick is our newest full time artist, hailing from Cleveland, Ohio. He's an old school bad ass who has been tattooing since 1990. He has a lot of experience as well as a long list of friends in the business.
   He knows quite a few dudes for sure. You should if you've been at it that long.

  Now let me introduce you to Pam Roes. She is our main piercer at our other location in rapid city.
   She has been with the company almost as long as I have. We are both half Filipino. And are pretty loyal folks.
   Today I asked Pam if she was into bald chicks.
   Not pixie cut broads either. But buzz cut chickas? It was my ask a lesbian question of the day.
   She said no.
    I thought it was a worthy question to say the least.
   We brought up another guy for tomorrow who will be working up at Harley for the first time. Pretty cool experience for him. Teryn has been with us almost 4 years and has changed so much since arriving here at Thrashs.
   We pounded and molded him into the guy he is now. I'm pretty proud of him.
   He reminds me a lot of myself when I was young in the business. He has a few things I didn't have. But it's there.
   Starring right back at me as though it's 2003. Working at Maggie Mayes in Tucson. Everything from changing his tattoo style to his clothing. He is fitting in more than I ever did. He has what it takes to move forward in a business that is competitive and unforgiving.
   I show you pictures of him tomorrow.

The end of the day brought possible rain. It never hit us. But it did look gloomy.
   Well. I'm surprised I had energy to write what I did. Goodnight my friends.

08012016
Today was hustle. At least for me.
I got to tattoo folks from New York today. They both had the accent.
You know.
You've heard it somewhere.
It's kind of like Elmer Fudd. ...
Everyone knows Elmer Fudd, right?
Maybe that might be offensive to a New Yorker. This guy talked more like a deep voices Elmer Fudd.
He was cool and all. He really was.
Maybe more like the voice of Rocky Balboa. Although he was a Philadelphia native. There are a few differences in the words they use. But that east coast accent is similar. To some degree.
I tattooed him and his wife all day. They kept me busy though for real.
I am whooped.
What do I remember most?
At first the accent. And then the stuff he was telling me. Like, coming out here on a motorcycle but not wanting to ride back.
So he purchased a 2015, Dodge truck to haul his bike back in. And then his lady a new truck because, she didn't like the little car she was leasing. And another car for his son to drive.
And how he had all these things added to his truck like a new custom deer killer! And diamond plating the inside of the truck bed.
Having the windows tinted and adding an automatic start to it as well.
And how he was basically hemorrhaging money on everything from transporting his vehicles back to New York, to hotels and eating out. And now 2000 dollars on a whole day of tattooing. Jajajaja.
I don't know if I'm worth 2 grand for a day of tattooing but to rally goers? I definitely am.
They had been overcharged for tattoos half the size. And they were really surprised that I could finish everything I said I would do from 9am this morning.
I'm a hustler. I wish I found time to take more photos. I just didn't have it today.
Sorry. I have no appointments tomorrow. So maybe I will imtroduce you to my boss.
Here is the picture of Teryn that I promised yesterday.

Teryn Lance. Hailing from Sundance Wyoming. He wants to be famous and maybe someday he will achieve that.
I wish him the best.
In tattooing, I am happiest being famous in my own back yard. Meaning I can go anywhere out of state and be anonymous. I like that.
For some of us, who are Tattooers, the exceptional ones are world famous.
Not only by their style, but also by there face. Works for them.
I guess if you looked for me on the Instagram or the Facebook, you might find I have a few friends and followers.
I don't know how much it helps me to have these few things really, but I don't want to delete them. I do use them quite a bit to self promote.
Alright well.
I'm off to bed. See you around.

08042016
   Truth be told, working this particular rally has been kind of rough.
  The waves of people from time to time have been sporadic and when I say waves, I mean low frequency. Not many stories yet.
    I was thinking about doing the live feed thing on my Facebook.

But there is little to be seen here on the lot.
   Yeah there are people, but it is t what it was in years past. During the prerally roll out, it seems to be a lot of locals that comprise our population. It was suggested that we would see lower traffic this year due to

it being the 76th rally opposed to last year being a record year.
   But I like it. It's way relaxed and there's time to hang out with these guys that I rarely get to tattoo next to anymore.
  Today we shared pulled pork.
   I made mine last night and and Teryn also made some last night. So we had dueling pulled pork sandwiches today. We both made them very different and they both were very good. And much of it was left over.
    So it will feed us all again tomorrow.
   I did this cover up over and older cross this guy got over ten years ago.

can you spot the old tattoo?
   Maybe if you look closer you can. This biker was from Montana somewhere. He didn't talk much except when he talked about how much he liked seeing it all come together.
    Pam called me a magician.
    A wizard.
    Whatever. I do tattoos. I don't put too much store in words like that. I just hustle.
   One look through my Instagram and you would be able to see why I am so humble when it comes to my ability. I'm a chump when I compare my skills to some of the dudes I follow. 
   Jajajaja
     So I did do a few decent tattoos.
     Tomorrow brings the weekend start of rally. It kicks off the chaos of bike week. Concerts, bars will fill all over the surrounding cities and towns. Bikes will fill every region in the Black Hills and our population will rise over 3-400,000 people.
   And I will be working in a place where you can get anything done that a biker could want with the option of waiting for your bike in one of the most comfortable seats anywhere at Harley Davidson.
  My tattoo chair. Jajajja. I hope your keeping up.

Every rally, there is a vendor dinner where the CEO's of Harley give us a motivational speech on how to get our money out of your pocket.
Teryn and Mark together, we represented our company at this dinner. It was brisket and some crazy potato casserole. It wasn't like mine.
So I didn't like any of it too much.
It's all good.
Have any of you ever tried to post videos of your own in here? Maybe I have to make a YouTube channel. ....
That may be too much work.
It doesn't seem to work too well for me. Alright well. Good night my friends.
I may have to start a new chapter because it's telling me that I'm close to twenty pics. We will see.
Until next time my friend. Via Con Dios.

08052016
   Busiest day yet.
  I couldn't get away from Pinterest! I just couldn't. Even if I tried.
   And I tried. Believe me. But the more I resisted, the more they came.
   As a tattooer, I can tell you one thing I'm sure that all Tattooers just accept. Tattoo trends are forever changing. The come and go. What the interwebs have done is made it so that they never stop. They may have been over for some time, but people used print these things out and put them in places for when they were ready to get them done.
    But now we have interwebs where people just paste that shit to a wall and will bring up one from way back. Or it seems people just get things they know nothing about.
   For instance. . .
   Did you know that the center of a dream catcher symbolizes a cob web. And the cob web catches your nightmares and that the little beads are those nightmares? Did you know that the big bead represents the spider that feeds on those nightmares?
  It takes the energy from them.
   Did you know that the dream catcher is supposed to be hung above the window in your bedroom where you sleep? Traditionally it sits there and catches dark energy and catches it in the web as you sleep.
   It was never meant to be worn as a tattoo on your skin.
   How about lazy 8. The infinity symbol was used to represent karma or reincarnation? That what comes around goes around?
   Not family forever! Or friends forever!
Or eternal love, faith, or believe infinitely. Whatever.
    Pinterest! Oh how I hate you for being the flash wall of today. Pinterest forever! You can blame them for every bird silhouette, every water color, every lion head, every owl, every fucking script written, every dandelion tattoo exploding from seeds to birds silhouette with a water color background oozing with pink dripping teal backdrops! Or every perfectly outlined tattoo with a rainbow explosion colored and dripping down the back with ink drops and splats!
   Thank you Pinterest.
   What I have in common with every tattoo artist on the planet, is that I accept it as part of the job. It payed the bills. People like stealing other tattoos off the interwebs and they're so simple that we get to redraw our own crossed arrows and our own tree silhouettes with watercolor back splats.
   That's a car payment or an electric bill. And it's easy enough. But we all do not enjoy doing tattoo fads all the time.
   I am at a biker rally. I shouldn't have to do cancer ribbons and semicolons.
    I want to do tramp stamps again.
   Now I do scripts! I write more scripts than a doctor! Jajaja
   People want ribliographies! I know it isn't a word. But it means something in our shop! Skank Planks and ribliographies! The rib tattoo hurts like a mother fucker! But it's the new sleeve!
 

   Eagle feather. Turkey feather. Buzzard feather. Seashells and a tigers eye spider. But she was confused when I told her what the spider was. Turns out she's terrified of spiders.
   Jajajaja! My boss asked me if I was the dream catcher guy. Evidently I am. I've done one three days in a row.
   It pays the bills.

  I seen this today in the bike tent! 
   It's a hearse trike! I don't know if you can see the red spirits in the black paint! It's fucking awesome as fuck! For real though.
   Coolest trike I saw today. Let me see if I can post a pick of the back side!
   Nope. Twenty pic limit!
   Well I guess I will start another chapter tomorrow.
     This bike has so much detail in it. It has ghostly spirits under its black paint. So in the light, it can be seen. Evil faces hiding in the shadows. It's loaded with a sound system that you can feel above that SCREAMING EAGLE INTAKE AND LOUD Reinhardt pipes! It's got the glass walls with the curtains drawn. It's sick!
   It's got a demon face molding in the back of the seat that is shiny and maleficent.
   Only 50,000 bucks! Sold as soon as it was traded in.
   How much could you do with 50 grand?
   People are just throwing money around here.
   I'm just doing my best to figure out, "How am I going to get my money out of your pocket?" All fucking day.
    One bike! 50 thousand American dollars! That's a lot of cheddar!
   Alright, listen up. I love ya. I hope all is well where you are and that you are happy, healthy, and free of complaints. No matter how bad you got it, just remember, there's some dick out there wasting away money for compliments we will never get!
  Jajajaja. Much love Holmes. Be well.