This Is 40 (Take That, Judd Apatow!)

[Content Note: Illustration of a beetle.]

I've had some requests to share pictures of my birthday celebration, and that is not something I'm really inclined to do, because some things are just too precious to me to share. But I will say this: I had a brilliant weekend, with so many amazing people, and I honestly couldn't have asked for a better welcome into a new decade. I am, to quote Ben Folds, the luckiest.

And I will happily (and with Deeky's permission) share some pics of Deeks and me fucking around over the weekend!

Deeks arrived on Thursday morning, and, after we ate the fuck out of some tacos and two metric tons of guacamole, it was off to the tattoo parlor where Lui gave Deeks his first ever tattoo!


Piece of cake!
His piece—a satyr playing a pan flute, based on an existing drawing but customized and perfected by Lui—took about an hour and a half.


In solidarity, I decided to get a small piece on my foot by Jake, Lui's former apprentice and current business partner as well as Kenny Blogginz's best friend:


Getting your foot tattooed feels like this:


Taken while actually getting tattooed, lol.
I knew it was going to be bad, but HOLY SHIT! My piece—a stylized scarab with a drop shadow—took about three hours. THREE HOURS OF GRINDING ON MY FOOT BONEZ! But Jake did a spectacular job. I love the way he conveyed the beetle's iridescence.


Here is part of an email I sent to the mod group once upon a time:

I was just reading about dung beetles (like ya do on a Saturday afternoon), because they are the greatest. And as I was reading (again) about how they are so vital to keeping our environment safer for us — "Sure, go ahead! Laugh at us rolling poop balls around, but we know who'd be laughing if we left all y'all knee-deep in poop!" — it occurred to me that we mods are scarabs, pushing a thousand times our weight in poop to keep the community more pleasant for everyone else.

Which is part of the story of my latest ink. But also, I just like beetles. They are beautiful and fascinating—and scarabs are virtually indestructible. There was once a scarab on our deck and Iain, not having noticed it, set a chair on it and sat down before I yelled in dismay, and he jumped up to move the chair and grimly survey the wreckage, but the beetle was fine and just ambled away. "Whatever, dude. Watch where you're putting that chair. Sheesh." Beetles are tough bitchez.

Anyway. Here's some more random shit!


Deeky, master of the selfie, taking a selfie of his tat, the next day.


Catch of the Day!


We clean up good.


BFFs. Right before he left.
And finally, here is one of the several amazing gifts that Deeky bought me for my birthday:


I can't wait to visit my favorite fishmonger and try out some of these life-changing recipes! But first: A stop at the bank to take out a loan so I can afford the ingredients! THEN THERE WILL BE NO STOPPING ME!!!