A TALE OF TWO TATTOOS - Part 1
The year was 2005.
The City was New Orleans, Louisiana, just a few months before Hurricane Katrina hit.
The situation was planning my departure from the Big Easy and the return to my native Wisconsin.
DISCLAIMER, WARNING, PARENTAL ADVISORY, ETC…
If you know anything about my past, you know that various large volumes of drugs, alcohol, and hedonistic living played a large role in past of @papa-pepper. I’m not attempting to brag or embellish anything in this post, but I’m not exactly attempting to tone anything down either.
That being said, the content of this post will vary a bit from many of my others, so be forewarned.
Anyway, one of the things that I “picked up” living in New Orleans that I chose to leave behind was ZOOK. ZOOK was a large albino Burmese Python that I had acquired while living in New Orleans. I sure did enjoy this long snake, but the logistics of bringing it back to Wisconsin with me were uncertain, and the exotic pet laws also vary, so whether I could “legally” keep him or not was questionable.
ZOOK & PAPA
I knew a man at that time who I’ll leave anonymous for the time being, and he had some large albino Burmese Pythons himself. I knew that ZOOK would have a good home there, so I asked him if he would be interested. Naturally, he was.
PAPA With His Ball Python
The only thing left to determine was the sale price, which is where things get more interesting. At the time I still had a smaller Ball Python that would be returning to Wisconsin with me, and I definitely wanted a clause where I could potentially reclaim ZOOK if the opportunity presented itself. The guy was alright with that aspect of the deal, so I began to evaluate what he had to offer.
GOODS & WARES IN THAT LIFESTYLE
This guy didn’t exactly have a “regular” job. He had talents and certain connections that allowed him a bit of opportunity, but he definitely was not a “clock-puncher.” By day, he would run a tattoo shop, and at night, when he had gigs, he would play music. On the side, he’d deal drugs. Mostly cocaine, but some weed too. I had met him through another friend, and in those days, his place was a regular stop, although I had never been tattooed by him or went to one of his concerts… if you can read between the lines.
In case you don't understand what I was just alluding to, I used a lot of drugs in those days. Perhaps, some of the drugs even used me...
ZOOK on “House Patrol”
Anyway, I was still getting tattoos in those days, and still using drugs, so ZOOK gave me some opportunity in the deal. In the end, I got some cocaine, marijuana, and tattoos out of the deal and the guy got my snake, ZOOK.
THE TATTOOS
There was a time in my life when I pretty much had a lot of tattoos that I still wanted to get. I think that eventually I would have wound up completely covered in them, face included. Since those days my life has changed a lot, and I currently wish that I had never gotten any tattoos, but that just isn't the way that my life went.
I already had five tattoos at that time, a couple on each of my arms and one on my stomach. It wasn't really a matter of whether to get another tattoo at that point, but more which tattoo to get next. The deal that I worked out was for two tattoos, one on each front shoulder.
ZOOK & PAPA Stretching Out
I was a fan of the Red Hot Chili Peppers for many years at that point, and I had always liked the black & red ink that Anthony had. I decided to create some original designs to get, as the majority of my other ones were. Though my second tattoo ever was made of some Chinese characters that I picked off the wall at a tattoo shop, the rest had at least been modified by myself, if not completely created by yours truly.
Ultimately, I think that I just liked the way that tattoos looked at that point, and liked making my own to represent myself. This time, I was going a little deeper into my life than some other tattoos, and going really original in many ways. I don't think that there is any way that any other person ever got any tattoos similar to these.
NEW (OLD) MEMORY JUST RECOVERED
Memories can be interesting things, and often incomplete or even inaccurate. As I was looking through semi-ancient photos to use for this post, I just realized I must have had the same guy tattoo me previously, because I had my first tattoo colored in too while living in New Orleans.
PAPA Feeding ZOOK a Rat
In this photo of ZOOK grabbing a rat out of my hand you can see that the tattoo on my left arm is still fresh, red, and swollen. I never had the original artist color it in for me, because I was not impressed by his work. At the time I had more of a Mohawk, so I know that the photo was taken some months prior to my departure, since I had a small set of dreads when I got the other two tattoos.
Since time is limited for enjoying posts on steemit and since some have suggested that some of my posts get too long, I try to cut longer posts off at around 1000 words or so these days, and break them into parts to be posted in a series.
If you are enjoying the story so far, stay tuned for PART 2, coming soon to a steemit near you!
FOLLOW
It is so interesting to see how we as human beings change so much in attempts to becoming closer to our soul's callings and stirrings... Thanks for sharing your story with us.
Namaste :)
Yeah, time passes and we continue to grow and develope as individuals. Thanks man, I'll try to post the next one tomorrow.
very amazing story. keep writing!
I will try to share more later tonight!
Gorgeous snakes! I'm sorry you had to give up Zook, it looks like you guys had a great bond. I think, as far as snakes go, my absolute favorite is the red tail boa. They have such beautiful markings!
Yeah, Red Tails are nice too, we had one in Wisconsin.
My husband used to be big into reptiles. He used to have all sorts of snakes, lizards, monitors, alligators, crocodiles, camens, tortoises, etc. Although he's cut it all down to just yellow ackies now. He finally got some to breed with only two hatchlings currently.
Man... that sounds awesome!
Good to be breeding what he's got though! Monitors are soooo cool, and Tegus too!
We all have a past, if it wasn't for that past you may not be where you are now oh and Zook is scary lol :)
I agree with the first part... but calling ZOOK "scary"????
Hes probably not its his size that scares me
LOL!
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