"Ink Pain"

Im going to be 40 in just over 3 years (OMG!!) and for a while now I have been contemplating the idea of getting a couple more tattoos before this time arrives. My first (and only) tattoo was back when I was 18 years old, just a small symbol ( I think I found in the corner of an advert in a magazine lol) at the top of my right arm:

Ever since this one I have have wanted another, but 18 years on and still nothing...well until now that is:

Enjoying a little post tatt brekkie

Yep you guessed it, I had to get a Harry Potter themed one, choosing The Deathly Hallows over everything else. Versus (my tattooist, whom by the way was more than happy to point out that he was only 6 years old when I got my first tatt....) has done a fab job making it look like someone has just drawn it on my wrist, he even did a bit of free hand at the end to get the effect.

I love how the "Elder wand" actually looks like a wand aswell

So why The Deathly Hallows, why the heck would you want something that is associated with death?
I'm a massive HP fan and I wanted a tattoo that wasn't quite so obvious, perhaps something that only fellow fans would recognise. I did a bit of research online and saw hundreds (if not thousands) of HP fans had this symbool somewhere on their body so, at first, I was a relunctant to get it done and carried on with some rsearch, however I then came across this post on reddit which perfectly summed up what I wanted my tattoo to be all about.

"One simply uses the symbol to reveal oneself to other believers, in the hope that they might help one with the Quest." - Xenophilius Lovegood

(Also maybe one day I would like to be the "Master of Death" and this will help me in my quest....)

But why a tattoo, that all seems a bit too "forever" for my liking?!?
The Harry Potter books are my most loved and most read books, I've seen the films countless times, visited the theme parks and been on the studio tour several times, own tons of memorabilia and you can bet your bottom dollar I will go and see "The Cursed Child" in London at some point (both parts)......I think its safe to say that this is not a passing fancy. Unlike getting the name of a current boyfriend engraved on your body, permanently, only for the relationship to end, Harry will be with me forever.

Thanks to the handy work of Versus at Asgard piercing and tattoo studios I certainly feel I now have a unique version of the symbol.

Next tattoo is already planned ;-) hopefully I wont make myself wait quite as long to get this one done, I'll be 54 by then....

It's all over.....for now!

Well thats it, sailing is all over for this year. It's quite nice having free weekends again and being able to make plans but Im really going to miss my crew buddies! We had such a laugh and I really hope we can do some more sailing next year.

We've really come together as a team over the last few weeks and although there have been high and low points its definately been one experience I wouldn't change for the world. However, I'm not going to lie, I bloody hated it when we first started out, I couldn't believe I was giving up my only free time to get battered, bruised, thrown around all over the place and, to top it off, shouted at...ALOT! What on earth was I doing? I was literally on the verge of giving it up altogether! After having a good heart to heart with my skipper I decided I would stick it out to the end of the series, this chat followed by a couple of really good weeks and I surprisingly found myself having fun even though I was very much out of my comfort zone.

Having had zero sailing experience I went into this a complete sailing novice and I have had to learn a hell of a lot over the past month.
I have arms like popeye after all the grinding in I have had to endure, I can flake a sail, learnt how important my foulies are, kind of learnt how to tie a bowline (still very much work in progress), I have also roughly learnt where bouys are located in the Solent along with their names (although this will bloody change next year), I discovered that TK Snax in Gosport does the most amazing breakfasts in the history of cafes!!!, and above all else I have learnt to shout back "POLE UP IS OPEN FFS!!"

Something I really need to learn how to understand and brush up on is tides and wind direction....still cant get my head round these.

Our last race was our best yet, finishing just 3 and a half minutes behind the Autumn 2014 Series champs (and our new nemesis!).

Final standings:

 Once racing was over all that was left was for much merriment at the awards ceremony, where although we didnt win any awards for our sailing we managed to pick a couple of winning raffle tickets (which is never a bad thing!)

SO thats it, its all over....well for now anyway, watch this space!

Cinema Rant!!!!!!!

[RANT] I left booking the cinema quite late this week and wasn't able to book our normal aisle seats, this meant there was a chance we would actually have to climb over other people to get to our seats (or actually have to speak to other human beings...). As if this wasn't bad enough when we arrived (just before 8pm for an 8pm showing...NOT late) there were people sat in our seats...wtf? Well actually they had decided that they were going to leave an empty seat between them and the people next to them therefore sitting in one of our seats. Why do people do this and think its ok? They had to book allocated seats when they bought their tickets, regardless of whether it was a few days in advanced or just before the showing started why wouldn't the seats next to them also be booked? Especially when the film you are seeing has only been out for a week and is still extremely popular with a sold out theatre.
Please if you do this don't moan when people ask you to move along, all too often this happens. Allocated means ALLOCATED not "allocated but ofcourse just sit where ever the f*** you want!!!" This is a massive pet peeve people stop doing it!!

Also whilst Im having a bit of a cinema rant, Star Wars....I have avoided the latest trailer like the plague. Ofcourse I will be going to go see The Force Awakens when it is released next month, possibly several times... I dont need it trailed at the beginning of every film I go see at the cinema to convince me. Seriously, my relationship with SW is like Leia and Han Solo: I say "I love you" SW simply replies "I know".
You dont need to convince me to see it I'm already there! (that said I did pee my pants a little when I saw the opening to the trailer, oh God is it December 18th yet?).

[/RANT]