I missed my last chance to go before the closure because I decided to check out the one in Mill Creek yesterday on my way down to Mountlake Terrace to feed my friend Mike's dogs and let them out into the back yard for a bit. I've now been to five of my six Snohomish County YMCAs as well as the one in Bellingham, and of all those, Mill Creek is my least favorite. It's another one with a three-foot-deep pool, the hot tub was barely warm, and there's no sauna or steam. The locker room and showers were quite small as well.
It's all a bit surprising because of all these places, Mill Creek is the fanciest and most expensive. One would think their Y would reflect the local economy a bit more. But maybe that's exactly the issue. The membership rates are expensive because the money is used to fund programs for less fortunate people, so maybe they didn't invest much because there are fewer of those people to serve there.
Yesterday's tattoo session was a lot better than my last one. I brought pillows in case he wanted me laying down face down again, but instead he had me sit on the table. I had to lean way forward while he worked on my lower back so the skin was stretched tight, and the pillow definitely helped with that. It's a good thing I'm able to sit with my legs completely horizontal, one on top of the other, or else the circulation issues would have impacted me way more than they did.
I don't have a photo I'm ready to share yet, but I'm happy to report that we added the outline of a DeLorean at the small of my back which will be the lowest part of the piece. We also filled in the black parts between the stripes of the sun between the keytars, as well as the silhouettes of the palm trees in front of it. Heavy blackwork is pretty brutal to heal, so we decided to stop there rather than color in the sun. The next session will be to do those colors and perhaps color in the car.
A new thing I'm doing is surrounding myself with representations of expensive things I'd like to have but don't really need. I love DeLoreans but I don't really see the point in owning one, so why not get a tattoo? I also miss having a full-size Tron arcade game, but I don't see the point in owning an arcade cabinet for one game any more, so I got a big refrigerator magnet shaped like one.
And the central part of my back tattoo will represent the theme bar I'd love to run but have always said I wouldn't start unless I win the lottery. And let's be honest, if I actually won, would I still want to start and run a business? I might change my tune pretty quickly about all that hard work if I never actually had to work again.
Maybe I'd just hire really great managers and impose my creative control over the place while they do all the real work.