Alexander Lawrence is a 41-year-old tattoo artist who owns Mountainside Tattoo in Bellows Falls, Vt., he is my tattoo man. He is gifted, serious, ambitious and creative. A lifelong student of computing and technology, we have lots to talk about, I love hearing about the inside world of tattoo artistry, how important the Internet has become, how easy is it steal one another’s work, how conscious of artistry Alex is. My tattoo took about 45 minutes to put on my arm, it cost $100, it stung a small bit – not nearly as much as a pinprick – and was very mildly sore afterwards.

Aftercare is important, I have antibacterial and softening lotion to put on, it feels absolutely fine now. At some point, I’ll do some work on the Mary Oliver tattoo/quote on my left arm, but in the meantime, I am happy to have my Jewish Pirate tattoo. Every time I mention Jewish Pirates to someone, their eyes widen. You never know as much as you think you know, never.