You may not know that Halloween is the most favored holiday in Santa Cruz. Although we are rarely among the group of celebrants, this year we decided to join in. Kai Smart, Mykle's sweetheart, was celebrating the grand opening of her new tattoo parlor on the Saturday before Halloween and invited people to come in costume. They are living in Davis which is near Sacramento so we booked a hotel room and went up for the party.
We spent two hours covering ourselves in tattoo decals- ferocious tigers and eagles, scorpions and butterflies and a few new age rainbows and flowers. We were met with a small chorus of, "you guys are awesome!" when we showed up. The shop was beautiful. They had worked until a few 4ams getting the place painted and ready for the opening and it came together beautifully. Kai and her mentor and partner in the business are both artists and presented a show of their work. Chris, another partner and a piercer, also displayed his art. (I won one of his pieces in the drawing. Mykle tells me it is a bright green skull with flames coming out of the head).
We had a good time and, as usual, enjoyed their smart and interesting friends a lot.
(Click the flickr link for more photos.)
Mykle then left on the 31st to begin a six week job on a ship. The scientific expedition leaves from Chile and will be working in Antarctic waters. This is Mykle's current employment in lieu of a "real job". He's scheduled for a few more expeditions in the coming months.
