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I need to do some major work on my blogs this week, so if you try to get here and the link doesn’t work or the place looks like it got hit by a truckload of white bread and mayonnaise…  hang in there. I have worked out the details and will be able to put everything back the way it should be… eventually. 
To all my readers, may 2010 bring you everything you ask for!
photo credit: Trisha Descallar
Hanukkah is over, but we still have Solstice, Christmas and Kwanzaa coming up.
A couple years ago I wrote a series of posts in my other blog called “Ten Ways to Take a Stand Against Ignorance.” In it, I suggested buying gifts from organizations whose only purpose is to expand human knowledge, because in that way everyone benefits. So I’d like to pass that along as my final holiday suggestion for this year.
Does your local museum or public library have a shop? If not, annual memberships to museums and Friends of the Library organizations are almost always reasonably priced and they’re available all year round. National museums like the Metropolitan Museum, Smithsonian Institution and Chicago Art Institute offer gift certificates (and they sell a lot more than art in their catalogs).
Consider giving a subscription to National Geographic, Smithsonian, or a similar periodical. (Bonus, those magazines often feature glorious photography of people with body art.) That way, you’re giving a gift that will keep on arriving all year round.
Give a membership to your local public radio or TV station. Commercial free programming is always a plus.
Most of all, give something that shows you’re putting your own knowledge of someone else’s joys to good use.
Happy holidays to all Multi.Colored people and those who want to be!
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In the northern hemisphere, we’re into the colder weather already (well, here in the Los Angeles megalopolis it’s gotten chilly enough that some of the surfers are thinking about putting on some clothes, at any rate) so it’s not as easy to display our artwork. Thus, the following suggestions for the times when one’s own art isn’t so simple to display. Again, this is a list of suggestions where it’d be best if you found your own sources, so I’m not providing specific links.
A t-shirt with a picture of a favorite tattoo (you can make this yourself with iron-on transfers if you feel up to it). You could also provide a disk with images and a box of iron-on transfer paper in case the recipient doesn’t like what you 
picked. And doesn’t mind being given a gift they have to put together themselves.  Since my dragon tattoo is almost never visible, I’m thinking seriously of making a shirt with an iron-on of the dragon over where it actually is on my left shoulderblade.
An item of clothing or a bumper sticker with the logo of your or the recipients’ favorite tattoo artist (if the artist sells such things, I’m sure he or she will appreciate the extra income).
Jewelry with tattoo designs. Lots of this available all over the internet and at places like Hot Topic.
A sheet of vintage tattoo flash, framed for hanging on the wall (there are many web sites devoted to vintage flash and you can also find it on eBay).
There is an iPhone app called Tattoo Mania. I’m sure there are others. I don’t have an iPhone.Â
If the recipient’s favorite artist offers gift certificates, buy one for an hour’s work. If the artist doesn’t do this, find out what he or she charges by the hour and get a prepaid gift card from Master Card, Amex, etc. for that amount. (Of course, whether the recipient spends the card on artwork is then up to him or her.)
Today’s the last day of Hanukkah, but the Solstice is coming soon, followed by Christmas and Kwanzaa, so there are plenty of opportunities left this year to spread some Multi.Colored joy around!
photo credit: __april
Image via Wikipedia
Hanukkah started at sundown last night. My family is nonreligious, but we light candles every year on Hanukkah in the hope that in the year to come the world will find more enlightenment.
In honor of Hanukkah, I’d like to suggest these eight skin care products that are good all year round. I won’t link to specific stores, because you can find these products just about everywhere these days. I’ve chosen Burt’s Bees, not only because I’ve used many of these products and like them, but because honey often plays a part in Hanukkah meals.
Burt’s Bees Hand Salve–contains almost identical ingredients as pricey tattoo creams, and works just as well (personal experience speaking, here).
Burt’s Bees Vitamin E Body and Bath Oil–if you take baths, this stuff is great. Only down side is that it is indeed oil and you’ll have to be sure to wash the tub afterwards. Smells great.
Burt’s Bees Milk & Honey Body Lotion–smells sort of like honey, and does a good job of moisturizing.
Burt’s Bees Natural Skin Care for Men Soap–haven’t tried this one myself, but have it on good authority that it’s good stuff.Â
Burt’s Bees Rosewater & Glycerin Toner–this is for “sensitive and mature skin” and it feels very soothing. I don’t happen to like the scent of roses, but if you do, this is for you.
Burt’s Bees Honey & Shea Butter Body Butter–they’re not kidding when they call it “butter.” It’s a very thick, solid cream that takes a while to rub in, but makes your skin feel great.
Burt’s Bees Milk & Shea Butter Body Wash–this stuff works great in the shower, I’ve found, and it’s an easy way to moisturize your whole body.
Burt’s Bees Carrot Nutritive Day Cream–really works wonders on dry skin, and smells nice, too.
If you have any skin care products you’re especially fond of, please tell us about them in the comments.
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All kinds of holidays are coming soon, so people of many traditions will have good reasons to celebrate. Here are a few 
ideas for gifts for people who are already multicolored and for those who’d like to be.
Crafty Computer Paper (in the UK) sells inkjet paper designed for printing fake tattoos. In the US, so does DecalPaper.com. What better way to get someone started on the path to real decoration than printing out temporary tattoos in their own designs?
If your recipients aren’t quite ready to mark up their own skin, how about tattoo-themed gifts from Zazzle or Tattoo Art Gifts?
Zazzle also has tattoo bumper stickers.
And of course, for the real Multi.Colored fan, there is always (you knew this was coming, right?) one of my own Multi.Colored designs from my CafePress store.
That’s just for starters. More suggestions in days to come. Feel free to add your own!
photo credit: comawe
Thanks, everyone, for your comments over the past few weeks. I know I’ve been very slow to respond to them. This time, though, I have a better excuse than usual.
Every November, there is a writers’ challenge called National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo for short). The goal is to write 50,000 words in 30 days. I had taken note of this before and had even bought their official handbook No Plot? No Problem! last year. But somehow I’d never thought I’d be equal to the challenge.
This year, I decided to take the plunge.
Years ago, I started writing a novel. I think I actually have a beat-up floppy disk with an early draft from sometime like 1990. I got it mostly finished and realized it was terrible, so I went back and started rewriting it and adding in all kinds of things, like, oh, an actual plot and more characters. But Life Happened and I never actually finished the rewrite. But after I’d chugged along for a while I realized that it wasn’t a story for one book, it was a story for a book and a sequel. So I had a general idea of what the sequel would be. But I’d never written a word of it because I figured it’d be a good idea to finish the first book first.
During the month of November 2009, I wrote the sequel. Without having finished the first book. Despite having been flattened by an attack of vertigo that kept me sidelined for nearly a week…  I finished the book, at about 53,000 words. Of course it still needs work (that’s a given) but for the first time in my life I actually finished writing a novel.
Concentrating on that, however, took about all the writing energy I had. So my blogs got neglected more than usual (as I’m sure my readers have noticed). Now I’ve had time to breathe a bit, so let’s get back to talking about tattoos, why don’t we?Â
Tomorrow I’ll start another series on holiday gifts for multicolored people. Stay tuned.
I put my name on the list for Dan Brown’s new novel at the library quite a while ago, and today I made it to the top of the list.
I have never considered Mr. Brown a world class novelist, although I’ve enjoyed reading his books. But this time he’s lost me. Oh, I’ll finish the book, but when you start off by having a character tattoo the top of his own bald head and then immediately slap makeup all over it…
If Mr. Brown wants to write about tattooed people again, I offer my services as a consultant!
If you’re subscribing to my posts by email, first of all, thank you!
But could you guys check and make sure the email address you entered is correct? I’ve been getting quite a few posts bounced back lately. Wouldn’ t want you to miss anything.Â
Image via Wikipedia
Unless you live right on the Equator, your seasons are changing right now. Well, duh, talk about stating the obvious.Â
I know a lot of us (myself included) don’t like to spend major amounts of time on skin care. After I wash it clean, it’s good to go, that’s my philosophy. Unfortunately, for a lot of us (myself included) that approach just isn’t enough.
Over the past few years I’ve become a somewhat grumpy consumer of skin lotions of various kinds. My skin was never dry before, but boy, it sure is now. Unfortunately, changing the habits of a lifetime and remembering to “moisturize” (as someone who was a teenager in the Sixties I hate that word about as much as I do “kicky” and “glissy” which thank goodness we don’t see kicking–or glissing–around any more) is a royal pain. Did you know that when I was a kid, the manufacturers of Dove soap advertised it as “One quarter cleansing cream” instead of “moisturizing cream” the way they do today? People apparently used to buy it to get clean, but now they’re older and something else is more important.
Multicolored skin doesn’t look good when it’s dry. Your colors will be dulled by an ashy overlay. Oily multicolored skin won’t look good either, if it’s not kept properly clean and exfoliated. (Exfoliation’s a fancy term used to sell cosmetics. You can rub off the dead skin cells with a washcloth in the shower. Just so you know.) So, whether you’re headed into winter or into summer where you live, it’s time to pay closer attention to your skin.
If you need skin lotions, browse a few big drugstores and pick up travel sizes. Places like Whole Foods sell travel sizes, too, of the kinds of lotions not usually found in drugstores. Once you’ve experimented with as many small inexpensive bottles as you want, you’ll have a good idea of what works for you, and what scents you can live with. I am very happy with the lavender/citrus scent of some of the skin cleaners and lotions I use, but that’s definitely not for everyone.
If you need toners or astringents to use on oily skin, try the inexpensive ones first. Plain witch hazel does a dandy job and costs next to nothing. It does have a distinctive scent, but that dissipates quickly. And, as I said, you don’t have to spend extra on “exfoliators” if you don’t want to. After your skin has soaked a while in the shower, rub it with the rough side of a washcloth, stopping to rinse the washcloth out frequently. Don’t scrub too hard. It doesn’t take super powers to clean your skin.
You can find “body wash” products in almost any drugstore or supermarket. These come in bottles like lotion and are designed to be scrubbed all over the body and then rinsed off, presumably leaving “moisturizer” behind. I’ve tried a couple of those and they work quite well, but I’m still not used to the feeling of “moisturizer” on my skin instead of the clean feeling left behind by good old soap and water (OK, my doctor suggested I use Dove, what can I say). There are also moisturizers that you apply in the shower and then rinse off. I’ve tried one of those and it works as expected. But I’m still grumpy about being this age and having this skin so I’m not consistent about it.
If you’re headed into winter, keep your skin clean and keep it from drying out. Don’t just slap some lotion on the ink and call it good. You may not be able to see the dryness on the rest of you, but if it’s on your ink it’s all over. If you’re headed into summer, keep your skin clean and keep the dead skin cells from accumulating (and use sunscreen, of course).
Becoming a multicolored person means more than just going and getting inked. It means taking care of your colors so you and the world can admire them for the rest of your life.
What are your favorite skin care products? I’m always on the lookout for something new.
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