Beards Gone Wild, Ink, Cold.

And in no particular order:

It's cold out. Damn cold. Finally finished F691. Not sure if I mentioned it before and am currently too lazy/sore (more on that later) to check. It was a structure w/ basin. In the beginning we (EJC and myself) had only a portion of it, but as we dug that part we were tasked w/ watching the machine open up the rest of that EB (53) and in doing so uncovered the rest of 691. So, we carried on. Long story short, I busted ass the last day getting the last trench out to beat the bad weather (which all in all wasn't too terribly bad... yet). Spent my Friday in the lab finishing up what we'd glossed over in the paperwork, which as it turns out is much better in the lab than in the field.

During all this cold, though, my face has remained toasty toasty warm. The beard is just out of control (though it doesn't rival MCT's year long majestic masterpiece). Think I'll trim back the 'stache as it makes eating soups tricky.

As it happens, the area below my neck, between my shoulder blades is quite bony and devoid of excess... skin, fat, muscle, etc. That's where I got my new tattoo. To this point the most painful tattoo experience I had was the tops of the bird wings on my chest where they lay over the clavicle. I could feel the vibrations in my jaw that time. This time, as I sat upright, I could feel the vibrations in the back of my throat. I almost passed out twice, vomited, and had to ask him to stop twice while I gathered myself and prepared to press on. Tom's a good guy, though, and was kind enough not to jab when I sissied out. It's done though and looks great. It's the sun and stars off the Filipino flag. As I'm turning 30 this year I decided I'd splurge and get something big, so when I go back in to have the healing looked at, we're going to talk about this project. But as w/ the compass on my forearm: It was another exciting journey into pain and limits; thanks, Tom. But, the throbbing's subsided and it's more of a dry burn. It hurts to turn my head certain ways, and I think I'll be sleeping on my stomach tonight.