For my 5th tattoo, I returned to my first artist. She had been traveling the world, doing conventions, visiting exotic lands, etc… and had left the shop where I had gone previously. This time, I traveled to Manhattan to get my tattoo. As with all my tattoos, I worked with her to come up with what I wanted. I sent photo reference and she sent back sketches until we had something just right. I knew I wanted a Red Wing Black Bird, which is my favorite bird (a very loud Jersey bird, in my opinion), and a reminder of my home on the coasts and marshes of NJ. She already knew that I like minimal color, thin lines, lots of black and grey, and came up with a piece that incorporated all this and several of the images I had sent. This was a long detailed session, my first tattoo where I had to take a short break to get up and move my body. I was extremely please with how it turned out and still am! That night, I had a bar backing shift, which I would not recommend after getting tattooed. For 5 days after, my arm ached in a way I had never experienced or could have imagined. At one point a few days later, I remember being in a restaurant eating sushi and just wanting to cry. It was a weird moment where I thought perhaps I was going to die. But a few more days passed and my arm was fine and I have a lovely tattoo to wear forever, so it was all worth it!