Flash Tat-2

Ok so here’s a funny story:
I was in Charlottesville for a summer internship in astrophysics/​astronomy. I became extremely close friends with the girls in my program, so on Monday night of our last week, we decided to get matching circle tattoos. I mean, everything is cyclical, and a circle can represent so many things in physics, right? Anyway, this isn’t a place to defend my tattoo… so on TUESDAY night, we try to find a place to get a tattoo at 9:30 pm. Flash was the only person who answered.
I could tell he was a nice guy by the way he spoke on the phone. At first, he said he was ‘by appointment only,’ but I begged him to give my three friends and I each a small quarter sized circle tattoo. He asked me how much money I had to offer and we settled on $ 60. I mean… it’s a really good price! Don’t you agree?
I get directions to his place and we head out. We’re almost out of gas, but we decide to go without filling up anyway. 20 minutes into the drive, we lose cell phone reception. Eventually, we find the place. It’s pitch black. Abandoned old cars everywhere. We cannot see a thing. I whisper to my girl friends ‘we are going to get raped and murdered… we should have brought mace.’ Flash meets us at the front door with his flashlight and his guard dog, Bear. I was EXTREMELY skeptical, thinking, ‘how have I gotten myself into this shit?.‘
But as soon as I got into the door and see his artwork, I know I came to the right place! It’s rare that you can see a man’s artwork and be able to draw the conclusions that (1) he’s a good artist and (2) he’s an extremely good technician. His studio was kind of sketch. It was un-​airconditioned (boo) and basically in the shed of his house. But I did not, at one point, fear for my health after I spoke to him.
The only criticism I had to give was Flash was really really talky. We got there at 10pm and got out around 3:30am. He loves talking about the history of tattoo artistry and as soon as he found out we were astro majors, we had a long talk about SETI.
ANYWAY. I could not recommend a place more strongly. Flash has been tattooing for 35+ years and he is AMAZING, not to mention really safe as far as sanitation goes. Please please please, if you are considering getting a tatttoo in Charlottesville, take an extra 20 minutes to drive to his place. Don’t be sketched out, and put your faith in him. If I lived on the East coast, I would continue going to him for tattoos.
I luv Flash.