InkTales Podcast
InkTales Podcast
Nayeli's Shift: From Pharmacy to Real Estate and Ink Stories
Ever wonder if it's possible to shift from a high-pressure career to a more fulfilling one without losing your mind? Meet Nayeli, who takes us through her compelling journey from the demanding world of pharmacy to finding her true calling in real estate. Listen as she shares what it's like to balance part-time pharmacy work while diving into new ventures like the tax business, all spurred by a motivational conference in Vegas. Nayeli’s story is sure to inspire anyone looking to redefine their professional path.
How do you break societal norms and show off your ink without sacrificing your professional image? This episode explores the evolving perceptions of tattoos in the workplace. We discuss the strategic placements of tattoos to maintain a professional appearance and dive into our personal experiences, from concealing larger tattoos to celebrating them. This candid conversation highlights the importance of understanding the stories behind the ink and embracing personal expression in a world that's slowly catching up.
From the emotional connections to our pets to the stories etched on our skin, we get personal. I share my own tattoo tales, including a heartfelt piece dedicated to my black cat, Taco. Plus, we reminisce about my time working at a dive bar that welcomed a mix of patrons, offering a glimpse into a unique community. We'll also chat about the intricate process of planning, covering up, and transforming tattoos into works of art. Tune in for a heartfelt discussion about identity, community, and the transformative power of body art.
Hi, you're listening to the Inktails podcast, a show where I go out in the city, meet new people and get the stories behind our tattoos. I'm Tenoch. Come join me on my journey. Today on the show, I'm in Aurora, Illinois, with my guest, Nayeli Nayeli. Welcome to the show.
Speaker 2:Hi, thanks for having me.
Speaker 1:No problem, how are you doing today?
Speaker 2:I'm doing well hanging in there.
Speaker 1:That's good, so we like to take it pretty easy on the show. Okay, Mainly what I want to know when we start off is just let us know a little bit about who you are, what you do and some of the things that you enjoy doing in life.
Speaker 2:Okay, so my name is Nayeli. I actually do a lot, so I went to pharmacy school Huh.
Speaker 1:I said do tell us.
Speaker 2:Okay, so I'm actually a pharmacist, so that's technically my career, but I got tired of being a pharmacist. So that's technically my career, but I got tired of being a pharmacist after eight years maybe. And so now I sell houses. And then I got tired of selling houses too, so now I am going to do taxes.
Speaker 1:Wait so.
Speaker 2:I kind of jump around just doing a few things because I get bored easily.
Speaker 1:So what is it about being a pharmacist that you didn't like, because obviously that's a lot of schooling.
Speaker 2:Yeah Well, I was working for a grocery. It's like a community pharmacy, you would say.
Speaker 1:Okay.
Speaker 2:So they basically treat you the same as you were working, as like a factory. You know, like I used to work factory jobs when I was younger and they don't. They're basically like, you know, you gotta like just hurry up, hurry up, hurry up, you know. So it was like okay, well, I went to school for eight years and I'm still working weekends and I'm still working nights and I'm still getting asked to hurry up.
Speaker 2:You know, I didn't really have the time to like take care of patients the way that I wanted to, so it really wasn't worth it, even though I mean the money's good.
Speaker 1:So why not? Why didn't you just decide to switch from that company to maybe somebody else or somewhere else?
Speaker 2:I couldn't, but they're all the same and actually I did. I worked at um some other insurance big name Um. I did insurance for a little bit and it was awful. It was like I was clinically depressed. It was not not a good fit.
Speaker 1:Okay, so obviously that was not what you expected it to be.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean, you know it's, it's because it's also, I think, personality, right. So I'm one of those people who I love to meet new people, I love to do different things every day, right? So when it comes to retail, you do the same thing every day and to a certain extent, you see the same medications all the time. It doesn't change, it doesn't change that much from day to day. And the same thing. With the insurance company you did the same thing every day nine to five. And it with the insurance company, you did the same thing every day, nine to five. And it's kind of it's just like so I don't know so boring.
Speaker 1:Okay, so then from there you. You said you were a realtor, right yeah, so I'm still doing that.
Speaker 2:I'm a real estate agent okay, and what was so?
Speaker 1:what do you like about being a realtor or don't like about being?
Speaker 2:a realtor. I like making money.
Speaker 1:Is the money better?
Speaker 2:So you know, okay. So a real estate agent is completely different, right? So to be a successful real estate agent, you have to be sociable. A lot of my money, a lot of my income comes from my friends and people I've met at the bar.
Speaker 1:I've met All right, so you were telling me. So I was saying that I think your personality lends itself to you know, being like a good realtor, because you get to meet people, you get to go out and talk to them and, like you said, I don't think that that makes it boring, because, no matter what situation you're in and where you go, you can always potentially meet a client.
Speaker 2:Correct, Correct. So yeah, so real estate is fun. It's fun, I mean it's fun. It can be stressful as well, but it's it's more. I feel more fulfilled doing real estate than I did being a pharmacist.
Speaker 1:That's good. I'm like that's what you want in life anyways. Right, you want to be fulfilled and enjoy what you do.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so it's a little less money, but it works.
Speaker 1:And how long have you been doing real?
Speaker 2:estate. I've been doing that for four years now. So I actually, when I first started, I was doing pharmacy at the same time as I was doing real estate, so I was doing both. I had no life Like. All I did was like look up houses and go to work. Yeah, that was crazy, but I actually did fairly well those two or three years that I was doing it like together and now I actually like cut down on my pharmacy and now I do a real estate full-time and I do pharmacy part-time.
Speaker 1:Okay, I was. I was going to ask him like are you still a practicing pharmacist?
Speaker 2:Yeah, I want to keep it, you know, because I spent so much, so many years going to school yeah, I'm sure a lot of money. So it's kind of like you know no, I hear you.
Speaker 1:And then, uh, you said you did something else. What else do you do?
Speaker 2:yeah, so now I'm actually looking towards, um, starting up a tax business. I actually just got back from a tax conference, uh, this past week in Vegas, which was lots of fun, and I met a lot of people who are also doing taxes and they have their own business, and there's so many things you can do. I learned so much and I'm very motivated now.
Speaker 1:So what do you have to do to be able to do taxes, like what kind of schooling or certification?
Speaker 2:You have to be a CPA, but you actually don't. You can just be a tax preparer okay and you just get like a certified annually and you have to work under somebody. But you can like say, get a job at h&r block seasonally and then they. I think they pay you hourly, but there's some companies who will pay you per tax return, which is better than working hourly, because they make a ton of money off of you.
Speaker 1:When they prepare your taxes.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, yeah, heck yeah, cause you can make, like say, a tax return, a regular W-2, you could charge potentially like $200,. Right, okay, that takes you 15 minutes, if even.
Speaker 1:That's. That's not bad for 15 minutes.
Speaker 2:It's not bad at all, it's. It's way better. It's way better. If you do the math, I make way more money than pharmacy or real estate probably put together.
Speaker 1:So, with that just being like a tax preparer, you can't do that on your own, though can you with your own clients?
Speaker 2:Actually, I'm looking into the logistics of it because I'm not really sure how that's going to work. I have somebody one of my mentors. He has his own tax business and so he's going to walk me through everything, but he wants me to open a franchise under his company.
Speaker 1:Okay.
Speaker 2:So if I do that, then he'll just like facilitate everything for me, or I could just start it by myself. So I'm looking into the details of what would be more cost efficient for me and what would like be the best way for me to get started okay.
Speaker 2:Well, now you'll be doing three different things yes, correct okay, so I mean, I'm what the reason for me doing this is, because I really want to leave the pharmacy altogether okay, so you want to have, like, a secondary ideally I would want to um, yeah, just leave pharmacy altogether and not think about it.
Speaker 1:Okay, so let's move away a little bit from like a business perspective. Obviously, you have your hands in a bunch of, like you know, a bunch of different pots. No, that's okay. I'm like you know it's good to understand what, like, what makes you tick and what you like to do. But I also want to know what do you like to do when you're not working, like, what interests you, what, uh, gets you exciting? You know to like do stuff I do.
Speaker 2:I love to work because, um, like I said, and then maybe that's why I went into into real estate because I'm working and I'm making money at the same time and so I grew up low income, right? So low income, you don't have a lot of money, you. You constantly have to worry about, like, where your next paycheck is coming from, right? So I do appreciate, I think I'm still not. You know, I make a lot of money, but I don't. I don't feel that I'm where I want to be. So I do want to continue making money until I I reached my goal, which I don't really have a goal yet. My goal is to never worry about money, ever.
Speaker 1:Isn't that everybody's goal? That'd be nice.
Speaker 2:Well, I mean, I'm serious about it. A lot of people say that, right, they're like oh yeah, I want to be a millionaire, but they don't do anything to become a millionaire.
Speaker 1:Right, you can't play the lottery and expect to be a millionaire Exactly to make that happen.
Speaker 2:so I'm setting myself up to be a millionaire, hopefully, hopefully, soon, maybe. Uh, my goal would ideally would have been before, like 35, but now we're a little past that time, so that's okay.
Speaker 1:There's no rush like you're still young I mean.
Speaker 2:So that's another thing. People are always like oh you know, there's no, there's no rush right there, you're not in a hurry. But you should be in a hurry because, say, I'm a millionaire when I'm 60, who cares? I'm 60 years old. I don't know that I'm gonna have the kind of energy I have now. I want to have money now so I can do the things I want to do now.
Speaker 1:I do like now, when I'm like 70, 60, 50, 45.
Speaker 2:I want to do it now now I hear you.
Speaker 1:I'm like if I can have um that kind of life where I don't have to work, yeah, I'd appreciate it.
Speaker 2:I love the rockstar lifestyle. It's, um, you know, here and there I'll quit. You know the pharmacy and everything, and I'll just do whatever for a few weeks. And it's amazing. I love it. I always find stuff to do.
Speaker 1:It seems like you do. It seems like you do. And I'm sure you have a pretty good plan to be a millionaire sometime soon.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, so God willing soon.
Speaker 1:Yeah Well, I wish you the best and I can't wait to hear when you hit that first million. I'm sure my sister will tell me Thank you.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Okay, so I like to start off super, super easy. I like to know what was the very first tattoo that you got.
Speaker 2:Okay, so my very first tattoo. I think I was 18. My, my coworker, was like hey, I'm going to get a tattoo. You guys want to come with this guy's giving us a really good deal. It was like 50 bucks or something, or maybe 80. So this guy did a tattoo. It was we all got little stuff. I don't remember what they got, but I got my daughter's name and I think he added a butterfly. He said I'm going to hook you up, so we put a little butterfly at the end. And then he's like you know what, since he did three of us, he said you know what, if you guys get another tattoo out, it's free.
Speaker 2:Wait, you got two.
Speaker 1:You got two for the price of one.
Speaker 2:Yeah. So then I got another one. I didn't know what to get. I was like, oh, I'll do a half moon, half sun, right, so he did, it was okay. So this was like, this was like the trashiest tattoo ever. Um, I got it. When you call a tramp stamp okay is that?
Speaker 1:is that where you got the moon?
Speaker 2:I didn't know, it was a tramp stamp. Nobody told me that I was 18 years old. And he said well, you know, it'd look really nice on your lower back. And I said, oh, okay, sure, no idea, no idea what I signed up to, um, but yeah, whatever, we got it done. And and then, um, actually, you know my, my parents, you know, they're Mexican old school parents. I didn't want to tell them that I got a tattoo, even though I was 18 already. So I was like avoiding telling them because I was like they're gonna find out and you know I'm gonna get in trouble. So we went to a, to a party with my mom and I took my daughter. My daughter was like five at the time and I was like, mom, I have something to tell you, because I know she wasn't going to hit me in front of people. You know, like mom, I have something to tell you. She said that you got a tattoo and I was like yeah, how do you know? And she's like well, your daughter told me.
Speaker 1:Oh.
Speaker 2:That she saw you had, you know, something on your back and I was like, oh, so you already knew. And she's like, yeah, she's like you know, like whatever you know, I can't believe you're doing that stuff, but it's fine, you know, and she wasn't as mad as I expected. And how long was it from the time that you got your tattoo to the time your mom found out? It was probably like within a month. Yeah, because I couldn't. You know, I can't. My parents and I are very close. I can't keep stuff from them, so I was like you know, I don't want to.
Speaker 1:You know, even though I knew that they weren't going to agree with it, I still wanted them to know. Yeah, no, I think you know us as Mexicans. We kind of have a similar story with that. You know, obviously I held out a little bit longer than you did. Mine was like two years.
Speaker 2:How long was that? Two years before they knew yeah, Holy F Wait. Where did you get your first tattoo then? Oh Could you hide it.
Speaker 1:It was super easy because the very first tattoo that I got was I got binary code on the inside of my arm for my son's name and I got binary code on my ribs for Janelle's name and those were super easy to hide, right. But my next piece was like that Polynesian tattoo that I have on my arm that goes from the top of my shoulder to almost to my elbow, and I hid that for two years with uh, three-quarter sleeve shirts, and then for three years two years, two years two years wow yeah, then I finally just uh, let it out what did they say?
Speaker 1:I'm like I don't know, because I want to. Then I showed them the other ones. They're like okay, I like those, and now it's just, I don't think they do care but, yeah I think I got like six more since the last time they saw me. Oh wow, the small ones. But well, one big piece and a couple small ones. But yeah, I did hide it for a couple of years oh, my god, well, see mine.
Speaker 2:Like, I do have them in places where I can hide them because I'm still, like you know, technically I'm still a professional Right and you know, even though everybody's like, oh, let's move towards that, that trend where it doesn't matter what you look like, right, and to a certain extent you're right, you're right, but at the same time, tattoos kind of have like this like almost like a taboo right, because you don't know where these people got these tattoos Right.
Speaker 2:I got this tattoo in prison. You know they were like so you, yeah, it's still a little bit of like I don't know their baby mama's name or something like that, or you know. So I think I would be like you know what I'm. Okay, I don't want you to treat me. It sounds like I said it's controversial and people are gonna be like, well, you're a hypocrite, but at the same time it's like dude, come on, you gotta like. You know, think about this.
Speaker 1:No, I get it. People still have that kind of misconception and I think it's more towards like professional type of jobs, like when you're and more like doctors, you know, maybe lawyers or something like that, where you look at it, where you know if you're looking at someone who's like a software engineer, you're not going to care right Because you're dealing with software.
Speaker 2:You'd be like, oh, that's cool, but like you said, if you look at it, a doctor, If I see people who are, like, say, artists who have a bunch of tattoos, I'm like, oh my god, that's so cool, like I feel like I would be more willing to have. Like, for example, like my tattoo artist has a bunch of tattoos, right, so I feel safe quote-unquote that he's doing my tattoos because he's also got tattoos, you know yeah.
Speaker 2:So if he didn't have tattoos, you'd probably be like oh, I don't know if I want a tattoo by this guy yeah, and like it's totally understandable.
Speaker 1:You know, we still have those misconceptions and, like you said, I don't, I don't think I look at maybe, maybe I haven't thought about it like that where well, think about it.
Speaker 2:So think about it. So say, say, a neurosurgeon, right, somebody who's going to operate on your brain. You, you know, they come to you, you, they greet you, right, they greet you. They're, you know, in a suit and tie and their white coat, but they have like a tattoo on. You know, they're completely shaven and they have tattoos on their, you know, on their skull.
Speaker 1:Like would you be, like yeah, I'm just going to, or, you know, and piercing, you know you're going to be like I would say my younger self probably would have had the same kind of outlook that you do now yeah but my new self, especially after you know, doing this podcast and you have the uh, you know the time and the, the ability to sit with people and talk to them about their tattoos I I've kind of taken a step back and not necessarily judge someone right away, because you don't know the stories behind their tattoo.
Speaker 2:You don't know what that means.
Speaker 1:Like what if the reason he has tattoos on his head is because maybe he had a brain injury that he recovered from and that's his way of expressing that he recovered from that? Like we don't know? Yeah, that's true of meeting people, and sitting down and hearing their stories has made me less judgmental of what people get and maybe more curious of the story behind it. Versus judging like, oh, I would never get that, I can still say like I would never get that.
Speaker 2:That's true. That is a good point. I do see a lot of people getting tattoos for their, you know, their relatives or or, like you said, something that triggered them, something you know, yeah, and I think now.
Speaker 1:It's just more that now, instead of judging and me, you know, being all high and mighty like, oh, it's more like I want to know what that, why that's there and what's the reason behind it. So I have a different approach now and I think this podcast has helped me kind of look at things and that's you know that way yeah, and I think that's fair.
Speaker 2:That's fair. I haven't. I didn't think about it that way.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and also like that. That has helped me just look at life in the same kind of perspective. Instead of making that initial judgment, you kind of just maybe you should ask a question before you judge somebody. That's just.
Speaker 1:I think, what I've learned from doing this is that everybody has different ways of expressing themselves, and when people choose to put a tattoo on their body, they're telling a story with it and that's their way of expressing it, and sometimes it's pain, sometimes it just shows um they're, you know, like free spirit of adventure. So you don't know, and that's why I'm like I said, that's why I love doing this, and it's really helped me change my perspective on how I view people of all walks of life nowadays yeah, no, you're right, I think that's.
Speaker 2:Uh, tattoos are a lot more common than they used to be. I think somebody somebody just mentions me they wanted to get a tattoo, I think, today okay, I think one of my friends. She was just like she had a little tattoo and she's like oh, you know, I know, I think I want to get another one.
Speaker 1:So here's the one that I want to know about. Next is tell me why and where did you get your echo? In Mexico, because I think as.
Speaker 1:Mexicans, we all. I don't even think I got to take that back, it's not even as Mexicans. I just think as, like humans, who, who connect with you, know their nationality. Humans who connect with you, know their nationality, regardless of what it is, always have a tendency like, they want to like, represent. And I wanted to do that and I chose not to. I chose to do it a different way, but I want to know from you what does that mean to you and where did? You get it.
Speaker 2:So I used to work at a bar and I would get a lot of people who would say, oh, are you? Are you Mexican? You know? And that's always been a question everybody always asks me, like if I'm mexican, or if I'm like, what's your ethnicity? Like you know, I guess I could be anything. So I think I just got tired of telling people that I was mexican, so I just got a tattoo on my, on my boob, on the left side of my boob, um, and then just uh, whenever people would just say, hey, like what are you? You I'd just show them my boobs and they'd be like, oh, okay, and it's like at the top right.
Speaker 1:Like the very top of it where you can just easily show them.
Speaker 2:It was marketing. Yeah, well, yeah, when we used to work, we would always wear it because you're running around, so usually you just get like you wear like a muscle tee. What bar did you work at? Uh, I work here. Well, here, my hometown um, it used to be called the midtown bar and grill okay so, yeah, so it was like a dive bar.
Speaker 2:It was like one of those bars where you would have like somebody who made like you know, like a million dollars and then somebody who probably was homeless, hang out together in the same bar and doing karaoke.
Speaker 1:That sounds fun. Karaoke is always fun.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it was a really it was a really fun bar. It was um, it was good. I think we made we made it a point to make sure everybody felt welcome and accepted and everybody was like really nice to each other. It was a really good bar and when you got it, did it um, did it hurt, um? Actually, I don't think so. I think that was probably one of the least ones that hurt.
Speaker 1:What about your first one? How was that one, especially on the lower back um.
Speaker 2:You know what I don't remember. I don't I think it did hurt, but I don't think it was like so bad is that long ago.
Speaker 1:And then, what did your mom say when, uh, she saw the hecho en mexico?
Speaker 2:uh, well, actually I think after that she was probably like she lost all hope in me already.
Speaker 1:So she was kind of like whatever, whatever you want, you know I think I think parents at one point just kind of give up and they're like, yeah, I think I can do about it.
Speaker 2:She already gave up and you know what? Honestly, I don't even know if she knows I have it really yeah, you know what? I don't even know. You know she probably has. She has to know.
Speaker 1:Honestly, I've never even asked her maybe you should ask her like mom, have you seen this?
Speaker 2:she's probably gonna be like whatever you ever do, whatever you want he's probably like yeah, I already know, already know.
Speaker 1:She's like I know everything.
Speaker 2:Yeah, probably.
Speaker 1:That's how parents are.
Speaker 2:Yeah, no, my mom's super like. I mean, I don't think she would say anything anymore.
Speaker 1:No, probably not at this point. I think you know, like you said, she's giving up.
Speaker 2:Well, I'm not old enough, so if she says something, I mean I'll be like really mom.
Speaker 1:And then you have a cat on your back, right? Yes, it's a pretty big cat.
Speaker 2:You think so?
Speaker 1:I would say so. I think it's a pretty decent-sized cat.
Speaker 2:Well, you know, I can't see it, it's on my back.
Speaker 1:Yeah, Now it's a pretty good size. So tell me about this cat. Did you name it? Does it?
Speaker 2:have a name. So I had a cat maybe I don't know maybe seven years ago. He is a black cat, his name is Taco and he ran away.
Speaker 1:Taco.
Speaker 2:Yeah, but he was my cat, so we got a pair. It was him and his sister, so we named them Taco and Belle, for Taco Belle. And so Taco was very caring. He was one of those cats who, like, if you were sick, like he would know you were sick and he would stay with you and he would make sure you're doing okay. And he was my cat, so he would sleep with me. He was very smart, but he also hated attention and I ended up leaving my. I got my own house and I left my mom's house and I didn't take him with me because I didn't. I didn't want to. I didn't know how to take care of a cat by myself. I was living by myself, so I didn't want him to be alone. How?
Speaker 1:old were you when you moved to your first house?
Speaker 2:30.
Speaker 1:Okay, and how long did?
Speaker 2:you have the cat before that. So maybe like a year, maybe a couple years.
Speaker 1:Okay, so not that long, yeah, so what'd you think that he?
Speaker 2:died. He got upset, but I left and he ran away from your mom's house yeah, he ran away, but then he would come back and play with uh, we have other cats, so, um, he would come back and play with them, you know, on on the front, on the front lawn, and then he would leave how long?
Speaker 1:how long did he come back for? Do you know?
Speaker 2:he came. He came back regularly, I think, uh, for my mom moved out of there maybe three years ago, but he would continue to come up until my mom moved, and then you know, obviously, if he went he couldn't find the other cats, though and then, at what point did you get the tattoo, like after well, I actually just got that tattoo, maybe like this summer okay maybe like a month ago, maybe I asked you, I don't remember is it, because I just got it, because you missed him?
Speaker 1:huh, is it because you missed taco?
Speaker 2:um, I kind of I mean, sometimes I miss him, but I think you know he was, you know he was ready to go, so you know I probably wasn't a good, like you know, a cat mom, so that's why he left for taco and so what is?
Speaker 1:why did you put like um flowers? And is it, does it mean anything that you put a flower inside?
Speaker 2:um, I already had flowers there, but I wanted I I asked the guy to just like put some flowers on there. I think that was like the design. I really liked it, just because taco was like a good cat. He's very good, you know he's like a. You know, like I said, he was like one of those cats who like paid attention. You know how everybody says that cats are assholes yeah, I mean they can be, but they're, you know, they're also very like caring sometimes.
Speaker 1:But yeah, I know what you mean.
Speaker 2:That's why they call them assholes yeah, yeah, yeah, no, but they're, they can be caring, you know, it's just however they're feeling yeah, we used to have a cat.
Speaker 1:I miss it. I miss having a cat. They're cool yeah, that's, that's for sure and then so, keeping on the theme of like what I see on your back and the cat, so you have your. That's where your daughter's name is right, yeah, and then you decided that you put like, um, like, a cherry blossom tree, which is that's definitely pretty significant because it takes up the majority of your back um, yes, I didn't think about it that way.
Speaker 2:I just told this guy I'm like hey, just I wanted a cherry blossom and, uh, just happened to be that size, I don't know and what inspired the cherry blossom um, I think that was after I watched that. Um, that kung fu panda was that is that. What is the the one with the panda, that tree?
Speaker 1:the, the pan, the um. It was a cartoon kung fu panda, kung fu panda.
Speaker 2:What was it? I don't even know the name of the movie really it was a panda kung fu I don't know.
Speaker 1:Panda with jack black.
Speaker 2:What happened?
Speaker 1:I said it's Kung Fu Panda with Jack Black.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, that one.
Speaker 1:Okay.
Speaker 2:I think I got it after I got. I want to say it was after that movie.
Speaker 1:So what is it about the movie? Obviously, the movie inspired you to get that tattoo.
Speaker 2:I mean, I thought the cherry blossom looked really cute.
Speaker 1:Yeah, the cherry blossom tree was.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it was pretty significant it looked pretty right when the little turtle was, I don't know, saying something philosophical, and then he just died.
Speaker 1:Yeah, he kind of went into little particles.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it was a nice way to die right.
Speaker 1:It was. But yeah, I'm like, I've always loved cherry blossom trees. So that was the inspiration for that cherry blossom. Yeah, yeah, and how long did that take? Because it looks like it probably took a good, a good while to do that, because it's like I said, it's a pretty large piece on your back yeah, I have no idea.
Speaker 2:Honestly I don't remember. I I'm not like, I'm not very detail oriented, I don't remember it could have been, I don't know. I honestly don't even remember when I got it. And then Because it's been that long. Yeah, sometimes this was probably done like maybe 10 years ago.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I think once you start getting past like three or four tattoos, you tend to forget when you got them and where you were. You know they've got to be pretty significantly important for you to remember that. But after a while, yeah, you start to lose track of where you yeah, yeah, I don't remember and what's at the base of the um of the cherry blossom tree, because it looks like it is that you said you have a bird? Is that where? Oh?
Speaker 2:yeah, there's some kind of bird. So actually that one I didn't really like that much. Um, I, um, I think I just wanted to get a tattoo and then, um, I asked the artist to like draw something up and he was just kind of like, well, you have to tell me what you want. I don't really know, and I'm like.
Speaker 2:So I just he was like, hey, you know, we can do this bird and it has like a time clock on it and I'm like yeah, I was gonna ask you what that was but actually didn't really like it that much and then you incorporated the yeah, I was like at this point I'm gonna have to cover up my whole back because it's already there, because it just looks weird how it's, you know, halfway done.
Speaker 1:So that that was my goal behind that, which I still need to do, probably more I do like the way that, like the cherry blossom, kind of blends in with your daughter's name.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 2:And then Actually, because that was added later and that was a different tattoo artist. So I think I've tried like three different tattoo artists now and everybody has their own style. Like you see the butterflies on my daughter's name, like I wanted butterflies and I I told this guy I was like, okay, whatever you do, I do not want any stars, no stars. And he said, okay, okay, I got you, tell me why. He's like you know, I'm gonna do something very special for you. You know you don't have to pay extra or whatever. And I'm like, okay, sure, tell me why he puts a bunch of fucking stars. I was so mad, the little baby stars, I hated those. Yeah, I don't.
Speaker 1:I don't get that when you ask him like I don't want this, and then they put it on.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so actually recently, and actually I think the one that you see I had those changed over, some of them, um, and you know what you? Probably I wouldn't I don't see them in this picture, but I had this guy make some of the stars into hearts instead of stars okay.
Speaker 1:Do you think you're gonna change all your stars into, like hearts or flowers or something else?
Speaker 2:um, yeah, I want to, because I I really didn't want any stars at all.
Speaker 1:I was specific about that why don't you like the stars?
Speaker 2:I don't know. I just think that they look. I don't know they look. I feel like everybody gets stars. You know, I think it's so basic.
Speaker 1:Well, I think stars are part of like American tradition tattoos, like that's how they fill in space, so that's why you see them. A lot is when you see in American tradition from, at least if I can remember properly. So I'm pretty sure it's correct, because I was talking to one of my tattoo artists who was doing work on me. His dad was getting a sleeve and he's like yeah, I got a phone with stars and like dots and stuff and that's like American tradition.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's what they use for like filler.
Speaker 1:But yeah, I still think it's kind of shitty. Thats for no stars.
Speaker 2:I mean, you end up with stars.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's like yeah, I'm gonna do something really special for you. I'm gonna give you exactly what you didn't want yeah, exactly, so that was that.
Speaker 2:So I think after that that was the last time I went to that tattoo artist. Did he do anything else did?
Speaker 1:they do anything else for you, or just no?
Speaker 2:no, I actually I did. I think you know what. I think he actually did do so on the right side of my booth, since I already had that on the on the left. On the right hand side, I had him do like um, did you ever watch zena the warrior princess?
Speaker 1:yeah, who hasn't back in the day?
Speaker 2:yeah. So you know how she has like her armor, kind of like has like um like. You know how it's her armor, the gold part of it.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:It kind of seems like a design around her boobs, so I had that tattooed on On the other side. On the other side.
Speaker 1:Okay, and so why did you put that one on there?
Speaker 2:um, because I thought I thought it looked pretty and I feel like I wanted to even it out with the other side okay, and now? So when you look at it now, and now I feel like, because I got that one and it's bigger than the other side, now I feel like the other one I have to fill it in which side the hecho, mexico side or the shield side?
Speaker 2:yeah, the hecho mexico, I was thinking about getting like a similar kind of like um a similar style, but like made out of out of flowers okay yeah, so that I'm gonna add that on there. I just need it. I need to talk to that guy again, but I just haven't gotten around to it. But he really liked doing my boob and it was just kind of like doing, really like chill maybe he just really liked it, I don't know yeah, yeah so when do you um?
Speaker 1:do you have plans on getting that anytime soon?
Speaker 2:I do, I do. I just haven't like like I'm all over the place, like you can tell, probably. So I'm all over the damn place. So I'm just kind of like, whenever, like something, just like, say, like one day, like on a random day, I'll be like okay, I'm to get a tattoo today, and you know it's whoever is available, so whoever is available that day at that time, because if they're not available then I lose the you know.
Speaker 2:I lose momentum and interest, and then I won't do it anymore, until whenever I'm ready to do it again.
Speaker 1:So, like touching on that, do you have like any of the tattoos that you currently have because of that, the nature of you kind of being spontaneous on them, other than the stars. Do you have anything that you've put on that you're like shit.
Speaker 2:I shouldn't have got that like I should have waited, or maybe just not gotten it um well, I mean, I I think like my half moon, half star. Uh, I have a half moon, half sun on my lower back okay, the one that you got for free huh the one that you got buy one, get one free yeah, my buy one, get one, my free.
Speaker 2:So so it was like, really, it was like really it wasn't good, it was really bad. So I had the same guy. I'm like, hey, man, you like fuck me up, can you redo this? He's like, well, you know, in order to cover it up, I'm gonna have to do a really big tattoo. And I was like, ok, fuck it, whatever, whatever it takes, just cover it up. I need this. So he covered it up, and so it's a huge, huge tattoo on my lower back.
Speaker 1:What did he cover?
Speaker 2:it up with Huh.
Speaker 1:What's the cover up?
Speaker 2:So it's the same thing. It's just a half moon, half sun, but it's a more detailed one.
Speaker 1:Okay.
Speaker 2:Where the other one was just the outline.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:This one's actually like detailed, it's got like it's completely filled in.
Speaker 1:Do you have color in it?
Speaker 2:No, no color at all, it's just black and white, black and gray. Yeah.
Speaker 1:And how do you feel about that after he uh covered it?
Speaker 2:okay, but I feel like I feel like I wish that I had just not done it and I could have just done it correctly and had somebody who actually, like, had better skills doing it, and then it would look better, because it just doesn't look so if you, if you can cover that up right now with something else, what would it be that you would want? I mean, I'd probably get the same thing, just just like a better quality.
Speaker 1:Would you just turn that into like an Aztec calendar?
Speaker 2:I don't think so. I think it would be. So I think, unless I trusted somebody to do it, like do a really great job, I don't think I would want to risk it Because I think it would be like a very difficult tattoo.
Speaker 1:That is a very difficult tattoo. Yeah, I don't want to fuck it up, you know, but that would be like a very difficult tattoo.
Speaker 2:That is a very difficult tattoo, but yeah, I don't want to fuck it up. You know like but that would be a badass tattoo, yeah you just gotta go to the right person somebody who was really amazing, like I trusted them completely then, then no, I wouldn't get it redone okay, when are you going back to california to see my sister? Um, I have no idea. She's always asking about it, but I'm like, well, what are we gonna do?
Speaker 1:because she's you guys, well, where she lives, it's kind of um yeah, it's in between, like san diego and la, and we're in the desert yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2:So there's not a lot of stuff to do, so whenever we do go, we meet in la okay, what you should do is next time you go to la you should go and see my tattoo artist and have him do an astid calendar you think so, but I don't know if he can cover mine up, because it's really bad, like I don't think you understand.
Speaker 1:Well, we can always we can always show it to him. He like he does um all this.
Speaker 1:Well, the stuff that he did for me was all like hand drawn with like a little protractor and like uh scientific glasses to like oh, really wow this guy's amazing okay, you gotta send me his name, I will I'll give him a little shout out to my boy, ami, who I'm gonna go see in september, because he's got to do my uh, he's got to do my shading on my arm and probably do a little bit more no, really, but yeah, I think if you're looking to do a nice cover-up with detailed work like Ask that Calendar, I think he can definitely do that for you.
Speaker 2:Okay, I'll look into it. That's something definitely that I need to like plan out, but something like that would take planning, because I'm assuming somebody like him is very like busy and probably has appointments like months out, right yeah.
Speaker 1:It's just. But with him it's kind of easy because it's you know, from dealing with him a few times. Basically, you give him an idea and then he's like, all right, let's go, because he does it all based off of he doesn't for the stuff that I've done and for like some of the other things that I've seen he doesn't draw completely. He sees your body and starts drawing it and then, next to you know, you have like this beautiful piece of artwork. Okay, okay, I gotta see his work. Yeah, I'll send you, I'll send you his link and then, uh, you can, or his page, and then you can look at what he does.
Speaker 2:yeah, okay, okay, because I have gotten some people who are like, oh, you got to check out my tattoo artist, and then I go to them and then it's like not really that good. No, it happened yeah. That's how that first tattoo came on. They're like oh yeah, this is going really good. Buy one, get one.
Speaker 1:Yeah, for anyone listening, I would not trust anybody that's buy one, get one. That's definitely one thing you don't want to do. From, I would say from my own personal experience and the people that I've spoken to, is definitely don't cheap out on your tattoo artists, because that shit's permanent and you get what you pay for. You know.
Speaker 2:Yes, yes, you're right, you get what you pay for.
Speaker 1:If you pay 50 bucks, you're going to get a $50 tattoo. Yep and that same tattoo could cost you $300 from somebody else, and there's just, there's just levels to that game.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:You know and like. The other thing is like everybody has at least one or two tattoos that they're like. I wish I had that a little bit better, right.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah. No, that's true and you're right, it's just about like planning and actually, like you know. And then some guys, you know it's tricky, but you're right, it just comes down to the price, because some people well, I mean not all the time sometimes you get people who are good and you know they're not super expensive, but most likely, if they're not that good, they're gonna be like oh yeah, we'll give you a deal.
Speaker 1:Yeah, exactly, you don't want that's definitely you don't want to skimp on on your tattoo artist. So I would think and being the most expensive isn't always the best either, you you know, because they could just be well-known. And meaning like the best, meaning like that just might not be your style and then you might not end up liking it, because some people are very. They only like doing certain styles of tattoos and they don't really like to change.
Speaker 2:Yeah. I've noticed that.
Speaker 1:Yeah, because I think what it is is like you're, you're sticking to their wheelhouse, right? What they're good at, so that's why they tend to do the same type of work is because that's their specialty.
Speaker 2:Oh, that makes sense.
Speaker 1:And that's what they're good at. They shy away or like if they do anything outside of that. It's probably not as good as their normal work, because that's just not what they do.
Speaker 2:Okay, that makes sense. And then are we missing anything else? Or did we cover all the tattoos? I don't know. You're the one who I don't know what. So we got. What did we miss?
Speaker 1:yeah, so we, we've covered that. You the the big cherry blossom with your cat. We have your daughter's name, we have the butterflies. Well, what do the butterflies mean to you?
Speaker 2:um. I like butterflies because they're free just like free spirited flapping their wings making change in the world. The butterfly effect um, I don't know what, not about changing the world, but just about being free like butterflies. They're kind of on their own and they just like just fly by themselves and do their own thing and okay.
Speaker 1:So we're having a couple of technical difficulties out here today, Lost power for the second time, but yeah, I guess we're coming pretty much to a tail end of your tattoos and hopefully what I would like to happen is hopefully I can connect you with my guy Ami, you can kind of check out his work and maybe when you're next time you're in LA you can pay him a visit and get a nice cover for the sun and moon. That seems like it's been a constant non. It hasn't really met expectations.
Speaker 2:Yes, correct, it is a difficult tattoo because it's, you know, I think it's because it's also so big that you know you really have to like pay attention to details.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you know, but you know, kind of like we talked about some, some artists are working outside of there I would say probably their their warehouse and are taking on projects that are probably too big for them. Yep, but hopefully, you know, we can step in and help you out and get you have a, you know, get you a nice piece that you can be proud of showing off that you won't have to get covered up again.
Speaker 2:I don't know if I'm ever going to be proud of showing off my tramp stamp.
Speaker 1:Well, at that point it's just going to be a piece of art and it's no longer a tramp stamp. When you change it from one to another, it's not the same thing anymore.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I hope so.
Speaker 1:Yeah, same here. Well, nayeli, thank you for spending your weekend time with us here on the show and I really appreciate you being here and sharing your stories. Okay, thanks for having me. All right, and this has been another episode. Don't forget to follow us on Instagram at the Ink Tales Podcast and our website at inktaelspodcastcom, where you can see photos of all our guests and their tattoos. Please subscribe to the show to hear more fun stories from exciting guests. Who knows, it might be you.
