From Karen L. Hudson,
Your Guide to Tattoos / Body Piercings.
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Kimberly walks in and the first thing you see is the ring-tailed lemur, Louie, on her shoulder, but she wants a tattoo of the deadly blue-ringed octopus from Ami. She feels it symbolizes her because she is beautiful but lethal and has broken many hearts and can’t manage to stop talking about how great she is through the entire tattoo. She’s actually quite smart and knows a lot about animals, but the only thing you notice is her arrogance. When she leaves the shop, Kat laughs, “Man, that girl is full of herself!”

Kat says she’d rather pass up a tattoo than do a bad one. Terry comes in wanting Kat to do a Japanese koi fish (in color) on him, and Kat tells him she really doesn’t do Japanese and she doesn’t do color. She recommends the other guys but Terry was referred to Kat and doesn’t want anyone else to do it. Ami gets on her case for turning a tattoo away and later explains how he’s old school and was taught to do every tattoo that walks through the door. Um, excuse me? Does the word rosary ring a bell?

Tasha is Kat’s friend and wants a Guns & Roses tattoo to commemorate the concert that brought her and her husband together. Kat does a realistic “portrait” of an ornate Derringer gun. She gts it right above and on her knee, a very sensitive area to tattoo. Her husband Tony is also a tattoo artist, and in May of 2005 he was tattooing on her but wouldn’t let her see it – he actually tattooed his proposal of marriage on her and made her tattoo her answer on him. It was a yes.

Victoria shows Nunez a paper with the phrase, “Illegitimi Non Carborundum” which means “Don’t let the bastards grind you down.” It was a phrase her grandfather had said to her many times and now that he is passed she wants it in memorial of him. Is a little shocked at first with the size of the tattoo on her lower back, but decides to listen to Nunez and go with it.

Jason Stoyer is a pro jet skier and has drawn his own tattoo design that incorporates many of the significant aspects of his life. He wants it to work with a tattoo he already has on his upper back but Ami doesn’t want to touch someone else’s work. Jason has a hard time listening and continues pressing the issue, but finally leaves the tattoo in Ami’s hands. Then he listens to Nunez’ suggestion to put it on his upper arm instead. Invites the guys to go jet-skiing with him some day.

The crew starts talking about Kat and whether they are going to start forcing her to branch out into different styles of tattoo and color. Ami feels they have no use for her if she refuses to do everything but black and gray.

Joey is a serious collector and already has two full sleeves by some very talented artists and wants to add Darren to his repertoire. He wants a skull and Cobra snake tattoo and gives Darren artistic freedom to create the design. Joey conquered his demons by overcoming depression and suicidal tendencies. Darren goes all out with color and highlighting and Joey says it’s the most beautiful thing on him.

Ami and Kat get into it about her tattooing. Kat stands her ground and says that if he doesn’t like the way she tattoos, maybe she should leave. Ami says he’s not going to have some kid talking back to him in his shop.

Michele – wants Kat to do a Lotus flower with the Ohm symbol – in color. Kat hesitates, making Michele nervous. She and her husband were supposed to get their tattoos together and he went and got his without her, so she is here to surprise him by getting hers alone. She pleads to Kat and she gives in, hoping this will get Ami off her case for a while. Calls her husband to have him meet her at the shop – but she tells him the address is a restaurant? He walks in and shows his tattoo, which is really pretty boring – Michele’s is way better.

Ami’s acting out because he’s mad about people messing with his stuff and Darren suggests they call Jason and see if they can go jet skiing. Jason shows them some of his crazy tricks and the guys are in awe. Ami and Darren both find out jet-skiing is not their forte, as neither of them can seem to stay on the machine. But they both have fun.