So yes this website will be back as soon as I find the next person to interview. I live in NYC now so I think it won’t be to hard to find someone interesting to interview. I will also be changing the look of the site.

Alright, so I think that will do it for now. Hopefully I will have the new interview up soon.

 I would like to take this time to thank everyone that has left comments on my many posts I appreciated reading every one of them. I have had over 800 people look at my site but the few that posted comments are the ones that really mattered.

Please take the time out to read the already posted interviews and leave some more comments. I will still be checking in on this to see if anything new has happened.

 Well I think that is all for now I will work on something really good for my return. I will do my best not to disappoint.

 I shouldn’t be gone long.

Also, I have chosen a new design for the blog. I have gotten a lot of good feedback about it and I think I really like it. The banner is temporary as of now. I am working with the same person that made the banner right now but to have a whale instead of the kraken face. You have not have know it was a kraken but here is the original picture: the kraken.

As always if you have any feedback or ideas for an interview feel free to comment or email me at writingunderwater@gmail.com.

I believe that is all for now.

Q: When did you first come about finding pornography?

I got internet really early because I was so much into computers. I think my parent’s house got hooked up in 1996 or so. I was 14 then. Of course the first thing I did was searching for “sex” and even back then it was quite easy to find whatever you were looking for.

Q: How has porn affected your life since you first found it?

It has become a ritual. It’s not really an obsession. I guess I am a very sexual person so having all these resources available right there is amazing. I also think porn has a very distorted image of sex. See, let’s say you watch a porn with a FFM (Female Female Male), then one-on-one sex is not what you want. I think porn has raised my expectations in terms of performance. In a way, it made me expect so much from my partners, which sometimes can be deceiving, but it also has made me try to perform better, or at least what “I” think is performing better. Porn has also greatly made me realize that sex is not a big deal, and it definitely made me more comfortable with hooking up with random girls. I don’t watch porn when I am in a relationship tho, it’s kinda weird.

Q: How much of your day is spent watching porn?

Probably around 3 hours. The thing is, when you are a college student, you have all the time in the world. See, you get horny at work, oh well, what can you do about it ? If I get horny on my couch and want to beat one off, I am definitely gonna start browsing internet to help myself.

Q: Where does most of your porn come from i.e. internet, pay-per-view, pornshop, other?

100% from internet. I download clips daily, and I only watch them once, then it goes in the trash. Internet has such a big variety of porn that you can easily jerk off 4 times a day without never having to watch the same thing twice. Amazing.

Q: Do you feel if you didn’t have the internet your porn addiction would be non-existent?

Totally. Complete blame on internet. I am a cheapass so there is no way i would rent or buy videos.

Q: Is there any type of porn that you have refused to watch or is everything fair game?

You basically get what you want, so of course you narrow it down to what you like. I have never watched a porn with pedophilia involved and I really hope I never will. This is just way too fucked up. I try to stay away from gay porn as much as I can…..since I am straight. Scat and golden showers don’t do too much either.

Q: Has watching porn become less seuxal and more of just an “I have too”?

Totally. I check new clips on certain websites just like I would check my email. Just talking about it right now makes me want to open a new tab in my browser and go check it out. And it’s only 10 am. It would certainly be a challenge to stay away from internet porn more than a day.

Q: Has your addiction to porn hampered your relationship with women?

Not really. As I said earlier, I usually totally quit watching any kind of porn when I am in a relationship. I am just commited to my partner and I think it’s almost like cheating to watch porn and get aroused by other women. I think in general, porn has helped me with women for some reason. It gave me a sort of unexplicable confidence in bed.

Q: If you could change, would you?

Sort off actually. I would trade internet porn to a relationship right away for sure. just like any addictions, there are times when I get tired of it, and there are times I just enjoy it as much as I can. It;s like trying to quit smoking: you’re happy you did for the first 2 days, and when you light that cigarette up for the first time in a while, you suddenly feel like a million dollars.

 I have another interview I will be working on soon with a teenager who has devoted herself to God. This seems like a pretty rare occurance these days and it should prove to be an interesting read.

 As always if you have any ideas for new interviews or just want to leave some feedback, feel free to leave some comments!

Q: How were you first introduced to drugs?

I started doing drugs like most kids do, I think, in high school. I started smoking pot my senior year and did coke a few times. Nothing serious. I dabbled in some coke and meth in my twenties. Nothing too bad where it effected my work or anything. I tried heroin for the first time at around 30 years old. I smoked it with my band mates in Las Vegas. Puked my guts out. We did it maybe three or four times. We moved to Seattle to play music. This was in 1995 after Kurt Cobain died. I thought heroin was cool. We went up there looking for it but had no idea how to find it. They all moved back to Las Vegas within the first year and the band disintegrated.

A few years later I was working as a dispatcher for a bicycle messenger company one of the kids brought me in a paper, black tar. A paper is about 15 to 20 dollars worth. I brought it home to my new girlfriend who had also done some a few years before. I figured we would smoke it and that would be that. She wanted to shoot it. I kind of thought I should too. You know like if you and your friend are doing acid and he takes two hits then you gotta take two hits too, so you’ll be on the same page. Or you match each other beer for beer. So we went to the pharmacy got some rigs and she shot me up for the first time. Puked my guts out again. We did it for about a month straight. She showed me how to score on the street. That was my demise. We both quit for about a year though. We had only been doing it for a month so we didn’t have a habit or anything. It was easy.

I got a good job making about 80 grand a year and that’s when we started again. We had money. I don’t even know when we actually got hooked because we never stopped. We started adding the coke for more fun. That paper used to do us both for a night. At the end we were doing an eight ball of heroin and an eight ball of coke a day. A junky rarely gets high. You’re only doing it to get “Well” or to feel normal. You wake up junk sick everyday.

Q: Were you ever shot or stabbed over the drugs?

No, but I’ve had people try to take my money. I’ve been punched pretty hard in the mouth for my money. You have to worry more about your junky friends stealing your dope. You always sleep with your dope in your pants.

Towards the end when things got bad I had someone try to kill me. Not a very good attempt but an attempt non the less. I had a small high rise condo in downtown Seattle that was being foreclosed on, I managed to live there for two years for free before they took it. So it was like a drug house. I would let homeless junkies stay there for drugs. I had this crack dealer staying there and we ripped of a half ounce of her shit. Needless to say she was pissed and sent some home boys after me. They filled my toilet up with ammonia, closed all the windows, and left a crack pipe loaded in my bathroom and a lighter on the sink. I got home flushed the toilet, opened the windows, and smoked all their shit. I guess the bathroom was supposed to blow up on me. They weren’t very smart.

Q: Have you ever shot or stabbed someone over the drugs?

I’ve never pulled a knife or gun on anyone.

Q: What was the lowest thing you ever did to score some drugs?

Stole from a friend. He told me how to break into his house one day so I could feed his dog. He was doing shit too but still worked. I would go into his house while he was at work and do his shit and call my guy to meet me there and bring me more. I’d steal his money too.

Q: When did you realize things were getting out of hand and it was time to stop?

I tried to stop many times before. Once for two months. But by the time my condo was gone, I had crack heads after me, I had nowhere to live, and after spending a few nights in peoples garages that I broke into I knew this was it. I was going to die if I didn’t get out. I had already OD’d once.

Q: How did you go about getting clean?

The kick doctor. His name was Dr. Si. His racket was prescribing you seven different drugs to ease the symptoms of withdrawal. I must have been to him ten times. Sometimes just for the drugs. That was the method I used many times but I always started again. This time I knew I had to leave Seattle. It was too easy for me to get drugs. So I called my family and fessed up on what was going on. They sent me money for an airline ticket to come to Arizona. I spent it on drugs. I called them back and asked if they would buy the ticket for me so I couldn’t spend the money. They did and I was on my way home to live with mom at 38 years old. I had my kick drugs that I got from Dr. Si and I detoxed at my mom’s place. I’d kicked many times before so I knew what I was doing. My family had no clue and just helped me stay comfortable. They saw to it that once the withdrawals were over that I enrolled in counseling. They lived in a small town and I knew that was the only place I was safe. Away from the street.

Q: Now that you are clean what are your plans for the future? Do you still have strong feelings to do drugs or has that influence completely disappeared?

I will be clean four years in December. I’ve already done some good things. I was cook most of my life and I got a job as a chef at a new restaurant here. I opened it for them and supplied a lot of recipes. I easily made a name for myself and their restaurant in this small town. It’s cool because I’m fully sleeved and don’t hide my ex junky status. They respect me more for it and I can cook like a mofo.

I’m tired of the cooking thing and I want to finally use the art I went to school for. I am now apprenticing to do tattoos at a local shop. It’s going very well. I’ve been getting tattooed for over 15 years but I’ve never been stable enough to trust myself to tattoo people. This is my future, something I can do until I’m 80. I’ve met a wonderful woman and I’m getting married in the spring. My life is truly a gift and I live it that way.

The urges to do drugs have greatly subsided. At first I had dreams all the time. It was maddening. They say you need to be clean as long as you were hooked. I’ve reached that stage. I’m glad I’ve already been through it. I know I won’t go through it again.

Q: Is there any advice you would like to put out there for people that are still addicts that wasn’t already presented in this interview?

Of course I’m going to say stay away from them. The point I want people to understand is, it’s never too late to get hooked on drugs. I was 34 when I started really doing heroin. Just because you’re a little older doesn’t mean it can’t happen to you. Some people don’t get hooked until they’re fifty. Be careful.

Here’s another thing, stop smoking pot too. I know it’s not near as bad as the stuff I’ve done. But I’ve realized I’m never really going to do anything if I keep doing drugs, weed included. I would not have been in the position to apprentice if I had kept smoking pot. I would have never gotten off the couch. I know that I can not be a good tattooist and smoke weed. My clients deserve that from me.

You can see there is much more to come on the Curious Whale!

As always if you have any ideas on an interview or any feedback feel free to leave a comment or e-mail me. My e-mail is at the bottom of the front page. I would love to hear from you. If you feel you are curious enough to be an interviewer that would also be awesome. I would be glad to work with other people on projects. Let me know!

Edit: Things seem to never go as they are planned. It seems the next interview will be with a cleaned up former drug addict.  His drug of choice was heroin/cocaine or speedballing. He was been clean for 4 years now.

Q: What was your first experience with guns?

My first experience with guns was when I was a young boy and my father took me out pheasant hunting with him. The first time I ever shot a gun was around the same time and my dad let me shoot his 16 guage. Needless to say it hurt alot. felt like Mike Tyson just beamed me in the shoulder and in that instant I realized how powerful a gun is compared to what I had seen on TV.


Q: Have you ever shot someone or something (hunting or otherwise)?

I’ve never shot a person, I’ve only carried a gun with me once for fear that I may have had to use it. Thankfully I didn’t.

I’ve only shot and killed a few animals, one was a ferral cat that had attacked and harmed a neighbor and had approched another children’s kids. The biggest I’ve killed was a dear that someone hit with their vehicle and left to die on my property. Aside from that just a few birds and rather large rats.



Q: Explain to someone that has never held or shot a gun what it is like.

This one is a toughie, it’ll scare the crap out of you the first time, guns are noisy and some produce a hell of a kick! I guess you could just imagine a loud machine that you rest on your shoulder that will put holes in things at distance.



Q: Are you a card carrying member of the NRA? What are your feelings on this organization?

Yes I’m a card carrying member, they have great benefits for their members.

The organization as a whole is like anything else humans have built, it has it’s flaws and strengths. I feel that they are just a little too in your face wilth a lot of their tactics but do a lot of good as well. I’m a member of the FNRA (Friends of the NAtional Rifle Association) we put ona dinner and auction event every year to raise charity money for local shooting and awareness programs. None of the money that we raise goes towards their political victory fund, and I rather like it that way.



Q: How do you feel about the attitude towards guns and gun owners in this country?

Gun owners are carrying the brunt of a lot of prosecution in the states these days. I’ve had adamant anti gun people tell me I’m a fool for thinking anything I own is worth a human life, I told him that anyone is a fool for risking their life for any of my stuff. Completely different attitudes.

Gun owners feel a personal responsibility to protect themselves, I live in one of the biggest counties in California. Also we have a record amount of meth in our county as well, and for all that we have 2 sheriff’s deputies on patrol at night.

Couple that with law enforcement has no personal responsibility to any civilian at any given time. Take the case that happened a couple years ago where 3 college girls were renting a home together, some intruders broke in and abducted one girl and started beating her, the two other girls escaped upstairs unseen and began calling 911, they called 911 for half an hour, getting through to an operator every time mind you, then it got quiet downstairs so they thought the police had finally arrived. So they went downstairs, only to find that their frined had been beaten into submission and were at that point seen by the intruders. The intruders nabbed the two other girls and for 14 hours beat them, raped them, and made them perform sexual acts on each other.

Afterwards they it was found that the police department had made a mistake and that’s why police never came. They sued the police department and lost because the police department is not there to insure anyone’s personal safety, therefore they did nothing wrong.

Knowing all this I don’t understand how anyonje would be against me taking my onw responsibility in protecting my own wife and kids.



Q: What are your thoughts on the saying, “Guns don’t kill people, people kill people.”?

Absolutely true. Look at statistics from countries where guns are banned and see for yourself that people do indeed still kill people. Also notice that countries without guns have higher rape, violent crime, and assault rates as well.



Q: What do you think the world would be like if it was completely devoid of guns?

More crime and more violence. More victimization of older people, and women. The gun is an equalizer, it’s the only way a 110 lb girl could protect herself from a 300 lb rapist. Or an old lady from a mugger.

Look at our own capital it is a gun free zone, Washington DC is the place in America most devoid of guns and in return it has the highest robbery, murder, rape and violent crime rates in our nation.

People are human, we are flawed by nature.

Once again if you have any ideas for the next interview, feedback, or have any questions for previous interviewees feel free to leave a comment or email me at the address at the bottom of the page.

Thanks!

Q:What was your first experience with tattoos?

My first experience with tattoos is the very first experience I ever remember having at all!
I was watching my old man tattoo this guy. There is a point in every toddler’s life when they suddenly gain self realization. That was what did it. That was when it all happened. I think that seeing the guy in discomfort, and realizing the separation of the two of us as beings was what sparked it. Right then, I totally fell in love with tattooing. Having my moment of self-realization, along with watching a tattoo, pretty much sealed my fate, I think.

Q:When did you know that this was something you wanted to do for the rest of your life? How did your family react towards your decision?

The experience I just described was when I realized I was meant to do this. At the time, I had no real concept of it being a CAREER, of course. I just knew I wanted them, and I wanted to do them on other people. I actually did other things besides this for a while, and was never happy. My family was always supportive of me. Besides tattooing, my dad was into painting cars, working with different types of art…and my mom owned several ceramic studios, and was a teacher that was recognized for some very innovative things in that field. They had no issues with me getting involved in whatever was going to make me happy.

Q:How many people would you say you tattooed since you have reached artist status?

Everyone who comes in signs a release form, which I keep in boxes in the attic of the house for a few years. Let’s just say that there are many large boxes of paperwork. I couldn’t even guess how many people I have tattooed. Literally, it’s been thousands. Imagine how many sheets of paper you can fit into a large packing box, and I have quite a few, not to mention the ones that after many years, get tossed, finally. I have been at it for over 20 years. That’s a lot of ink.

Q:What would you say is the strangest tattoo you have ever done?

I had a couple come in and ask if I could do a “spatula” on each of their hips. I sketched one up and got to it, and about half way through, I ask if they are both cooks…and the gal got sorta embarrassed and told me they weren’t. At that point, I told them I had no need to know.
I also had a guy not too long ago get “Just The Tip” on his ass cheek. Hopefully for him, he never ends up in the joint.

Q:A lot of people I have talked to feel Miami Ink is a terrible representation of the industry as a whole. What are your thoughts?

I would agree. These people wanted fame, and they were put in a role (in the public eye) of being the ambassadors of the tattoo industry. I do not feel any of them deserve to be in that role, nor have any of them acted in a manner which would make me proud to be associated with them. Fortunately, the general public isn’t all that bright, for the most part, and they miss most of the obvious mistakes. The rest are bright enough to realize that these people aren’t real tattoo artists. Artists, maybe…but not tattoo artists.

Q:There are some states that have strict tattooing laws and there are some that have none. Do you feel all states should have proper tattooing laws or even have the federal government step in?

I feel a basic set of guidelines should be in place in all states. At the same time, I am reluctant to want any bureaucracy becoming involved…because they seem to make a huge mess of everything else they get into. If you want to see something become a total clusterfuck, just put the government in charge of it. By the time everyone is done pandering to special interest, and ripping off the taxpayers, there isn’t much left to work with. It tends to self-regulate. As much as I would like to see scratchers put out of business, I’d rather see it done from the inside. That’s why I am here. To try to educate people about why they should avoid such vermin. If I made even one “Kitchen Magician’s” job harder, I feel good about myself.

Q:Where do you think the tattoo industry will be in the next ten years?

Hopefully 80% of those who recently opened shops will fall in love with a new trend and jump on a different bandwagon, and the serious people will stick with it. It has been through that cycle before, and will go through it again.

Q:For along time in cinema and in the public eye people with tattoos and people that gave tattoos were seen as outlaws or anarchists or punks or just plain bad people. Do you feel it is still the same today?

I really wish it still had some of that mystique! The more so, the better! Many people argue that tattooing becoming mainstream is a great thing…and I suppose if money is your main motivation, it WOULD be a great thing. But for those of us who HAVEN’T sold our souls, I really don’t thing every housewife in the world having a tattoo is such a spectacular thing, really.

The only way to make something appeal to the masses is to water it down, and keep homogenizing it until there is nothing left aside from a lifeless trend. That’s why people are inventing “disappearing inks” and “pain killing creams” and everything else to make tattooing available to people who don’t have what it takes to make a permanent commitment, and sit through some pain for it. Those things were what made a tattooed person DIFFERENT…somehow Magickal, in the past. Now ANYONE can come in with mommy and daddy’s gold card, and get a painless tattoo that will last 3 years and glow under black light. That aspect of it makes me wanna vomit. I’d rather go back to the days when only those who it really MEANT SOMETHING to were doing it. I’d rather see that, and have to eat Ramen Noodles every night, than to see it just be a pathetic pop culture craze.