First, you remind me of someone I went to high school with. Are you from Regina, Sask? If so, next time we're in the same city, I would love to reacquaint with

First, you remind me of someone I went to high school with. Are you from Regina, Sask? If so, next time we're in the same city, I would love to reacquaint with you. My email is in my profile, please use it! Second, this reminds me of a conversation I had with a tattoo artist friend of mine. We had had a few drinks and he started ruminating about the state of his industry, most notably the sudden surge of people who would book slots, wait for a few months, show up twenty minutes late woefully prepared to be tattooed, and then complain about paying him $150 an hour. He explained how he would love to tell them that they weren't buying an hour of his time; they were compensating him for the twenty five years he spent sketching, taking art classes, and learning a wide variety of mediums. Moreover, it wasn't as if they showed up and he slapped some flash on them - his work was custom, involved research, and a significant amount of planning. Alas, if he dared, he feared that word would spread that he was a prima donna, an elitist and a fake artist. And, tattoo is one of very few fields where visual artists can make a good living...