Tomorrow morning I’ll head into Disappearing Inc for my third treatment in having my tattoos removed. Note to self: take photos before going in, to photo-document the effectiveness of the second round.  I’m pretty excited about that, especially given how little discomfort there was after the last treatment.

If my math serves me correctly, by the end of the year my treatments should be completely done and all three tattoos should be removed.  It’ll be a weird thing to look in the mirror and not see them, but I’m sure I’ll get used to it in some way.

Other than that, I’ve been chugging away at life.  The two biggest things I’ve been working on are the re-brand of my business and finishing my first book so I can get it up for sale.  Both of which are taking up most of my free time (and some of my not free time, too!)

It’ll be nice to check those items off the never-ending nag of a todo list that I keep.

My standing desk effort has been going quite well.  I got my NextDesk (http://www.nextdesks.com) just over 3 months ago now and I’m still loving it.  Sometimes my knees hurt a bit from standing too still, but then my brain reminds me to shuffle my feet or move around my office a tiny bit, and I feel better.  The addition of a gel mat under my feet when I’m standing has done wonders.

I generally sit for an hour in the morning and then stand until lunch.  Most afternoons are over before I realize I stood the entire thing.  The only time I force myself to sit down is when I’m doing a labor intensive task that requires my full attention — like Excel or editing.  For some reason, my brain prefers to sit while I’m doing those tasks.

I haven’t lost much weight from standing (despite the claims that you burn more calories doing it), but I do feel a lot more healthy.  I wouldn’t say I’m more tired at the end of the day, but I definitely feel fatigued on days where I stand more than I sit. Overall, though, I’m glad I made the purchase.

Here’s a photo of my setup, in case you were curious:

I’m not quite sure why everything seems crooked. Maybe I’m drunk this morning.  Not to mention how cluttered everything is.  But this is how I spend my days working.

On the far left is my new computer (the little black cylinder), behind it is my external hard drive.  My phone sits to the right of that, then some cereal, screens, keyboard (solar powered!) my beverage, speakers and a TV on the far right (for days I want to slack off and watch trashy daytime TV.)

Just your average ordinary run of the mill desk that goes up and down at the push of a button.  One minute I’m standing, the next I’m sitting. Like magic.

I didn’t realize that it’d been two plus months since my last update.  They aren’t lying when they say that time flies when you get older.  Who says that? I don’t know, they.  The arbitrary “they”.

Anyway, since the last update, I’ve gone in for another treatment (the second of ten scheduled) to have these stupid tattoos zapped off my body.

The second treatment was less enjoyable that the first.  Rob kicked the frequency of the laser up a bit to help accelerate the process of the removal.  It made for a less enjoyable 45 minutes during the treatment.

On the upside, there was no residual pain or heat once I left.  A little discomfort walking through Boston Common back to the parking garage, but once I got out of the car at home, I was more or less fine.  Either the deeper laser wasn’t as painful as the first treatment, or I just got used to it after one treatment.

There isn’t a whole lot to show — the tattoos look mostly the same after the second treatment as they did after the first, unless you look really closely. The tattoo on my right shoulder, of the famed skull & drumsticks, is starting to fade around the edges. The ends of the drumsticks are almost completely gone, as well as most of the black.  It’s a slow process, but it’s fading pretty well.

I can’t see my back that well, but when I twist and turn in a mirror, I can see some of the lettering at the bottom starting to fade — right near the middle of my spine.

The more I look at how quickly they’re going away, the happier I am that I decided to do this.  I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again — I’m not the same person I was 16+ years ago.  Removing these from my body now is the right thing to do for me.  I’m also thankful that I’m financially able to afford it, as it’s not exactly the cheapest voluntary thing to have done to yourself.

My next treatment is scheduled for early February.

Okay, the title of the post is a bit misleading — but we’re halfway between three weeks and four weeks, so I’m rounding up for the sake of simplicity.

It’s been exactly 23 days since I had my first laser tattoo removal treatment.  I thought that I’d not really notice anything, but as I said originally in the day one post, I did.  And I continue to notice it.

As I look at the tattoos on my arms now (I obviously can’t look at my back without a handful of mirrors or a camera), I can tell they’re still getting lighter.  Most noticeably, my right tattoo has spots where the red circle is almost transparent now, which is kind of astounding when you think about how I’ve only had a single treatment so far.

I’m pretty optimistic on what that means for the remaining nine treatments that I’ve already paid for through Disappearing Inc.  My next treatment is about a month from now, just before Christmas.  I look forward to being zapped and uncomfortable for a few days again and seeing what the second treatment does.

What I’ve learned between treatment one and now:

• There are days when your skin will become extremely itchy.
• Your skin will dry out — use lotion to stay hydrated.
• You’ll obsess over seeing the lines fade day after day.
• Your muscles will feel stiff from time to time and you may be uncomfortable if your tattoo is in a place that you rely on to sit.
• Your shoulders (if you have tattoos there) ay feel like you’ve worked out at the gym a bit too hard.

All in all, I’m still glad I’ve started this process.  I wish it were a one and done thing, since the actual removal process isn’t exactly rainbows and puppies, but I’ll keep going and get it done.