Inside the tattoo parlor, pain is a welcome neurological reaction to what is being perceived in the brain as possible tissue and skin damage. Pain is validation. Proof positive that the threshold for a middle-aged man entering a new phase of his life has been crossed over. "Pulsing," "lingering,""stinging" pain is what Drew Blood feels as the ink saturates his pores and his life undergoes the traumatic process of rebirth.

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