Los Angeles — Sandee Althouse walked into a Silver Lake gift shop dressed in an almost austere, simple black dress, her curly black hair graying at the temples. She carried herself like an older and accomplished, if somewhat serious, woman — but with a twist. Both of her arms were covered in freshly-inked tattoos, her left arm still wrapped in glistening cellophane.

"Excuse me, but I have to ask: Are these your first tattoos?" I said of the colorful images spanning from the tops of her shoulders to her wrists.

"They are," she said proudly. "I've gotten all of them since May."

It was September.

"I'd love to know more," I said, curious about what prompted so many tattoos, in such a short period of time, and all inked later in life.

It turns out that Althouse, who lives in the Bay Area,

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