Does anyone else here have a tattoo? If so, what is it and where is it?
I ask because I recently concluded a long ongoing inner debate as to whether or not I should get one. I did. I'm now marked for life with a sagittarian flaming arrow on my left calf.
Posted by Bob_Scopatz (Member # 1227) on :
Your LEFT calf???
That means you're gay.
Now, is it inside or outside of the calf?
Actually, I was thinking of getting a tattoo of Icarus on my left cheek.
Posted by BannaOj (Member # 3206) on :
I presume you mean the lower rear left cheek?
AJ
Posted by Scott R (Member # 567) on :
Nah-- Bob's going going for the en vogue prison-inmate look.
Posted by Thunder's Core Smith (Member # 6234) on :
My mother has a butterfly on her hip and my sister has a "native" tatoo across her lower back.
Bill saw my sister's and declared it to be nearly identical to the Microsoft BackOffice symbol. She didn't find that the least bit amusing.
Posted by BannaOj (Member # 3206) on :
That is sooooo Bill!
AJ
Posted by Farmgirl (Member # 5567) on :
Yes, I have a tattoo.
No, I'm not showing it to you.
Farmgirl
edit: okay, maybe I'll show it to Bob someday..... <GRIN>
[ February 27, 2004, 11:46 AM: Message edited by: Farmgirl ]
Posted by Bob_Scopatz (Member # 1227) on :
Can I get a spiritual tattoo? After death?
Posted by Farmgirl (Member # 5567) on :
I'm having a hard time wrapping my mind around the idea of a spiritual tattoo..
what exactly would that look like, Bob?
FG
Posted by BannaOj (Member # 3206) on :
psst farmgirl, its spiritual... you have no idea what it would look like... you can't see it!
AJ
Posted by Bob_Scopatz (Member # 1227) on :
It's the kind of tattoo that really gets under your skin.
I enjoy telling people that I couldn't really go for a real tattoo, so I get the iron-on kind. Then I wait to see if they figure it out...
Posted by Farmgirl (Member # 5567) on :
ahh.....
...it's been a long morning. Mind is not so sharp.
FG
Posted by sndrake (Member # 4941) on :
How about one that says:
De plane, boss, de plane!
Posted by Derrell (Member # 6062) on :
I've seriously considered getting one, does that count?
There are 3 reasons I haven't.
1. I have a thing about needles. It stems from childhood allergies and countless shots for those allergies.
2. I'd have to do a custom design. I couldn't just point to a picture on the wall and say " I want that one.
3. Money. I think that one is self explanatory.
Posted by Traveler (Member # 3615) on :
I've often been intrigued by the idea of getting a tattoo...but I just can't decide on exactly WHAT I'd want. It is hard to decide what you would permanantly want. I mean...I may like celtic or tribal looking stuff now...but will I like it in 20-30 years??
Perhaps it is just my typical male fear of committment manifesting itself again... Posted by Farmgirl (Member # 5567) on :
Okay, KarlEd. I'll 'fess up the rest of the way.
Mine is a custom design.
A year or so after my dad was killed, (remember, this was 23 years ago now), I went in and had a custom tattoo made that is a replica of his badge, except it has a ribbon across the bottom that says "Daddy". It is in the place a badge would be on a uniform (If I wear tank tops, you can usually see at least part of it).
But 3 kids and 23 years later, it isn't as fresh and beautiful as it used to be.
I used to figure it this way -- having a tattoo of a police badge on my chest would either 1)stop a rapist if he saw it, or 2) make him kill me. And in the latter, it would be easier to identify the body...
(I know, sick idea)
Farmgirl
Posted by BannaOj (Member # 3206) on :
can't you get them refreshed? AJ
Posted by Farmgirl (Member # 5567) on :
I'm afraid it is my SKIN that needs refreshed....
Farmgirl
Posted by Nato (Member # 1448) on :
Don't you think a tattoo of an onion would be just the coolest one ever?
Just a nice simple onion.. Or a tomato or something.
Posted by Thunder's Core Smith (Member # 6234) on :
Which book had the story about the kid getting a tatoo and everyone discussing it and it turning out to be a potato?
Posted by Christy (Member # 4397) on :
I've considered getting a tattoo, but my main reason for not getting one has been that I'd want an exotic flower wrapping around the curve of my breast. This causes several disadvantages: i.e. I'd have to show my breast to the tattoo guy , as I aged (or as I am pregnant now), my tattoo would sag and stretch , and I have a thing about needles.
I still apply the fake kind, though and they're fun for a day.
Posted by Ryuko (Member # 5125) on :
Yeek. That reminds me of a comic book I once read... Flowers on breasts = evil.
Posted by jehovoid (Member # 2014) on :
I wouldn't like to have a tatoo, but a scar would definitely be cool.
Posted by Derrell (Member # 6062) on :
Farmgirl, maybe you were right. Maybe I am a wimp. The needles are the big thing that keeps me from getting a tattoo. Well, that and the money.
Posted by pooka (Member # 5003) on :
Not really interested in tatoos. Can't think of anything I would want to permanently embed in my skin. Though I guess I can sort of see Farmgirl's point. That is to say, when the LDS church came out and said they were against them it didn't really affect me.
The only things with which I want permanent association are by their nature non-permanent.
Posted by Farmgirl (Member # 5567) on :
quote: Farmgirl, maybe you were right. Maybe I am a wimp
Where in the HECK in anything above did I call you a wimp?
:: oh wait! That was a different thread ::
Understand please -- I feel like tattoos are probably not a good idea. I don't recommend them for anyone (yes, there is some scripture in the bible about them).
However, I got mine when I was young and emotional, and not following any rules of any sort.
Farmgirl
Posted by Da_Goat (Member # 5529) on :
Any rules of any sort?
Oh, the possibliities...
Posted by pooka (Member # 5003) on :
There is a bible scripture about them? Does it say what my mom says, that you will be stuck with them in the afterlife? (edit: word choice)
[ February 27, 2004, 02:37 PM: Message edited by: pooka ]
Posted by KarlEd (Member # 571) on :
Well, mine is just another example of how far I've fallen from the LDS ideal, I guess
Derrell, I'm certainly not a tattoo evangelists now or anything but I can address two of your issues:
1. Mine never "hurt". The feeling was pretty annoying, like having a cat knead its claws into my calf for 45 minutes. It was uncomfortable, but not painful at all. Afterwards (and to some degree still - 6 days later) the area feels like a mild sunburn. Chris has one on his lower back and said that it was more sensitive there, but believe me, as pain intolerant and ticklish as he is, if he could get one, anyone could. And he has two.
2. Mine is a custom design. It is a variation of a stock Sagittarius symbol (the arrow with an arc through the shaft representing a bow). Chris designed it and had the tattoo artist draw it up.
3. About the money issue, well, think of it as buying art. It's really not that expensive considering the talent involved. (And I certainly wouldn't recommend getting a tattoo from an artist whose work I didn't think was worth the cost.) Plus, if you have to save up for it, it gives you plenty of time to consider what you want and if you really want one at all.
Posted by pooka (Member # 5003) on :
But haven't you heard that if you get an MRI any iron based inks can get pulled back out of your skin? I'm serious about that information, but fluffy about how worried you should be about it.
Posted by Farmgirl (Member # 5567) on :
KarlEd...
Can I ask how much your custom design costs? How many colors used?
Farmgirl
Posted by Derrell (Member # 6062) on :
Karl, thanks for the advice. Did you visit different tattoo shops before you decided on one? I'm also concerned about the health issues. I'd have to inspect the various shops to ensure their health practices were up to par.
[ February 27, 2004, 02:47 PM: Message edited by: Derrell ]
Posted by Farmgirl (Member # 5567) on :
Pooka,
quote: Leviticus 19 28You shall not make any cuttings in your flesh for the dead, nor tattoo any marks on you: I am the LORD
(New King James Version)
Some would say it is part of the "old law".
FG
edit: I probably really had more to do with idol worshipping of the dead
[ February 27, 2004, 02:51 PM: Message edited by: Farmgirl ]
Posted by HollowEarth (Member # 2586) on :
quote: Which book had the story about the kid getting a tatoo and everyone discussing it and it turning out to be a potato?
It was one of the sideways school books. Elementary school was long enough ago that I don't remember which one though.
Posted by ClaudiaTherese (Member # 923) on :
I am now too superstitious to be comfortable with:
1) getting a tattoo 2) piercing any body part, including ears 3) having my photograph taken 4) attending any awards ceremony (for me), including graduation ceremonies
Apparently, all I'm missing is a dozen cats and an eyepatch before I become the scariest crone in Madison.
[Edit: But yay! I got my research position. Now, all I need is a cauldron ...]
[ February 27, 2004, 04:04 PM: Message edited by: ClaudiaTherese ]
Posted by Farmgirl (Member # 5567) on :
are you serious, CT?
You guys might think this funny -- I went through with getting a tattoo (which, on the breast, is somewhat painful!) but I've always been too much of a wimp to even consider getting my ears pierced. So I still never wear ear-rings, and the thought of getting them pierced just totally unnerves me.
Farmgirl
Posted by ClaudiaTherese (Member # 923) on :
Farmgirl, I am serious.
We can be spiritual sisters, of a sort. I've also stopped cutting my hair, although that's more to do with laziness than superstition.
Given my track record, though, this avoidance will likely soon be incorporated into my OCDish list of Things Which Must Be Avoided. (It's hard to be me. *playing a tiny finger-fiddle in the background )
Posted by Jenny Gardener (Member # 903) on :
Christy, your Wench factor just went up. I am in awe...
It gives me the willies just thinking about injecting ink under my skin, so I'll never have a tattoo. It bothers me to be written on with a pen. My daughter (5) has tattoo ink pens, which she loves. She creates all kinds of tattoos, and sometimes we invest them with meanings (this one prevents snakebite, etc.) because we read a book about tribal tattoos together once.
Posted by Jenny Gardener (Member # 903) on :
CT, I think you would make a terribly wicked crone. I'd love to have you in the haunted house of my neighborhood.
Posted by ClaudiaTherese (Member # 923) on :
Christy is such a Wench.
Jenny G, I'd hang around on your block any day. That's where all the fun stuff happens. Posted by Farmgirl (Member # 5567) on :
CT
Not exactly spiritual sisters -- those last two (#3 and #4) wouldn't bother me at all! In fact, I wish there WERE some awards coming my way! <GRIN> And I love public speaking.
Congrats on getting the research position!!!!!
Farmgirl
Posted by ClaudiaTherese (Member # 923) on :
Farmgirl, there are like three other females in this contry who are not ear-pierced, and two of them are less than 24 hours old.
We'll be spiritual ear sisters. It'll be cool. There will be a secret handshake and a decoder ring. [A clip-on one!]
(I don't get much in the way of awards, but the very fact that I haven't done these things makes me superstitious about doing them. It's a sort of Luddite anti-progress thing, I think. Now, if I can only warp this into some kind of cool lifestyle choice, I'd be set. )
[ February 27, 2004, 04:29 PM: Message edited by: ClaudiaTherese ]
Posted by Rakeesh (Member # 2001) on :
I for one would not like to have CT as a wicked crone in my `hood. Surely she would excel at it, and being the paragon of virtue that I am, would surely fall afoul of her.
Posted by Da_Goat (Member # 5529) on :
I think she would be a dandy crone, but she'd definitely have some fierce competition here in Prescott.
Posted by ClaudiaTherese (Member # 923) on :
Rakeesh, wicked old crones just dote on handsome young men. (Sheesh!) Who do you think we get to move our cauldrons around?
Da_Goat:
[ February 27, 2004, 04:33 PM: Message edited by: ClaudiaTherese ]
Posted by Derrell (Member # 6062) on :
What happened to the original topic of this thread? I believe Karl asked if anyone else at Hatrack has tattoos. This thread is about tattoos. While I'd love to have ClaudiaTherese in my neighborhood, what does that have to do with tattoos? Unless CT has a tattoo she's not telling us about. Posted by Da_Goat (Member # 5529) on :
I think CT is sublminally encouraging all of us to get a tattoo of her.
[ February 27, 2004, 04:40 PM: Message edited by: Da_Goat ]
Posted by Derrell (Member # 6062) on :
Oh, so that's it. Is there a picture of her we can print so we can show the tattoo artist? We could all get a tattoo of her and start the church of ClaudiaTherese. Posted by Derrell (Member # 6062) on :
CT
Posted by Christy (Member # 4397) on :
*gaffaws* Now you've opened a can of worms, CT!
*giggles* We will cure you of these superstitions!
*plots an ear piercing escapade, a day at the hair salon and giggles at the few rare photos we've managed to capture*
Posted by Christy (Member # 4397) on :
Oh! AND *Throws CT an awards ceremony for getting her research position*
CONGRATULATIONS!
Posted by BannaOj (Member # 3206) on :
Congrats CT I belong to your non-ear pierced sisterhood as well.
Parents did have the Biblical issue, my aunt that was a nurse had sanitary issues (she was a school nurse when they still existed, and infected ears were a frequent problem) and I also soon realized that if I did get them pierced I'd promptly lose the earrings so there was really no point.
Though I saw these earrings and told Steve that he ever got around to buying them for me I'd get my ears pierced for them.
AJ
Posted by sndrake (Member # 4941) on :
What??!!!
CT got the research position!!!????
And she was gonna tell us when?
So: Does this mean she's going to get a special tattoo to mark the occasion?
(CT - your research on females with nonpierced ears needs work. I'm living with yet another female considerably over the age of 24 hours old who has totally unpierced lobes, along with the rest of her ears.)
Posted by Xavier (Member # 405) on :
My thing against tattoos has always been that I can't imagine anything that I would want on my skin in 20 years or more. I think I have decided though.
See, I recently started taking a Shaolin Kempo class (through USSD), and I am really enjoying it.
Well, they have trips to China every other year, and if you time it to go along wiht your black belt test, the Shaolin monks at their temple are the ones who test you. What better occasion to remember always with a tattoo? I was thinking either the USSD symbol (bonzai tree over the sun), or else one of the 5 animals of Kung Fu that the martial art uses.
That way if anyone asks me about it, I can brag about it .
This will take 5-10 years though, so we'll see, but its certainly fun to think about .
[ February 27, 2004, 08:26 PM: Message edited by: Xavier ]
Posted by aka (Member # 139) on :
Several dozen teenage girls have descended upon my hotel floor. It is quite lively here now. A great sound, that of dozens of girls gabbing, laughing, shrieking, yelling funny comments to be heard above the din, etc.
I won't ever get a tattoo because I remember all the cheesy stuff I thought was totally cool looking in the 60s, the 70s, the 80s, the 90s, etc. Granted, stuff usually becomes totally cool looking again like 30 years further on, but it doesn't count if you look like you still have it. And any given thing will be very cheesy looking three decades out of four.
Also, I mean, sure they look great on young firm skin but how will they look on old saggy skin a few decades hence?
For body decoration, I prefer jewelry or clothing or paint.
I do get strong urges to get my belly button pierced from time to time, though. So far I've managed to resist. Posted by Anthro (Member # 6087) on :
I have a tattoo of a heart but I don't know how to say where it is without this post getting deleted. And me being ostracized. Posted by Danzig (Member # 4704) on :
Ouch.
Posted by Valentine014 (Member # 5981) on :
When I got my tongue pierced last week, I got into a conversation with the tattoo artist. I was telling him that I would probably never get one because, well, I am too much of a flake, that by the time all was said and done, I would change my mind and be stuck with something I hated. He said the key to avoiding that situation was commemerating an event with one.
Xavier was on the right track with his idea. The tattoo artist told me about was one of his friends, he has a tiny dot on one of his hands. Boring, I know. This tattoo has a lot of meaning though. He had a close family member or friend (I can't remember which) who had died and to honor that person, he had a very small bit of his friend/family member's ashes mixed into the dye. A little morbid but, interesting.
Posted by Ryuko (Member # 5125) on :
Val: Cool! That's really neat.
I plan on getting a tattoo of this except without the spinning and in green, about quarter-sized. I have to save up a severe amount of money for it... But it's the same design that two of my very good friends are getting, and it has a meaning to me. So I hope that I won't grow to hate it someday.
Edit: Hmmm.. It would have been cool to get a tattoo when I got my black belt, too...
[ February 27, 2004, 11:14 PM: Message edited by: Ryuko ]
Posted by Valentine014 (Member # 5981) on :
Where do you want it placed, Ryuko?
Edit: And how much is "severe"?
[ February 27, 2004, 11:18 PM: Message edited by: Valentine014 ]
Posted by Ryuko (Member # 5125) on :
On my right shoulder, the fleshy part. Severe is ANY money right now. I am very very poor.
Posted by MoonRabbit (Member # 3652) on :
A couple of weeks ago, I conducted an interview with a tattoo artist for some character work on a story I'm writing. It was really interesting, and I learned a lot about a subject that I was terribly ignorant about.
If you're going to get a tattoo, the best way to go about it is to find someone with a tattoo you like and ask them where they got it. (also ask people with crappy tattoos where they got theirs, then don't go there) The person I interviewed has a degree in art and became a tattoo artist because she wanted to do fringe art, but wanted to be able to make a living and didn't want to work in advertising. Her studio has very little Flash (the designs on the walls), and the vast majority of her work is custom designs created from a customer's ideas.
The whole place was very tastefully decorated and was nothing like the sleazy tattoo parlors I remember from my Navy days.
It's important to remember that alcohol, drugs and tattoos don't mix. Just ask the guy on my ship who woke up one morning with a bright yellow tweety bird on his left bicep with the words "I tawt I taw a puddy tat" encircling it.
Posted by imogen (Member # 5485) on :
I have thought a lot about getting a tattoo, and talked to a few tattoo artists about it. I think I would get a stylised pegasus: quite small, just black and very graceful (of course).
The closest I came to getting it done was about 2 years ago when Tony and I broke up for a brief period. I'm really glad I didn't, because the tattoo would always be associated the negative feelings and emotions of that time. Turns out Tony almost got his nipple pierced (ouch!) at the same time: seems for us, broken hearts = yearn for body disfigurement
The reason I'm not getting one now is I'm perfectly happy without one. That may well change over the next few years.
One thing I will have to keep in mind though is that for my profession (lawyer) it will have to be in place that can be easily concealed by a suit dress!
Posted by plaid (Member # 2393) on :
I don't have a tattoo... or anything pierced...
I've got a hippie-type mentality that I think bodies are beautiful as they are and that it's unbeautiful to tattoo them or pierce them... I even think that dyeing one's hair is unnatural
(I might change my mind on dyeing hair -- I'm 36 and I've got a lot of grey hair and I get annoyed by dumb jokes about "Oooh, you're so OLD!"... but naah, I'm too lazy to care that much about my personal appearance to keep up with dyeing my hair, so I think I'll just be defiantly grey...)
Posted by katharina (Member # 827) on :
I remember being fourteen and informing my mother that I wanted to rebel and was trying to think of a way to do it that wouldn't actually be immoral or illegal. What did she think of a tattoo? I was thinking a red rose wrapped around my ankle.
She talked me out of it.
Not terribly signifigant, except I think it shows I was having a little trouble grasping the concept and purpose of rebellion.
Posted by imogen (Member # 5485) on :
That's quite cute Kat... in a kinda dorky way.
'Hey Mom, would you mind if I rebel?' 'Yes dear' 'Oh, ok then. I won't.'
[ February 28, 2004, 01:21 AM: Message edited by: imogen ]
Posted by Da_Goat (Member # 5529) on :
quote:I even think that dyeing one's hair is unnatural
Well, yeah. If it was natural, you wouldn't need to dye it.
Posted by Frisco (Member # 3765) on :
I'm not sure I'd ever get a decorative tattoo. The two I have are just for myself.
It's like having a picture on your desk just because it reminds you of a time and a feeling.
One I got the day I decided to ditch my safety net and left college. It reminds me of the day I hopped in my car with my posessions in the back seat, $1000 in my wallet, and a vague idea of where I was going.
The other's more a reminder of a feeling. I got it just after my recent trip in the mountains, when I was happy in the purest sense of the word. Even a chance glance at it seems to clear my mind and makes me focus on what's really important.
In 50 years, when my grandkids stare at the faded marks on my old body and say "What's that?", I'll just pick 'em up, set 'em on my knee...and tell them a little story.
By then, there ought to be enough of them to make into a book.
Posted by imogen (Member # 5485) on :
I really like that Frisco.
I guess that's why I'm holding off on mine: I want it to remind me of a great time, or achievement in my life. Not just because I thought it looked pretty.
Posted by Ryuko (Member # 5125) on :
Hmmm... That's a cool idea. Too bad mine's already planned.
That reminds me of a story that was in our school's lit mag. One of the girls who was supposed to graduate with us died of Cystic Fibrosis in our Junior year. Her friends all went and got her name tattooed on them, and one of them wrote a fairly good short story about it. (sighs) It was a sad time.
Posted by fiazko (Member # 5812) on :
Ooh ooh. One of my favorite subjects.
Tattoo #1: Saturn It has nothing to do with the fact that I'm a Capricorn. I like space and astronomy and pretty much anything that involves Saturn (i.e. Gattaca, Pitch Black). The artist was skinny white (trash?) chick who was "only going through the motions" because a friend of hers had died the day before. This tattoo was to celebrate getting my braces off. As far as location, let's just say it's on my very lower back.
Tattoo #2: Gumby I figured, of all cartoon characters, Gumby was the most timeless, and big deal if he stretches as I age. This tattoo artist looked exactly, I mean exactly, like Camryn Manheim. ("This is for all the fat girls!") Gumby is on my hip...kinda waving goodbye to Saturn, actually.
Tattoo #3: Wooden cross At the time I wanted something to remind me of the pain Christ suffered on the cross and how that applies to me. Go figure that it was the most painful of the four. I was introduced to nerve endings I didn't know I had, and a significant part of the process gave me a chewing on metal sensation. Very unfomfortable. I think the artist's name was Zeb. Very cool guy. The cross is on my actual lower back.
Tattoo #4: Red, White and Blue ribbon Yeah, I got it after 9/11. A tattoo convention came to town, and proceeds from patriotic tattoos were going to the Red Cross. I was going for something beyond a flag or an eagle, so I used the ribbon that's the standard "I support this" shape, and in the white stripe are the words "One nation, under God, indivisible." It's on my back, opposite the cross.
I have plans for #5, but I definitely don't have the funds. I want to get the Russian word for "hope" down my spine. Or maybe someplace less painful...
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, and I have a thing about needles. ![[Evil]](graemlins/evil.gif)
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