Tattoos
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Veteran
Contemplating my third one this year. I really need to stop coming up with good ink ideas cause at this rate in 5 years I don't think I will be able to classify as white lol. I have three right now, I have a Chief Indian on my right bicep and an eagle on my forearm which I get loads of complements on (not that I get em for attention lol), then I have this other naff one not really worth mentioning.
I am thinking of getting a crow next, as a sorta flip side to my eagle. I do try to give them meaning but isn't that what we all do, "give" them meaning? You can just get any random picture on you and attach some cock and bull story to it can't you? As humans we are pretty good at finding meaning in random things. What'd wrong with getting one just cause it looks cool eh?
Seen some pretty cool looking Buddhist tats with the Buddha on, I would refrain from getting anything religious (even Buddhism) painted on me permanently though but meh that's their decision.
What's your view on tats? People give me thee whole "you will regret them" schpill but. I have yet to see how.
Comments
I have three tattoos. All have a spiritual meaning and are meaningful to me. The only advice I can offer is don't get one for the sake of it, don't get inked while pissed, high or otherwise intoxicated and make sure it is meaningful to YOU. The quickest way to get a case of "buyer's remorse" is to not think it through or get something you think is cool at the time.
You will regret it if you treat it as a flippant act.
Yep you are difinately right on that one. I never get a tattoo without (at least a couple of hours) planning. My last one I got was a bit sketchy though as I got it in Spain and I didn't know the parlour very well so it could have turned out naff, luckily though its actually really good and well worth what I paid for it. What have you got?
I would post picks if I can work out how to do it on this phone.
My wife had several tattoos, the last one a unicorn on her lower leg when she turned 55 as a birthday present. When people asked her the significance of the unicorn, she told them it meant she liked unicorns.
No, I don't have any tattoos, although I've designed a few for friends. Tattoos involve sticking a needle into your skin. No thanks. Keep that needle away from me.
To me, a few hours planning is very short sighted. But I'm sure to others that might seem like overkill.
I usually plan at least a year in advance between tattoos. I have 5. Got my first one when I was 18. Got my last one when I was 29. I'm 32 now. Each one means something to me, but I wouldn't say it has some deep, cosmic changing symbolism to it.
To me, getting no more than 1 per year prevents me from making moves I might not find supportive later on. If I still want the tattoo a year later, unchanged, then it's probably a good move for me. If not, or if the design changes some, maybe it wasn't the right place and time for me. The tattoo I got when I was 18 still has meaning to me, but it's a very different meaning then when I was 18.
But as usual, your mileage may vary, and your path is different than mine.
Ive never understood the need to have tattoos. My immediate instinctive response from deep within is, "no thanks". The human body is beautiful on its own without indelible markings. Though I do see the point of temporary tattoos, makeup and body paint, all of which seem just harmless fun.
Tis my favorite
I recently read (sorry, can't remember the source) that in some cultures, tattoos and other body art were a way of expressing emotion within a group in which emotional expression was discouraged. I'm sure that isn't the only explanation, but it sounds plausible as an aspect. I prefer emotion fresh off the vine.
On a very, very freaky sidenote, I read there is a company that will preserve the tattoo of your dead loved ones by removing and tanning the skin and mounting it in a picture frame.
As Jews, we are forbidden to get inked as it goes against one of the 613 commandments (and is quoted in Leviticus) and prevents us from being buried in a Jewish cemetary. Christians are supposed to adhere to that rule too, but are much more lax.
I agree with this process myself. My first tattoo I got at 18, my second at 23 and my third at 33. I am 41 now and while I have thought of a 4th over the last 4 years, I haven't gotten one. My tattoos still mean the same to me all these years later, but I think that's because of what they represent. But I completely understand why a tattoo's meaning can and does change.
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Eeeew, that is cool in a morbid sorta way. No thanks though.
Have a few, love them, want some more. Wanting to spend the money on what I want is another story, LOl. eventually. I want all 3 of my sons' newborn footprints on my back and a no mud/no lotus on my inner forearm with the mud, water and flower as well as the saying. I have several animal paw prints, a lizard climbing on the back of my neck and a Columbine flower "crying" 13 drops of blood for the victims of Columbine (which I got in Boulder a year after the shootings). that's between my shoulder blades. Never could explain but always felt a connection in some way.
Here, you have no choice but to plan because you have to schedule usually a couple of weeks in advance. I love body art though. I've had numerous piercings as well I only have a few of those left.