New tattoo ideas...

[Fuzion]

I'm trying to think of something original that I won't regret the rest of my life, some of you might remember my last post on my 18th birthday tattoo, on my back? Well, after some debate and the nice input from the boards here, i've decided against a back piece, but for a smaller piece in an easier to conceal area. Me and a lifelong friend of mine have decided to go get tattoos together. He is wanting one on the ribs.

I understand it's one of the more painful places to get a tattoo, due to the lack of fatty tissue over the ribs, but it really sounds like a good idea to me. Then to see how I feel with that one, go get the back tattoo, still debating the cross idea, for those who replied to that thread.

I've decided to go at this a new angle. Most people I know get tattoos because of something symbolic in there life. I've been trying to think of something I've done or want to remember forever in my life. I am however somewhat uncreative. Some people get tattoos for religious reasons, family reasons, personal reasons, traumatic reasons. So let's hear 'em, I want to know why some of you have some of the tattoos that you have, which will open up my creative side a bit, and look at my life in new light.

[iamblackbird]

Let's see...

My upper back piece is a blackbird. It comes from a nickname that was given me when I was 13, by a very dear friend. It was inspired by the Beatles' song "Blackbird". In short, a lot of bad junk happened, and I still came through it.

My right side is the "Om Mani Padme Hum", a Buddhist mantra, which I have done in the Tibetan script. It's the compassion mantra, and is said to help purify the body, mind, and spirit. There's a lot more in that, of course. This one is to remind me to not be cruel, and to be a compassionate person (which I've always sort of struggled with).

My left side is my biggest piece. It's a latin phrase "Ubi Sunt" with a sun triskelion dividing the two words. This one is four-fold. It is a language-based poem (I'm an English kid, and a poet). It is part of a longer phrase that is a meditation on mortality and transience (which I felt a nice companion to my other side piece). It is a reminder of a NIN song that held special importance to me for a very long time. It contains a sun triskelion that is a 2-D replica of a pendant that was given to me by the same friend mentioned with my first tattoo.

My lower back is an Om. It's a custom-drawn version of the Devanagari script. It is a symbol that has an incredible amount of meaning, and it is one that has fascinated me for many years.


My next planned piece is another Beatles' reference, from "While My Guitar Gently Weeps". The Beatles, if you hadn't guessed, are also a large influence in my life.

[Fuzion]

I've only listened to a few Beatles albums, I know, what's wrong with today's youth, right? I just really want tattoos to mean something to me, not just decoration. Though, I might opt for decoration in light of the fact that there just isn't that much exciting things that happen in my life from a day to day basis.

[Fuzion]

Sorry mods for the thread revival+double post... punish me softly, I had a bit of a computer crisis, but I'm back until my computer goes on the fritz again, so heads up! Anyhow, I did some investigating with my friend, Blackbird, you did help me and him to look at life a bit differently, we've been through a lot of rough things together, and have been strongly loyal friends for more than a decade now, along with trials that we've hurtled together, so we've sort of opted for an analogy we've used our whole lives for our 'friendship tattoo' It's to be a Yin Yang, that I have yet to do any sketches of, but I don't want just an everyday Yin Yang, simplicity is beautiful, but I'm a bit artsy. Probably something like "Brotherhood" on top of it, just one problem, I don't want people to see it and start assuming i'm affiliated in a gang or something... Opinions?

Also, P.S. to Blackbird, I saw that input thread you locked, not sure why, but I thought I'd thank you, after reading it, I could almost swear it was copy and pasted! ^.^

[iamblackbird]

There's a lot of things that can be misconstrued as gang affiliations, but I doubt that this is one of them. :-) Besides, if anyone gives you hassle about it, just politely tell them that it's nothing to do with a gang, is is about friendship and a brotherly bond that you have with your friend.

And you're very welcome.

Hope you computer stays up and running!

[Grease Monkey]

There's a lot of things that can be misconstrued as gang affiliations...

I have a PowerPoint file that shows such things. Unfortunately, it's stored on an external hard-drive that suffered a little mishap and may not be repairable. Yet if anyone would like to see it--and said hard-drive can be resurrected--I'd be willing to share.

Now, returning to topic...I have six tattoos. (Some would say five, but I say six because the two that are connected went on at different times.) I'll list them in chronolgical order.

The first, a Haida moon, was done on 6 May 2001. I took a girl I knew to get a tattoo, and decided what the hell, I'll get one, too. She had a design drawn up; I did not. Bad, bad idea on my part. I absolutely hated it for a couple years, and thought about getting it covered up. Due to the large amount of black, that didn't happen. The color has held up very well, though.

Number two was done on 1 October 2004, during a rough patch of life. It's a piece of German script done on my inner left forearm. It was really cool at the time, but now the meaning no longer holds true. It's orange, and faded out during a couple very hot summers of hanging my arm out the window with no A/C. It will (thankfully) be covered up in short order.

Number three was done on 1 November 2004. It's a "night sky" type thing with 14 stars that surrounds number one. It also made me a lot more pleased with number one, and I get several positive comments on it.

I don't recall the exact dates of numbers four or five. Number four is another piece of German script, on my inner right forearm. It's well-done, but I wish I'd gotten something on my left arm instead.

Number five is the stylized emblem that appeared on Ford Falcons. It's not terribly well-done, and has suffered from the same problem as number two. As it doesn't fit with the theme for my left arm, it will also be covered up.

Number six was done just yesterday. The almost three years gave me a lot of opportunity to seriously think about this sort of thing. So, number six is a two-bladed propeller with wings, as seen on dress uniforms worn by U.S. Navy Aviation Machinist's Mates. This is my favorite for a couple reasons: it's a tangible and permanent reminder of my service (and the best job I've ever had), it's fairly large, and the color is killer.

Apologies for the length of this post, but I hope it's helpful.