Get a tattoo

I’m still deciding what I want and where I want it, but I’ve wanted the Man Ray violin design as a tattoo for close to at least five years. I’ve got the ink, the needle, and the experienced friend. This is happening as soon as I can be bothered to print out the picture.

And yes, I know, homemade tattoos can turn out bad. Almost all this friend’s tattoos were done by him, and all of them, including the ones that are in places he couldn’t reach on himself, were drawn by him. So I trust him completely.

The girl has many self-done tattoos and explained the process to me and why it would be safe and hygenic. All I have to do is let her crash at my house when she wants to come to town next month to see her cousin and provide her with the necessary tools, and she will do it for me. The last few people who wanted to tattoo me I wouldn’t trust with a needle at all.

I really want a tattoo of the Serenity Prayer on my lower back. Am trying to figure out the logistics of having it and my Man Ray tattoo. And I think I want the shamrock on my ankle. Not even sure if I still want a rose or not…if I had one, I’d be cool with it, but there are other things I want more and only so many places on my body I want tattooed. Maybe I’d get it on my shoulder.

I think I want to get my shamrock tattoo on St. Patrick’s Day. I’ve wanted it long enough I know I’m not going to hate it or regret it. Right now, though, I think I want it somewhere on my stomach. I need to do more research, though, on whether or not tattoos stretch during pregnancy and how much. I have a friend who has one literally around her belly button. She is a small girl and blew up when she had her last child, but her tattoo stayed normal looking. To be honest, I’d kinda like a tattoo like hers. Not the exact one she’s got, obviously, but something to go around my belly button and at least hide the scar from a bad piercing. I guess I’ll have to start saving up part of my paycheck now, though, if I want my first real tattoo next month.

Here is the closest thing to what I want that I’ve been able to find online…
http://www.santacruztattoo.com/s~clover1.jpg

At a later date I also want this tattoo on the inside of my left ankle (page 21, bottom row, furthest to the left):
http://www.tattoojohnny.com/tattoo-design-gallery.asp?k=rose

My Man Ray violin tattoo idea still stands as something I WILL do one day.

There are four tattoo parlors listed in the phone book. One recently went out of business. One I am NOT under any circumstances returning to, as they royally screwed up piercing my belly button. The other two I have heard are good. I’ve heard really good things about one tattooist at one tattoo parlor from two very different people, so I may go request him. When I have the money for a tattoo, that is.

Has anyone seen Man Ray’s Violon d’Ingres? Well, I don’t want the whole photo tattooed on my back (when I explain this to people, why do they think that?), but I do want the f-shaped violin lines tattooed on my back because that would be cool. And then in the center of my lower back, right above my butt, I want a shamrock. I’m toying with the idea of getting a Starry Night star on my shoulder, but we’ll see how the first tattoos go. I also want tattoos that are easily covered by my clothing, except for one tattoo. I want a cosmetic tattoo over a scar on my leg. I don’t care if the whole world sees that one…I’ve spent enough years hiding that scar.

I used to be scared to death of getting a tattoo for fear I wouldn’t want it later. Well, I’ve wanted all my ideas for at least a year now, in the case of one of the designs about three or four years, and so I think it’s time to save up the money and go for it. The other thing is this. I met a VERY tattooed man and we got to talking about his modifications. He said that he never regrets a tattoo because if he wanted it at the time he got it, then it obviously had special meaning for him at some point.