The past has certainly been more exciting than I ever desired, mostly due to some amazingly poor decisions on my part. Still...
RockStar Mommy has some cool kids t-shirts that she is making available for Christmas. The one that I am seriously considering is the "My Mom's Tattoo's Are Cooler Than Your Mom's." First, because face it... here in Happy Valley Utah it's a pretty sure bet that it's true. Second, because I think that it's funny. Third, 'cause it IS funny... especially here in H.V.
Yup, I've got a couple of tattoos. They can all be seen when I am wearing even the most modest swim suit or in other words- aint nuthin' on my butt. One is a very nice piece that I got as a cover-up for my first, which was a "piece-of-hud-home-job" above my right shoulder blade. I love this tattoo. It is a freehand original by Cap Szumski from back in the day when he was at Fineline in Albq., NM. Unfortunately, on really hot days the Pelikan #17 ink that the hud-job was done in welts the skin up a tad from under the cover piece and you can just distinguish portions of the first design, an original drawing that I really liked alot... till the "artist" who put it on me mangled the three interlocking circles and made it look, well... an awful lot like a toilet. Please, please, please... if you are thinking about getting some ink done, go and see a professional, there's more than health hazards to be considered!
That said, I also love my ankle ink. Did not love getting it DONE, you understand, But I love the design. I traded a painting for it. The small version of this.
The guy was working out of his apartment down in the student ghetto at the time, but he had a proper rig, set-up, inks and one of those sterilizing machine jobbies. A clava-something or something-clav, I forget. Autoclave? The only thing I am sad about is that it is all single-needle work that is already starting to moosh together. Sigh. Did I mention that it HURT!? Something that hurts that bad should get even prettier with time... like babies.
Final bit, is a scrid of an inkie-dink on the front of my left shoulder. It's a Chinese Ideogram I got from a wee shop somewhere in Santa Fe. The book I picked it out of said that it meant, and I quote as best I can remember... "Truth , Sincerity, Reality." I thought it was surpassingly cool at the time. Today? meh. What did my 22 year old self know from "Truth?" For that matter, what do I know from "Reality" today?
I used to draw flash (tat word for "pictures") for custom tats for friends, and I very nearly got into the business myself. The then manager of Sach on Central in Albq., asked me if I wanted to apprentice at his shop. He liked the flash that I had done and was looking for a female artist, as it would attract a certain clientel that was otherwise tough to please. Like guys who wouldn't normally pay for a tat on their girlfriends behind might consider it if they knew a straight chick was laying down the ink. Girls in general etc...yah-dah yah-dah.
But now? I will never get any more ink. I'm not gonna go into great detail why, just that it is a very personal choice, and has to do with some profound changes in my life and beliefs. I just think it's stinkin' funny that the topic of my ink is so taboo here in Utah. Where I come from it is a perfectly natural for someone whether they have tats of their own or not to ask about them.
"Hey, where did you get that one?"
"Why did you get that one?"
"What is that?"
"What the @^&&* were you thinking?"
So the utter silence on the topic is a little strange. I forget that I have them, even the one on my ankle that is clearly visible in my usual summer garb of capris and flip flops. Then something will happen and I will utter the word "tattoo" and then HOLY TAMALES a deluge of questions about them! I am beginning to suspect that most of the folks around here are keeping their traps shut in regards to the ink out of a concern that I am ashamed of them, or regret getting them. People are considerate like that. It is true that I am going to parentally insist that my kids do not get a tat while living in this house, and highly encourage them to never get one in general, and I have every hope that they never do...I just want to state for the record, my only regret about my tattoos is that I never got a killer Zia on my butt.
3 comments:
You regret not getting a killer zit on your butt? Wha?
I had a homejob tattoo. Friend had a setup but not many brain cells. Obviously it wasn't done right as it scabbed up horribly even with creams and it fell off. There was a trace of it left on my hip that was later wiped out with a well placed stretch mark. You can't even see it anymore.
I really don't wish to get another tattoo.
YOU are a total bad-ass! I obsessed about getting a tattoo thrugh my 20s. I never found one that moved me - that I could envision wanting on my body after five years.
My daughter loves seeing people with tatoos. She always asks for a "stamp" too. The silence thing is pretty funny.
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