tattoos sabbie And sitting down, in front of the tattooist, who is not quite ready to begin, my mind nervously starts to wander, and i remember when i was getting my eyebrow pierced, and how, just as the needle was being rammed though my flesh, my brain panicked, frantically demanding was i just going to sit there, and let this man HURT me like this? The actual piercing only lasted a second, and then it was over, and my brain then apologised for its moment of nervous foolishness and i grin as i recall the things i have done to myself over my years. Abruptly, i am dragged back to today, with the noise of the tattoo gun starting up for the first time. My brain giggles uneasily, assuring me that there is no sound in the world, like the buzzing of a tattoo gun. The tattooist leans in, holding my skin gently but firmly, and asks: “Are you ready?” What a silly question. i almost snigger at it, feeling lightheaded, secretly unsure if i am ever really ready for this. But outwardly i nod, thinking that paying someone to cause me agony, always seems craziest, at the times i actually do it. He pronounces “ok” like a death sentence, and i feel the needles bite into my flesh, as he slowly (gods! so fucking slowly! surely it doesn’t have to be really this slowly?) traces with his malevolent, sadistic needles around the pattern i have decided (and here it occurs to me that i have decided insanely) to affix to my skin forever. And as i grit my teeth against the pain, i wonder if i truly like any design enough, if i believe in any image enough, to go through this much agony. And i promise myself once again, as the needles bite deep, and i can feel the blood trickling down my skin, that this time, this time will be the last time i do this. And i vow while under the stabbing needles that this would be my final tattoo, that i can live the rest of my life with just two tattoos. And afterwards, as the memory of the intense pain slowly fades over the weeks, and i admire in the mirror the design i have attached forever to my body, and i no longer have to put up with the itchiness of healing, and no longer have to deal with the absurdity of standing up, sitting down, lying around, with noisy, crinkily, scratchy glad-wrap sticky taped to bits of me, (let alone walking around with a noise that suggests i’m wearing plastic knickers) and i have slowly forgotten all the unpleasant bits, i start to think “maybe it wasn’t so bad, really.” And i glance with a smile, at the image that i am thinking about for my next one. 010222 ... twiggie my first is going to be a likkle scorpion above my ankle (not ON, mind you.) my second will be the wings on my back. that's as far as i've thought out thus far, but i'm sure there'll be more plans soon to come. 010222 ... Alexander Beetle Drunk off his ass, he woke up with an Abercrombie & Fitch logo across it. He hates A&F. As near as he can figure, he thought he'd just save them the time and effort of tracking him down, and wears it with pride. Ask him, he'll show it to you. 011029 ... Teenage Jesus The Eye of Horus, on my left sholder 011029 ... jestification life-long crack cocaine. i gave money for some of you. for others i gave my heart. you give me strength when i forget who i am. i wish you could magically produce on my skin so i could wake to find new babies. i'm so broke. and my heart is so broken. next year i'll get a fix of ink. 011204 ... nah....! dead_sexy. 011204 ... Tank here is a link to a picture of one of mine: http://209.61.175.149/cgi-bin/tkp_store.cgi?show=gallery anksdragon.html 011208 ... zulu redfox da lone star eternal art 030315 ... monolith hmmm if i ever get a tatoo .. it get one on m arm .. a straight line and a dot on each side .. sort of like an aleph . with nukhtas on the side 030315 ... icy i see the spider as my weakness, with the words that mean truth and equality circling it, keeping it, not letting it go. of course, on the spider, the character (chinese or japanese?) for eternity... to the left is my stylised blue dragon, with his blue flame. strength, protection, wisdom, insight, many of these. to the right is my panther, stylised in black, holding the pattern of a heart... my heart? the other one might be a gecko. just because geckos are cute. 030731 ... x it's generally not a good idea to have things written on you in a language you don't know 030731 ... comedian#32 do you think it's cool for young people in japan get words in english tattooed on them? 030801 ... kd I see no reason why native english speakers should feel that they alone own the rights to the language. English is no longer a localised language anyway. 030801 ... kd I see no reason why native english speakers should feel that they alone own the rights to the language. English is no longer a localised language anyway. But if uninformed teenagers are walking around the streets of Tokyo with "take me from behind- i'm easy" tatooed acroos their foreheads then perhaps some caution should be advised before selecting a message from a language with which one has no experience. 030801 ... kd I see no reason why native english speakers should feel that they alone own the rights to the language. English is no longer a localised language anyway. But if uninformed teenagers are walking around the streets of Tokyo with "take me from behind- i'm easy" tatooed across their foreheads then perhaps some caution should be advised before selecting a message from a language with which one has no experience. 030801 ... icy i have too many words in response to the soft spot that may have been hit but also have the feeling half the blather may be from those uncomfortable with this fascinating word (and concept) in the first place. even permanent marks on my body turn out to be not so permanent... or maybe not so permanent as i thought... 030812 ... Freak I got a dragon done on my right shoulder blade yesterday :-P 030813 ... RHPS Do you have any tattoos, Brad? 030813 ... icy just wandering today... so, just because i don't understand mathematics fully, it would be inadvisable to incoporate a figure eight lying on its side (representing infinity) into my permanent ink markings on my body? if enough people believe something, does that make it true? 031028 ... notme consensual_reality 031028 ... icy if people who speak a different language want to tattoo themselves with english words and phrases, by all means, they can. i have a feeling it's more of what a tattoo means to the person who created it or is wearing it. i could make up a symbol and use that if i wanted to. i would be interested in attempting to understand why you seem so forcibly opposed to incorporating chinese or japanese characters into tattoos. do you have the same feelings towards, perhaps, tribal symbols? cave markings? how do you feel about bradning cattle or horses with country and/or ranch marks? or would that be in a totally different league? just curious, i mean no disrespect. 031029 ... x What branding has to do with anything, I don't know. But I dissapprove of that, for the record. If you get a chinese or japanese character on you, it is something that had a mean for millions of people. you don't know the meaning. you are trusting what someone is telling you. i don't speak chinese or japanese myself, but my conjecture is this: in spanish there are words which do not have precise counterparts in english. it takes a lot of explaining to get close to the actual concept. eastern languages are vastly different, and so i imagine that the translation is a lot less complete. why do you want something from a language you don't speak in the first place? you may not know much about math, but you seem to at least have a basic understanding of what the infinity symbol means, WITHOUT relying on some tattoo artists conjecture. math has a language, and you may not be a scholar, but you speak math. (incidentally, i have an infinity symbol tattoed on me. my extended understanding of it comes from physics, actually) lastly, when i read about you wanting to get a little gecko or asian symbol, you occurred to me as a stereotype. "I want something little, that my mom won't see, but that my friends can see and think i'm cool. OMG, will it HURT?!" 031112 ... Death of a Rose x....luv your rants....keep it coming down blue. 031112 ... x this one is due to a particular request. 031112 ... Lint Lover He has a spiderweb on his head. I have "Forever,My Love" on my ass. 040524 ... love & hate I have a celtic cross on my lower back, symbolising my love for her, the one i will love forever. Eternally mine. 040525 ... smurfus rex I designed mine, so I don't have to rely on someone else to tell me the exact meaning of it. I think that's how it ought to be anyway. agrees with x. :) 040526 ... gwendy i have a word on my ankle, from a story published word by word on people's bodies. there an no where else. 040526 ... smurfus rex ooo, that sounds cool... wants one too 040526 ... Death of a Rose another addiction that quickly grows. 041012 ... marjorie Smashing pumpkins heart on right shoulder. Two of clubs on left shoulder 050426 ... hannah i don't have one 050427 ... Ivory Hehe. Jesus loves me -and- my tattoos. 050427 ... . Don't get it. Never have. What's so cool? It's so mainstream. What's so independent or rebellious? Just another herd of sheep. What's even aesthetic about it? Most tattoo "art" is unoriginal highly stylised crap. No big deal though, really. Enjoy you skin and body defacement. 050428 ... unhinged new_ink and my tattoo (singular) threatens to turn into tattoos (plural) where and what? 050429 ... unhinged a lotus flower mandala of the mantra of compassion in tibetan right underneath my bra line in the center to match the mantra of compassion in tibetan on my back. john_and_i got tattoos from the same guy at the same place. whether i like it or not, i'll have some memory of him for the rest of my life. 050914 ... ema at 17h30 on saturday at shocker tattoo. euler's identity. my shoulder. 060208 ... jane ouroboros 060208 ... jordie were spread over his arms and back. his tan legs were mesmerizing I still want him. 060517 what's it to you? who go blather from