The girl with the drawn-on tattoo.
Aug. 27th, 2010 10:21 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
davywavyBack when I lived in Manchester, I briefly went out with a girl who I'd originally got talking to because of the big, swirly tattoo she had around the back of her neck. It was the first time I'd seen one of those black, spirally tribal tattoos which got so popular amongst clubbers in the late 1990s, and fat McDonalds-people a few years later, and so I made some comment on it. As I was quite young and impressionable I probably said it was cool, or somesuch witless statement.
"Oh, it's not real", she told me. "It's a transfer. I'll wash it off in the morning."
I leaned in to take a look and sure enough, it was just a stick-on which in low nightclub lighting looked entirely real. Still, it gave me an excuse to lean in so I took advantage. However, I remember thinking at the time what a good idea pretend tattos were over the real thing; I think I've mentioned a punk girl I sortof knew who had ripped fishnets tattoed onto her legs and how I thought it was pretty neat for all of thirty seconds until I realised just how much she'd probably be regretting it by 2010: so right about now I expect she's looking at her legs and realising she'll never wear anything but trousers to the office.
It's pretty much that reason I've never got a tattoo. Like anyone who has ever been young, extremely stupid and above all drunk I have at times thought them a good idea, but the permanancy has always put me off. To indelibly mark yourself - even if it's with a 'timeless' design like those Celtic arm rings which will say "My 18th birthday was in 1994" for the rest of your life - always struck me as something I would inevitably regret because everything changes.
But that's my opinion. Some of you lot have tattoos, some don't. It's Friday, you aren't doing any work. Tell me your reasons.
"Oh, it's not real", she told me. "It's a transfer. I'll wash it off in the morning."
I leaned in to take a look and sure enough, it was just a stick-on which in low nightclub lighting looked entirely real. Still, it gave me an excuse to lean in so I took advantage. However, I remember thinking at the time what a good idea pretend tattos were over the real thing; I think I've mentioned a punk girl I sortof knew who had ripped fishnets tattoed onto her legs and how I thought it was pretty neat for all of thirty seconds until I realised just how much she'd probably be regretting it by 2010: so right about now I expect she's looking at her legs and realising she'll never wear anything but trousers to the office.
It's pretty much that reason I've never got a tattoo. Like anyone who has ever been young, extremely stupid and above all drunk I have at times thought them a good idea, but the permanancy has always put me off. To indelibly mark yourself - even if it's with a 'timeless' design like those Celtic arm rings which will say "My 18th birthday was in 1994" for the rest of your life - always struck me as something I would inevitably regret because everything changes.
But that's my opinion. Some of you lot have tattoos, some don't. It's Friday, you aren't doing any work. Tell me your reasons.
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Date: 2010-08-27 10:15 am (UTC)The long version:
1) My first tattoo was a stylised Star of Earendil (http://www.glyphweb.com/arda/s/starofearendil.html), an important symbol from Tolkien's tales to the Numenoreans and later Dunedain (see: Aragorn) which is the mark of the house that followed Earendil (Elrond's banner which hides Arwen at the Coronation in RotK). I took this in an SPQR kind of way to stamp on the values I choose to aspire to, alongside the fact I wear the ring of Barahir on my left index finger. It's a pretty good looking tattoo of a star with a sword at the long point, so I'm not going to stop being happy with it any time soon.
2) My second tattoo was a huge project which took two years to fully complete. My other main ring, a 13th C Knight's Templar copy, is also very important to me. I had it placed on my other arm as a band, which was then filled with all sorts of occult symbols, alchemical markings, angelic sigils and suchlike, to act like magical kevlar. Your mileage may vary as to whether you care to believe in such things, but think along the lines of Constantine's tattoos and you'll be somewhat there. Seeing as I work as a professional exorcist, this block of tattoos has saved me a fair bit of trouble on more than a few occasions.
3) I have had my personal sigil (see my profile page, on the business card) burned into my neck, again for magical reasons.
4) I have had the four stoic virtues (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stoicism#Stoic_ethics_and_virtues) tattooed in a band around tattoo #1, in greek, to remind me of my favourite philosophy and the fact that it has carried me through some interesting times. I use these four words as a mantra during meditation.
5) I have a small rosebud tattooed on my ring finger, this was done just after my handfasting to my wife, who also has the same image but reversed. The rose is important in Gnosticism, mystic Christianity and Thelema, and a small growing thing is significant in Druidry, so it fits both of our belief systems.
There will probably be more, certainly ones regarding my kid(s) but not in the Wayne born 21-3-98 kind of way. Possibly a small copy of Habbakuk 1:5 in hebrew somewhere for Nathanael.
:)
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Date: 2010-08-27 04:36 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-08-27 11:08 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-08-28 02:07 am (UTC)