Humor will not be tolerated!! -Portia

Anyone else with me that they would never, ever in a geological eon get a tattoo? First, I can think of few things less in line with my preppy fashion sense, and second, needles are scary.

Any readers have tattoos?

I have a few medical tattoos, as previously noted ... a long time ago ...

It hurt. Not excruciatingly, but certainly enough to not really want to get more of them. And if it had been my choice I wouldn't have gotten them in the first place, but ah well.

The late writer Twice Marked had, you know, two. She may have more now. She went through the temple shortly after getting them, and she's now a temple worker.

krebscout wrote:The late writer Twice Marked had, you know, two. She may have more now. She went through the temple shortly after getting them, and she's now a temple worker.

Oh. Well, that 'nym suddenly makes sense!

I think the biggest obstacle for me in getting a tattoo would be... is there really any image or word I want permanently on my skin? At this time in my life, no. Also, how taboo would it be to ask someone (say, in my class) about the "meaning" of her tatoo? I'm so curious *why* someone would get... this particular tatoo, yet it seems like a very personal/rude question. On the other hand, tatoos are kind of obvious and maybe that makes it okay to comment upon. (Sorry, this diverges from the topic a bit, but maybe someone has an opinion/idea. )

Mico, I'm pretty sure you'd be okay asking about a visible tattoo. I mean if you caught a glimpse of a booty tattoo in the locker room, I might avoid asking about that, but if it's on her arm or leg or whatever then I don't think that it's rude. I have asked complete strangers about their tattoos before because I am so fascinated by them.

I have four tattoos, and I'm always happy to discuss them.

1. My name (hip). I struggled with my first name growing up. It's weird. It's got weird capitals in it. I hated it. But coming to love my name was coming to love myself in a really important way.

2. A lotus (center of back). I got this one when I was away in college. I felt like I was blossoming and really coming into my own as an individual away from my family and childhood friends, so it seemed appropriate.

3. An outline of Texas (inside left ankle). When I realized that New York was not the place for me. I needed a piece of home to get through the last couple of years of college, so I got Texas. I still love it. I may get it colored in as a Texas flag, but I'm still debating.

4. Handwritten message (inside right ankle). The woman who was my surrogate grandmother passed away right before my senior year of college. She had sent me a birthday card my freshman year that I cherished (and still cherish). I got part of the message she wrote tattooed in her handwriting. It's just a way of keeping her close always.

My next tattoo will be a phoenix (if you follow me on Pinterest you've seen my visual research) drawn and tattooed on by a friend. It'll be on my back. It's gonna be my largest piece, and I can't wait!

As for pain....it hurts. I'm not gonna pretend like it doesn't. But it only hurts while the needle is actually tattooing and stops as soon as it comes off your skin. I'm a HUGE pain baby, and I still love getting tattooed. When I leave public school teaching, I'll do some on my arms.

I agree with Portia, and would like to add:how are your tattoos going to look when you're 80?

Giovanni Schwartz wrote:I agree with Portia, and would like to add:how are your tattoos going to look when you're 80?

http://9gag.com/gag/4820415 [excuse the edited language]

Oh man, I would never. I am such a baby. Plus I have no idea what I would get a tattoo of.

love the muttonchops on that man

Giovanni Schwartz wrote:I agree with Portia, and would like to add:how are your tattoos going to look when you're 80?

Who cares? None of us will look good at 80 (if we live that long). The last thing I'll be worried about at 80 will be my tattoos. I'll probably be more concerned with not breaking a hip.

I'm fully confident that tattoo technology will continue to improve, making touchups to existing tattoos at the age of 80 look quite phenomenal.

I will probably get a tattoo someday. Actually probably several. There are three particular things I would like to get, but I haven't yet figured out where I want them. They are:
-a small blue butterfly - One of my earliest memories is of being very young and being at a lake with my parents and I was very sad about something and I had gone off and was crying by myself and a small blue butterfly landed in the palm of my hand and stayed there for a long time and I felt this connection with it like it understood me or like God had sent it to comfort me and when it flew away I was okay again. I always think about that moment when things are going horribly wrong, that when I was just a tiny little kid who was sad, that butterfly came and stayed with me until I was okay again. I've always thought it would be nice to commemorate that.
-a small moon and star, because the night sky is really important to me.
-some kind of small celtic design to commemorate my Irish heritage, which is really important to me.

I don't know if I would want them to be somewhere visible or somewhere where only I would see them.

And I have seven earrings now, so I'm not really scared of needles. And I know someone is going to probably chime in and say that we're not supposed to get tattoos and piercings and all of that, but honestly, I've prayed about it and I feel like it was an acceptable decision for me to make. Same with the tattoos. Especially now that I'm in med school, I see patients who are not always super comfortable around stuffy medical personnel in white coats and sometimes it's like they visibly relax a bit when I walk into the room and they see that I've got all these piercings (which, by the way, are super easy to cover up or take out where I'm in a setting where they might freak people out). It's like it makes people think, "Okay, she's maybe not the most mainstream person in this place," and then sometimes they say, "I was a little scared to tell the nurse, but I take these drugs/do these risky things and I think you probably should know that because it might be important to what's going on here." It's been an interesting experience.

NerdGirl wrote:And I have seven earrings now, so I'm not really scared of needles. And I know someone is going to probably chime in and say that we're not supposed to get tattoos and piercings and all of that, but honestly, I've prayed about it and I feel like it was an acceptable decision for me to make. Same with the tattoos. Especially now that I'm in med school, I see patients who are not always super comfortable around stuffy medical personnel in white coats and sometimes it's like they visibly relax a bit when I walk into the room and they see that I've got all these piercings (which, by the way, are super easy to cover up or take out where I'm in a setting where they might freak people out). It's like it makes people think, "Okay, she's maybe not the most mainstream person in this place," and then sometimes they say, "I was a little scared to tell the nurse, but I take these drugs/do these risky things and I think you probably should know that because it might be important to what's going on here." It's been an interesting experience.

That is interesting. It's not something I would have thought of, but now that you explain it, it makes perfect sense.

I've considered dying my hair some crazy color so that people would quit making assumptions about me at church, but then I'm too attention-shy to actually do it. (And I personally wouldn't like the permanence of a tattoo, but I have nothing against them, otherwise.)

I just got my hair done in micro braids, and i'm going to have colored hair braided into them for the summer. can't wait!

I know there's some famous-in-the-jazz-world bassist that has a bass clef tattooed on the corner of the palm of his hand. That actually makes sense, though, since it's... you know... his entire existence.

Yog in Neverland wrote:I know there's some famous-in-the-jazz-world bassist that has a bass clef tattooed on the corner of the palm of his hand. That actually makes sense, though, since it's... you know... his entire existence.

So since we're both Board writers, we should get a really cool paper bag tattooed? I'm down if you are

mic0 wrote:
I think the biggest obstacle for me in getting a tattoo would be... is there really any image or word I want permanently on my skin? At this time in my life, no. Also, how taboo would it be to ask someone (say, in my class) about the "meaning" of her tatoo? I'm so curious *why* someone would get... this particular tatoo, yet it seems like a very personal/rude question. On the other hand, tatoos are kind of obvious and maybe that makes it okay to comment upon. (Sorry, this diverges from the topic a bit, but maybe someone has an opinion/idea. )

Some people consider it bad form to ask about tattoo meanings (see this: http://honeybeeinthecity.blogspot.com/2 ... being.html), but of course that depends on who you ask... so tread carefully.

I'm planning on getting a tattoo next year-ish (I'm waiting for The Kid to not be breastfeeding) and like Imogen, I'm going with a phoenix. It'll be on my left shoulder/back, so it should be pretty easy to hide when I don't want to show it off. I've wanted a tattoo for years and I'm ridiculously excited to finally have a plan for it. I still have to pick an artist that I like, and so far I've got nothing. I may plan a whole trip and go out of state to see someone on the West Coast, just so I can have exactly what I want. Because if I'm putting something on my body for the rest of my life, I'm okay with throwing money at it so that it can be perfect.

Imogen wrote:
My next tattoo will be a phoenix (if you follow me on Pinterest you've seen my visual research) drawn and tattooed on by a friend. It'll be on my back. It's gonna be my largest piece, and I can't wait!

That sounds awesome! *fist pump for phoenix tattoos*

NerdGirl wrote: Especially now that I'm in med school, I see patients who are not always super comfortable around stuffy medical personnel in white coats and sometimes it's like they visibly relax a bit when I walk into the room and they see that I've got all these piercings (which, by the way, are super easy to cover up or take out where I'm in a setting where they might freak people out). It's like it makes people think, "Okay, she's maybe not the most mainstream person in this place."

I think mainstream is a great word to describe my visual style, and it's very important to me to maintain that. Interestingly enough, I spend my time around hipster artistes where that means I stand out: my boyfriend and I looked very square at this pop-up art event his friend was throwing in our chinos and polos. I think it's actually kind of satisfying to hold unconventional views in Mormonlandia but to "fit in" so well in appearance.