Day 4: Tattoos

I got my first tattoo at 17. My mom decided we would both go for our birthdays, since they're three days apart.
In hindsight I probably should've waited, but I don't think I would've been able to afford some of the tattoos I got Senior year.
I was set on the idea for this wrist tattoo. I had been playing the cello for a few years and really loved it, and the bass clef represents the key the music was in. It kind of says "music is the key to my heart," as gay as that is.
To be honest I had another motive for getting this tattoo. A "friend" at the time (one of those friends I used to have that's kind of mean and not a good friend) scoffed when I told her the idea because I couldn't possibly have the pain tolerance for it.
So. I fucking showed her. It's a good thing it wasn't the only reason and I did design it myself, but I think of that just about every time I look at it. It did hurt but I didn't pussy out or cry.
Damn right.

The next tattoo I got had a similar theme, and at the time I thought I wanted to keep that theme going. I drew it myself, down to every dot. It's kind of cool having my own handwriting on myself. But it's sad that I don't really play music anymore, which is why I've been thinking about taking up a new instrument.
Music has always been more of a place to me, somewhere I go when I'm alone. Creating it is sometimes frustrating but rewarding when I find myself improving. I recently realized I'd sort of stopped listening to music as much, too. I'm trying hard to fix it, because that won't do. It may be one of the reasons I feel unmotivated and end up sitting in the same spot for hours in silence.
I got another tattoo the day I got this one done on my back, and another confession is I didn't really give any thought to it. I forget about it all the time, except when I'm scratching my neck and I feel the raised lines because the artist was really rough and anything he did healed terribly.

As I said in my favorites entry, I love keys. They mean a lot to me. At first it was sort of a fascination, then I thought more into and realized they were also a symbol. When I made this idea up on the spot (I'm not proud of it) I decided that two keys crossed would represent the importance of communication and family. It's still true.
Eventually I want to get a four leaf clover around them to remind me of my heritage. I don't want it too big though. The whole thing is supposed to remind me to value my family, stay in touch, and talk things out.
It's just funny because although I've pounded the message into my head, I forget about the tattoo entirely sometimes and am often surprised to see it in pictures.

These are my big pieces that I hope to continue down each of my arms. On one side I've got a traditional Japanese style and on the other I've got a newer colorful style. People always look at them and say "Never forget what?" or "is that from Naruto?" It's hard not to tell them to fuck off sometimes because people ask dumb questions.
The key with wings is based on a key chain someone gave me, and I was a little bothered by it when we weren't friends anymore, but then I saw several more people with the same key chain and finally dissociated it with one person. But another secret about this tattoo is I hated it when it was done. I hated the color. I wasn't sure why but I let the artist talk me out of grey and lavender like I originally wanted. Eventually I got red in the ribbon covered up with black to tone it down and I decided I liked it better after that.
But once some time went by and I wanted another tattoo, I switched artists. I discovered that the first guy I went to tattooed really hard and kind of overcharged. Everyone at the next place I went to was so nice and I started going there even if I wasn't getting anything just to hang out with them. So my next tattoo was the Ninetales, which my artist was super excited to do because it's a Pokemon. He mixed custom colors and made it look really pretty, no stencil involved. I researched this one a lot before I got it. Of course, Ninetales is one of my favorite Pokemon, but there's legit folklore behind it. Kitsune means fox in Japanese, and refers to the god that sometimes caused trouble and sometimes protected people, depending on whether you're in China or Japan.

After that I had a really cool idea for a tattoo. I saw a few pictures on the internet of people with tattoos that only showed up under a blacklight. It was right around the time the Harry Potter movies were starting to come to a close and being a huge part of my childhood I wanted to get something representing the series, but something unique.
The third book was my favorite. It was when the books started getting a little darker as the kids hit their teens. It was also when Sirius Black was introduced as well as a nifty tool called the Marauders Map.

Just looks like a blank scroll nowadays, you can't even see purple lines like you can in the picture when it was fresher. Under the light it reads "I solemnly swear that I am up to no good." There's also a little paw print in the bottom left corner as an homage to Padfoot, or Sirius Black. He was my favorite :(
People always always ask me "what are you going to put in the scroll?" AHA, motherfuckers, there IS something there! And they're always really surprised. So, it's just a fun tattoo to have.
This entry is getting so long and I'm not even done! I have two more tattoos to speak of; another scroll on the opposite hip of my HP scroll that's more ribbon than scroll and says "Those who matter don't mind." Read about it here. The last tattoo I have is in Michael's handwriting and is on my feet. It says "every little thing/ gonna be alright" (split on my right and left). He was singing Three Little Birds to me before he left for basic, which pretty much reduced me to a puddle of tears because I was so scared. I told him the idea and he wrote the lyrics down for me the last day I saw him till he graduated, so it meant a lot to me. On those days I missed him terribly I just looked at my feet and took a deep breath. Out of all of my tattoos it was the one I was most excited about when it was finished.
I have big plans for future tattoos, and I'm kinda sad I didn't get the chance to get another one before I moved. I'm hesitant to find a new artist here because pretty much all of the tattoo parlors here look sketchy as fuck. I plan on getting things from my favorite Miyazaki movies, a pin up of Tank Girl, and my favorite flower.
Damn this turned out to be an incredibly long entry. But there it is!