Full disclosure: I don’t have any tattoos. Nevertheless, I love the intricate works of art that can grace someone’s body. I remember back in the early 90’s, the Dallas Museum of Art had a photograph collection on display of 114 tattoos by 68 different artists, and I was mesmerized. It is different than painting on a canvas. The precision, the detail, and the no-room-for-mistakes make for some beautiful work, and sometimes for major drama when the artist does makes a mistake. Unlike tattoos in the past, nowadays you can correct mistakes a bit more easily, though not without added discomfort!
I had briefly toyed with the idea of either getting a tattoo, or a (SHOCK!!) belly button piercing when I lived in Germany. It seemed everyone was getting one. And Hubby wasn’t opposed to it either, as long as it held some sort of significance.
Me: Significance? Like the kids’ names?
Hubby: No, something oblique that only you and me understand.
Me: Kids’ names in Sanskrit??
Hubby: (big sigh) No, no names. But you do have a lot of moles on your back. Maybe like Connect the Dots? Or hey! How about the Big Dipper? You do have moles that look like the stars in the Big Dipper….
Me: ………
Needless to say, that never came to fruition. And in retrospect I suppose it’s a good thing. But sometimes I think wistfully of the remarks a Big Dipper tattoo would have generated 😉
Sithy Things 
March 22nd, 2012 at 9:33 AM
A buddy in the Army spent several thousand dollars getting one of the most intricate and fantastically detailed tattoos I’ve ever seen. It was a dragon, more of the oriental snakelike dragon form, that started at his left ankle, wrapped up and around his leg, onto his back, around his torso once, and then ending on on his back with the head of the dragon looking out at you from just below the shoulder blade level and the wings spreading out, each one extending out onto my friend’s respective arms. Took a ton of money and many sessions to get it completed.
I admire the artwork of tattoos like that, but I don’t think I could ever get one. But they do look cool.
March 22nd, 2012 at 12:14 PM
When I was a kid only sailors and bikers had tattoos. My grandfather got one when he was in the Navy in WWII. It was a badly faded hula girl and he told me he always regretted getting it. No tattoos for me.
March 22nd, 2012 at 12:40 PM
Related: the next step in tattoos.
March 22nd, 2012 at 6:24 PM
That sounds awesome, CF.
I have a custom drawn werewolf head tattoo by a comic/roleplaying game artist. My plan had been to have it on the back of my neck. Easy to hide or show if desired. Then I found out that I really had to research some tattoo artists to see who could do something as intricate as this was and make it look good. And a friend who has 2 sleeves told me that 1) I’d have to have white touchups every few years to keep the blacks from running into each other with age and 2) that it would hurt like a sumbitch. So, it sits on a shelf, ready for when I have the stones to get it done. 🙂
I’ve since toyed with the idea of stylized cats for each one I’ve lost in the last several years, but I can’t find designs I like.
The hub has one on his leg. Means nothing at all except he and my ex once went out together and decided they needed tattoos. He’s been wanting to get it changed to something else and spoke to a local tattoo artist about designing something around it, but he never heard back from the guy.
March 22nd, 2012 at 9:25 PM
When I was in the Army, I knew this guy who had a tattoo of a big skull with horns on his chest. Above the skull were the words F*** You (minus the asterisks). Nice guy, but the first time I saw him walking around the barracks with his shirt off, I thought he was an escaped convict or something.
March 23rd, 2012 at 6:36 AM
[…] Aggie Sith on Friday, March 23, 2012 in Bonus Hooker, Open ThreadYesterday, I posted at Sithy about how close I came to getting a tattoo, but how I won’t because basically I’m chicken. Hubby has a very nice one, and Draco has a plethora, which officially classifies him as psychotic […]
March 23rd, 2012 at 7:11 AM
No tats. No need to give the Authoritah! any more personal identifiers than I already have. (Ungodly good looks, galactic intelligence, scars, etc.) 😀
March 23rd, 2012 at 7:10 PM
Closest I ever came to getting a tat was with my division (about 8 guys) on a 2-month op (ie…”extended training maneuvers”) off the coast of ***** in International Waters. Nastiness happened (Google “USS Drum rammed in Hong Kong harbor 1995”), and Hong Kong liberty port was switched to the sunny paradise of Guam (aka, “Armpit of the Pacific”). It was soon decided that Guam was not the best place to get a tat. Hepatitis, maybe…tat, no. So, no tats.
My wife has three, and keeps talking about getting more. Personally…I think the money would be better spent on a new scope, or more ammo, etc…
March 23rd, 2012 at 9:59 PM
You know, I think I will pass on a tattoo 😀
March 24th, 2012 at 12:11 PM
There’s a back-door astronomy joke there somewhere. But I’ll refrain.
However if you insist on torture, check out Nicole’s chocolate week…how is Lent going, BTW? 🙂
March 24th, 2012 at 3:26 PM
I have been whimpering at Nicole’s ALL WEEK!!!
But I have been very good!!
March 26th, 2012 at 11:44 AM
i once saw a woman with tattooed rabbit tracks that charted an interesting path…
March 26th, 2012 at 3:06 PM
I hope that Hubby is home from deployment the next time we swing through San Antonio – he and Mr. TiFW have GOT to meet!