Some day we'll find it...

[cosmolinguist]

The buzzing sounded scary.

I couldn't see the little needle-gun thing, though. I don't know if that made it better or worse. Y'know, that fear-of-the-unknown. And the anticipation of fear which, like anticipation of something good, can end up being more intense than whatever it is when it finally shows up. It made me cringe a little, anyway, even though that's apparently bad if you're getting tattooed because it makes it hurt more.

I was mostly excited. I'd already learned new things, mostly about how the sketch is transferred onto skin. "Stand up straight, girl!" Laurence, the tattoo artist, said as he was doing that. He was very nice and I liked him a lot.

But then the scary buzzing started. A bit like the drill at the dentist's...


I suppose I should say that I did not get a tattoo.

demiurgician did! I got to watch. (I also took that picture, just after it was done.) And, as you can see, she's not new to the process. This was her fourth tattoo (but three of them look like one big one: the triangles were first; this is the second set of vines and flowers to be added, as you can probably tell--the colors of the new bit will match the old once everything's healed), and she handled the process very well. She was very excited--before, during, and after--about her new tattoo.

It never occurred to me that watching a friend get tattooed might make a nice outing. But Elizabeth went with belladonnalin to watch her get the last installment of her tattoos, and afterward was all the more excited to get her own. I was a bit afraid that if I went along to watch I'd meet the same fate!

But luckily I am (a) poor (b) a big wuss who doesn't like pain and (c) unable to think of anything I'd really want to wear on my skin for the rest of my life. So I've managed to avoid signing up for my own tattoos, so far.

Yet these two make them seem appealing. I sort of envy them having a Thing (or many Things) that they like enough to want to wear them all the time. And they both have interesting and thoughtful reasons behind their tattoos, stories to tell about their tattoos.

Elizabeth and I hung out in Starbucks for a while afterwards (she showed it off, clingfilm and all, to the people working there) and had many interesting conversations about how we got here and where we're going. I asked about her tattoos, having not heard much of the stories behind them yet, and heard about the themes of growth and change that seem to run through them all. I really like that she has emblems of change inked permanently on her body. But I guess change is the one constant; it shows up whether you like it or not.

And while sometimes it might be nice to forget the things that ended badly or just don't seem like much a part of you any more, as tempting as it may be to revise your own history to fit your current outlook, it's ultimately better to realize that your life, like Elizabeth's tattoos, is a work in progress. There are landmarks of where you've been, and there's still the potential of more to come.

Comments

[bernmarx.livejournal.com]

I was going to say that was a LOT of ink to get at once, but then you put in the part about it not all being new. Even so, the new bits are STILL a lot of ink at a sitting.

But I'm a wuss, which is why most of my tats are smallish. I passed out during my last one. :D

[cosmolinguist]

It took about two and a half hours, and it didn't seem to bother her much at all until about the two-hour mark. She didn't do more than wince and say, once or twice, "Okay, that really hurt." (It doesn't surprise me! Especially the small-of-the-back stuff. And it probably didn't help that she's apparently ticklish in some of those spots. But even one of the guys who worked there said she was handling it really well. He also said girls tend to be more scared at first but tougher when it's actually happening, which I thought was interesting.

And I'm a much bigger wuss than you, which is why I have none. :-) Smallish is still impressive to me.

[bernmarx.livejournal.com]

The pain thing is REALLY connected to fat-vs-muscle/bone, which is what made me pass out. This (http://www.ourpinkhouse.com/mertat.htm) (link NSFW) was mostly okay because most of it's on my thigh (and therefore fat). Her tail is where the muscle connects to the bone, and oh nelly, my brainbrain went nightnight. It wasn't pain so much as adrenalin shock.

[cosmolinguist]

Oh yeah, I know even things like cuts and bruises are affected by whether they're on fat, muscle, or bone, so I'm not surprised that tattoos follow the same principle.

And the adrenalin thing is interesting, too. I mean, this is an injury to your body, with the inflammation, scabs, and everything you'd expect from deep gashes being made in your skin. It's kind of weird to think about how bodies deals with what people do to them, including giving them rushes of hormones that may be useful. :-)

[demiurgician.livejournal.com]

Really? Who said that?

I love your post btw...mind if i memory it?

[cosmolinguist]

The bit about girls being tougher? The, I dunno, the Other Guy. I think that's the one you meant when you were talking about how he works there to get tatttoos? I talked to him while Amy was with you.

And of course you may memory it. I'm glad you like it. I felt like I was stealing your LJ topic. :-)

[soltice.livejournal.com]

But I suppose I should also say that I did not get a tattoo!

Pity.

Did I mention that I decided to get one?

[cosmolinguist]

You've mentioned vaguely wanting one, but of course you prevaricated about it in your Tess-like way. Nothing that sounded so definite as "I decided to get a tattoo"! :-) Of what?

[soltice.livejournal.com]

"Of what" is certainly the question. I've been debating this little idea for a few days, and I certainly would like to involve some of my favorite symbols: Suns and Moons, Stargazer Lilies.... But I would also want the design simple.

I may have an idea already, but I'm in no hurry to do this.

[elrestodemivida.livejournal.com]

This post made me a little itchy. Whenever i hear the bozz of the needle, unlike you i don't find it scary - i find it makes me long for another new tattoo. I have another planned but the person i want to do it is very unreliable, so who knows, it might not happen for a while, or i might just go to another tattooist. Trouble is finding a good one, innit.