Freebase Dali

I regret my tribal, but not because other people think it's a lame bro tat. Just for professional reasons. I'd rid my sleeve any day of the week if someone else paid for it to be done, whether it was the best tattoo in the world or not. Otherwise, I don't really care. But at the same time, I can't help but think that people who go out of their way to get a tattoo according to the current "standards of awesomeness" will be sorely disappointed when their choice becomes something either society or themselves eventually find retarded. They'll just end up in the same boat as the tribal folks.

My advice to anyone getting a tattoo is to just make sure you like it, and nothing more. Past that, there really isn't a point of a tattoo, because perceptions change. (Including your own, btw, so choose wisely). If you base it on what you think others will like, you're destined to be disappointed. And while the irony of it is that a tattoo is ultimately something meant for others' perceptions, much like the reason people choose their wardrobe, it kinda helps that the more important factor is that the individuals themselves are the primary factor involved with getting something permanently stamped on their body, rather than getting something more acceptable by some standard that's going to last just about as long as all the previous iterations of it since then.

I guess what I'm saying is it really doesn't matter what the hell you have stamped on your body. Do what you want. Whether people like it or not is their problem. If that affects a person, then that's their problem.

Personally, the only affect my tattoos have on me is my preoccupation with the issue of being considered in a professional environment, because it has the potential to affect my livelihood. Fortunately, that hasn't been an issue yet, but until professionals with ink sleeves are a standard in every industry, I'm going to make a few reasonable assumptions about that.

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