Oh... wait... I'm from the same side of the pond just a bit south... one a those days.

Thanks for clearing that up, sir. Those are nice. Shiny. I would'nt wanna break one either.

Hee hee!

That's the thing. At first, the only reason I got mine was because I liked the way it looked. I never really wanted some obscure meaningful tattoo because I figured I'd eventually grow up and think differently, so the only sort of tat I ever wanted was for the visual aesthetic.

Now, I just don't think it's adding anything of value to my life, and I couldn't care less about it, so there isn't much of a reason for me to want to keep it. Personally, I'm more concerned about not having to wear long sleeves at a job in the muggy heat of Louisiana. So it's just more practical for me to not have one.

Wow, I completely agree with everything you just said. Couldn't have said it any better myself.

Doing something irreversible for purely aesthetic reasons is silly. Aesthetics is a volatile and unpredictable rationale and its not one that makes for any sort of confidence in why you did something so drastic as getting ink permanently suspended within your living flesh.

As for the revered art form stuff, that's bull****. Not becAuse you're wrong, because you aren't, but because its a stupid thing to use as reasoning. Slavery used to be a respectable profession, ritual sacrifice used to be a perfectly sound rationale for murder. We stopped doing them because its bloody stupid to think of things as good or meritable just because they're old or traditional. The history of tutting should have no bearing unless you happen to be a tattooist.

My eventual position was that in either case, whether it's some sort of personal meaning, or aesthetic, it's silly... In my case, I actually always intuited that there wasn't really a point to permanently inscribing whatever I thought was important at the time into my body when there are plenty notebooks available at office supply stores, had I thought I needed to remember something in case I went senile or had some sort of amnesia and somehow forgot the important things I cared about. Of course, I could lose a notebook a lot easier than a tattoo, but if I were senile, I probably would no longer know what the hell the tattoo meant anyway. And, should I grow older free of senility and amnesia, I really wouldn't need a constant reminder of my own perspectives and values, which are also subject to change throughout life. Those sorts of things don't need to be etched into your body to make them valid.

Aesthetic tattoos, on the other hand, seem more in line with, let's say, deciding to have a permanent hairstyle that you can never change. It doesn't inherently contain any meaning... you just like the way it looks and commit to it, (usually not thinking about how you'll feel about it in the future, as with a lot of "meaningful" tattoos).

Ultimately, if I could go back, I'd not have wasted the money it cost to do something so pointless. But there is one thing I am thankful for... I didn't choose something that required some ridiculously pretentious explanation for how "deep" I am when people ask about it. If I want to share my thoughts and feelings to some one, I'll do it of my own accord and with traditional communication. I have more control of it that way.

I still get strangers saying "Hey, nice tattoo!!", but I'm just thankful that the conversation ends with me saying "thanks" and walking the f*ck away.

or you're a fan of getting tattoos :p: honestly i've never experienced such negative responses to getting a tattoo, or body art in general. i know in older times this forum was quite supportive of tattooing, but i suppose things have changed. what i see now is a reaction to the fleeting nature of a person's whim and using the idea that "even if it's what you want to do you shouldn't, there are no guarantees that you'll even like it in 2 weeks, it won't look good, etc etc." as a basis for not doing something permanent to yourself. i love my tattoos, and they are well done, and they weren't terrible expensive for something that'll be in my body forever. am i the grand exception, can this never happen again?

I think you're over-reacting.
Most people in this thread are not saying that at all. They're warning her about how difficult portrait tattoos are to pull off unless you have someone who really knows what they're doing, which sounds like reasonable advice to me.
A few people here don't like them but it's hardly the blanket negativity you're making it out to be.

Agreed on all points. Now going back to Everclear I just remembered the 2nd version. Is your tattoo the band or the booze?

A slightly different take on the 'logo or lyrics' angle is a custom piece based on a band's art style. Like the 1 guy I know with good tattoos has a sleeve on his left arm that's entirely created based on Radiohead album covers and styles. The Hail to the Thief bit on his shoulder is awesome. But where the tattoo draws from various albums it creates a familiar yet unique piece of art. Again, SUPER PRICEY, and something that I believe he's been working on for like 3 years.

Yeah the original claim was she only asked for like 3 or something and the tattoo artist went 'crazy' and just kept going, after she fell asleep, while getting a needle jammed into her face like 1000 times a minute. Exactly no one besides her own dumb ass and her parents bought that line. I doubt the lawyer they paid for to press charges against the tattoo artist even believed the farce.

:laughing: :clap:

Exactly. In fact, I may be mistaken here, but I haven't seen anyone in this thread who is categorically anti-tattoo. I know I'm not, I just think people should consider questions like "How well is this image going to translate a piece of body art?", "How well is thing going to age?" and "Am I still going to like this a decade or two from now?" before getting one. I say this because the majority of people I know who got tattoos in their teens or early twenties regret having them now.