Your Tattoo And You

The comments section on this question about “tattoo regret” make for interesting reading, if you enjoy the occasional thread of people shouting past each other and making easy assumptions (a.k.a. “The Internet”). Disclosure: I am myself tattooed! I have a small skull on my right forearm. Technically it is upside-down, so it is occasionally mistaken for a snowman or a buttcrack. I got it in the “hip” section of Houston, Texas, in 1992. It cost $30. My theory at the time was that if you were going to get a tattoo it should be as tacky as possible, and I almost got inked with Bart Simpson’s head. Unfortunately (from a theoretical standpoint; this is one of those moments of relative poverty for which I will be forever grateful), Bart Simpson’s head cost $35, which was $5 more than I had on me. Thus the skull, which is suppose was some sort of tribute to Keith Richards’ ring. Do I regret it? I do not. Most days I do not even remember that it is there. It is generally only when I give blood that I actually notice it, and each time I do I think, “Oh, yeah, that guy!” What does my tattoo say about me as a person? It says that I was in my teens during the nineties. And that is my tattoo story. I hope you enjoyed it. Perhaps you have one of your own.