Grandma Gets a Tramp Stamp!

The whir of the guns is mesmerizing and oddly enough scary.  Under the needle you can see the grimace of pain on the recipients face. Wrinkled nose and clenched teeth are all the evidence one needs to make a quick side step out of the booth and out the door. Still, after watching 90 pound little girls take the initial flurry of needles without so much as a blink I proclaim my membership to the shamed and disgraced society of sensitive skinned girly men. Is it worth it? I mean come on now, what in the world would a person be thinking when they decide to have their skin invaded with a flat 15 shading needle? That’s 15 needles diving into dermis in unison.  At 30,000 revolutions per minute one can surmise that pain is a given ingredient to the process.

The process of getting a tattoo I think is twofold. First comes the decision to permanently ink a memory of stellar significance, however I still don’t see the importance of having Taz or any other Looney Toon permanently painted into skin. Maybe I’m just not open minded. Second a slightly demented and yes I admit, need to feel the pain of the gun. As people show the finished tattoo they often admit the pain and discomfort or pretend that they didn’t feel a thing. Like getting a tattoo resembles driving your car through a carwash, a sleepy burdensome task to save ourselves from back breaking labor. Or heaven forbid pull us away from American idol or Dancing with the Stars!  Give me a break people! It hurts! Admit it! Unless your head is totally void of substance P or GABA it hurts a little.

So first a decision then a hint of lunacy, yet this seems too simple. There must be more to this now that we delve further in. Why else do they do it? To prove a point, loss of a bet, waste money or is it a hurdle that leads to an experience and possible conversation starter. Really?  A conversation starter?   I don’t know but I’m beginning to think we have a theme going here….that is until I round the corner of reality. The harsh reality of gravity and the persistence of time. What will that awesome tribal design on your lower back look like when they are changing your depends at the nursing home? Yikes!  It probably won’t look great with granny undies or depends! “Grandma what’s that?” , says the grandchild. Nothing sexy going on here! Can you see where we’re going here?  I don’t think the wire arm band will be any cooler, nor will anybody be able to distinguish between the skull, rose or flames! So I guess getting a tattoo requires some amount of bravery as well. So now we are at three fold! Not all of the reasons or actions here are simple to understand. Are they? Let’s see if we have it straight now.

So, first a decision, a hint of lunacy and some bravery. Phew, glad I got that out of my system.

The weekend at the Tattoo and Art Show was a lot of fun and I even sold a painting! I had a great time and found that although different we are basically all the same. We all enjoy freedom of choice and freedom of speech; we like to express ourselves through tattoos, art, scars, and piercings.  As I move out of this new arena and feel gratitude for the new experience I look ahead to the week where I again get to experience all of the above without the tattoos, piercings, or scars. And the people during the upcoming week all though different are basically the same. Just a different branch of the same tree. 

Explore, evolve, and question...............................................JP