Tattoo You - Not Just for The Rolling Stones!

Okay, I think the red and black of he original cover artwork is still striking after all these years.  To think that in August it will be 30 years since the release of this album.   And just to remind us all of the great songs this album brought us let's list all the hits The Rolling Stones brought us with this iconic album;

1. Start Me Up
2. Hang Fire
3. Slave
4. Little T and A
5. Black Limousine
6. Neighbours
7. Worried About You
8. Tops
9. Heaven
10. No Use in Crying
11. Waiting on a Friend

What?!? Not enough you say, well here is the first track for  your listening enjoyment;

	The Rolling Stones - Start Me Up .mp3
	Found at bee mp3 search engine

Now after my last posting about my existential musings you may be asking yourself what is all this levity?  Okay, before you think I am about to float to the ceiling ala Mary Poppin's Uncle Albert



let me explain.  You see about 20 years ago I decided I wanted a tattoo.  But one of the things that always kept me from getting one was what do I get and where did I want it.  Initially, as a classical ballet dancer I didn't want to get anything that showed so I thought I would get a tattoo on my lower back where my tights (well, I usually wore tights, it sometimes depended on the whim/capriciousness/sadistic tendencies of the costumer) would cover the artwork so as not to distract.  Although I had in mind this really great Celtic design that I had found at the Irish Festival in Dallas one year (and much to Amy's chagrin I kept the t-shirt on which it was printed until it was in such a state of disarray/disrepair that I finally had to get rid of it), I finally had to give up that idea because I was afraid I would end up something like this;

(Of course it could be a metaphor for his optimistic outlook where he eats rainbows and poops butterflies)

Yes, for all of you "How I Met Your Mother" fans, that is Ted Mosby's "tramp stamp" that he received in Season 3 as he was trying to get over Robin's "hooking up" with Gael (played by Enrique Iglesias).  He ended up meeting Amy (not mine, the characer played by Mandy Moore) and at the end of the episode he gets drunk and ends up with the above little momento.

As the years went by I still held on to the idea that now I wasn't performing I could get my Celtic design.  However, as time went by and I got a little more taste in my life I realized that the lower back tattoo was not really my style. Then I thought I would get a Smiley Face tattoo put on my right ankle to cover the smile-shaped scar left over from my reconstructive surgery.  But I never got around to it.

And then I had my little incident this summer in which I made God laugh and as a result I ended up with with this little reminder (WARNING!  ITS A PICTURE OF MY SCAR A FEW DAYS AFTER THE ACCIDENT SO IF YOU'RE SQUEAMISH, SKIP RIGHT PAST IT)

I did warn you!  But because of that experience I knew that I wanted a tattoo that would remind me of the fact that I survived this accident with only a few scars to show for it - no broken bones, no permanent damage and (as the ER doctor reminded us while I was in my Morphine haze) I didn't die.

But first I had to wait for the settlement from the insurance company since I knew from past inquiries that what I wanted would not be cheap.  When that finally came in I actually tried a few places but they all told me that what I wanted was "out of style" - okay I think those places failed Customer Service 101!  Well the check finally came in but I didn't know where to go becuae I also did't want to end up with hepatitis.  So I asked Corinne who is the nurse practitioner at my general physician's office.  She led me to a place called Ink Alternative in Ronkonkoma.  After a few attempts I finally was able to book a consultation with her last Saturday to come in this past Wednesday.

I have to admit I was a bit nervous since I had never been in a tattoo parlor before other than to ask about having my dream artwork done.  As far as I knew it would end up looking something like this;

(We have ways of making you attractive - or at least of putting on your tat!)

Fortunately, it was nothing like that and I didn't have to worry about cleanliness or hepatitis!  Now granted, I wasn't looking to become the next cover model for an updated version of Ray Bradbury's The Illustrated Man;

(A great novel by the way, in case you've never read it)

Nor did I want to be the subject of a song in the style of Groucho Marx;



Or, if you prefer, the "updated" Muppets version;



Okay, okay so I'm off on a tangent - I swear some day I'm going to have myself tested.

Anyway, after much deliberation I decided I was going to get something that would be meaningful to both the moment and to myself.  I decided on a tribal band in the shape of a bicycle chain with the word ádhúil inscribed inside of it.  The bicycle chain is obvious and the word ádhúil is the Irish word for "lucky".  I had my friend Rita (who is Irish) help me with the translation.  The problem is that there is no direct translation for "lucky" as translation is an issue.  You sometimes can't translate literally into Irish, for instance the sentence "I was lucky " would translate as "Bhí an t-ádh liom", literally - "the luck was with me"with the word "ádh" meaning luck.  When you delve further into the translation (and there are many discussions/arguments in the cyber community about this) you can find that the words ámharach, ádhúil, séanmhar all translate into "lucky"  with the phrase "Fear ámharach" translating to mean "a lucky man".

In any event, all of the people I consulted agreed on one thing; if I was to use the word "ádhúil" then I had to make VERY certain that the "fadas" (the little accents over the vowels) MUST be in the right places.  So as I consulted with Amalia (A FABULOUS TATTOO ARTIST BY THE WAY - but more on her in a bit), I made certain that she understood that.  Of course I told her it was my first "tat" so I'm sure she thought I might back out or that I was just some office jockey that was looking for some way to express my mid-life crisis.  But she booked me for this past Wednesday and I went into the office.  I really didn't know what to expect since when I went in for the consult everyone there (including the new customers waiting for consuls) had multiple tattoos and piercings.  Here I was the clean cut(ish), short, white boy with unblemished (except for scars) skin and only three piercings (all in my ears).

So I went on Wednesday evening after a nice dinner with the family for what I thoguht would only be an hour and a half experience.  It turned out to be so much longer than that.  We first had to trace the pattern onto my arm and make sure that it was placed correctly.  I took a couple of tries but we finally got everything positioned the way we wanted it.  I originally was going to have a simple band go around with the word floating in the middle of two unattached ends but as we started playing with the design we came up with a way to attach the ends of the chain and to make it encircle the word.  I liked the design so that's the way we decided to go.

And now came the hard part.  Now don't get me wrong, I knew there was going to be some pain involved and I knew it wouldn't be as painful as having a lip tatoo (don't get me started) but it wasn't going to be comfortable.  However, since I have a reasonably high pain threshold (though not as high as Amy's) I figured I'd be alright!  And actually, it was kinda fun.  After the initial "getting to know you" stage (about ten minutes into the process) Amalia and I started chatting about family and raising kids.  Then her significant other Dan came in and we really got into the whole conversation about raising kids and especially in Northport.  Turns out Amalia and Dan live in East Northport!  What a small world it is after all.  We had some good conversation and despite the fact it ended up taking three hours instead of the initially anticipated hour and a half, it really didn't feel like it.  At the end of the night Amalia even told me how impressed she was that I held up with the pain since a lot of people get "squirmy" at the end, especially when they're having work done on sensitive spots like the insides of their arms.  Again, it could be in lots more sensitive areas, but that's not for me.

So today it's still a bit sore but not as bad as on Thursday and Friday when Sarah accidently smacked me on the arm a couple of times.  I'm really happy with it (I'd better be since it's kinda permanent) although in retrospect I should have her do it a bit lower.  I really thought it would show with my cycling jersey on although it would be hidden when I wore regular clothes.  Ah well, I'll just have to roll my sleeves up because after waiting this long, I am going to want to share this;

Because when all is said and done (and despite my existential "blue funks") I really am happy with my life.  After my last posting a lot of friends have contacted me to remind me to keep pushing on because in the end it is all worth it.  Thank you Bonnie for your kinds words.  As long as I have a wife like Amy, kids like Sarah, William and James, and all of my friends (including all of you cyber friends), I truly am "Fear ámharach" - A lucky man!

Stay well and with any luck I'll see you on the road tomorrow!