Inking It for Attention

The need for ink starts early. For me, it was half way through the first session my forearm. I knew that as soon as I got out of there I would start planning my next one. But once you have touch of ink in your skin, do you become a different person socially? Do you modestly hide the art on your arms, lower back, or legs? Even people who hate needles find the act of getting tattooed overwhelmingly satisfying.
 

Even in moments of drunken stupidity, tattoos seem entertaining and absolutely worthwhile. On a college campus, countless stories of regretful decisions to get inked can be heard. Whether it is the Pantera themed gates you have on your arm in honor of a fallen guitar player or the stick figure celebrating pleasant days on your inner thigh, they're still there for show and tell. I will put off credit card payments and other financial necessities to spend a paycheck on a tattoo. 

 

Tattoos without meaning are obvious. They're either poorly done or are so idiotic on first impression that you are baffled at the idea that someone would actually pay money for such a thing. A good friend of mine receives tattoos all the time when he hangs out at his local shop. He knows that a majority of his tattoos are out of vice and don't have a lot of meaning.  I find myself trying to get my friends to join me in getting ink with me, simply because I want to hang out, and why not get a tattoo to commemorate? With all this in my mind, I like to pursue my tattoo endeavors abiding by the Jesse Hughes theory which is based on not having your tattoo necessarily be important, but as long as it reminds you of period or time in your life. 

 

Another weird aspect of tattoo culture is how artists always have some of the worst pieces. The best and first artist I went had some of the worst looking devils and skulls all over him. Skulls seem to be an artists must, like they had to get them in order to become really talented at giving other people tattoos. Maybe all the best tattoo artists in the world got the worst work done, realized, and then decided to help everyone out by giving them great work? I don't know, that just seems to be a constant when I go see someone to get work done. 

John Reardon Tattoos