What motivated you to get that tatoo?

[scottmandue]

I thought about getting "Exit only" on my butt...

However I gave up my life of crime so I no longer found it necessary.

[TechnoViking]

I've gotten a couple recently. I'm nearing 40, and the number of years left to be regretful is getting smaller

And I've got quite a few scars from surgeries in my youth and figured my underwear modeling career is pretty much shot at this point, so why the fk not?

[VINMAN]

Guess I'm one of the few "marked freaks" on here.....

[Tishabet]

Originally Posted by HardDrive

You run into plenty of successful folks out here with tatoos. It just doesn't have the same stigma.

Same out here. FWIW I do have a tat, but it is located on the outside of my right thigh about halfway up so most people I know have no idea.

[cantdrv55]

Originally Posted by HardDrive

Interesting how differently tatoos are interpreted in the midwest as opposed to the west coast. You run into plenty of successful folks out here with tatoos. It just doesn't have the same stigma.

Tats still have a stigma here in the left coast. Depends on the industry one works in. My bro-in-law is quite successful, not 35 yet and is an illustrated man. Each tatoo has a deep meaning to him. His legs and arms are covered in ink but not where they're visible outside of his clothing. He thinks he'd lose credibility at work if they found out he's a freak.

[NineOhOne]

Originally Posted by HardDrive

Interesting how differently tatoos are interpreted in the midwest as opposed to the west coast. You run into plenty of successful folks out here with tatoos. It just doesn't have the same stigma.

I'm in the hospital, laying on the gurney, being prepped for surgery. I have met the surgeon previously, but no-one else. A guy in scrubs walks up and there are flames tattoo'ed on his arms and coming up his neck. (Sidenote: When I advertise for employees, one of my criteria, beside non-smokers, is "no visible tattoos").

"Who are you?" I ask. "I'm your anesthesiologist"..."now count backward from 10..."

[Hard-Deck]

Originally Posted by HardDrive

Interesting how differently tatoos are interpreted in the midwest as opposed to the west coast. You run into plenty of successful folks out here with tatoos. It just doesn't have the same stigma.

Uhh....yeah it does if you don't feel it, focus inwards.

[Looking_for_911]

Originally Posted by Rick V

I must be the most marked up man here

You may be, but I'm running you a close second.

I've got scars from:

1) Being shot with a .45... enter and exit wounds.
2) Running through a barbed wire fence on a little motorcycle when I was about 13. Danged near cut my head off.
3) Had a Cox gas model airplane prop get ahold of my fingers. Made mince meat of them.
4) Covered from head to toe with yellow jackets (ok, not too many scars for that, but hey, it sounds good)
5) Surgery to repair compound fracture of left arm from football injury.
6) Plastic surgery after a big weight loss
7) Nice dent in skull from a kid whacking me in the noggin' with a steel bucket.
8) Nice little scar from a guy's ring over my right eye. Have no idea why he sucker punched me.
9) My right foot got caught between the swingarm and rear wheel spokes on a bicycle. The wheel ate the skin danged near the bone!

10) And then there are the emotional scars.... too many to count, mostly invisible.

I have much more fun telling the stories of what this and that was from than inking myself up, but hey, whatever floats yer boat!

[glewis80SC]

I am a fan of the tastefully done tats, I have a 9/11/01 IAFF tat and dont regret it one bit. I will get more for sure, probably related to my kids. I think ladys with the nicely done tats are hot.

[HardDrive]

Originally Posted by Snapper33

Uhh....yeah it does if you don't feel it, focus inwards.

What?

[URY914]

I guess I don't understand the situation where guys get "sleeves" of tats than cover them up with shirt sleeves. You're supposed to be this rebel against the status quo yet you cover them to be status quo. Seems kinda back azzward to me.....

[HardDrive]

Originally Posted by URY914

You're supposed to be this rebel against the status quo yet you cover them to be status quo. Seems kinda back azzward to me.....

Sounds like your projecting your own ideas to me.

[flatbutt]

Originally Posted by VINMAN

Guess I'm one of the few "marked freaks" on here.....

jersey does what jersey does Vin

[Moses]

My problem with tats is that they often reflect an attempt to distinguish ones self or make a statement about "who you are". Such attempts are of course meaningless and particularly lazy. Anyone with a few bills in their pocket can get a tattoo.

Meaningful personal statements are always the result of real achievement. You want to distinguish yourself in a meaningful way? Run faster than anyone else, drive a race car better than your peers. Do charity work. Write and publish your thoughts. Live a life that commands respect and admiration. Of course if you do those things you're less likely to need tattoos to make an impression.

You think Captain Sullenberger has ink?

Anyway. Just my opinion. And my family is pretty heavily tatted and I love them dearly.

[rcooled]

Around here, young men & women with full sleeves, tats all up their legs and across their shoulder blades are a common sight. Do these people think that they're going to be 20-something and hanging out in clubs forever? I can't help thinking that the tattoo of a skull with a snake crawling out of an eye socket that adorns some kid's neck is going to seem kind of silly when he's 40. Change is the only constant. Tattoos....like beehive hairdos, tie-dye clothes & disco music....will one day pass out of style for middle class white kids. Many will surely be saying "WTF was I thinking?" when they get a little older. There are very few things that I thought were cool in my 20s that I still value today. My style of dress, taste in music, food I eat, places I hang out, cars I like, etc. have all changed quite a bit since then. I'm glad I never got that tattoo of Plymouth's "Road Runner" cartoon bird on my arm that I wanted so badly back then. If I had, I'd be saying "WTF was I thinking?" now too.

[Tobra]

I doubt if Sully has any tattoos. I never thought I would get one.

Back in 1995 when first started making any dough, living in an apartment in Texas, I was in Sacto visiting the folks, and was at my cousins place, getting some clothes that he had become too fat to wear anymore. We were sitting around on the porch of his current domicile, a nice, restored 75 year old duplex in mid-town, had a Murphy bed in living room. My friend of over 10 years, Jim Pantages, who I had not seen in about a year and a half, walked up. Asked how he was, where he was going, on his way home. Turns out he lived right next door to my cousin in the other half of the duplex, and he was very proud of this new tattoo he had. Treble clef surrounded by a whole note, he was a muscian, that was pretty cool, nice color greenish blue in it. I said it was cool, but I would not get a tattoo, what is there that I would want to wear the rest of my life, right.

About a week later, after returning to Texas, I got a call from my mom, Jim had been shot and killed by a couple of criminals out robbing people. Jim had just finished a gig, and was killed while he and Spider were loading equipment. Was a big group of us that hung out together, and I got to talking about it with my brother. I said I had never had any interest in getting a tattoo, but I wanted to get that one that Jim got right before he was killed. They caught the perps when they used Jim's credit card where one of the guy's girlfriends worked, lucky they were stupid. Turns out, several people had the same idea, and at the end of summer in 1995, went to the same tattoo artist and about a dozen of us got that tat. Well, not exactly, I got a mirror image of it, as Jim had it less than a week and died, so I figured I did not want the same thing exactly. Over that labor day weekend, there were a few benefit concerts, and now there is a Jim Pantages Scholarship Fund at El Camino HS in Sacramento. That is how I ended up with a tattoo.

Since that time, I discovered that a couple who were robbed and shot at and missed the same night, they ran away after they tossed there valuables in the other direction, had a mutual friend, Doug Hannah, when they told me about it when we happened to meet. Neither of them knew Jim. I also happened to have a guy who worked at channel 13 with Jim for years come in as a patient. Talked to him for hours, lucky he was last one, coming in after work. Small world.

I doubt if I will get another tattoo

[Dueller]

None for me but the stepkids are inked up: One stepdtr got "Only God can judge me" when she was going thru a stressful period at age 17. Then after their father died this summer the girls (now 18) got a small dove with dad's initials on the back of their neck...I fail to see why there as they can't see it to remind them of their dad. Currently covered by their long hair...guess they'll never have short hair or wear it up.

Step son (20 y.o.) got the inside of his forearm from elbow to wrist tatooed with "Beloved father" in Hindu or Farsi or sumpin....looks very abstarct. Kinda cool for a tat I s'pose.

All the dad memorabilia tats were at the urging of their stepmother, I think. I don't get a vote.

Whatvever.

[Pazuzu]

Originally Posted by rcooled

Around here, young men & women with full sleeves, tats all up their legs and across their shoulder blades are a common sight. Do these people think that they're going to be 20-something and hanging out in clubs forever? I can't help thinking that the tattoo of a skull with a snake crawling out of an eye socket that adorns some kid's neck is going to seem kind of silly when he's 40. Change is the only constant. Tattoos....like beehive hairdos, tie-dye clothes & disco music....will one day pass out of style for middle class white kids. Many will surely be saying "WTF was I thinking?" when they get a little older. There are very few things that I thought were cool in my 20s that I still value today. My style of dress, taste in music, food I eat, places I hang out, cars I like, etc. have all changed quite a bit since then. I'm glad I never got that tattoo of Plymouth's "Road Runner" cartoon bird on my arm that I wanted so badly back then. If I had, I'd be saying "WTF was I thinking?" now too.

It could be argued that tattoos have been around since man was drawing on caves, and that puts it on a different level than tie dyed shirts...

[paulgtr]

made it through a rite of passage and came out standing. felt I really accomplished something and wanted to remind myself to always be humble. got a tat that reminds me every day.

[aigel]

Originally Posted by Pazuzu

It could be argued that tattoos have been around since man was drawing on caves, and that puts it on a different level than tie dyed shirts...

The issue is the design of the tattoo following fashion. Maybe even the location of the tattoo following fashion. There were no road runner comic figures that quickly expire - back in the tribal days.

George