Inked

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To break the silence of my happiness after the lagoon climb I decided to get.....a tattoo.

Dad I can see you shaking your head.

I promise you I do not look like a stripper and if I discover that I do look like a stripper I promise to use the money I make to fly myself home.

Earlier in the day I walked over to the tattoo shop and watched a man having his entire back done. He had invested 30 hours and two trips to this location simply to have this tattoo artist ink him. This increased my confidence and I walked away thinking “ya, I can do this”

Later I had forgotten about it but as I walked by the shop the tattoo artist said “hey you, still want your tattoo” at which I responded “um ya sure”.

In I went to write down what I wanted in English so he could translate. But he could not...he called in his friends to aid in the translation but they also could not sort it out. Luckily the dictionary came out and I looked up and wrote down in Thai what it was I wanted down my spine.

Then, the haggle for how much it would cost began. I got him down 500 baht but of course was still overcharged as I found out when a Thai bartender asked how much I paid and then preceded to laugh when I told him. I said “ya I got ripped off” he then felt bad for what he said and told me to show him again at which point he said “no no for that size that price is good” I appreciated his attempt to make me feel better.

The tattoo itself was done bamboo style and was virtually painless. It took only 40 minutes and was healed almost instantly. No blood, no scab, no problems.

For those of you that know me, you know that EVERYONE I hang out with at home is inked. By inked I mean some of them have half their bodies covered in tattoos. So, it was always a bit strange that I didn’t even have one. I always stayed away due to the wishy washy nature of my personality. What I like can change from moment to moment and I did not trust myself enough to get something I would like in a week. After many years of deliberation I thought that I would feel quite crazy once having a tattoo put on my body....I do not. It feels as if it has always been there. Hopefully it will continue to feel that way far into the future.

If not I will just get a whole back piece done to cover it 

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