---
date: '2024-02-07'
title: 'On getting tattooed'
description: "I got my first tattoo over ten years ago. It was a few lines from Tom Waits' *[Coney Island Baby](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A-Tod1_tZdU)* set on the inside of my left bicep as a dedication to my then fiancé and now wife of ten years. I was told recently that that's a really painful spot but, I suppose, I didn't know what I was getting into outside of having an artist recommended by a dear friend that I trust implicitly."
tags: ['tattoos', 'music']
---
I got my first tattoo over ten years ago. It was a few lines from Tom Waits' *[Coney Island Baby](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A-Tod1_tZdU)* set on the inside of my left bicep as a dedication to my then fiancé and now wife of ten years. I was told recently that that's a really painful spot but, I suppose, I didn't know what I was getting into outside of having an artist recommended by a dear friend that I trust implicitly.<!-- excerpt -->

I waited years before booking another appointment. I wasn't dissatisfied or hesitant, just unsure. The artist I used had moved out of state and I ultimately waited for her to do a guest session at a shop a few hours away. I had her add an astrolabe to my left shoulder[^1], and some lyrics from The National's *[I Need My Girl](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A-Tod1_tZdU)* to the inside of my left forearm. More sentimentality, more black and white and more time before I booked another session.

My next piece was decidedly silly, but still important to me. I grew up on MTV's cartoon *[Daria](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daria)* and would rewatch it or have it on as comfort background noise. I liked the subversive humor and attitudes and it acted as a happy reminder of different times in my life. I decided to get the logo for the show *Sick Sad World* that would be played in the background tattooed above my right knee. It's often not visible, but it always makes me smile when I look at it.

A few years passed and I mulled over some new ideas. My next piece would be done at a new, highly-regarded shop by the shop's owner. I had a photo of a mixed drink I liked, filtered to black and white and had her hand draw, scrawled across the napkin are lyrics from The Postal Service's *[This Place is a Prison](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NMgoQBHx12g)*: "It's not a party if it happens every night." That appointment was on January 6, 2021 and was preceded by a call from my grandfather telling us to turn on the news because there "was a real mess over there". We had the capitol riot on tv during the session.

Before the appointment I'd been out canvassing for my wife's campaign for local office[^2] and lost my wedding band, thinking it fell off somewhere in the 70+ miles I had walked. Our daughter found it in our backyard. I threw it on a necklace, broke the necklace within a month and had our anniversary tattooed on my ring finger instead. More tattoos, more memories committed to skin.

I waited again, we found out we had a son on the way and I scheduled an appointment for a colorful piece on my chest as a tribute to him with a new artist[^3]. He decided to show up early and I rescheduled the appointment.

I got the chest piece done, waited for it to heal and, at my daughter's request, got a rendering of the volcanoes from Pixar's Lava short on the other side of my chest[^4]. My grandfather had passed away prior to this appointment and my grandmother years before and I had a tribute piece placed on my left leg, opposite the *Daria* tattoo — it's a rendering of a sunflower resting in a glass of water, placed next to an 80s era Mac[^5].

Now I was picking up momentum and my next piece would get placed on my right shoulder, branching out into a sleeve. The top, outer half of my arm was finished up yesterday and is based on Sturgill Simpson's *A Sailor's Guide to Earth*. It's adorned with my daughter's birth flower. It's going to stretch down and around my forearm, encompassing art from other albums that I hold dear.

I have ideas for my left arm (though I don't think it'll amount to a sleeve and really can't given the existing work) and my legs. I'll stop short of resembling [Travis Barker](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Travis_Barker) or [Jacob Bannon](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacob_Bannon), I imagine, but I'm ok if I don't.

My parents started getting tattooed in their 50s, thinking it would be a cheaper midlife crisis than cars (it was — they're very supportive of mine too).

Each piece was important to me when I got it and remains important to me now. They're references to and reminders of important moments and I enjoy every session[^6]. But, for now, my shoulder is sore.

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[^1]: My wife got the same piece done — there was one pointing to the driveway of the house we got married at. It burned down in the Butte fire.
[^2]: She got elected!
[^3]: She was at the same local shop (and now at her own) but her style was perfect for what I had in mind.
[^4]: Hopefully she continues to enjoy the short, but I've got no regrets.
[^5]: My grandparents bought stock during Apple's IPO and were lifelong Mac users.
[^6]: It's definitely better than going to the dentist.
