Thoughts On Getting Inked

I've always had a fascination on tattoos. Of course, it certainly didn't stem from my childhood. No, probably around the time I hit puberty. When I was in high school, I had a guy friend who sports gargantuan tattoos on his legs, both legs. I don't remember if he got inked on the biceps too because I didn't really cared enough to check. He would always boast that his drunk father never knew he got those things permanently doodled on his legs. Back then, He was also a junkie and was often trying his best to off himself.

Growing up in a very conservative town where the priests and the Jueteng lords rule over the land I grew up on, tattoos are taboo, especially on women. As well as smoking, pre-marital sex and all the bad things your mom warned you about. Tattooed men in my town are stereotypically tagged as being a drunk, ex-con, junkie, radical loony-bins or all of the above. On women, it's a skank-mark.

So it goes without saying tattoos are way out of the question, if you were raised like the proper Pollyanna that I am. I don't fancy myself as being the rebellious type, heck, I never rebelled against my parents. But that doesn't mean I'm not. I always knew I had it in me. Although not really thinking of getting one in my younger years I began to have second-thoughts on getting inked when I was in college.

On my senior year, I had another friend who had numerous tattoos, both biceps, on his belly-button and his back got doodled on 'em. He was the ultimate look of cool. Back in the day, he was the most popular guy in school. He was a jock, a frat guy, girls are after his ass and had most of our professor eating at the palm of his hand. Judging by the last statement I made, I never got to know if his coolness matches his intellect. Oh well, we can't win 'em all.

I wanted to get inked too but I somehow knew I'd never get the nerve to go through it. The pain is not really the problem. It was the thought of branding yourself with what, at that point in your life, feels like what symbolizes you as a person when several years from now you know you'd regret is what I have problems with. After all, what you think is cool now, would change in the years to come. But that really didn't stop me from making a pact with my best friend that as soon as we got our first paycheck, we'd do the deed. She shares the same fascination I have. That was two years ago.

So a few days ago, I was reading a blog about a friend's views on getting inked. Apparently, it has become quite a fad here on the company I'm in. Not that sudden collective thoughts of wanting to be cool hit the fan, no. It's just a great deal of people here are artists. Not the artist who likes to smile for the camera or god forbid, had dabbled into acting, no. True-blue artists who to the rest of the world are commonly perceived as weirdly indifferent and other-worldly. I must admit it piqued my interest quite a bit more when I found out a whole lot of my friends here wanted to get one too.

Then my best guy friend got inked last week and he was so happy with the result, he keep badgering me to do the same. He knew I've always wanted to get a tattoo done so I can't really blame the guy. I still have second-thoughts about it. I don't want to get a tattoo because I think it's cool or get into that everybody-is doing-it-so-why-can't-I kind of thinking. The only thing that's stopping me from getting inked right now is that I still can't find the right symbol that would embody the person that I am.

Unknown to others I do have a tattoo. Two of them, in fact. I got an eyeliner tattoo thanks to my mom and her sudden spurt of vanity four years ago. But I seriously doubt I want to be known as the person who immortalized her narcissistic tendencies by getting an eyeliner tattoos done. That's so would be so wrong. It's safe to say, I'm not going to get inked anytime soon except if I felt I found "it" and not gonna try my best to hide it behind tons of concealer years after. But it's gonna be on my nape so who's gonna know right?

Certainly not my parents, no.