tattoo you
so, for a long time, i've flirted with the idea of getting a tattoo. i'm certainly not a flaming-eagle-clutching-a-bleeding-heart-all-over-my-back-kind-of-tattoo girl, but i'm not opposed to the idea of something small and tasteful. i'm not sure where i'd want it, though it'd have to be somewhere that spends most of its time covered up by office appropriate clothing, even in the summer. but not the small of my back, or the back of my neck, or my butt, or my shoulder. i dunno where, really, then, except like, the sole of my foot. but i'm sure i could decide on a location.
the main problem is, of course, choosing exactly what i want to get. i used to think i wanted a chinese character tattoo, except those started getting all lame and overused and every fucking body had a chinese character meaning peace or wisdom or monkey or whatever. i have a legitimate character i could use - i'm part chinese, and i wanted to put the symbol that's used for the family name of hoy - but since no one really understands chinese characters, i would just look like every other poseur out there. not that i'm not a poseur in general, i just didn't want to be one with a chinese character tattoo.
in high school, i used to think that i would get a radiohead tattoo, either of the meeting people is easy logo, or just the r in a circle, and later on, i considered the bear. obviously, radiohead has many a symbol that might be a nifty tattoo when you are 20 years of age or under, but i'm glad i didn't take that particular plunge.
lately, i've decided i might want to get a tattoo related to italy in some way, because i am obviously still sadly obsessed with the country and language and culture. but deciding what italian-ish tattoo, exactly, is not as easy as i'd thought. tommy suggested getting a favorite italian word marked on my body, but i don't have a particular one (except gelato, or pizza, and those are hardly fantastic tattoo material). i could get the italian flag or something, but, eh. the iconic symbols one thinks of when they think of italy - david, or the colosseum, or the leaning tower of pisa, or, um, a bottle of wine - well, they're impersonal, and plus, i think a tattoo of david would look pretty lame and scary. unless i got him on my forearm and i could make him wiggle. ideally, i'd like something that is somewhat recognizable as italian yet still personal to my experience there.
so does anybody have a viable idea? tommy and i were talking about this recently, and he suggested getting a small, stylized image of the milan duomo, which is an idea i like. it's personal to where i was in italy, and it's an insanely beautiful building. i wouldn't have the actual facade recreated in a tattoo, of course, but something like the representation of the duomo in the corner of this logo is along the lines of what i was thinking. you can be brutally honest, if you think that is the stupidest idea ever. but you better give me some other suggestions then!
Comments
If you're going with the Milan Duomo, make sure that we can see every statue.
Really I think it's important to go with outlines and most sort of abstracted stuff. An actual drawing with color is likely to fade over time (my leg) whereas a black line drawing (my shoulder) probably won't. The problem is that skin isn't the best material for exhibiting nuanced shapes (the Milan Duomo as opposed to a building), so, you know, choose wisely. My best suggestion is that if you want the David or the Milan Cathedral or the map of Italy, do an outline.
My historical suggestion, on the other hand, would be to get drunk, talk a lot of shit, get called out, and wake up with something inked the following morning.
i really don't want david. that'd be terrible. and i want more of a modern graphic representation of the duomo - like that american school of milan logo i linked to. definitely something more abstract.
Clearly, you should get a red dragon tatoo to symbolize both your Chinese background and your hipster indie-rock knowledge. On another note, I totally agree with the "No Chinese characters" mantra. There was a UVA swimmer who played water polo one semester who had a Chinese symbol tatooed on his back. This is when I was taking Chinese, so I was really intrigued as to why this guy had this particular symbol emblazoned on himself. I asked him what he thought it said and he replied "fire in water." I didn't have the heart or the balls to tell him that the Chinese call carbonated beverages "fire-water" and he had scarred himself for life with the word "soda."
hmm, the one I had in mind didn't really look like that one. it consisted entirely of vertical bars of varying heights (with some small white space in between). it was pretty abstracted, but evoked the duomo amazingly well. I thought it was a cool design -- personally, I probably wouldn't get it immortalized. But, as a nice bit of monotone graphic design that doesn't advertise a commercial entity, it meets all the basic requirements. Now if only I could find it online, or remember what it was being used to brand...
Italian? Sure: just have permanent leg and underarm hair tattooed on your body.
Why don't you just get your hoo-hoo pierced like every other nice young lady nowadays?
I always wanted to get "culo" (Spanish) tatooed on my ass.
As far as where to get a tattoo, i would have to suggest that on your front hip right under or above your pants line is also a bad place to get a tattoo. My sister has a tattoo there which she got in like high school but now well, it's a little stretched out and if-god forbid-you ever decide to get pregnant there's all sorts of weird stretchage that could happen.
As far as what to get, i kinda like that Duomo representation you linked to. I knew a guy in Scotland who had Betty Boop tattooed on his calf. A serious alternate suggestion, though, is something that has to do with Cinque Terre since you seemed to love that area so much. I did a google search but didn't find any tattoo worthy things however.
haha. i like how julie is all like 'if you decide to get pregnant - god forbid!' i swear, i'm not going to be the mother from hell.
haha I'm just teasing. actually i meant it not for the childs sake but for your own sanity :-)
i also thought about getting the emblem of milan, but turns out that's like a snake wrapped around a sword, which is a little too hardcore for me.
hehe i know. i actually do pity the poor children that will be my spawns.
oh yeah, another symbol of milan is an infant being eaten by a snake. actually, being born from the mouth of a snake. sort of explained here.
how about mario and luigi? oh, wrong post.
i'm late posting, but i really think that if you aren't set on anything, then you shouldn't get one at all. it should just hit you or come to you or something and you can't live without it for you to get one.
Don't do it!
Do it dude. Everyone who says that you'll regret getting a tattoo either has never had a tattoo or has a really shitty one. You've already crossed Chinese character and butterfly off your list, so you're in the clear. Aesthetic freedom through a needle, baby.
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