Yikes.
thts to fnny. I thnk itl be fn to strt skpng ltrs in my wrds frm nw on.
Kidding.
Tattoos are ok. They're not a huge deal to most folks anymore. I have a few. It used to matter more to me--getting more, who had what, etc. These days, I'm just not really impressed with them one way or another.
One of my exes had a lot of ink--her whole chest was a Japanese scene with Koi and water and she had ink on her arms and legs. It was... nothing big to me. It didn't make her any less or more sexy or appealing to me. I didn't really notice the tattoos when I met her, believe it or not. Of course, all of her friends were covered with tatts. I ran with that whole scene for a while. People are people... they can look different, but people are people.
Ink is a life commitment, that's for sure. Some of her friends had what we called "career-ender" tatts--on their hands, face or neck. Anyone who had that kind of ink was most likely self-employed (tattoo industry, fashion industry, store owners, or music industry, go-go dancers, etc,) and wasn't particularly interested in getting a job outside of those worlds.
As for the actual tattoo process... yeah, it hurts. That color doesn't get under your skin by kittens licking you after eating multi-flavored popsicles, ya know? But it's not unbearable. Feels like someone giving you a bad sunburn in an isolated area... if that makes sense.
If you ever consider getting a tatt, remember:
1. Don't show up drunk or even slightly lit. You'll move around too much and bleed like crazy.
2. Have something to eat beforehand. You need to have your blood sugar raised a little bit and have plenty of nourishment because the tattooing process causes trauma to your body, and if you don't eat, you are very likely to pass out in a cold sweat. I've seen BIG dudes drop like a load of concrete because they didn't have the foresight to drink a bottle of orange juice and eat a Hershey bar before they sat down to get inked.
3. Don't get something stupid tattooed on you--someone's name (unless it's a blood family member like your mom, dad or kid, etc), a band logo or some dumb-ass tribal mess.
4. If you're a woman, please don't get the damn tramp stamp--that tattoo at the base of your spine/top of the butt crack every stripper gets. It's so played out.
5. Think about what you want to get put on your body for the rest of your life. Please don't get Animal from The Muppet Show, the Tazmanian Devil, Yosimite Sam or Tweety Bird. You'll really regret those. Seriously.
6. A cheap tattoo isn't good, and a good tattoo isn't cheap. Remember that.
On a related note, I have noticed that many "White Pride" skinheads have swastickas and burning crosses tattooed on visible parts of their bodies... I think this is a GREAT idea because I always know that they're idiots before I even have to deal with them.