First tattoo

[John V]

I made an appointment a month from now to get my first tattoo.

Our 25th wedding anniversary is coming up. The plan is a heart and banner with my wife's name and 25th worked in somewhere. It will be on my upper left arm, where it will be hidden by a polo shirt. I'm a CPA and so a tattoo isn't good professionally. But, in the summer I frequently wear sleeveless shirts, so it will get some visibility.

There's a tattoo shop within walking distance of my house. I checked their website and it showed some good work. I went down last night and talked to the owner. He seemed very nice and professional. I put $20 down to hold the time. He's going to draw two proposals this week, one more traditional, one more modern. Then wife and I will decide and/or have him make some modifications. That way we'll be certain of the design well before the appointment.

Any advice from those with tattoos? Am I missing any important considerations?

[Briiae]

Just my personal opinion (my hubby used to work in a tattoo shop), but getting a significant other's name is not usually recommended. I certainly hope nothing would ever happen to end your relationship, but it does happen and the ink is permanent.

I wanted to show my love and affection for my family who all happen to have birthdays in the month of March so I got a daffodil inked on my upper arm. I look at it and know my love for them. If for some reason my husband and I parted ways it still has meaning for my children and him, but it wouldn't be threatening to any future partner I may have.

Again, just my 2 cents.

[John V]

Yeah, there was a customer hanging out there and the first thing he said was "Don't get a name on your arm." I'm not concerned about it. With dating it's been 29 years, and 3 children.

[paulpablo]

Yeah, there was a customer hanging out there and the first thing he said was "Don't get a name on your arm." I'm not concerned about it. With dating it's been 29 years, and 3 children.

I'm going to say something that goes against what probably every episode of Miami ink and LA ink stands for.  I don't understand why people get tattoos that are significant, personal and relate to something you're interested in.

I like having sex, playing the guitar and going to the gym.  But I don't need to get a vagina, a guitar and a dumbbell tattood on my chest to remind me, and I don't have the urge to tell passing people about my interests.

Although thinking about it, it would be pretty useful if someone asks "So what are you into then Paul?"  I could just rip my shirt open and show them the vagina, guitar dumbbell tattoo.

For the same reason I just don't get name tattoos.  You're not going to forget your wife's name, no one else cares that you love your wife, you've been with her 29 years now and you don't have anything to prove.  Same with kids names tattoos.

 My tattoos are realllllly stereotypical incan tribal tattoos mixed up with some scorpions , I still think they look good and the design is sort of unique but they still look a bit stereotypical.  But to me that's all they are there for.  Just some body decoration to look nice until I die and my body rots.  If I want them to look less stereotypical I can always add to the pattern and just having something fucked up put in there.

You're probably going to get the tattoo you decided on anyway and you probably won't regret it but it's not something I'd go for, but then you'd probably never ever go for tribal tattoos and scorpions and I'm sure you think the idea of that is equally stupid.

[AFTT47]

I don't get body graffiti, period. But that's just me.

[Longhorn]

Objection. I see no 'fuck all polls' option

Do what you like man. To each their own obviously.

[Crossless2.0]

I made an appointment a month from now to get my first tattoo.

Our 25th wedding anniversary is coming up. The plan is a heart and banner with my wife's name and 25th worked in somewhere. It will be on my upper left arm, where it will be hidden by a polo shirt. I'm a CPA and so a tattoo isn't good professionally. But, in the summer I frequently wear sleeveless shirts, so it will get some visibility.

There's a tattoo shop within walking distance of my house. I checked their website and it showed some good work. I went down last night and talked to the owner. He seemed very nice and professional. I put $20 down to hold the time. He's going to draw two proposals this week, one more traditional, one more modern. Then wife and I will decide and/or have him make some modifications. That way we'll be certain of the design well before the appointment.

Any advice from those with tattoos? Am I missing any important considerations?

You're doing it all wrong. You're supposed to hit a bottle of tequila and wake up in a painful fog, only to notice a tattoo you can't remember getting. Bonus points if there's a strange woman in your bed. Double bonus points if your wife is there too and not at all unhappy about the situation.

But if you must be responsible about this, it looks like you're on the right track.

[vorlon13]

In the movie Memento, the Guy Pierce character had a severe memory problem from a head injury.  To compensate, he used tattoos as his 'memory' for important things.

Like killing the man that murdered his wife and injured him.

[Cato]

I saw a detailed and complete periodic table tattooed across the upper back of a young woman this past weekend. I thought it was bad ass, mostly because it's not something I had ever seen. I then considered a fuck/study program, but quickly dismissed the idea understanding that the quality of each effort would suffer.

[John V]

Memento was pretty cool...but didn't he end up interpreting his own clues wrong and killing the wrong guy? Haven't seen it in awhile.