Tattoos: Getting Them & Getting Over Them

To want a tattoo, you first have to be in denial. "This is a great idea!"

To get a tattoo, you need only a fist-full of cash, a friend in the business, or a prison sentence. It takes less than an hour to make a decision that you might regret for the rest of your life. It's right up there with unwanted pregnancies. The only difference is that children can change a person's life in a good way.

Ancient Chinese Secrets

The process begins!

I have applied the first coat of my secret tattoo-removal formula. Ok. I admit. This isn't really the first coat. It's actually the fourth coat. I tested it a few times before I decided to share my progress.

It burns for just a few minutes, but that just means it's working. You can see a slight redness around the edges of the tattoo where my skin has become irritated. Rightfully so. It's being dissolved right off!

My Right Arm

The hardest part of erasing these mistakes, was to first identify them as mistakes. Whew!

Now that the hard part is complete, the next step is to take action... and pictures.

I've taken a picture of what I consider to be my "least favorite" of all my least favorite tattoos. Not that putting thought into a tattoo makes it a better tattoo, or a smarter decision, but this specimen is one that I put the least amount of thought into. 

Painful Process

Maybe it's because I have tattoos myself, but I see them everywhere. Dragons, tribal art, band icons, and even toasters. What compels people to get tattoos? I know I did it out of the need to rebel against the wise words of my mother, and to be more individual.

Look at me now! I'm one of hundreds of thousands of people who are all so unique.

As I get older, and my tattoos all start to look like golf bags, I feel like I am missing out on casual days of sleeveless shirt joy in the office, elegant evenings in fancy attire, and in appropriate situations, nudity in the purest form.

Once you get a tattoo, even the tiniest tattoo, you can no longer do these things. I mean, you can, but no matter how tough you think you are, somewhere inside you is a little voice telling you how stupid you look.