Ah....vanity, thy name is tattoo

There are certain things we do in life that are purely for ourselves. Tattoos are one of these things.

If you've never had one done, then believe me, the narcissism involved in the whole process from start to finish is ridiculuous. To begin with, you decide upon an image that will be on you for the rest of your life, and then spend an extraordinary amount of time in front of a mirror making sure that where you want to put it is the "perfect place".

Once this has been decided and you actually go to a studio to have it done, you spend even more time in front of a mirror while the artist places the image transfer onto your skin. When it's done, and you have the stencil outline ready to go (this requires LOTS of mirror checks), you then sit in a chair for X amount of time, watching as a relative stranger jabs multiple high-speed needles into your epidermis. The ink slides in, the skin raises, and a distinct kind of pain is felt.

Then it is finished. There is the final "Hey, check me out with my new tattoo" sauntering in front of the mirror again, and you are now left with a permanent marking of a decision made. Receiving a tattoo is an arguably strange thing to do, and one of those decisions that unless you know why it gets done in the first place, then you probably never will. This is not to sound pompous, but most people who get tattoos get them simply because it feels like the right thing to do. There's not much second guessing going on.

I'd say that I fall into the above category as I have undergone this process multiple times, and although the more narcissitic aspect of tattoos does play on mind a bit, the truth of the matter is:

I really, really like them.

Last week, Phil, Ken and I went down to a studio in Oakland with the intent of all of us getting tattoos. We have been planning this for a long time, and the three of us going made it a real event. A real friendship kind of thing. It wasn't just about the tattoos, it was about the whole experience of doing something relatively momentous together as a group of pals.

Well, we weren't let down. It was perfect. The artist was a great guy, the studio atmosphere was laid back and fun, and we truly had a great time. For me, the feeling of a tattoo while it's being done on your body is, I don't know, something quite extraordinary. If you can share the experience with your friends, or your partner, well then it's a moment in time that is frozen in your mind and lives on in your skin.

For the sake of my friends' privacy, I've left their tattoos off this page. It's up to the individual to allow others to see what has been etched into their bodies. As for me, well, it was one of the easiest decisions I've ever made. I had to get the boys names put on. Lachlan and Finn's births have marked a momentous point in my life.

I suppose it only made sense to me to have it marked in another way as well.

Phil, our artist friend Derek, me, and Ken. The very serious countenance he's projecting belies an extremely friendly fellow. In the end, we tipped him well, and bought the whole studio staff a round of beers.

Hey, you've got to support the arts, you know.