Well, of course the tattooist needs something to work on, and preferably a well-developed arm (ie, not my bony self) that has some mass to it. But not all tattoos need muscles. Mal's tattoos do not require muscles, as her message is more of a "don't let censorship stop your freedom to write"
Getting something such as a tat is against my religion. Also, I don't really see a point in marking up your body. To me, it's like graffiti. You wanna vandalize your own body, go right ahead, but it ain't for me.
^ I found the bicep thing really funny. The worst is when people get initials of their significant other. What if you break up? Or, worse, the person's FACE. I once saw online a tattoo someone had gotten of her son's face (son was a baby in the tat), and it had infected and leaked green and yellow goo everywhere. EEEW. It was a giant tat, too. Like it covered her entire back.
I hate people who have national or commercial emblems/symbols on their bodies. If you like Atari you don't need a tat, and if you like America you still don't need a tat. If I had a nickel for every southern cross tattoo I've seen in Australia I'd have enough to hire people to kidnap one of them and remove their tattoos with a cheese grater.
These are my 2 rules for tattoos. 1. Never get a tattoo simply for the sake of getting a tattoo. If it's not special it's not worth your skin. 2. Get it placed on a location that will never restrict you in any way, shape or form. All of my tattoos are military in nature and gotten to commemorate an achievement in my military career. Because of that, none of them appear anywhere on my body that is not covered by a uniform. If it can be seen as obscene in any way get it somewhere that can be hidden easily, you never know where life will take you and who you will have to impress.
I was personally under the impression that a large portion of the tattoo removal industry gets its clients from former gang members and rehabilitated members of criminal organizations. I know the state of California not only encourages gang members in the rehabilitation program to get them removed but will pay for it entirely. It's a bold move really, most gangs of note in California are blood in blood out in nature, meaning you have to kill to get in and be killed to get out, I would imagine the gang does not take kindly to someone so brazenly saying goodbye.
I have approx 15 and have also had a couple removed, one on either side of my legs, each by different companies to compare quality of removal. removal is expensive, but I'm a sucker for the arts, any colours other than black and blue are hard to remove, none of mine are visible with clothing on anyway. he,he,he. hope this helps.
I love the idea of tattoos but sometimes wonder the meaning of many. One of my friends has the lesbian symbol tattooed on her forearm, which I think is admirable but somewhat forceful when this part of her body is often exposed. My father had the grim reaper tattooed on his bicep while abroad years ago and I've yet to understand why! Another friend has her daughter's name tattooed on her wrist - it's always visible and I can respect that. If I ever have children I will probably do the same. However, someone I used to live with had "BAD" tattooed on their backside and I still can't work out what possessed him to go through with it... especially as the rest of us only suggested it as a joke! It's not a novel quote, but I have been toying with the idea of lyrics printed on my wrist since late 2010. Particulary: 「今のままでいいのかい？」(read as: ima no mama de ii no kai? | (rough) english: "Are you satisfied with the way things currently are?") from the song Fighting Man by NEWS. I would love it if I could see that quote in front of me every day - but at the same time I'm not sure if I'm ready to make such a permanent decision.
I have two tattoos right above my wrist. A star that's going into my skin and a viking compass ruin thing (I can never remember the actual long name for it.) Neither of them seem to have much meaning but they have a lot of meaning to me. The meaning between each of them becomes a little more clear when someone realizes both my sister and me share them. When I was little, my Dad had taken me out side and showed me the stars and the moon and it's a strong memory I have, him trying to teach me constellations. The viking ruin is so I never get lost, I'll always know my path and the fact that I will never lose my sister (we're twins and a bit past co-dependent.) Then she has the ruin symbol for traveler on her arm... people can't figure out why she has the letter R tattooed on her but it's because we love to be on the road, hate being stuck in one place.
Here is an example of a bad tattoo which I doubt no one could cap. I used to be stationed on a Submarine out of Pearl Harbor and when you first get to a submarine in the US Navy you are repeatedly hazed and talked down to until you complete the qualification process which takes about 6 months to a year. We had a guy who got to the boat just before we deployed to the South Pacific and when we ported in Guam, a group of my shipmates got together and promised to advance him in his qualifications if he got someones gentiles tattooed on his leg. He did and they advanced him by about one month in the qualification process. We managed to hide it from the officers on the boat until about a year after he was qualified. After than most of the guys involved could not keep quiet any more. Nothing happened to him and it became a boat joke and every new guy that came on board had their dedication to the boat judged against this guys willingness to get someones junk tattooed on his leg. If he had done that in any other environment than a submarine, he probably would have been chastised but the cohesiveness and all male environment on that boat made it relatively acceptable as long as it was covered up most of the time. I'm pretty sure the guys that were involved in having him get it paid for it's removal a few years ago any way.
It's against my parents' religion, too. They're not too thrilled that I have four... Those are my rules, too. To help myself enforce rule 1, anytime I want to get a tattoo, I draw it up and then wait a year. If I still want it, I get it. I think the exception to that will be when I have kids...I'm going to get their footprints tattooed on my back. I know someone who would do that. And now I'm incredibly tempted to suggest it to him.
I mean absolutely no offense whatsoever to any form of religion when I ask this: How could tattoos be against some religious beliefs? I'm just curious; not trying to incite anything.
Most religions have some sort of rule on not desecrating the body. For example, Christians believe that they were created in gods image and and doing anything to alter that image is wrong because of course, your goal is live as closely to his commands as you can. Then again, most Christians who won't get a tattoo either drink occasionally or smoke cigarettes anyway so as with all groups of people, the hypocrisy is there.
I quite like the idea of getting a tattoo to show a personal connection to something, it's just there isn't anything that I can think of that I would want - getting a generic tattoo for the sake of having one doesn't appeal to me. Also the permanence of them is off putting - once I'm old and wrinkly, it may not be so attractive anymore.
