well, opprobrium, i do completely respect everything you have just said. i tend to speak very immaturely when i am excited about an idea. i in fact was wondering who you were quoting in your post, and then i went back and realized i wrote that...
the thing is, i've been contemplating the idea of a tattoo for nearly two years now (i'm 18 by the way). i never thought about it too much, but i kept thinking i wanted one, just couldn't quite think of what. the reason i was so excited about my recent design was because i finally thought of something i knew i wanted. i know this because after thinking for so long, it was the first thing i knew i wanted. as far as the 'blessed are you', that was the first idea that came to me for a tattoo. sure, i wasn't positive about it, but can you ever be completely sure about anything? the fact that its also an iced earth song is about 90% irrelevant to me, but it is nice to have that second meaning. if i ever stop liking that song or iced earth, who cares, thats not the real meaning. as far as the quote i have at the bottom 'in fear lies regret'... well, the whole time i've been thinking about a tattoo, i knew the exact meaning i wanted, i just couldn't think of words that expressed it. i kept trying to find cool song lyrics that portrayed it. then i thought of just using my own words and came up with that. i've been a very shy kid throughout most of my life so far, and haven't done much. i regret all of high school. these words remind me of that, and i can't be afraid. i need, and want, to change that. not only that, but just the tattoo in general, kind of symbolizes a new beginning for me.
now, again, i can say all that, but will i still feel the exact same way in a couple months, or years? i can't be 100%, but i believe i will. and now, i don't have a choice. i got the tattoo last thursday. am i happy with my decision? absolutely.
Fair enough, who am i to argue? Now, i will just speak from my perspective, concerning me - not that this concerns you specifically, because it doesn't, but its my spin. I'm just talkin, hope you can appreciate the banter. My other ideas for tattoos, i find now, were not grounded enough to be justified - they were based on some conception that was merely surface, despite an assigned meaning. I am the kind of person that does not settle for anything less than 150% in everything that i attempt, attain, etc. My belief structures are such that steadfast cannot accurately describe them, they are more than a part of me, they almost LET me live - i know that doesn't necessarily make sense, but i don't expect it to. Therein, if i can come to a level beyond levels of understanding and impetus to do something, that shite's gonna get done good. If i cannot assign meaning beyond the point of a cultural understanding of "meaning," in the sense that it floats with me everywhere i go, i cannot believe, i cannot give my whole self to that thing, belief, person, object. This is how i operate, and generally i am operating at full steam on the extreme end of the human spectrum - this is as much to my misfortune as it is to my benefit. However, for something like a tattoo, for instance, i feel the need to attain that extremity in belief. So when i was discussing the problems, i had myself in mind as much as trying to play devils advocate.
I appreciate people who take the initiative to get a tattoo. People like yourself who do it for such substantial reasons as you have listed are admirable, to say the least. For me, though, i don't need a tattoo to remind me of something - i use my mind for that 8). But in all seriousness, when i get a tattoo, because i think it will happen, it will be something of a higher order of meaning, maybe to the extent that i don't fully comprehend, transcendent, if you will. Because if i have something on my body, i don't want it to just be a remembrance, a new beginning, a turning point, but an extension of myself, beyond myself. This is in no way meant to demean your experience, it is just the way i go about things.
Glad you are happy with it. It looks more or less like the drawing you provided.
