A Little History and Jumping Back to the Beginning

Tattoos have become much more prevalent and more accepted in today's society.  They're not quite as taboo as they once were, but they still are not always readily accepted by all.  I've been very fortunate in my experiences with my tattoos and haven't been confronted by much judgement and condemnation because of what I've chosen to decorate my body with like some other people have.  It has only happened twice, and while I don't particularly care what others think, it was still uncomfortable, so I can only imagine what others have encountered, or felt, when they were judged.  Everyone's journey through the process of choosing a tattoo, being inked, and the healing process, is different - Chances are if people were to ask someone about a tattoo they have, they would find themselves more interested than disgusted. We should all strive to open our minds and learn to acquire knowledge rather than judge at first sight.  There's nothing more thrilling than having a perfect stranger be in awe and be completely interested in a tattoo you've chosen for your body; they want to know the story, and every piece has its own story.

I'm going to start back in the beginning - After all every journey has a beginning. Mine began back in 2008 very soon following my turning 18.  I was in a huge hurry to get my first tattoo and now that I'm older and still continuing to ink, I realize a lot of mistakes I made getting that tattoo. It has since been covered up, but it was still apart of my journey and still has a story. 

March 2008 - In the Flesh Tattoo and Body Piercing (Grand Island, NE)

* I had come back and added links to the the Facebook pages of all the tattoo shops where I have gotten my tattoos, but when I came back to do this one, there wasn't a page, go figure *

• Location: Low back

• Tattoo: Bullet for My Valentine album cover (my name in place of theirs)

• Story: Like most girls I figured a low back tattoo was the perfect starting place for a first tattoo. Bullet for My Valentine was one of my favorite bands when I was in high school and I had always been in love with their album cover of "The Poison," so I thought what could be a better first tattoo? Ha, this just goes to show how dumb 18 year olds can be when choosing a tattoo. I've since learned to think about what I'm doing much more before even stepping foot into a tattoo shop. Anyway, this was still my first tattoo.

There were a lot of problems with how I went about getting this tattoo, and how this tattoo was done.  For one, I didn't put much thought or time into where I was getting this tattoo done.  I merely drove to Grand Island and walked into a tattoo shop and just went with it.  I did this despite everything inside me screaming at me that letting this guy ink me was NOT a good idea.  The guy was shaking and seemed like he might be high on something, but being so excited about my first tattoo, and entirely too impatient, I ignored my rational thoughts.  The next red flag was that this guy took the photo of the album cover and just outlined it on a stencil.  He didn't look at my back, take size into account, how the literal adaptation of that photo would look as a tattoo, or anything.  Knowing what I know now, I know this isn't how a *good* tattoo artist goes about his work.  

All of that aside, this tattoo sparked my addiction and desire to continue with more.