My (Second) Story
So, this past Saturday I turned 20, and one of the few things I wanted was another tattoo. I had been thinking about this design for around 7 or 8 months, and with going home for my birthday I decided to go get the tattoo at the shop where I got my first tattoo. Coincidentally with being a walk-in client, I even got the same artist that did my first (which made me happy because he is awesome)! My experience as a whole was interesting and unique, but first I will talk about the design of my fresh ink.

My tattoo reads, “Be as wise as a serpent and as innocent as a dove.” This is a concept found in the Bible (Matt. 10:16b) when Jesus is sending out His original 12 disciples to go out to spread Jesus' teaching. But while going through Media Ethics this past fall semester, the principle was something that I could see myself applying not only to my desired profession (a journalist, specifically a sports writer) but also in every area of my life.

So, this tattoo holds great significance to me, and to emphasize my commitment to living this way I wanted the tattoo to be in my own handwriting. It may sound odd, but it was almost my way of making a covenant with God in permanent ink that I will seek to live this way for the rest of my life.

Now for my overall experience at Buddha’s Body Art this second time around: As I said before, I got the same artist I had last time, Rob. Since we did not talk much last time, I asked him when he started tattooing, and he said he was around 9 when he first picked up a tattoo gun. He has had over 35 years of experience, and he has only ever tattooed for Buddha’s because his parents opened the shop in the early 1960s. The shop has been kept in the family, with Rob’s mom still coming in to tattoo and Rob’s kids and nieces/nephews working in different capacities at the shop or aspiring to someday.

We also got to talking about some other things that Rob does, and he mentioned three accomplishments: being a deacon at this church, going through nursing classes (though I’m not exactly sure what sort of certification he has) and currently working through piloting school.

All in all, I had a really great time, and I have already gotten compliments about my tattoo, which I wore uncovered for the first time today! I hope you all enjoyed that story, too. I would love to hear from you, so please feel free to comment below. Also, if you have any tattoos you would like to showcase on my blog, let me know. I would be excited to hear from you! Thanks for reading, and I’ll see you back here next week.

(Another great thing about this time at Buddha's was Rob let my dad [whom I share a birthday with!] come back and take pictures):

The original outline of that design.

Getting bandaged up!