Tattoo Hullabaloo

I'm a pretty active person. I work full-time, play my violin with the Evanston Symphony, babysit, work out, hang out with friends, and do a hundred other random things during the week. I don't generally have a lot of time to hang out at home, but when I do, I relish the time vegging out on my couch watching TV. I know, I know, TV rots the mind, blahblahblah. Whatever. It's my guilty pleasure (along with People magazine--man, I'm full of confessions tonight) and I'm not giving it up. Besides, I read a lot so it's all karmically balanced, in my mind.

One of my recent favorite shows to watch is L.A. Ink. If you aren't familiar with it, it's a documentary-style show about a tattoo parlor in L.A. run by a late-20-something punk rock chick named Kat Von D (seen in the pic above). Kat used to work in a shop called Miami Ink, which also had it's own show, but she didn't get along so well with the shop owner and ended up leaving. TLC then offered her her own show, which she accepted. The girl has some crazy-interesting friends, major commitment issues, an eclectic wardrobe, and a hairless cat. While most of her body is covered in tattoos, she's actually a wuss about getting them (it's been documented on the show). She is, however, an INSANELY talented tattoo artist. She tattoos photographs of family members that people bring in, and the tattoo looks almost identical to the photograph. The level of detail is incredible. Kat has several other tattoo artists that she recruited (including two from Chi-town) working in the shop, and they're all amazing.

It's a fun show to watch, and every time I do I end up thinking about my own (imaginary) tattoo. I've decided it would be a stack of three books, spines out, with one of those old-fashioned finger candles next to the stack, lit. It would symbolize my love of literature and the written word, along with my fascination with history (the old candle). All of my electives in college were history classes, and I still continue to get sucked in by memoirs and the History channel. I doubt I'll ever get my tattoo, because I can't think of a place on my body that I wouldn't regret getting it later on down the road. It's fun to think about though. If you had to get a tattoo, what would YOU get? Why?