Tattoo Narrative Essay

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Tattoo Narrative I have had two tattoos done and the experience I had with the second one stands out. I was 16 and had gotten my first tattoo when I was 15, of astrological symbols on my chest. My second tattoo was one that I had wanted to get for most of my life, a Koi fish. It was much more painful than my first tattoo even though it took half as long to be done. It still needs several hours of work and hundreds of dollars to be completed. Every tattoo is a unique experience but the “no pain, no gain” attitude of tattooing is universal (Tat 1). Oftentimes the quality of a tattoo depends not only on the choice of art, but the dedication of the artist. I arrived at my Mom’s friend’s house for a Tattoo party excited and ready to get my second tattoo, and even though I was only 16 it felt long overdue. Before my turn came to get into the chair and pay this ugly bearded man to carve my skin like a turkey, I looked at his previous work on Koi fish; all the while I was quite nervous. Although I had gotten a tattoo before, I wasn’t really looking forward to getting hacked up and ink dumped into my wounds to put it bluntly. My Mother describes the feeling of the tattoo process as, “The pain was… unique, but pretty easy to get used to” (Nicholson). I think that that was a gross understatement. I did not have to wait long, although I was third in line he seemed to be working very quickly. As I browsed his big book of art I noticed a koi that I liked, it seemed to be swimming up something, a symbol of constant struggle. I quickly picked it out and it took no more than 5 minutes for the tattoo guy to make a stencil. The party was buzzing, I could hear the faint sound of someone cursing over a missed shot in a game of billiards that was going on outside, and the smell of barbeque, beer, and potato salad seemed to attach itself to the hairs in my nostrils. The tattoo

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