Inked.

Purpose of trip to Sydney

- Meet baby cousin William John. (This was the main priority)

- Get a tattoo. ( This was decided quite spontaneously)

So perhaps deciding to get a tattoo was.. Well, too spontaneous for what it is. However I wanted to do this now, it was important to me and I thought it was time. I finally can see some clarity starting to emerge from the fog that has been my life for the past five or six years. I want to celebrate this sudden vision, in the only way I know how... Self harm.

And so the decision to get this tattoo was configured with my parents, who really didn't have too much to say about it except " You are 18 now, it's your choice" and so after careful deliberation. I decided that the most fitting image to have permanently inked into my skin was the symbol devised by the guitarist Jimmy Page of the band Led Zeppelin. 

I like this symbol, it represents a band which has been present in my life for as long as I can remember. Led Zeppelin is most likely the only band I can listen to no matter what mood I am in. 

So once all that had been decided, I asked my aunt about it. My aunt has three tattoos of her own, and she is very close to the owner and tattooists at Sydney's tattoo parlour " The Illustrated Man." She told me the job was fairly simple and that it could be done, and so it was all arranged.

So this is "The Illustrated Man." The guys inside are all really nice, they all seemed somewhat surprised and impressed by this little "baby-faced" 18 year old coming in for a Led Zeppelin tattoo. My tattooist was Brett, and first he placed a stencil onto my foot. Then rubbed some gel stuff onto the stencil and got the needle ready...

I closed my eyes when he put the needle onto my foot for the first time. I didn't know exactly what to expect. Even now, I am having trouble describing what it felt like. It hurt, I knew that it would, but I didn't scream and I didn't cry. I clenched my fists and looked away. 

My aunt sadistically took photos throughout the entire process. This was actually helpful because it kept me from expressing any pain I felt. I smiled instead and as my tattooist sang along to Devo's "Whip It" which was playing in the background, I felt calm.

After Brett had done the outline of the ZoSo symbol he had to shade the centre parts of the tattoo. This was painful like the first touch of the needle had been. My aunt told me after that this was because the skin has already been "hurt" and the shading was the needle being dragged along the skin.

The whole process took ten minutes. 

After it was finished Brett rubbed some gel onto the tattoo and put paper towel onto it, he then taped my foot up. It hurt a little at first to walk but not for long ( this was lucky because immediately after getting the tattoo, I had to walk to my aunt's apartment, walk to the trains, catch a train to the airport and fly out to Canberra). 

That night when I was at home, I took off the paper towel so that I could clean the Sydney grime from around the tattoo. On the paper towel there were specks of blood in the shape of the ZoSo symbol.. I thought that was hardcore.

So I am expecting it to itch and scab for a few days, currently I have the bandage off and have to apply paw paw ointment twice a day, I usually rub ointment into it whenever I feel I should though. 

I don't regret having this done. Will I when I am eighty? 

I don't really expect that sort of longevity.