Thursday, November 16, 2006

culture shock

my hubby and I are having a problem with what I think is misperception and a little bit of culture shock. The culture I speak of is the "tattoo culture" say it with me now "ooooohhhhh ahhhhhhhhh". I don't think i am part of the "tattoo culture" I think in this day and age any one can have as many tattoos as they want: doctors, lawyers, bankers, high tech workers, musicians, stay at home moms, realtors, secretaries, artists, construction workers, teachers, zoo keepers, dry cleaners and so on and so forth... Maybe part of that is the city I live in... Portland does seem to be particularly tattooed... but I think a lot of it is American Culture catching up to the free spirits of its population.

With that said when Mike and I met I already had tattoos. He would say a lot of tattoos, I would say eh, not so much, because at that time I already wanted more... He has always loved and been interested in tattoos but has none and until recently wasn't even sure what he would have tattooed.

I've taken a 6 year vacation from being tattooed due to many things: getting married, the birth of my daughter, moving to a new house, remodeling and health issues... Now that things are finally stable I long to finish my back tattoo. It's beautiful as it is but to me it just looks unfinished because I know there is more to the plan. I always promised myself I wouldn't get another tattoo until it was finished and now with my 30th birthday looming in the not so distant future I have plans for a wonderful tattoo tribute to my 30 yeas of life. You can bet I'm not getting it if my back isn't done first.

This leads us to the impasse. I have a consult in a few days so the artist can take a look at my back, see what he has left to do, take sketches or measurements and whatever else he'll need to finish up... Mike having felt like my tattoo life is separate from him and being saddened by it wanted to be included... now he's not so sure. Why? Part of it could be boredom, but any adult can sit through a 30 minute appointment boring or no. He's lead on that there may be a little more to it. He doesn't feel like part of the "tattoo culture" and thinks he will be uncomfortable or an outsider in the shop. My argument "You never know until you try".

Where does culture shock end and judgement begin?

5 comments:

Giddy. said...

Whoa. I didn't read this before I wrote mine.

Another interesting coincidence. cool.

CamiKaos said...

when i read yours i almost fell over laughing at us...

sybil law said...

"The plane, the plane... !!!"
Tattoo is just a word, or, from the above quote, a name. (Although I have no clue how you spell that height challenged - okay, midget's - name from Fantasy Island..) Anyway, I don't get it. You either go, or don't go. When you're past the age of 25, who cares what people think? If 18 year old idiots can go into a tattoo shop and get a ridiculous tattoo, then certainly Mike can walk in with his hot wife and get into it. Right?! Right. K-Fed has tattoos. Enough said. :)

CamiKaos said...

i think you are right elizabeth... and here is the thing that makes you even more right... when we discussed this last night after he read to blog he asked how I would feel standing in the middle of a room full or corporate conservatives in a tank top... my reply was "which time?"

oh plus, thank u on the hot wife thingy, always a lovely thing to hear... and no more talking bout Kfed in my comments. blech.
lol

sybil law said...

K Fed. Haha I couldn't resist. It may be the only time in my life I get to write down that stupid moniker.
You, in a room of corporate execs, in a tank top? Mmmm... yeah. THEY would love it. :)