My First Tattoo

For the 4th of July weekend my wife and I decided to go to the Lake of the Ozarks and while there, I got my first tattoo at A1 World Famous Tattooing from Tattoo Ted himself!

On a trip to the Bagnell Dam Strip to play skee-ball with, I decided that it would be a good day to get a tattoo. I asked my wife, and thinking that I wouldn’t go through with it, she said yes. So off I went to the place I’ve seen hundreds of times before but never had the guts to enter. I left the wife behind to go find out how much it would cost, and I’m sure she fully expected me to come walking back with some sorry excuse of why I couldn’t do it.

When first walking in the door I was bombarded with some of the most beautiful art I’d ever seen. And not the stereotypical tattoo art of ‘MOM’ hearts, skulls and naked ladies. But some beautiful patterns and flowers, lifelike sketches, and animals that looked like they would jump off the page. Of course if your are looking for a naked lady daemon on a boat with MOM written above it, they have that too.

I will admit, I was a little disturbed by the giant rainbow booth sitting in the middle of the waiting room. But I got over it quickly when looking at the artwork.

I eventually made it up to the front counter to find out how much this would cost me and I was directed to Ted.

Tattoo Ted is a tough looking man with tattoos up his arms, the exact person I would want to put a tattoo on me. There is no way I would let some skinny kid with shaky hands and no tattoos come near me. All over the place it says that Tattoo Ted is an award winning freehand artist with nearly 40 years of tattoo experience! Ted has a quick sense of humor that took me a minute to catch, most likely because I was nervous, but as I became more comfortable, he became more funny.

I hadn’t decided exactly what I wanted until it came out of my mouth. It was a big choice, not only is the tattoo permanent, but it would also be my first tattoo. It was a toss up between a music note, my band name, a question mark, and my kids name with birth date. Ted asked me what I was looking to get and I told him my kid’s name with his birth date underneath it.

He immediately pulled out a piece of paper and started drawing. He asked for a correct spelling twice, just to make sure it was right, and then I gave him the date. He drew some line art around it, but I wasn’t too keen on it, so we scrapped that part. The whole thing was about 2 inches across and an inch tall, and he quoted me $100. I have no way to judge how fair this is, but obviously I was willing to pay it, so it sounded fair to me. Next, we talked about placement. I told him I wanted it on my chest right above my heart, it’s my kid’s name after all. He thought it sounded good and we were ready to roll.

My wife finally showed up, I told her the price and she didn’t laugh at me, so I knew I was golden. I think, even at this point, my wife still didn’t believe that I was going to do it.

Ted brought me around back to a very white and sterile room where I took off my shirt and sat on a plastic covered chair. He was getting everything ready when he was pulled away suddenly; he still had a business to run. So I sat there, thinking, worrying, fretting, waiting, and all the other ings you can think of. My wife was still there, giving me all kinds of trouble, and telling me that she couldn’t believe that I was going through with it. I tried to play it off really cool, but inside I was freaking out! I wanted the tattoo, but I was so nervous about the pain and I just wanted to get it over with.

Tattoo Ted finally came back after what seemed to be days, but I’m sure was only a few minutes, and apologized to me. Again, trying to play it cool, told him it was no problem (which it wasn’t), and he could do whatever he needed to do.

I watched him put his stuff together; there was a lot of unwrapping of things and a rubber band on a vibrating rod. I was really glad he knew what he was doing, because I had the faintest clue. He double-checked one last time on the spelling and the date, and at this point I could have told him anything. In fact, I don’t remember what I told him, but in the end everything was spelled correctly, so I guess I said the right thing.

And then he began. I will admit there was a bit of pain, but nothing like what I expected. It’s so hard to describe, but the best I could do is say that it was either like a slight burning sensation or someone with very small fingernails pinching you. But as soon as he lifted his ‘pen’ the pain stopped completely. It did hurt a little more the closer to the armpit he got, but again, it was nothing like what I expected.

The whole thing lasted maybe 10-15 minutes, but I thought it looked GREAT! For the rest of the holiday weekend, all I thought about was the tattoo.  Through the fireworks and great food and cold beer, every chance I got I was showing it off. I know it’s not the coolest tattoo, or the biggest, but it’s my first tattoo, and it’s my kids name, and it means a lot to me.

I’d love to see your tattoos and reactions to your experiences, post a link to twitpic or flicker or where ever. And if you don’t have a tattoo, I’d love to hear what you think of mine, and why you don’t have one.

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