How to get a tattoo
I've never understood how someone can put more time, thought and money into buying a shirt they'll wear four times before shrinking it in the dryer than into getting a tattoo they'll wear forever. This, on the other hand, is how getting a tattoo should work. (Via Justin's Links.)
As for me, mostly out of indecision (and also because of a tattoo-hating spouse) I've remained tattooless all of my 42 years. I've toyed with the idea of getting a tattoo to mark a milestone but I passed on my 40th birthday. The tattoo idea that's stayed with me the longest is a Dobbshead, which I'm surprised isn't on the shoulder of half the drunks on Sixth Street, but I guess the Church of the Subgenius peaked slightly before the tattoo thing went mainstream. At this point getting a Dobbshead tat would be unstylishly retro, marking me forever as a member of the non-generation between the Boomers and Gen X. The place I've got in mind is one I'd never be brave enough to go for: on the outside of my wrist where a wristwatch would be if I wore one. Which would create the unspoken inner dialogue, "What time is it?" "Time for `Bob'!"
Lately, though, I've been inspired by the nerdy minimalism of Cory Doctorow's 27-pixel-square "Sad Mac" tattoo. I'm trying to decide whether there's an icon I'd be similarly willing to wear through years of technological change and the sagging of the canvas.