Paul's Tattoos

What is your tattoo?

I have three or four tattoos depending on how you look at them. My first tattoo is of an angel on my right upper arm surrounded by poppy flowers that has my friend's name (katie) written in one of poppy flower leaves. The next tattoo I got is a part of the painting Great Wave Off of Kanagawa that is placed on my left upper arm that has another friend's name (abi).  My third tattoo is the album cover of We Were All Dead Before the Ship Even Sank by Modest Mouse. Finally I surrounded my Great Wave tattoo with Japanese wind bars and cherry blossoms making a Japanese style sleeve.  Some people combine the wind bars and cherry blossoms with the Great Wave tattoo so that's where some people combine the two and say it's 3.

What prompted you to get this tattoo?/What special meaning or significance does this tattoo have to you?

The first one is just because I thought it was cool looking honestly and I wanted my friend's name to be a tattoo because I love her that much but didn't want…to have a whole tattoo dedicated to her. Ya know, names aren't always the best ideas haha her name in the flower is mostly for me. Same goes for abi's name that's tattooed on my other arm.  I got the second one for basically the same reason as why I got the first one. I mean, I really dig the painting; the colors are phenomenal. 

I got the Modest Mouse tattoo because them as a band mean a lot to me. I love their music and as a musician I felt as though it was important enough to be tattooed on me.

I got the wind bars and blossoms because I like how they look and it kept to the japanese theme that I started on my left arm. The cherry blossoms represent mortality in japanese culture which is why I got them and is also why I got them such a dark red as in blood.  Just a reminder that this is one life sorta. It's kinda morbid I guess, but I dig it haha

Do you regret getting a tattoo?

Absolutely not.

Do you feel like you are judged or excluded from activities because of your 

tattoo? Why or Why not?

I certainly have felt judgment from those I don't know but reactions from people that I do know are generally more positive. Except my mom, she hates them.

Do you feel people with tattoos are generally accepted in this day and age? Why 

or why not?

It just depends on where you go.  The people I surround myself with accept them and the places I hangout at generally like them. 

As a whole I think the consensus about tattoos are still pretty evenly split between those who do like them and those who don't.

If you could do it all over again, would you get this same tattoo and same 

placement? Why or why not?

I would probably do the exact same thing I did the first time. MAAAYYYBBEEE switch the modest mouse tattoo to the other side of my chest but that's still just a maybe.

Do you plan on getting any more tattoos? If so, what are your ideas (if you have 

any)?

I do plan on getting a number of tattoos including a letter "V" for my mom, a series of roses, more album cover art, a pyramid with an eye at the top of it, the word "live" and several more after these. 

Tattoo Encyclopedia: Angels traditionally represent benevolent spirituality. Much of what angels do (both in tattoos and in religion) centers around their relationships to humans. Water has a complex relationship with humans, being both representative of life and destruction (the book doesn't say anything specifically about waves.  The cherry blossoms that surround the wave tattoo traditionally symbolize the fragility of human life and the perfect death.