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I don’t mind people looking at my tattoo. But a few weeks ago I noticed people in the elevator staring at my foot. They would peer down at the dots and lines, look at me, and then break eye contact. Totally could tell they were curious, but for whatever reason, they felt it was more appropriate to awkwardly look at it and then ignore me than to just ask, “hey, what’s that design?”
After this event repeated itself for days in a row, I began feeling really self-consciousness about my ink – and then I had a nightmare. In my dream, my tattoo was nothing but blurry markings made with blue ballpoint pen. The ink was running off my foot, like a letter being bombarded with tears dropping. I freaked out so much in the dream that I woke up, pulled my foot close to my blind eyes, and saw it was still there. Instant relief and a clear reminder of how much this design means to me – no matter how people look at it.
I have been intrigued by tattoos for a long time. And from the first time I met a Sharpie, I have been drawing on myself. Dots. Symbols. Things I saw on TV. I even have a file somewhere with printouts and drawings of different tattoos I liked. Some were things I could see myself getting. Others I would never get (see: on the face).
But there has only been one tattoo I ever really saw myself getting. As any of my friends can tell you, I have obsessed about it over the last 4 years. Drawn it here and there. Toyed with getting it here and there. I’ll do it after this happens I’d say. And then I wouldn’t.
The thing about that one tattoo is that getting it wasn’t originally my idea. It was my mother’s. But after her surgeries from breast cancer she didn’t want to get it anymore. In her words, “I’ve had enough pain for a while.” And with that, she passed the desire onto me. And this Saturday I finally did it.
My friend Ashley M. had also been thinking about a tattoo for a few years now. She had the script picked out and everything. And we agreed to do it together. So here is the inspiration for mine:
And here is mine:
The tattoo is the same one Leeloo has in The Fifth Element. The difference in mine is that each line is made of 13 (a fibonacci number) dots. Each set of 6 lines represents a different element: Earth & Water (near my toes) Fire and Air (closer to my ankle). I opted to place it on my foot (vs. the wrist in the movie) because it is not as typical as some places, because I don’t want it to interfere with any possible interviews, and because it will look cute with sandals but won’t be the first thing someone notices. I typically don’t walk around looking at people’s feet first.
What do you think?
So, I had been stressing this last week about graduation (what shoes to wear to said graduation) and finals in particular. Specifically, my Physiology 480 final which I: a.) must do well on to not get a C. b.) must do well on to live up to very nice thoughts the prof, has about me. …and then I got Swine Flu. Also known by its friendly scientific name H1N1 for the glycopeptides its expresses (yes, I am a bio geek).
Anyway, it started with that buzzy-tingly-lung-feeling on Wednesday night after Margarita’s with Elise & her mom. Friday morning my body added on the fun cough before my final. Saturday progressed to hacking before my tattoo. Saturday night, I came home for Mother’s Day, and in spite of the muscle achiness, fatigue, cough and buzziness there was no fever. Enter Sunday morning.
I wake up feeling like I got hit by a truck and running a small fever of 100.8. Take some Ibuprofen, pass out for a few hours, don’t want to drink or eat, the usual. Wake up and feel like my body is a balloon. Like each finger is one of those balloon animal balloons. And my head is like the biggest balloon ever. Like those balloons you give out in birthday treat bags that you punch. While I know this is clearly not the case and I am in fact delusional, I cannot calm down. Take out the thermometer and hello temperature of 102.5. Take more drugs, fall asleep. 3 hours later, still riding the hot-body temp express, decide to go to the hospital.
Now, I pretty much knew I had the flu. But, the sustained temperature was concerning me. As was the fact that there was no way I could study for my exam if I was trippin’ balls about the fact that my body felt like a balloon. So, the hospital confirmed that I had Influenza Type A, with a touch of bronchitis for good measure. But, they won’t know if I have Swine Flu (H1N1) for a couple of days…. yes, I know that makes my title misleading.
In either case, I am not supposed to go to school until 5/18 or until I get rid of my cough and fever. Yay! Get out of Final free card. No! Miss my College graduation. As of right now, no fever (yay!), but still tons of painful coughing (no!). As for my final, my physio professor is completely cool with it, and says to e-mail him then above conditions of my health come about so I can take it. Here’s to hoping I get to take my exam Thursday morning and graduate that afternoon!
