Tag: tattoos

Tattoo Tuesday – They Don’t Like My Ink

Published on by Sydney Aaliyah Michelle24 Comments
Marvin by Tom Armstrong

When it comes to personal forms of expression tattooing your body is as personal and as expressive as it gets, but we don’t live in a bubble.  People are going to see your tattoo.  You may be thinking, oh, I will get it some place where no one can see.  My personal opinion is what’s the point, but regardless, unless you never plan on taking your closes off in front of anyone every again.  Someone, at some point, somewhere is going to see it.  So, do their opinions matter?  I guess it just depends.

When I got my first tattoo, my parents were not thrilled about the idea.  But, they weren’t exactly surprised about my decision, either.  I have always been the one in the family that was a little different.  I have a long history of stunts that pushed the boundaries on their patients under the guise of self expression (I once shaved my head in high school, but that is another story for another day).  When I told them I was going to get a tattoo, they tried to talk me out of it.

I heard all the typical excuses: your to young, what you like now will change, tattooed people are delinquents, you will regret it when you are older.  I didn’t care. I had made up my mind and I was not going to be dissuaded.  On a family vacation to New York, I broke away from the group, went down to The Village and got may first tattoo from an Asian guy named Sammy.

And you know what, my parent got used to it.  Don’t get me wrong, every time I show up at home with a new tat, my mother still gives me that look, but it is worth it for the opportunity to express myself as I see fit. After all, they were the ones that raised this strong willed, independent, and a little crazy sometimes daughter.  It’s all their fault anyway.  Shout out to my supportive parents.

When you got a tattoo, how did your people react?  Did their opinion effect what you got and where you got it? If you don’t have one, but want one, is this the reason why?  

I am always looking for great tattoo stories.  If you would like be featured on Tattoo Tuesday in the future, let me know.

Thanks so much to Kate for being my first Tattoo Tuesday friend.  Check out her book inspired tattoo, here.

Oh, I almost forgot.  I have a special treat for you next week.  Guess what, I am getting a tattoo.

My Weekly Update – Tagged Twice, Tattoos and Tell Somebody

Published on by Sydney Aaliyah Michelle17 Comments

Tagged #1

Ug! I have been tagged. And, not a normal tag where I tell the world about me.  I can handle that. But, I have been tagged by Karen Einsel in the Next Best Thing Challenge, which means I have to bear my soul and reveal details of my novel. Oh, the horror.  It might be before I am ready, but perhaps Karen is telling me it is time.  So, here it goes.

What is the title of your book/WIP?
  I’m Coming Home

Where did the idea of the book come from?
  I am an American who lives in China and every year when I come back home it never fails, I meet a guy and as soon as I tell him I live in China, he is like, that’s cool and then moves on.  I can’t blame them, really.  China is far away.  So, I was fascinated about this idea if just one time a guy thought of it as an interesting challenge.  How is it possible to develop a relationship with someone who lives so far away?  Also, I love New Orleans and it is great place to start a romance.

What genre would your book fall under?
  I have gone back and forth about this for months.  I think I have narrowed it down to International Rom/Com Chick Lit.

What characters would you choose to play the characters in the movie adaptation of your book?
  The inspiration for my male character is Bryan Greenberg, so he could play him in the movie.  As far as my main character, maybe Thandie Newton or Zooey Deschanel.   A mix of beauty and quirky funny.

What is the one sentence synopsis of your book?
  First of all, I hate this question.  But, here goes:  
An expat living in China meets a guy on a business trip to America and falls in love over Mexican Food in the French Quarter, but will her demanding boss and her own sense of independence threatens what could potentially be her ticket out of her mundane boring life catering to the demands of others and ignoring her own happiness. 
I still hate this questions.

Is your book published or represented? 
  Not, yet and no.

How long did it take you to write your book?  30 days – I wrote it during JuNoWriMo

What other books in your genre would you compare you book to?  I love the quirkiness of the MC in Sophie Kinsella Shopaholic Books.  My MC has some issues with self esteem and sticking up for herself and you want to tell her to get a freakin back bone already, but you like her, too.

Which author’s inspired you to write this book?  Everything I read inspires me.  Plus, places I have lived and visited, people I have met, music I listen to and tattoos (my characters alway have tattoos).  I find inspiration everywhere.  Like Karen, Stephen King is my favorite writer who makes it impossible for you not to get sucked into the world he creates and that is what I want my writing to do.

Tell us anything else that might pique our interest in your book.  Part of the book takes place in Hong Kong and China where I get to pull in a few antidotes about life in China that you could never understand unless you have actually been there. I try my best to take you there.

Tagged #2

I was also tagged by EM Castellan  in the Lucky 7 Meme.  You ladies are really wanting me to put it all out there.  Ok.  Page 77, line 7, 7 lines from I’m Coming Home (You should be hearing the P. Diddy song playing softly in the background).

“Well, in the last hour that I have know him.  He seems ok.”
“Is that it?” Sydney asked. “Ok. The two of you talked about computers for an hour and all you can say is ok.”
“What do you want me to say?” Kevin said. “He is handsome and has good teeth and he smells good, too. What?”
” I am just . . .  I don’t know.” Sydney said.
“Listen, Sydney.” Kevin said. “You have a problem.” 

Ok people, that is it. No more.  I am done. The book is going in the filing cabinet until September.

**The tag rules also include tagging other authors, so my new followers below, consider yourself tagged.  

Tattoos

Starting on Tuesday, I am going to bring to you a new feature; Tattoo Tuesday.  It is my goal to bring this beautiful and often misunderstood art form to my readers.  I will share information on artist, the art, the process, tattoos in pop culture and my own tattoo stories.  I would love to share some of my readers tattoo photos and stories, as well.  If you want to reveal your body art to the world, sent me an email with the artwork and the story.  If you have an image that inspired the artwork as well, sent that, too.  You can reach me at sydliyah at hotmail dot com.

I am am not an expert.  I am just a tattoo’ed girl.  So, if you have any questions that I know I am not qualified to answer, I won’t, but I will find someone who is and will.

Tell Somebody

When I discover great advice on writing, I have to tell somebody.  I have two that I want to share this week:

Nightmares and Realities: Showing vs. Telling by Sevastian Winters – I finally understand the show vs. tell concept.

Dialogic – Part 1:  He said, She said by A.M. Schultz – Great information on writing dialogue.  And, he assured me there will be a part 2.  Right, AM?

New Followers

 Weekly Schedule

Tuesday – Tattoo Tuesday 
Wednesday – Movie Quotes – full blog post version
Friday – Blog Post 
Sunday – My Weekly Update
 

Journey to Tattoo #6

Published on by Sydney Aaliyah Michelle1 Comment

Why in the world do I do this to myself?  Why do I have this urge? Why can’t I be satisfied with just one or two or even three?  Why can’t I just say no more? Why can’t I stop?

Why, oh why must I get another tattoo? 

I have 5 already.

#1 When I got my first one, I had thought and obsessed over it for over 3 years before taking the plunge.  I think the only reason I graduated from college is so I could get a tattoo to commemorate the occasion. Back then, it had to be about something special.

#2 And the second one, well, again it was necessary. I just graduated from law school.  That was a huge accomplishment. It needed to be celebrated.   It was a story that had to be immortalized in ink, permanently on my skin.

#3 Number three was inevitable. You can’t pick up your whole life and move to Asia and not mark that milestone in your life with just photos and memories.  No way, I had to cement that type of life altering occasion by permanently altering my skin.  And, chinese inspired tattoos are so cool.

#4 Then there was number four which doesn’t really count as a new tattoo because it was a re-do of number 2.  And, since he had the needles out anyway, he might as well add to it.  I had him add a flower or 4; a Lotus, a Cherry Blossoms, an Iris, and a Sunflower.

And, flowers are pretty and have meaning, not necessarily to me, but to someone.  No, wait, I have seen flowers in my life.  Let me think about this for a minute.  Ok. Um, well, I don’t know, but I will figure it out later.  And the stars, oh yeah, the stars?  When I told my tattoo artist to add stars, he said. “How many?”

“13.”  No hesitation, “13” Why 13?  I have no idea.  13 is a good number I guess. Well, not really, but regardless, I got 13 stars.

Ok, the flowers  represent places I have lived in my life.

Cherry blossoms remind me of the Cherry Blossoms that grew every April in DC where I lived for four years.

Never mind that I never once saw them or went to the Cherry Blossom Festival.  But, they also represents Tokyo, Japan, which is my absolute favorite place in the world.

But, I got that tattoo long before I even ever went to Tokyo, but hindsight still counts, right?

The iris represents my favorite artist Vincent Van Gogh and spending two summers in London.  I fell in love with Van Gogh in London.  I would stare at his paintings in the museums there all the time.  I read and studied about his life.  I saw a play about the time he spent in England and I went to the house where he lived in Brighton.

But the Irises in a Field painting which is my favorite, I didn’t actually see that painting in London.  I saw that painting in New York.  Well, that counts too, I spent a lot of time in New York and it was my favorite place on earth before I went to Tokyo, so that still works.

The lotus represents my time in China.  Oh, yeah, thats easy and that’s a g good one.

Ok, and finally the sunflower.  I had sunflowers on my wallpaper in my childhood bedroom.  Yeah, really big, pretty white sunflowers.

Or where those daisies? Well, anyway, the sunflowers were a painting by Van Gogh that I love as well, so it still fits the formula.

And the stars. What could the stars represent?  What have I done 13 times in my life?  Um, well I have kissed 13 boys (don’t really want to commemorate that); I have had sex with 13 . . . ish people.  Yeah, no, that won’t work.

Wait, I know.  How many countries have I been to?  Let’s see.

Mexico is one; London is two, Paris three, Norway, Sweden, Finland, four, five and six.  Russia seven.  Oh, that trip to Russia.  What a crazy trip that was.  That deserves a tattoo all on its own.  Wait. Stop. Focus.

Eight is Denmark.  That concludes that trip.  This might work out ok.  Let’s get to the Asian years.

China is nine, Vietnam is ten.  Singapore is eleven, Hong Kong twelve.

Great, this is going to work.  Just one more.  What is one more country I have been too?  Does the Amsterdam airport count?  No. Ok, there has got to be one more.

Oh wait, duh.  America.  I have been to America.  I am American so it stands to reason that I have been to America.  Whew!  Ok, great. Now 13 stars represent the countries I have been to in my lifetime.

*Can’t count Tokyo yet, because at that time I still hadn’t made it to Tokyo.  My favorite part of this rationalization.  I visit more countries; I can get more star tattoos.  Brilliant!

#5 & 5 1/2 Number 5 and 5 ½ began as an impulse buy that didn’t turn out so good, but was reworked into something new that I have learned to appreciate.

Stand to reason that the one time I do make a snap decision about getting a tattoo, it turns out bad.  What makes this even more of an issue is that it is the most visible of my tattoos.   It was the first tattoo that I got just for the sake of getting a tattoo.  An image struck. So, heck, why the hell not.  *Note to self and others, do not impulse buy a tattoo.  Lesson learned.

Number six. I am on my way to get number six right now.  I have the image and the meaning. I have researched the artist and I have a great reason to get it.

Because I love tattoos!

It is that simple I am a tattoo lover and I will always be getting tattoos.  I will get this on and while under the needle for this one I will be planning the next one. I will get them for this occasion or that occasion or no occasion at all.

For me, I have discovered that the best reason to get a tattoo is because I love the art of tattoos.  The creativity, skills, the knowledge, practice, dedication and hard work it takes for a tattoo artist to be good is something that I admire.   Tattoos are an art form created by real artist that express the desires of their clients in a collaborative artistic expression of permanence.

Wow, that’s beautiful, maybe I should get that tattooed on me.  Can you say number seven?

Why do you get tattoos?  I would love to hear your stories.

#6

 

My New Tattoo

Published on by Sydney Aaliyah Michelle1 Comment

My wrist tattoo redux. I didn’t post the photo of the tattoo before because it was a hot mess. But, I can honestly say that this one is awesome. It is like a totally different tattoo. I still don’t know how Vince did it, but he did it. It looks so good. Hope you like it.

Coin represents the relationship between heaven, earth and man.

Lotus flower has so many meanings to me. But, it literally bloomed from the crappy tattoo that is underneath it and came out beautiful.

Four characters are Happiness, Passion, Faith & Love.

I just love it and am so happy that I gave him another chance.

Thanks so much Vince at HK Dragon Tattoo! Your greatness!