tattoo for my 40th birthday

What's a VFD?

Inquiring minds want to know.

Now I don't know many 40-year-olds who would do that It's awesome - they're the books that I plan on reading to my kids as they grow up.

I saw someone with something very similar, if not exactly, this on their neck tonight. I probably stared a bit too much at them having read this post before hand.

I think Stephen King used something very similar in his Dark Tower series and apparently that series has sparked a whole lotta tatts.

"V.F.D. is a secret organization known as The Volunteer Fire Department within the book series A Series of Unfortunate Events by Lemony Snicket dedicated to keeping the world quiet and extinguished." Their motto is "The World is Quiet Here" which is also a sort of pass phrase.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/V.F.D.

The acronym "V.F.D." is used for numerous other things within the book series related to the V.F.D. organization such as "Vernacular Fastening Device" or "Village of Fowl Devotees". The books teach kids about critical thinking and not just accepting dogmatic truths. Some of it, especially the 13th book, strays awfully close to blasphemy, which is what I love about the books. This is like Part 1 of my "religious curriculum" for my daughter, such as it is. I also want her to read Philip Pullman's "His Dark Materials" but at 9 years old I'm not sure she is ready for that, although we watched the movie "The Golden Compass" (if you've already read the book, it's nice to see it dramatized, but so much of the meat is missing, much like Eragon or the last two Harry Potter movies).

The idea for the tattoo popped into my head as yet another "miracle" was on the morning news all I could think of was the Lemony Snicket quote, "Miracles are like meatballs, because nobody can exactly agree on what they are made of, where they come from, or how often they should appear." And then I was chatting with a friend and looking up some other quotes. In the books, the tat is supposed to go on the ankle, I was thinking a bit above the ankle would work better and be a little less painful because it's flatter, my shoe won't be rubbing against it while it's healing, and I've heard getting tattoos right over bony areas sucks. Also, skin on a lot of parts of my body tends to be a bit sensitive, I tend to get eczema on my triceps for example, but the calf area seems a bit more stable.

My friend said the tat should go on the upper left shoulder so people know the Eye of Sauron is watching them and then they will run away screaming. I said no, upper left shoulder is where the portrait of Herman Melville is supposed to go (another obscure reference to Lemony Snicket). He said no, the upper left shoulder is reserved for religious and arcane iconography, so there. But anyway, here are some more quotes:

http://www.goodreads.com/author/quotes/36746.Lemony_Snicket

Another one of my favorites is, "People aren't either wicked or noble. They're like chef's salads, with good things and bad things chopped and mixed together in a vinaigrette of confusion and conflict."

More than anything, what this tattoo represents for me is the time that I have spent reading with my daughter, and that she will see it and it will be kind of like our little secret, a little piece out of fiction that escaped into the real world.

Awww, that is really sweet!

Get it right on the ankle. That tattoo is so small, it will be over before you know it. And the ankle is not going to hurt all that much more than right above the ankle. Go authentic!

The only reason not to get it on your ankle is if your artist cannot get it positioned so it doesnt look distorted or weird due to the curve of your ankle. Considering its shape, it shouldnt be a problem.

For my 40th - the plan is to tattoo the words: There's candy inside, keep looking!" across my chest and then donate my body to my local medical school for eventual dissection.

The lady who cut my hair today has a tattoo by this Jason, and she also said Jason is the man. She showed me the first tattoo she got which was done by somebody else, an ankle piece with a hibiscus. I gathered the tattoo she had done by Jason was not in a place she could reveal in public, and I'm not the type to say OK lets go into the back room so you can show me. I'm like THIS IS DESTINY. I also scoped out where the shop is and no surprise it is "by appointment only" and they are closed on Sunday, it's in the upper level of a row house that has been converted into two businesses, I forget what was on the lower level, but it's within walking distance from the middle school and the Catholic school, it's in a decent neighborhood.

Now I'm getting ideas for a shoulder piece possibly Yeesha's "Desert Bird" symbol from the Myst Uru games, which I also spent a lot of time playing with my daughter, in fact for Valentine's Day I ended up buying my daughter another copy of Uru Complete Chronicles so we could play it again since I lost the CDs, so it's still about my daughter. My daughter is very much like Yeesha from Myst IV: Revelations, and in a lot of ways I am like Atrus. I call my daughter Yeesha sometimes, but I'm not sure if she likes it. I don't know if this would be instead of the ankle tattoo or in addition to it. I think in terms of my wife, the VFD tattoo will be easier for her to understand. Then when I completely lose it and I'm addicted to getting tattoos, I'd like to get all of our power animals, mine, my wife's, my daughters.

So, the power animals will be for the 41st birthday then, eh? Or maybe the 40.5 birthday? Because yeah, they're that addictive...

I started with a relatively small one (90 minute sitting) on my back, just a simple word and a symbol... And less than three years later i have an entire back piece, (much more than the pic in my avatar, that's probably a year and a half old) from 50+ hours of work, and I would have started my sleeves already if I had not promised my partner (and my bank account) that I would wait until 2010 before my next one...

I has an appointment! May 12th at 9am, too bad it's after my birthday, but I'm having the guy I want to do it do it. I said I wanted to kind of take the tattoo to the next level, do some shading or something. He said shading is good, suggested some color in the iris area. I'm thinking brown because that is the color of my daughter's eyes. I gotta say coming from knowing almost nothing, getting a tattoo is a lot cheaper than I expected, he was saying $40, $60 if I want to go a little bigger.

Congrats!

You know what they say - "A good tattoo isn't cheap, and a cheap tattoo isn't good."

HOWEVER, your design is already drawn out, doesn't even need to be traced, just re-sized in the copier to fit your body, and is going to be really small and simple to do. If it is going on your ankle it can't be much bigger than what, 2" x 3" ? Maybe 3" x 4" ? My guess is you will be in and out of the tattoo parlor in an hour. So, in that regard, yeah, around $50 sounds right (plus tip, of course!).

I always forget that it takes 6 - 8 weeks to get an appointment. When I was working on my back piece I would always have 2 appointments booked, so whenever I got some work done I would book an appointment for 6 weeks or so away but already have another one on the books for 3 weeks or so from that date. At the tattoo parlor I go to the head artist, who owns the shop, books about a year in advance...

looks like an altered version of an eye of ra, interesting

What does the eye of Ra represent?

Apart from a nice little surprise whe, huhm er huhem, yes, very good, carry on, ignore me I'm hungry. Yes, hungry, errrm.

The original VFD logo is very iconic and looks more like the letters VFD. Of the various tattoo versions I found in Google Images, I picked the one that I liked the best. If I'm feeling brave, I'd like to add the words "Noble Enough" above the tattoo.

you can always add on later...

You can always add on later, true... But I say, get it done at once. Appointments are hard enough to book. Think about it a while, if you are digging the idea of it more and more, just go for it. You have almost 3 months to decide...

Also, I dig the different version. Firstly, because it looks like the eye of Ra, which was the first thing I thought it was seeing the pic before reading your post, but secondly, and more importantly, because it is more streamlined and a little more subdued, leaving more to the imagination almost.

However, in the end, only you have to dig it. Maybe your daughter too, but really just you. So whichever design, and with out without the wording... whatever you will be happiest looking at in a few years. Most likely, the event and your emotional and psychological foundations for getting it done will be more important than the actual artwork...

Meatthinker, have you thought about creating a design with your & your daughter's initials, that could have a secret meaning that only you and she would know? I really like the designs you've already posted (I kinda like the last one better myself) and the meaning it has for you and your daughter - I find it very admirable and sweet, actually. I was just wondering if you'd thought of creating something with your daughter that would be like the book, yet something that totally belongs only to the two of you.

I'm still going through with the tattoo thing, but after talking to lots of people, I'm planning on getting my daughter's name with either a wind horse or a blue and green dragon. The Lemony Snicket thing seems cool now, but it could get to be a drag explaining it to every person who asks, and 10-20 years from now, it might not seem so cool anymore. But my daughter's name and something connected to her I would never regret. But where is the best place for this type of tattoo?

Right above your heart would be appropriate.

Or on the left side of your chest I should say as the heart is probably a little too central for the design to look cool.

get a shmoo, i am.

Lest I should disappoint, here is my fucking awesome tattoo... Jason Nightingale at Tiki Tattoo in Westminster, MD is the artist if that means anything to you. So yeah, after much humming and second guessing, I went back to Plan A.

Mazel Tov!

Με γεια!

מזל טוב

I really like it!

*Imitates Mort The Lemur video*

Do you even know what it is?!

=D!!!! "No.. But I don't have to know to liiike! :D"

*Melts*

Hahahaha <3

Hey! I'm from MD and I am currently looking for a place to get my next tattoo but haven't found a decent enough place. It sounds to me that you would recommend this Jason guy right? Did you get to look at his portfolio?

I like the tattoo! I really like how it is associated with reading...i'm the huge dork that wants to get the Deathly Hallows symbol tattoo

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Also someone asked what the eye of Ra is...an ancient Egyptian symbol of protection and royal power from deities, in this case from Horus or Ra. The symbol is seen on images of Horus' mother, Isis, and on other deities associated with her.

They are symbols of Isis' eyes. The right eye (Ra) is the symbol of the sun, while the left eye (Horus) is the symbol of the moon.

I have the eye of Horus on my upper back.
I'll post a pic of it in my may pic thread if anyone is interested.

This info is probably a bit late in coming, but Jason Nightingale is the artist, if you Google that name you will find some examples of his work, including other artwork such as pencil drawings. He works by appointment only and you need to book 2-3 months in advance, his shop is called Tiki Tattoo and is located in Westminster. When I went it was just one on one me and Jason, I think that is how he works. I still love my tattoo, a little sad the weather is getting cold so I can't flaunt it as often. I was at a wedding in June and found out one of my cousin's kids loves Lemony Snicket and he thought the tattoo was really cool. It looks even better than when I first got it, Jason's lines are still very sharp. The worst part of the whole experience was the itching for several days while it healed, I used Neosporin Pain Relief and that helped. It did not scab over, but there was dead skin that flaked off gradually.

whoa!! you're back!!