You're Just Showing Off!

All too often I hear from people or read comments on line that people with tattoos are just doing it for the shock factor, to show off, to get attention. Let's never mind that I got my first tattoo in a place where I'd need to be completely topless for you to see the whole thing. But my arm? I am totally showing that shit off. There's a certain sense of pride in working with a really good artist, investing the time and money on a custom piece, that it would be a little silly not to want to show it off. I didn't get my tattoos for anyone but me, but I appreciate each and every compliment I get, and since I've gotten the shading completed and it's tank top weather, I've gotten quite a few. I make sure I thank the person who compliments my tattoo, and when they ask where I got it, I sure as hell give Bella props. She did an awesome job.

One more session to go for color before we start adding more to make it a sleeve

But the whole "you're just doing it for attention" thing has always bugged me. I remember in high school there was a kid in my French class who was a year ahead of me. One day he showed up with green hair. Mind you, this was 1996, at the height of the grunge era and he was already rocking flannels. Green hair should have been a nonissue. My drugged-out old harridan of a French teacher (anyone who went to high school with me knows exactly what I'm talking about, even if they were fortunate enough to have the other French teacher) made him leave class and then went on a rant about how he was just looking for attention. In ranting like this, she was doing just that. We, in the mean time, sat there learning nothing (as usual, she didn't use immersion methods) and thinking the whole thing was just stupid. His hair was cool, it fit his personality because he was kind of a crazy guy.

Thankfully, when I put blue streaks in my hair in college, I didn't get that crap, but I did get a lot of my smartass customers at my job thinking they were funny saying "did  you know your hair is blue?" One or two may have accused me of trying to get attention, but it simply wasn't the case. I wanted blue hair. Blue and brown look awesome together. End of story.

My point is, don't assume someone with a face full of piercings, tattoos on their neck or hands or other highly visible places, or weird colored hair or hair cuts are looking for attention. They don't need it. They have confidence. If you're looking for the ones who are looking for attention, look at the girls who get "slut" and "cum guzzler" tattooed on visible parts of their body. Those sad individuals are crying for attention because clearly, no one gave them any when they were little-- either that, or the wrong kind.