"You can't wash it off, it's an old tattoo"

 What a strange day.  No Spark today, they stayed in the city an extra day.  No Abundance, he's down in NC with his parents, no motivation, I'm not sure where that went.

 

Finally emailed my tattoo artist.  They're moving to Baltimore and I'm trying to see it as an excuse to finally get to the Baltimore Aquarium.  I already know the next three things I want (I think).

 

1.  Some combination of books, ferns and a candle.  I like the book I have on my leg, but I think if anything goes in my personal symbol set, it's a stack of books, and I like the floriography of ferns.

 

2.  The ocean, inside my right ear or behind it.  

 

3.  A ray swimming through cattails or some equally improbable landflower.   I'm not especially botanically connected to things past oak trees and borage, but they seem such a rich set of symbols.

 

There's a fourth one, but I suspect I won't want it from Emi.   Light and I have finally found a pair of matching tattoos that is just as meaningful if we part ways.  We both want the phrase "I have lived a thousand lives" and mine will be around books and his will be around video game controllers and dice. 

 

Originally, I got the borage to remind myself I was brave enough to leave Northampton.  I had the intention of extending it down my leg, adding more flowers as I needed to be reminded again. They're by far my least favorite tattoo visually, though I still stand by the symbol.  And anything that involves that much intention, pain and permanence has to be some sort of magic.  That said, I still wonder how I might get them touched up, but that sort of falls far behind getting ever new tattoos.

 

I wish my body was kinder to piercings, I miss the ones I've lost and I've never really found a good outlet for getting recreationally pierced.  But like tattoos, I like things that play with the idea of permanence and permeability.