The Much Delayed Update

Back when I restarted this blog, I made a promise to myself to update it regularly, regardless of whether or not I thought anyone bothered to read it. I had to shut down the comments section because of weird Chinese spam that kept showing up. At any rate, now I have no way of knowing if these words are being read by anyone. But that's okay, because I sometimes find that simply writing on topics of interest, be it pirates, religion, Lovecraft and other science fiction, or my day, helps me to clear my head and work things out. So this space has a therapeutic use. When I use it. When I don't write, this blog serves more as a jumping off point to web sites that interest me.

All of which is to say that I feel better when I write, so I'm going to keep writing, if for no greater reason than it makes me feel better when I do so.

So, without further ado, here's the long anticipated update on my life, starting with the Great Tatoo Saga!

You might recall that when Tigger and Pooh visited us, I was supposed to go with Pooh over to a tattoo place near us and get inked up. The original design was an enso. But whereas ensos normally are black - they're done with calligraphy ink and a horse hair brush - I had seen one that was done with blue watercolors. I wanted that. But the guy we talked to said he only did black ink. No colors. You can read the whole sordid tale here.

Anyway, Pooh and Tigger went home, and I was left to figure out whether or not it was going to happen. Sharkbait (my brother) wanted me to wait until we got to Virginia next month to get it. But One Ring, of all people (she thinks tattoos are definitely not a necessary thing!), remembered hearing good things about another Tattoo studio / art gallery closer in to Nashville. So after a phone call and a couple of emails. Off to Blackbird Tattoo I went. I'll spare the details, but they were really nice with this newbie, and I'm happy with the end product:











This is the original design, which I came up with after having several long talks with One Ring and Pooh. Tigger went nuts with some graphics program and put it together. He spent so much time on it that they almost missed their flight!

The shell represents my Christian past and upbringing. The Scallop shell is a symbol of the ritual of Baptism. Then blue enso on it represents, of course, my interest in Buddhism - particularly Zen Buddhism. Blue also combines with the shell to sybolize my love of the ocean and my longing to return to it. I wanted the enso to look like it is engraved onto the shell, rather than just overlapping it. The pics don't really do it justice, but I was surprised by how well it turned out.


















So now it's there. And one more thing has been crossed off my bucket list. Sometimes I think of getting one on my right arm, to balance it out, but that's an adventure for another day.

To be continued ...