"L" talked about the Body Modification event that she had been to on campus.
"I always find those to be interesting" I told her, "especially when I don't even dye my hair. I just don't get it."
"L" said the thought of the pain while tattooing, for instance, is one big reason why she has never attempted one. I shared with her about an article I had read a while ago, in which one of the full-body-tattooed person profiled was a Wall Street investment banker. Most of his work associates had no clue that underneath that suit and tie was a skin that was painted all over.
When driving back home, I was reminded of a strange experience once on a flight on the way to India. It was in the domestic segment before the connection from Dulles. I was in the window seat, a woman in, perhaps, her early-thirties in the middle, and an older man in the aisle seat. The woman made it clear that she was interested in chatting, and every once in a while I participated in the conversation. She was on her way to Belgium to try living there for a year with her boyfriend whom she had met online. The success of this meant that she would make Belgium her home.
She got all excited when I said I live in Eugene. A local tattoo artist was apparently her friend. She started explaining to me about her professional expertise not only in tattooing but also in body modification. Up until this conversation, I would have assumed that body modification might have also included piercings. I would never have guessed scarring as modification.
Yes, scarring.
As if the topic itself was not enough discomfort to me, she made sure I would have a tough time sitting straight and not squirming. "Let me show you my scar that I am very proud of" she said.
She removed her scarf, and undid the top button of her blouse. Imagine me being asked by a full-bodied woman to look at her chest, and in the plane!
There it was--a long scar just above her cleavage. A scar that she had designed and created! Intentionally!
I had never seen anything like that before. Yet, there it was in real life. My mind immediately thought of the physical pain it would have caused. "The pain was no big deal" was her response. No big deal? I don't even like to accidentally nick myself when chopping vegetables in the kitchen, and she says the pain with creating that five-inch scar was nothing?
Different strokes for different folks, indeed!
But, it does increasingly seem that people with tattoos are everywhere. Is that what I notice because I live in Oregon, and also get to experience California?
Over the summer, when driving back from California, I stopped at Starbucks a little outside of Santa Barbara for a scone and coffee. At a table near the door was a young woman in a tanktop staring intently at her laptop. The tattoo on her shoulder stared straight at me.
I sat outside to enjoy the sun, when I noticed that the woman to my left and front at another table was wearing one of those low-rise jeans with the butt-cleavage beginning to show. And right above that cleavage was a tattoo.
The old stereotype was that tattoos were the markings of bikers or bums. But, that old stereotype, irrespective of whether it was valid at any time at all, is certainly not true now. The woman with the laptop, for instance, strolled out of the Starbucks and straight to her Lexus SUV. She had her shirt on this time, and if that had been the first time that I had ever seen her, I might never have guessed that she had a prominent tattoo.
On hot summer days, when men and women of all ages expose themselves to the legal maximum, I feel like I am in the minority anymore. No tattoos on me. A regular haircut. No hair-dye. Grey beard. Big glasses.
They have been that way since I celebrated my first birthday.
Maybe I should start wearing earrings, eh!
Nope. Not going to happen.
A bloody boring square bloke I am! I-yam-what-I-yam :)
1 comment:
I learnt a new phrase today - "body modification" :):)
Wear a bright read big earring and the square peg, turns immediately into a well rounded cool guy :):)
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