Which makes you think, like: What makes a perfect tattoo?

Or, I mean, I guess I’m not really concerned with what makes a perfect tattoo, because like: What the fuck does that even mean? But I do ask myself all the time, like, WHY should I get this tat or like, why should I get that tat? And it always ultimately boils down to: How badly do I want it? How much do I believe in this thing?

Because, you know, once you get started, it’s really hard to stop. I mean, once you realize that the pain isn’t that bad, and once you get over the initial nervousness about, like, it being forever, it’s really easy to just go way the fuck overboard and tat your whole body up. Like, Z Bunny for instance, or Skelet0r: Those dudes just LOVE getting tattoos. And for Z at least there’s no decision-making process at all. If it occurs to him one minute that maybe he should get a tat, he’ll get it. The second he gets that feeling of like, Hmm, that’d be cool, it’s already pretty much inked on his body. All he needs to do is go to the parlor and sit in the chair. And I’ve literally been with him countless times where we’ll just be watching a movie or whatever, or like, driving down the street, and he’ll just point to something and be like: Shit, whoa, I gotta get that on my leg. Or like: Bro, watchu think? Should I get that on my forehead? And sometimes it’s just the stupidest shit, you know? Like, no disrespect at all to Z—that guy’s my boy for life—but like, motherfucker has a tattoo of a Snickers bar on his nose because one day he was eating one, and he was just like: This might be my favorite candy … and two hours later, like, legitimately no joke, we’re at the tattoo parlor and I’m going: Yo, Z, you sure about this, man? And Z is just laughing like: What kind of question is that?

So that’s one attitude that you can have. And that’s cool. I mean, I respect that. But I find myself being a little more selective when it comes to the shit I put in my skin. I mean, I have a TON of tats, don’t get me wrong. Like, compared to most people you’d see in a coffee shop or like, on the beach or whatever, I’m a dude with a lot of tats, that’s just part of my identity, but for someone like Z or for someone like Skelet0r, it’s just like, EVERY fucking inch of their bodies is covered, you know? You can barely see the skin.

And I think, for me, like, there are a few main things I like to consider before I get anything tatted on me, and those are:

#1. Aesthetic—I don’t want to put something on my skin that just looks lame.

#2. Meaning—I want every tattoo to mean something to me on at least two or three levels. Ideally, four.