Tattoos and Piercings Tag

I have been watching tattoos and piercing tags on YouTube so this is my version

PIERCINGS
Left side nostril - 1994 (age 16), re-pierced a mm or two up 2015? - pain 1/10
Earlobes - 1996 (age 18 - yes, I got my ears pierced AFTER my nose) - pain 9/10, I swear one clipped a nerve OMG!!!
Both of the above done at Cavalier's in Reading, all piercings & repiercings are self done
Helix, left ear - 2012 - pain 3/10 except when I hit it with a cardboard box a few days later and that was a 201/10!
Earlobes - 2012, 2013 - pain 1/10. I added in 2 more piercings each lobe but then I decided the originals were two low so I put in a 4th hole each side to replace those. My original ear piercings are now stretched to 8mm which I did in 2015, 2016.

This gives me a total of 10 active piercings with one retired in my nostril.

TATTOOS
1) Two monogram symbols above right shoulderblade, black ink - 2011 (age 33) - pain 2/10
These are the initials of my family members and the top one is based on a design my mum came up with that was built into the brickwork of my childhood home
2) "Espantapajaros", left wrist, black & red - 2013 - pain 3/10
Meaning 'scarecrow' in Spanish, this is for the MCR song S/C/A/R/E/C/R/O/W and acts as a reminder that fear is what holds me back. The middle a is an open heart-shaped padlock, the o at the end is taken my the first dot of the FVK fangs. I got the FVK logo inked 11 days BEFORE I first saw the band live.
3) "Te mantendre a salvo esta noche", right wrist, black & green - 2013 - pain 3/10
A quote in Spanish from S/C/A/R/E/C/R/O/W - "I'll keep you safe tonight" - to remind me to support myself. Includes a cross and a key with a ribbon tied to it
4) "Tu eris in solis radios aurorae", left upper arm, emerald green - 2016 - pain 1/10
Latin lyrics from FVK's City Falls To Dust - "You'll be there, in the sun's first rays of the morning" - in the handwriting of the singer-songwriter Laurence Beveridge
5) "Hic sanguis meus eris usque in diem morior", right upper arm, pomegranate red - 2016 - pain 1/10
Latin lyrics from FVK's City Falls To Dust - "You'll be here, in my blood til the day I die" - in the handwriting of the singer-songwriter Laurence Beveridge
6) Lyrics in Ancient Greek, right thigh, periwinkle blue -2016 - 2/10 at front rising to 7/10 at back
From FVK's Fetish For The Finite - "I can't stand another night, knowing you're not mine" - the line Laurence sang to me at my 1st show
7) Aten, left shoulder, black, royal blue and atomic yellow - 2016 - pain 2/10
Aten in black & yellow above the Amharic (in blue) of "my only sunshine" (because my dad sang me that song as a kid). Designed for me by my daughter Erin - she got a tattoo I designed for her the same day
8) Heliskull, right thigh, tahitian teal ink - 2016 - pain 1/10
When I got the Greek I deliberately left a gap on the outer thigh for something else but I didn't know what. Eventually I settled on the simplified FVK heliskull logo only with vampire fangs...the original artist, Shane Sumner, says he's okay with that (I did try to get approval ahead of time honest!
9) "Always Forgive", just above left ankle, purple heart ink - 2016 - pain 3/10
Always Forgive is a song by FVK and the last ever new song I ever heard from them as they split up this year. I decided to use the song name as a twist on the 'traditional' Harry Potter 'Always' tattoo, which this is. Deathly Hallows symbol for the capital A and the writing is taken from a sample of the late, great Alan Rickman's handwriting
10*) Ankh, 2nd toe left foot, silver ink - 2016 - pain 3/10
This has a * because I am planning to number my stick-and-poke tattoos separately from my paid for ones...so yes, this is my first self inflicted one. Am thinking of adding an outline and/or detail. The meaning here is like my Aten, a love for all things Ancient Egyptian.

UPDATE
Shortly after the Ankh I gave myself a stick-and-poke heart just below my right knee. Probably a 1 out of 10.

 6 & 8 - Ancient Greek & Heliskull, thigh

 4&5 - Latin handwriting

3 - Spanish

 11 - Stick-and-Poke, below right knee

7 - Aten & Amharic, left shoulder

Espantapájaros

So today (03 April 2013) I got a new tatdoodle - my second.  Did I ever post about my first?  I forget, so here it is just in case...

It's my own design, the top symbol being based on something my mother once designed and my dad built into the family home...it's an O, J and H overlaid (O for Owen - my dad, J for Janet - my mum, H for moi - the only child) and, in my version there's a little nod to the family cat as well.  The second symbol is similarly an E and K for my kids.
I agonised about it forever (that is obviously a slight exaggeration) and finally got it inked in the summer of 2011.
The new one was a much quicker process - about 6 months in the planning, which by my standards is a rush job!  In fact, I booked the appointment the day I finalised the design.  As the meaning behind it is kind of 'carpe diem' it seemed ridiculous to agonise about it so I seized the day and went for it...made me nervous as hell!!!
So here it is...

'Espantapájaros' is Spanish for scarecrow...it was initially inspired by the My Chemical Romance song of the same name - I found a video on YouTube with Spanish subtitles and I just thought it was the coolest word ever (^_~).  But there's a lot more to it than "ooh, funky foreign word!"
To me, this is all about fear.  Scarecrows are kind of scary even if you're not a crow but for me it's about the fear of being a scarecrow - rooted to the spot, unable to move, watching the world pass me by.  I've spent a lot of time feeling like I'm standing still, constrained by circumstances or afraid to take a chance.
It's on my left wrist...'left' is 'sinister' in Latin.  The second 'a' is an open heart-shaped padlock - emotional vulnerability being a fairly obvious fear.  The star over the 'j' is a nod to "reaching for the stars" - being afraid of failure tends to lead to not aiming high, or even setting goals.
The inclusion of the Fearless Vampire Killers fangs logo was a more recent tweak; the 'o' was originally going to be Frank Iero's 'Fun Ghoul' logo and actually only got scrapped at the last minute.  I'd been trying to work the fangs in for a while but it was just getting too big...and this is not a subtle design. I don't have dainty wrists and this wraps around so you can't see it all at once (I don't want to make it too easy for anyone to read me!).  On being asked about the bandname FVK stress that they aren't fearless...

Ideally this tat will eventually have a 'sister' on my right wrist - it's emotional counterpart.  I haven't figured out a design yet but it'll be "te mantendré a salve esta noche" which is again Spanish and a line from the same song - specifically "I'll keep you safe tonight".  To me that's the polar opposite to fear - having someone to hold your hand and tell you it'll all be okay...and yes, maybe I'll be saying that to myself but what the hell.  Just as this tat features the colour red the other might have green.  That was an idea my eldest just came up with today, so don't hold me to it!

I know this tatdoodle isn't the best doodled tat ever but at least it's personal and unique.  Maybe I'm a bit of a control freak but I'd rather do my own than pick something generic.  Having a super-arty friend would be seriously handy of course *sigh*
I have to admit it hurt a good bit, nothing unbearable but a good few deep breaths and a bit of eye crossing.  Wrists are pretty sensitive.  The two ends - the 'E' and the fangs were the worst, and for some reason part of the padlock...although that may have been as it went over an old burn scar?  I'm not too much of a wimp, I hope - I have had two kids and a good number of painful experiences over the years, and like all things it passes.