Unicorns and Tattoos.

I recently decided I need a tattoo. I've wanted a tattoo since college. My limiting factor is that I haven't been able to decide what I want. I know, I know, I feel as though maybe I'm going about this in the wrong order. I should have something I feel endeared to and THEN decide about its permanent position on my body.

After some deliberation, I decided that I want a unicorn! Unicorns have had a place all along in my life. From the collection of My Little Ponies to the Blatant Unicorn, to the most recent connection with the all powerful mother monster: Lady GaGa. Let's explore these ideas a little more in depth, shall we?

In my childhood, I was preoccupied with miniature things. My Little Ponies totally fed into this mild obsession. I had quite a few ponies and my recollection (MommyDaddy, feel free to correct me) is that I would often assemble all the ponies in our front yard flower bed among the blooming daffodils and proceed to engage in pony life reenactments. From there, once I was a little too old for such things, I picked up fantasy books that included unicorns. Maybe I should reread some of those classics.

In college, the Blatant Unicorn was the name of my apartment with Katie O that supplied booze and pancakes to anyone at most any hour. The name developed in opposition to another Athens after-party spot called the Secret Squirrel. In addition, we (or Katie? or Adair?) managed to secure a pretty fantastic clock, which you can appreciate in the photo below behind Christine and me.



As for the Lady GaGa reference, Katie recently posted a quote on my facebook wall from Lady GaGa, mother monster herself: "I had My Little Ponies. I was obsessed with the idea of a creature that was born with something magical that sort of made them the misfit in the world of the stallion. I’m actually quite obsessed with unicorns. They are in essence a mythical creature. The unicorn is born magical and it’s not the unicorn’s fault and it doesn’t make it any more or less special or any less unique but it can’t help that it was born with that magic." In addition, the music video from her latest single reveals the following image:



SO, back to the actual tattoo talk. After asking for several submissions from friends, I received a couple that I really liked including these two images:





Then I got a referral to a tattoo artist who took into account "what I want" and came up with this:


Ya, I'm ok with it, but not wild about it. BUT, because I didn't hate it, I went ahead and scheduled to get this tattoo...TOMORROW. WTF was I thinking?! Anyway, I'm not going to get a tattoo tomorrow, no one freak out (mostly talking to myself, here). I think I have determined that I want to go with something a little more symbolic as opposed to so literal. Thus, I am gravitating toward the Lady GaGa image.