Tattoos and piercings belong to the weirdos . . . and I'm one of them

I overheard a conversation between a mother and son at the gas station yesterday. It struck me as odd, but at the same time it was really familiar. It's amazing what a couple decades can do to a person's outlook.

Here's the scenario:
A teenage boy is talking with his mom while she is paying for his gas. She is telling him that she wants him to be safe and be good, stuff like that. During this talk she says that she doesn't want to see him getting any piercings or tattoos because it will ruin his future and his chances at being a success. Meanwhile, I am standing on the other side of the same pump with a lip ring in, listening to this whole exchange happen. The boy appeases his mother by saying he understands and they part ways soon after.

There was a part of me that wanted to interject and let the boy know that even though I am a tattooed and pierced "outcast", I make quite a decent salary at a job that is professional and successful. It made me chuckle listening to the mom be so "suburban" in a time such as this. When I think about all of my friends that I grew up with who now have tattoos and piercing, yet still have successful careers it just makes me laugh a little. According to this woman we would probably all be seen as tattooed and pierced freaks of society that contribute nothing and waste resources . . . or something like that.

Here's what I envision she is thinking while she is talking to her son:


Here is what is standing on the other side of the gas pump from her:

I was a little infuriated when I first heard the conversation, but it has since turned to amusement. I am now living back where I essentially grew up - white bread, suburban Washington and it's amazing to me how much my views were initially shaped and eventually strayed from this area of the world. I haven't lived here my whole life, but it was a lot of what I grew up in. I find the conversation amusing because I can imagine a time when my dad would have said something very similar to me. He was very upset when I got my first tattoo when I was 19 and visibly disappointed when I came home with my lip pierced when I was 22. To this day I'm sure he doesn't have a clue about the other tattoos and piercings I have . . . and I'm fine with keeping it that way.

Overall it honestly doesn't make a difference how we choose to modify our bodies, if we do at all. What matters is what we do with who we are. People can determine their own preconceived notions about me all they want, but if they really want to know who I am they just need to talk to me. If my piercings and tattoos scare them off, then I probably don't want to talk to them anyways.

It was like I stepped into a time machine and went back to when I was a teenager. The whole incident surprised me how much the place I grew up in has stayed the same over the years, despite how much I have changed.

Keep an open mind and see what happens :).



P.S. Here's another pic of a beautiful tattooed and pierced woman - for sticking with me on this journey (and because I thought she was pretty)

Life is for the living . . . and boy am I living

I didn't realize that I haven't posted anything since the end of September, but things have been busy. A couple of highlights:

1. Job position title change from Administrative Assistant to Project Coordinator
2. Title change also came with a promotion :)
3. The Music Man shows have been full force and lots of fun.

We are now on hiatus with the Music Man, so I have a bit of down time - which is good since now I have a ton of responsibilities at work.

These are not new responsibilities, just now people are taking notice of all the things I actually do. I have to be accountable for my actions now instead of experimenting with what I can and cannot do. I love having an active day at work, but it does cut into the downtime I used to have to look at things online and blog. Plus since we moved I now have a 2 hour commute (one way) each day. It all adds up to not much freetime.

I feel like I get no time to keep up with my friends. I'm not even on Facebook as much so I miss out on updates (whichever ones I get with the new format). One good thing about my long commute is getting to ride the train with my best friend each morning. We both have busy lives (she has a family on top of work, unlike me) and even though we work a building away from each other we both have new responsibilities and lots to do, so it's nice that we get a chance to catch up each morning. It's nice to be able to hang out again after so many years of knowing each other. We've had our rough patch where we didn't speak, but having husbands that are best friends kind of stopped that from continuing - and I'm so glad it did.

I get emails of great deals on places to vacation and things to do around the area and ever since this summer (and probably before that) I've dreamed of actually going on one of those . . . but that will have to wait. My closest prospect is taking time off to be up north for our next performances of the Music Man. Last time I stayed in a super cold cabin on the islands, but this time it's looking like I'll be staying on a couch at a friend's. We'll see how that goes. I'm super thankful I even have the option of staying somewhere because the drive killed my car last time and I don't have the money to stay at a hotel, but it is quite a change for me to deal with, especially right now.

At any rate, I will try to update things more often while I have some time away from performances and other things. I'm trying to get back into exercising and hoping to get back into voice lessons too, but time and money are a real issue these days, so here's to hoping it all works out. Speaking of time, I need to hit the shower before it gets too late. I switched to taking them at night since I just cannot get myself to wake up any earlier in the morning.

That's it for now . . . which is probably just barely skimming the surface. More later :).