The songs of Scars and past Glory

It's only when you first get cut that your journey truly begins.
Anyone can plan out the steps to a journey.
Anyone can work hard and sweat.
It's only when the flesh breaks and the crimson stream of life begins to flow, that your plan has failed.
Don't get me wrong, the plan is still useful, but you didn't plan on bleeding did you?
Some of us will trace our steps back to when we felt the plan begin to fail.
Others will battle on.
There is no right way.

When the blood begins to flow and the seeds of doubts are being
sewn into your mind is the time to find yourself.
When we first set out to play this game, we saw this day coming.
We're counting on you.
The susurrus begins and the whispers of doubt become so loud you can barely think.
And yet the game continues.
Battling on, you find your team no longer follows you.
Retracing your steps, you find your team questioning your judgment.
The anger is rising in you.
The whispers of doubt from without are being overwhelmed with a roar of anger from within.
And yet, the journey continues.

It's time to remind the team that we are stonger together than apart.
Remind them you lead from the front.
You will shield them from the obstacles that gave you your crimson mask.
Adorned with the preborn scars synonymous with leadership, remind them that you take this pain so they don't have to.
The journey has an ending, whether they like it or not.
Turn your motivation into action.
If rage drives you, turn it into the positive energy of success.
In time, they will sing of your greatness, as long as the next steps you choose will lead to victory.
Otherwise, you will sing your own song.  The song of scars and past glory.

Every tattoo tells a story

I can only speak for myself when I say that writing is a favorite form of self expression, but sometimes, it's just one small path towards that self expression.  In March of 2006, the pressures of a new baby, born under difficult conditions, overwhelmed me.  In the darkest hours of the night, I asked a nurse for a few sheets of paper and penned the final chapter in my book Alorya.  I remembered the process being painful because it just wasn't enough.  I would have preferred going out and doing something reckless and dangerous, but on planet earth, that's generally something a brand new dad should not do while his newborn son is in NICU.

In 1998, I went to a tattoo parlor with my brother so both of us could get tattoo's before he got married.  It wasn't much of a bachelor party.  We went to 7-11 and got Slurpee's and then headed off to Gothic Soul, which was a pretty cool tattoo shop on Staten Island, at the time.  It was the only time I had ink done, in which I had zero self expression.  I wasn't sure about the whole tattoo thing.  I always imagined those with tattoo's to be real baddasses.  I was too skinny to be a badass.  I ended up getting a panther on my right shoulder.  It had no soul, but it was nicely done.  The only bad part about it was the fact that it wasn't me.  In fact, the panther on the shoulder during the 90's was the most cliche' tattoo in America.

By 2002, I was getting a little more imaginative.  1976 was the year of the dragon, so I while I was in El Paso, TX I got a dragon symbol on my left forearm.  It was still incredibly cliche, but it wasn't your typical dragon, so that made it better.  Still, by this point, I didn't have any tattoo's that are truly me.

 

I had wanted to get a tattoo of a snake eating it's tail on my ring finger in 2005.  It was the symbol for infinity or eternity and I thought, "What better tattoo to show my love and devotion to my wife?".  Right about now, I want to bring up the fact that you should really choose your tattoo artist wisely.  I went on a recommendation that this guy was good and the artwork he had around his shop would agree.  The thing I should have been looking for, but I had not, was how he typically drew snakes.  Afterwards, I noticed they all had that "Cobra about to strike" look about them.  When I looked down to my ring finger, the tattoo didn't actually look like a snake eating its tail, but a cobra about to strike its' tail (for some reason).  I really thought it was a great idea, but was poorly executed.

 

 

I have just gotten my book cover tattooed on my left shoulder in quarter-sleeve fashion.  So far, it's just the outline, but I think the potential is infinite.  The artist is really talented and the work he's doing is fantastic.  On that night, back in 2006, I wish I could have run out and gotten the tattoo.  The one I've got on my left shoulder hadn't been completely formulated just yet, but sitting in that chair, going through the pain of getting the tattoo would have really hit the spot that night.  On the other hand, as I had mentioned in referencing the above tattoo stories, it would have mostly likely been a disaster.  You should never run out to get a tattoo without first knowing what you want to get, AND having a copy of the artwork you want done with you.

 

 

Next week, when I've completely my tattoo, I'll post the finished product, along with some more stories of my other tattoos.  As you can probably tell by the pattern of tattoos I had done through the years, the more recent tattoos are better thought out and more meaningful for me.  Here's a sample of what I have so far...