How to Transform an Old, Embarrassing Tattoo to a Jaw-Dropping Design
You Are About To Find Out How Getting Trapped In An Airport For 7 Hours
Got Me An Amazing Tattoo… Courtesy Of My Grandmother!
What a nightmare!
I was staring at the departure monitors in disbelief, as they announced that my flight was delayed …again. It was a few days before Christmas, and I was trapped in the airport, waiting for my flight from Vegas back to NY. The weather in Vegas was great, and it was hard to imagine how bad the storm was in NY, that the flight would be delayed for the third time already…
To be honest, I usually keep to myself, but I was so bored and frustrated, that I started talking to other people waiting with me. This is how I met Brian and Shelly. They were a nice couple around my age, and we immediately hit it off.
Being a tattoo enthusiast, I couldn’t help noticing that Brian had a killer tattoo on his upper arm – a beautifully crafted asian dragon tattoo. Shelly also had an awesome one on her shoulder – a tribal mixed with some elements I didn’t recognized. When I made an admiring comment about it, she pulled her pants down a bit, exposing a lifelike butterfly tattoo on her bikini line. She was a real knock-out and I had to force myself not to stare at her…
By then it was pretty natural that I showed them my tattoos. I have a few tats which I’m proud of, and it was kinda funny how the three of us kept exposing different parts of our bodies, like a little “showdown”. At one point Brian lifted his shirt and showed us his maori tribal on his upper back… Lets just say that we drew quite a crowd around us…
But all this while, there was this little moment that I felt uncomfortable with. I knew it would come, and sure enough it did: “Hey Dave, can I see that armband on your right arm?”
Oh-no…
That was a tattoo I was embarrassed to show…
It is a barbed wired armband, with a Guns N Roses logo smack in the middle.
Yes, yes, I know… It’s corny and childish, but what can I say? I guess it seemed like a good idea at the time… You see, that GNR tattoo was actually the first one I ever got (during my reckless college days), and I didn’t think it through when I picked the design from a local tattoo parlor’s worn-out photo album.
The thing is, I’m not even a fan!
It was considered cool back in the day. I guess “you reap what you sow”…
And although I was proud of my first tattoo for quite a few years, and even have fond memories, stories and incidents related to that tattoo, 15 years later it looks like a sad joke…
GNR? Give me a break…
“So, are you a fan?… When is their next album coming out?…” For years these questions annoyed me, and coming from Brian and Shelly, it made me feel that this old tattoo really sucks. Big time.
An awkward silence followed, but Brian understood my situation, and suggested “Hey, why don’t you get a killer armband just beneath this one? It will draw all attention off of the old one”. I told him I thought about it many times, just couldn’t find the perfect design. “If only I had a tattoo like yours” I said (both of them had really awesome designs).
“Sure you can” He said.
“I got these online”.
Truthfully, I was shocked. It looked like an award winning artist drew them especially for him… I know a lot of online tattoo galleries, but never saw such great designs, so he explained: “I’m using only the PREMIUM tattoo galleries. I figured that my tattoos are “only” going to accompany me for the rest of my life, so I subscribed for a lifetime membership in a couple of tattoo gallery sites. It’s not expensive at all, and it also comes in handy, whenever Shelly wants a new tattoo”. “That is a wonderful thing to have” Shelly said. “I never saw such amazing designs, all in one place“. Brian wrote the names of the websites for me, and the flight was finally departing, so we said our goodbyes and that was it.
My adventures that day did not end there… the airline lost my luggage, I got locked outside my apartment, and my roommate disappeared – leaving me with the bills. But that’s for another story…
The thing is, I lost the note Brain gave me with the names of the tattoo websites (tattoo something.com, and tattoo whatever.com, right?!). So I planted my rear-end on the chair, and spent a feverish few days trying to find those ultimate, game-changing tattoo design galleries. At least I had the vivid memory of Brian and Shelly’s tattoos to keep me going. I knew what I wanted and I was determined to get it.
