My first tattoo was in 1982 while I was living in NYC.(I am a NY'r) Tattoos were illegal in NYC then and mine was given to me in my apt on 5th St. and Avenue A. The thing is... very few girls had tats back then. I almost hate the fact that tats are so common now. When I used to take the train uptown, all the suits were like a chick with a tat wow. Meanwhile my father said "I was in the Navy for 20 f**ing years and never got a tatoo and my only child has one". I stil hide it from him now. All my friends were bikers and in hard core bands like Agnostic Front and The Cro-Mags and they all had tats. I wanted to get one before I turned 25 and everyone suggested I get one. I got one circling my ankle. The guy drew it free hand at my apt. It was not the greatest. A bunch of flowers. Mot very even. Unfortunately no one had said anything about hygine back then. I don't even think he cleaned his needles. It's funny because AIDS was prevelant back then. I woke up the next morning and thought I was going to lose my leg. It hurt so bad!! The funny thing is, alot of the guys were bikers that I knew and all of them said they would've never gotten it on their ankle because it hurts so bad. I was like "thanks alot". I survived. The next year I got one on my back at my girlfriend's apt in Brighton Beach. At that time Diego from Agnostic Front was living with us and he wanted a tat. The kid was a 16 year old skinhead who cleaned his needle with Clorox. He gave me a dragon on my shoulder. Was much different looking than what he originally drew. It is done in green ink. Not very pretty. The next year (1983) this kid who lived on 1st and 1st who actually had a machine that cleaned the needles, colored in my ankle tatoo. It at least looks good. At that time there was a tatoo artitst in the city named Shotzie who everyone went to. Anyway, now I'm 46 years old and living in God Help Me New Jersey with 2 wonderful kids. I do want my tats on my back and ankle fixed and want to get y kids names on my back with roses because my mother died and her patron saint was St. Teresa and she was all about roses. It would be nice to get a tatoo by someone who actually knows what they are doing.

I haven't gotten one yet but i will get a few done on my 18th birthday, which i am oober excited about and i'm picking out the place i want to get it done at also. But to be honest i am nervous , but since it's gonna be on my hip i don't have to worry about my parents seeing it, but if they do i already know it's gonna hit the fan, but i'm gonna do it anyways. It's an art and i'm an artsy chick.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: kim g,