Though these marks are intentionally placed, each has a story of its own, more than one, really, as each is a little more than the act of placement alone.

At first glance one could call out associations in symbolism. The infinite cycles represented in the mobius, the ouroboros, the knotwork, even the ivy -- all symbols of infinity, all full of circles.

Upon a little more reflection one could get to “likely pagan” from the moon, the snakes, and again, the twisting ivy.

While all relevant and true legitimate references to make in this case, none really reflect the whole tale behind these indelible stories writ upon my person.



The Mobius was the first, on my right foot, done at the Balboa Tattoo parlor, Newport Beach California – when I was 17 years old. I was just buzzin around with my buddy Mark, and the two of us were riding out the tail end of some intoxicant or another. I had a pocketful of money as it was payday Friday, and at 17, I was prematurely unconcerned with the rigors of a high school schedule. I also made a decent bit of coin spraying malathion laden mineral oil on separation lagoons on the Chino dairy preserve, and lived with Mom, so the cash was burning a hole in my thrashed and tattered acid-washed black jeans, (hey, it was 1992!)

As Mark and I found nothing compelling a the mall, we were cruising to the fun zone to play arcade games and prowl the jetty in the night. We were approaching Balboa when I remembered the tat parlor there, and urged my buddy to stop. I had been sort of obsessed with tattoos at that point, having taken to hanging out at my favorite parlor (Classic Tattoo in Fullerton, now gone) and fanboying the artist.

I had just enough for a little tat and I wanted one badly. Badly enough even to fabricate some story about being at a party and having my license stolen, but assuring the lone artist in the dimly lit place that I was 18, and no way would he get in trouble for doing such a little bit of work as my mobius strip.

My other fascination at the time was the whole concept of infinity and recursion, and, I guess sort of obviously, psychedelics. I was truly convinced that this mobius strip conveyed some extremely deep apprehension of the grand illumination. Lol – still, the infinite and the great cycle continued to be an influence in my tattoos, so maybe I’m being a little too cynical.

Next to come was the knot on my left foot. It is a mirror of the mobius strip in placement, and the stencil itself was traced directly out of the book of Kells – well out of a book that demonstrated how to draw knots from the Book of Kells.

See by this time, two years after I got the strip, I had moved to a dormitory in the Oregon mountains, where I went to college, and thereafter to a tiny little “quad style” apartment. Get this, one room, two doors. One door leads to the outside, the other? To your shared kitchen and two bathrooms. One full bath, one half. Who do you share with? Three other doors, and their occupants. No coeds on the same floor, not allowed. Welcome to the Colony Inn, circa 1993-94 Ashland Oregon.

I was into doing all sorts of random craft and street performance to get money at that point in my hippy-hippy life, and one thing I dabbled in was tattooing. My passion came to fruition when I ordered a kit from the back of a magazine and began to practice on my living guinea pigs, myself almost included.



See, I really wanted some knotwork on my foot, a balance to the simple loop on the other, but reminiscent of the same thing. I found a knot I liked, I made a stencil, I sterilized a needle, mounted it and mixed up ink… But I couldn’t for the life of me pierce my own flesh with the gun. In the end I had my roommate and partner in street commerce, who was a dab sketch artist at any rate, use the gun that I set up to do the tattoo, and here it is, his first – sketchy, but decent nonetheless for what it is, tattoo.

I quickly quit the tattooing, the specter of horribly maiming someone was too everpresent, and traded the gun to someone more likely to use it, a Mexican mafia meth dealer in a pay-by-the-week motel, probably traded into a life of blackhand letters, trios of dots and tiny little tears -- but that’s another story.

Last and largest is this, along my lower back. It is, sadly, what the local culture calls a ‘tramp stamp’ these days. Something that became too popular – jumped the shark as it were. I like it at any rate, so, screw the haters, says I.



This last one is of particular significance in that it began as a memento of my son and has since become relevant to both of my biological children. Ivy is one of my favorite plants, it will always remind me of home as it has grown thickly everywhere along the west coast I ever lived. I love it. This ivy has 10 leaves, and each leaf has 3 points, specifically. This is to commemorate the birthdate of my son, who was born on October 3rd. I have always been fond of moons, I blame my mother, who also liked to decorate with them. Nonetheless, I have worn moon symbols since my early teens, and incorporating a moon into my biggest tattoo to date was a pretty sure thing.

I asked that the crescent moon be drawn with a classical man in the moon face, and to be addressing a star – again to commemorate my relationship with my son. The piece took around three hours in two sessions, during which time my baby boy crawled around on the tattoo guy’s couch and watched. Somewhat amusingly, as the artist mentioned that he was freehanding the ivy I looked up on the wall to see a fairly popular poster of the characters from the Lord of the Rings. I had the same poster at home at the time, it’s a good poster! At any rate, I later found the ivy on my back was *very* reminiscent of the ivy ringing that image, curious! No matter< I do enjoy the style, so I’ve never been upset.

In choosing a border for the moon, to provide a centerpiece, I chose the auryn, a symbol from The Neverending Story by Michel Ende. Since I was 8 years old this has been my favorite book, and if you’ve only seen the movie I urge you not to judge it until you’ve read it.

In The Neverending Story, the auryn represents a creative force, it wholly encompasses the word of fantasy and imagination in its symbolism, and it has a bit of the yin-yang and the creation/destruction cycle implied in its dark and light motif as well. I have always loved the book, the story, and the symbol itself. So much so that years later, when my daughter was born, her mother and I named her Auryn – making this part of the tattoo I already had more the significant.

I hope to get two more stars added to the first next, as I have a stepdaughter as well that I consider one of my own; and when I can finally afford to, I will get the rest of my upper back done in a design that has references to all of my family, and of course, more ivy ;) .

I have the piece in mind, anyone know a good tattoo artist in my area? ;)