97. the GIVER

Lois Lowry 1993

A very thought-provoking novel. Imagine a perfect world without the hassles of conflicts nor war, without indecision nor ambiguity because everything is decided and chosen for you, without racism nor poverty because everyone is the same, and without pain nor disease because everything has a cure and a solution. This is the community where Jonas grew up, until he turned twelve, the year he is appointed the honor of being the next Receiver of Memory. As the memories pass to him from The Giver, he discovers and feels for the first time such things as color, music, belonging, loving, and having to make a choice between staying or leaving.

'It was almost December, and Jonas was beginning to be frightened. No. Wrong word. Jonas thought. Frightened meant that deep, sickening feeling of something terrible about to happen.'(opening lines)

'Mirrors were rare in the community; they weren't forbidden, but there was no real need of them, and Jonas had simply never bothered to look at himself very often even when he found himself in a location where a mirror existed. Now, seeing the newchild and its expression, he was reminded that the light eyes were not only a rarity but gave the one who had them a certain look-- what was it? Depth, he decided;'(21)

'Stirrings. He had heard the word before. He remembered that there was a reference to the Stirrings in the Book of Rules, though he didn't remember what it said. And now and then the Speaker mentioned it. ATTENTION. A REMINDER THAT STIRRINGS MUST BE REPORTED IN ORDER FOR TREATMENT TO TAKE PLACE.(37)

"If you don't fit in, you can apply for Elsewhere and be released. My mother says that once, about ten years ago, someone applied and was gone the next day."(48)

'With the chant, Jonas, knew, the community was accepting him and his new role, giving him life, the way they had given it to the newchild Caleb. His heart swelled with gratitude and pride.
But at the same time he was filled with fear. He did not know what this selection meant. He did not know what he was to become.
Or what would become of him.'(64)

'5. From this moment you are are prohibited from dream-telling...
7. You are not permitted to apply for release.
8. You may lie.'(68)

'Sometimes I wish they'd ask for my wisdom more often-- there are so many things I could tell them; things I wish they would change. But they don't want change. Life here is so orderly, predictable-- so painless. It's what they've chosen.'(103)

"I knew that there had been times in the past-- terrible times-- when people had destroyed others in haste, in fear, and had brought about their own destruction."(112)

"The decision was made long before my time or yours," The Giver said, "and before the previous Receiver, and... Back and back and back." Jonas repeated the familiar phrase. Sometimes it had seemed humorous to him. Sometimes it had seemed meaningful and important.'(113)

'"The worst part of holding the memories is not the pain. It's the loneliness of it. Memories need to be shared.'(154)

a Bantam Doubleday Dell Books for Young Readers book
180 pages
Book owned

Two Segements of Renae's Arm

I spotted a whole lot going on with Renae's left forearm, while browsing at the Chelsea Salvation Army store, so I just had to ask.

Let's deconstruct:

The first part of this tattoo is the dark heart on the inner part of the forearm. Renae attributes this to Rob at the Orlando branch of Hart and Huntington. In over three years of inkspotting, this is the first piece on Tattoosday that has been credited to one of their shops.

Renae, who has "no idea" how many tattoos she has (which is synonymous for "too many to count"), wanted to add to her arm, so she headed to Brooklyn Ink in Bay Ridge.

Alex Franklin was given free reign, according to Renae. Her exact quote was "use your imagination and run," which must be music to many a tattooists ears.

Alex did the flourishes around the original tattoo, along with the phrase "gutta cavat lapidem," a Latin phrase by Ovid which translates to "dripping water hollows out a stone," which is a shortened version of the line "Dripping water hollows out stone, not through force but through persistence." This quote is known to many New Yorkers who have seen it inscribed underground here (with a broader description here).




And he tattooed the piece on the other side of the arm:

Work from Brooklyn Ink (and a lot by Alex) has appeared previously on Tattoosday here.

Thanks to Renae for sharing her tattoos with us here on Tattoosday!

Sleeve Tattoos For Girls

Clearly there is not limit in the range of designs a girl can choose from when selecting a sleeve tattoo, however we've determined that the most common sleeve tattoos for women often include flowers, sometimes as the centerpiece or perhaps to complement a larger design.

Green vegetation sleeve tattoo idea for women.

Large flower and peacock idea.

Colorful artwork with four leaf clovers.

Nautical star with large rose.

Youthful toy inspired art.

Bright cosmic design picture.

Quarter Sleeve Tattoos

The quarter sleeve tattoo is a partial design which starts at the top of the shoulder and usually extends to just above the bicep area. And despite these shorter sleeve designs being rather small in size, they really pack a punch, as you can includes several smaller tattoo designs within this compact quarter sleeve.

Skull and flowers quarter idea.

Aztec inspired quarter tattoo.

Voodoo skull and vegetation art.

Japanese dragon and crystal ball idea.

Koi fish and water artwork.

John's Root People

At the end of July, I coincidentally exited the A train at 14th Street at the same time as John, who was visiting from Nevada.

I had been admiring his sleeve on the train, but didn't have the opportunity to speak to him about it until after he got off the subway.

He referred to these creatures as "Root People":

It's an abstract collaboration with the artist, Rickett, at The Ruby Lantern in Carson City, Nevada.

They started working together in January of this year, and they're not yet finished with the whole sleeve. As you can tell, it's very unusual and has a very unique approach.

These designs are all on John's right arm, and I am particular to the female tree person above on his inner forearm.

Thanks to John for sharing his Root People here with us on Tattoosday!

Phoenix tattoo on back

Phoenix tattoo full back body

Gina's Phoenix

In late June, I ran into Gina in Penn Station and complimented her on a tattoo she had on her back. At the time, she was wearing something with straps that covered part of the design. I gave her a flier and she remarked that she had just recently discovered the site through this post on the tattoo of Julie Powell.

Alas, like so many folks to whom I give fliers, I didn't receive any emails or photos. But a month passed and one day I was pleasantly surprised to see an email from Gina, with the following photos of her phoenix tattoo:

I'll let her explain the rest:

"... I had completely forgotten [about sending in the photo] until I found the picture I took for you on my camera... This was done by Junii at the Diamond Club in San Francisco. [Bill Salmon, Junii's husband, is the studio owner]. She does amazing line work.  She's also incredibly conscientious about design and her clients.  For both my tattoos, she spend a lot of time talking with me, looking at the 20 pictures I had brought in of bits or aspects of what I wanted, then went off and did her own research, always coming back with exactly the right drawing.

This one - I got it after a really, really difficult year. So, obviously, not the deepest symbolism - just wanted to remind myself of the possibility of renewal."

Thanks to Gina for sharing her tattoo with us here on Tattoosday!

Full Sleeve Tattoo Style

A sleeve tattoo is that which covers the entire patch of skin which it is supposed to be inked on, completely. The most popular kind of sleeve tattoo is the one inked on the arm, which covers a particular part of the arm, or the whole arm itself. These kinds of tattoos are known as full sleeve tattoos. There is a lot to full sleeve tattoo designs, which one must know before trying anything out.

First of all, you need to know the two ways in which full sleeve tattoos can be imprinted onto your skin. You might be looking for a design which will probably help you create and connect any smaller individual patterns that you have got inked in before. In this case, you need to find a kind of aesthetic connection between the patterns and join them up to form a single entity, which will display all your ideas in a wonderfully creative way.

On the other hand, you may also want to wear a complete full sleeve tattoo design itself on your arm, that is, instead of trying to look for a particular connection between the various individual designs that you already have, you could go in for an entirely new, distinct full sleeve tattoo design, with a complete and strong concept or theme, and which is holistic in nature, and not the result of various broken fragments of thought, which again, is a wonderful thing in its own merit too.

On order to find the perfect full sleeve tattoo design for yourself, it is important that you take care of certain aspects while choosing. The first one is, whether you wish to sport a common full sleeve tattoo design, one which many people may already have got done, or whether you want a distinct, custom made design which will fulfill all your tattoo fantasies in just one go. For this, you need to decide if you want the tattoo to be based on any particular idea or theme which is personal to you or whether you wish to go with something that just depicts a particular universal concept and looks just stunning.

You hence need to come to a conclusion on the basic concept of your full sleeve tattoo design. You could select a fiery flame tattoo design, or you could go in for a bold tribal one, or a delicate floral or Japanese one, the latter two especially suited for women, though men wouldn’t look bad in them if they make the right choices, either. Again, here you need to take a look at the monetary aspect, too. Custom designs will cost you more, after all.

Once you have decided on these facets, you need to consider which tattoo artist you actually want to get your full sleeve tattoo design inked from. Be careful that you choose a reputable one, for otherwise there are chances of the tattoo not being very satisfactory. Of course, here again you need to consider the financial aspect, for renowned artists will obviously charge more. And of course, the time consumed in order to bring out the best in the full sleeve tattoo design will be enormous, that is, around twenty-odd hours. Therefore, the tattoo will typically take at least twenty one-hour long sittings to be completed. However, if quality matters to you more than anything else, well, any sum of money, or amount of time, will be considered quite small as compared to the beauty of the art that you will wear on your body.

Pisces Tattoo Designs

Are you an absolute copy of your zodiac sign? Do you wish to show it off to the world, advertising its characteristics as your own? Well, the best way to do so would be to get yourself inked with a zodiac tattoo design. Tattoos are the best way to express your personality and attributes, as well as ideas and values, and Zodiac Tattoo Designs help you even further to express all this in the astrological manner.

If you are a complete believer of astrology, and wish to articulate this belief, as well as show all your personal characteristics in one go, the best option for you is a zodiac tattoo design. Zodiac tattoo designs are available not only in the innumerable tattoo parlors around the world, but also on the worldwide provider of information-the internet. All you have to do is check out various tattoo galleries and choose the one that you want from them. You can also design one for yourself, or ask your trusted tattoo artist to design one for you. This would be an expensive affair, but will also most certainly be worth the expense, as you will adorn your body with a unique and special tattoo, which will give you both, a sense of satisfaction as well as that of pride.

If your birthday falls sometime between February 20th and March 20th, then you happen to be a Piscean. You are imaginative and sensitive, compassionate and kind, selfless and unworldly, intuitive and sympathetic on the bright side, but on the dark side, you are an escapist, idealistic, secretive and vague, weak-willed and easily led. Pisceans are gentle, patient and good-natured, and are quite popular with all sorts of people, mainly because they offer no amount of threat to the ones with power and authority. They accept their environment the way it is and try to adapt themselves to it, succeeding quite efficiently. This is considered to be a feminine sign.

The symbol of Pisces is two fish, swimming in the opposite directions, with their tails tied together by a cord. The symbol has many myths behind it the most popular one being that Aphrodite and her son Eros escaped from the monster Typhon by turning into fish and hiding underwater until the danger had passed. They tied their tails together so that they wouldn’t lose each other in the darkness of the water. On hearing their tale, Zeus rewarded them by placing them among the stars as the constellation of Pisces.

If you are the ideal Piscean, then you would do well to show it off to the world with pride. You could get yourself inked with a Pisces tattoo design. While a Pisces tattoo design does not have much scope in terms of patterns, since they depict only two fish, they offer myriad possibilities when it comes to color combinations and size. You can choose any of the bright and striking hues present in this vibrant world to color your tattoo with, and make it look all the more vivid and interesting. You can also choose where exactly you want your Pisces tattoo design to be placed, for it can be inflated or deflated to any size, according to your wish. You can have it engraved on your upper arm, ankle, lower back or any other region of your body that suits you.

All in all, Pisces tattoo designs would be fun to sport, and will help you enhance your personality and peoples’ understanding of you better. So go ahead and get a Pisces tattoo design inked now!!

96. ONE DAY

David Nicholls 2009

A single day, July 15 is revisited annually from 1988 to 2007 in this absorbing tale effectively depicting the up and down friendship of Dexter Mayhew and Emma Morley. Dexter is a handsome, uppity, girlfriend-hopping, self-centered and materialistic man. Emma seems the opposite: a sweet, charming, smart, conscientious and sentimental woman. After hooking up on the night of graduation, July 15, 1988, they separate and somehow always meet up or connect on the 15th of July every year there after. Through their separate lives, can they remain each other's best friend forever?

"I suppose the important thing is to make some sort of difference," she said. "You know, actually change something."(opening line)

"So I've given this whole "growing old" thing some thought and I've come to the decision that I'd like to stay exactly as I am right now."(5)

'At twenty three, Dexter Mayhew's vision of his future was no clearer than Emma Morley's. He hoped to be successful, to make his parents proud and to sleep with more than one woman at the same time, but how to make these all compatible?... He wanted to live life to the extreme, but without any mess or complications. He wanted to live life in such a way that if a photograph were taken at random, it would be a cool photograph. Things should look right. Fun; there should be a lot of fun and no more sadness than absolutely necessary.'(9)

'The trick of it, she told herself, is to be courageous and bold and make a difference. Not change the world exactly, just the bits around you. Go out there with your double-first, your passion and your new Smith Corona electric typewriter and work hard at... something. Change lives through art maybe. Write beautifully. Cherish your friends, stay true to your principles, live passionately and fully well. Experience new things. Love and be loved if at all possible. Eat sensibly. Stuff like that.'(12)

'You're gorgeous, you old hag, and if I could give you just one gift ever for the rest of your life it would be this. Confidence. It would be the gift of Confidence. Either that or a scented candle.'(42)

'I will find you, I've been thinking about you. Dex and Em, Em and Dex-- what was he thinking?(49)

'Rule Number Five. No scrabble. More and more of his friends were playing it now, in a knowing ironic way, triple-word-score-craving freaks, but it seemed to him like a game designed expressly to make him feel stupid and bored. No Scrabble and no Boggle either; he wasn't dead yet.'(74)

"I'm not scared of her, I'm just not going to do it so that we can say that we've done it. And I'm not going to do it if the first thing you say afterwards is "please don't tell anyone" or "let's forget it ever happened". If you have to keep something secret it's because you shouldn't be doing it in the first place!"(100)

'I love him, she thought, I'm just not in love with him and also I don't love him. I've tried, I've strained to love him but I can't. I am building a life with a man I don't love, and I don't know what to do about it.'(187)

"Sympathy for the spinster. I'm perfectly content, thank you. And I refuse to be defined by my boyfriend. Or lack of." She was starting to speak with real zeal now. "Once you decide not to worry about that stuff anymore, dating and relationships and love and all that, it's like you're free to get on with real life."(286)

'Ridiculous at thirty-eight, to expect a song or book or film to change your life. No, everything had evened out and settled down and life was lived against a general background hum of comfort, satisfaction and familiarity. There would be no more of those nerve-jangling highs and lows.'(382)
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Hodder & Stoughton Great Britain edition 2010
435 pages
Book owned
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Personal note: I finally read this souvenir book bought from Amsterdam, May 2010. If you want to see a great review of this book, check out Loving Books.

Hand cherry blossom tattoo

Arm cherry blossom tattoos

Modern Tattoo women Pictures

The history to tattoo is probably as old as humanity. It achieved various innumerable goals. Some of them were rites of passage, punishment, protection, and marks of fertility. It was also employed to mark outlaws such as slaves. The tattooing of word comes from the tatu of word of Tahitian, which means to mark something.

Arm and Back Body Tattoo Design

Arm and Back Body Tattoo Design

Sexy Tattoo Model