I started watching this video and had to literally restrain myself from responding before it finished. Now this, this is a subject I can talk about, though let's not pretend I'm an expert.

I've had five tattoos. All except one I've drawn myself. This one is also the one you would probably consider most conventionally regrettable. It may have come up at the Hubski meetup, it may not have. Here ya go.

So! Once upon a time I was engaged. I was also not in a mentally sound state. Hypothesizing about this engagement would take an entire 'nother post full of text so we won't. Suffice to say I did not get married (and I do not regret that; I'd rather not have to shell out money on the divorce). However, when we were engaged we decided to get matching tattoos. Most people would expect me to regret this.

But I don't. I view it as a life lesson emblazoned on my hand. It is a reminder of a time period in my life, a mistake that I made, and in addition, the fact that I am not yet ready to marry. If (and a big if) I ever get married, I will have the tattoo changed, probably filled in, to honor my change in status and partner. I actually like it and the way it looks - although sometimes I have to explain to people that I'm not married.

SIDE NOTE. There is a small chance I'll lose the ring tattoo before I get married. The tattoo has been showing irritation, peeling, and cracking for some time now, which may be a sign of a slow rejection. It's not typical but also not unusual. We had to go to 4 different shops before we found one that would tattoo a ring - because shops generally like to guarantee their work for life, and ring tattoos generally like to fall out. It's interesting to observe.

Now, the one that potentially had regrets - I have a Mandelbrot set on my right shoulder. I got it in March 2012. I was dead set on getting the tattoo and on going by myself and getting it by myself. I had a tattoo place picked out - it was where I had gotten my second tattoo, a place I'd really liked, an artist I'd really liked. Come the day I decided to get the tattoo, turns out the shop had moved an hour away. I was dead set and determined on getting the Mandelbrot that day, however. So I found a nearby place I'd wanted to check out and went there.

It was sketch. Well, no, it wasn't sketch, exactly. But I could tell the experience wasn't ideal. The tattoo artist was unwilling to bring the color up to the line, which is a really simple thing for any tattoo artist to do. You should be able to color things in fully. His color blending wasn't great and he tried to recruit me to his Satanist group and told me all about how I'd love Big Bang Theory (I'm in the extreme anit-BBT camp, not that I advertised) while tattooing me. I found out later that that shop is known for not being good. Apparently that artist is also known for hitting on women who try to get tattooed there; at least I escaped that, right?

Anyway, I got the Mandelbrot touched up earlier this year. It looks a lot better. There's more color and blending and it's up to the line and so on. I mean, it's clearly an artistic representation of a Mandelbrot and it's not what one might expect - I didn't get the interior of the Mandelbrot filled in, I left it as a window because I didn't like the idea of that much dark color on my arm - but it's what I envisioned and what I wanted. It also, sometimes, looks like a heart. I like that.

Those are my potential tattoo regrets. I was 23 for the Mandelbrot and 20 for the ring (see guys? too young). I don't regret either.

Besides, this video doesn't cover that fact but tattoo removal is expensive, painful, and not guaranteed to work.

As an end note, I will share with you my favorite tattoo, both most original and most recent. This little guy is on my upper left back. b_b can see it on Instagram right after it was tattooed (and the rest of you that are on there, if you wish)

(The other two are: an ohm on my left torso - ok breast - and an impossible four-bar on my lower back, which was my first tattoo at 19)

Next: I think a typewriter, on the inside (near the crook) of my left-arm. I'm left-handed after all. But I am not in any rush.