Me: I am going to get a tattoo on my birthday!
My Dad: Where’s your birthday?
1. The Painted Pony: A Tattoo Parlor in Anderson, South Carolina.
Ben has always loved Norse mythology (which when you’re dating me means you get large tomes about Norse mythology and runes as gifts.) He decided he wanted to get a Norse rune tattoo which was the reason for our first stop on today’s “Tour Of Places Where Bad Decisions Are Made”.
The Painted Pony (and particularly Trent the Tattoo Artiste) was highly recommended by Ben’s friends and co-workers so that’s where we headed even though it’s an hour away from where we lived.
After some trouble with Google Map’s directions which led us to fear we would spend the rest of our lives circling a dead mall like a couple of vultures, we finally found it. The actual tattooing process was incredibly pleasant and quick. The last part is a shame because I was so thoroughly amused by the other clientele and the “look books” in the lobby. I’m pretty sure I could spend hours in that place and never be bored.
His tattoo consists of two separate runes on top of each other (dirty!) which is a binding rune. (In order to be a binding rune the runes do need to share one line.) His are the Tiwaz and Sowilo runes and here are the meanings (which were taken from this website.)
The first rune is Tiwaz: (T: Tyr, the sky god.) Honor, justice, leadership and authority. Analysis, rationality. Knowing where one’s true strengths lie. Willingness to
self-sacrifice. Victory and success in any competition or in legal matters.
Sowilo: (S: The sun.) The life-force, health. A time when power will be available to you for positive changes in your life, victory, health, and success. Contact between the higher self and the unconscious. Wholeness, power, elemental force, sword of flame, cleansing fire.
He had the two combined by Oswald The Runemaker. I am not lying there is guy who calls himself Oswald The Runemaker who makes runes and empowers them for personal use. And despite the fact that I can’t stop giggling over the name, Oswald The Runemaker, he’s incredibly kind and helpful. The binding rune he drew for Ben was awesome.
After the tattoo was finished, Ben was given this care sheet:
I really would hate for a sweet new tat to “loose” it’s color. But you are right, instruction sheet, my friends DONT know sh$t about tattoos. Something about their bodies being a temple and not a visitor’s center. Except for the non-mormon ones who say their body is a temple – open to everyone day or night. [Birthday Boy, GayJay: I am looking at you and your many tattoos.]
2. Liberty & Anderson, South Carolina.
I can’t say for certain that a lot of bad decisions are made here but while getting lost looking for the Painted Pony I certainly saw a lot of what I would refer to as poor choices. The whole drive was a bit of a scary trip as my twitter feed from today will show:
*Going to tattoo shop in SC. Tattoo isn’t for me. Lysol, purel, & Hazmat suit are. It’s not the “tattoo shop” that scares me it’s the “in SC”
*Parts of South Carolina resemble Somalia. All that shoeless & shirtless boy on the back of that moped needed was a rocket launcher to fit in.
3. Walmart.
I haven’t been to Waldemart in a long while but since it was time for an oil change and all the other places I called were full we headed there. And then waited. And waited. And waited. While we waited Ben asked if there was anything else I wanted to get done today and I replied with, “GET MY HAIR DID.” If Ben can be pretty with his body art, I should get to be pretty too!
And what do you know? There’s a beauty shop at Walmart – genius! Or so I thought until I walked in and saw who else was there. Basically, exactly who you would expect to be getting their hair cut at a Walmart in South Carolina. In addition to the woman clad in leopard print, there was one man with a mullet who had a baby with him that he would occasionally shush as it stirred in its stroller at his feet. Then there was the older lady who detailed her arduous quest for hair mud. She went on a long diatribe how she didn’t like the dry stuff because it made her hair dry and she liked her hair to be wet and piecey looking. At least she was going for that look, because if anyone has ever had wet piecey hair before it was that woman.
It was an amusing process and I might have decided to get my hair cut there because my vanity is less important to me than my amusement. And, for the record, I ended up with a sweet wedge bob and not a two toned mullet. Go me! Go gap-tooth hair stylist at Walmart! Go South Carolina! Go society!