Here's the long story

So Rob, here's the story to make you happy. It's starts a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away. Just kidding. On a side note I looked for the Dave Dravecky breaking his arm both times on youtube and it's not there. Oh well. So here we go:

The Beginning: Yeah, I'm going to be cheesy and break things up into pieces so here we go. I've wanted a tattoo ever since I was about 16 or 17. I'm not really sure what made me want to get them, maybe it was because of the music I listened to(punk/hardcore/ska music) but alot of the groups that I listened to had tats. I can remember around the time of my 17th birthday asking my mom if I could get a tat for next year. She calmly said no. And I'm actually glad she said no. I was going to make one of the biggest mistakes you can do when getting a tattoo. I wanted to get a Rage Against The Machine logo(the only other bigger mistake would be to get a gf'/bf's name tattooed on you) on my chest. I wanted to get the E they had on their Evil Empire cd. It's pretty cool looking but shortly after they would break up. So, I was saved from making a huge mistake but the idea of getting a tattoo was in my head and I knew sooner or later I would get one.

Other People: Well high school ended and I headed off to college. During my sophmore year a friend of mine went and got a tat done across his back. He was the first friend that I knew who got one. It didn't seem that bad but I remember that he could shower for 3 days(and thus smelled during that time, ha ha). That's when I realized that there were a lot more people that I knew who had them or ended up getting them. College ended and I entered the work force. I moved back home after college and it wasn't too bad. How can you go wrong when you don't have to pay rent, utilities, or for food? My only expenses were my cell phone and my car insurance, which was really little because I didn't have any speeding tickets or accidents. I can remember that I would have 2 or 3 pay checks on my floor because I didn't need to cash them and I didn't have direct deposit. Now that I think back to it it's crazy that I was lucky to live that way. Maybe I should have stayed living at home?(There was really no point in telling this part I just thought I'd make this story really too long) Maybe not. Well, after a year of living at home my parents decided to charge me for rent. Well, this didn't sit overwell with me so I decided to move out. I had two friends from my high school who had just rented out a condo and they had an extra room(it was a loft) and they wanted to reduce their bills so I decided to move in with them. Well about 6 or 7 months after living with them one of my roommates Adam and another friend from High School John decided to get tats at the same time. So, they setup their appointments and got their tats. Hmmmm... those seemed cool and I knew I wanted to get at least one but I didn't know what. So I waited for the right inspiration.

A Young Roger In Love: Everyone knows that you can't have a great story without involving love in it. So, after about a year of living in the condo one of my roommates decided to move home(he was going through law school and was working for his dad, a financial planner, and it would just be better for him) so my other roommate Adam and I decided to move to Manchester and live in the Pavillions. Well, at this time I was still working for the company I had been working for since after college, IPT. Well, after about 3 months of living in Manchester and being single for a while a friend of mine had suggested that I meant a friend of his gf's up at Uconn(his gf was still up at Uconn going through her pharmacy studies with Malone's soon to be wife). Well, at the same time at IPT we had hired a new secretary who actually lived in Glastonbury for a little bit and now lived in Portland. So, a date was setup for my friends and I to have a group outing with my friend's gf's friends and for me to meet this lady. She had no idea we were being setup but still a good time was had by all(I think we went to Ted's, but I could be wrong). Well, at the same time I had started talking to the secretary from work and we seemed to be getting along together. Well, the Thursday after meeting from friend's gf's friend Maddy(short for Madeline) I ended up going to the Uconn-Pitt football game with the girl from work, Kelly. You see kids I'm not the best decision maker out there. I know, shocking! Ha ha. And another thing that seems to happen to me is that when I'm looking for something, may it be a new job or a girlfriend I'll go a long time without any success and then all of a sudden it'll seem like I've hit a jackpot and will have a lot of options. Well, this was one of those times. You see I could either go after Maddy or I could go after Kelly. I'm not one of those types who wants to date two or more girls at the same time. It's hard enough dating one! And seeing as how I'm soooo good at making the right decision I decided to date Kelly because, well, she lived closer. Yup, that's right. Because she lived closer. Well, as you can tell I made the wrong decision, not that dating Maddy would have been a better decision and frankly I think I'm glad I didn't because I got really lucky later on, but what I ended up going through with Kelly nearly destroyed me. I wasn't ready for a girl like Kelly. Have you ever dated someone who you knew wasn't right for you but you didn't want to hear it? Well, Kelly was that girl for me. I think I stayed in the relationship because I had never been in one for more than a month before, which is sad but true. And Kelly had tattooes, she had a bunch of them. Both of her feet had ink on them, one on her stomach and I can't remember where else. But, after 6 months I knew I couldn't date her anymore so we broke up and I was devistated.

The Aftermath: Well, for some reason it took me forever to get over Kelly. It was bad. Really bad. I ended up going out a lot and getting drunk at bars and then driving myself home. I'm surprised I never ever got a DUI or pulled over at all. There were soooo many times something could have happened but I was lucky and got away from it. I'm not happy about what I did and I wish I could take it back but it is what it is. I got lucky and I've learned from those decisions. Well, after we broke up I started a new job at TicketNetwork. Back then there were 20 employees. I really liked the job and I was making a lot of money there because I was selling tickets and back then we got commission for the tickets we sold. It was unfair. Really, after all of the heads of departments I was probably the highest paid employee there. I was making over $1,000/week. I'd never made that much before. Well, something about the breakup triggered what I like to call a mid 20's crisis. And I've actually heard other people going through them too. I just felt like I needed to do something to prove myself to Kelly, even though we were dating and I hadn't talked to her since we did(for some reason I'm the type of guy who once we're over, we're over. I won't call you back). It was strange but for some reason I felt that I wasn't man enough for her and I had to prove myself, even though I didn't. So, I made some changes. I decided I wanted to get a motorcycle and I started looking into getting my license. I dyed my hair jet black(I've done this twice before in college. The first time I didn't leave the dye in long enough and my hair turned a black/blueish color. The second time I got it right, ha ha) and I decided I wanted at least two tattooes. But what to get?

The First One: There's one thing that my friends from high school know me for, besides my love for the Mets, Notre Dame, The Giants, The Blues and weird music is my love of movies. I love going to the movies. I love watching movies on tv. I love buying movies. I don't know what it is but I love movies. Heck, on my days off I would go to the movies alone. Actually I still go to the movies alone. Well, there's one movie that has stuck to me, that has made a great impact on my life, and surprisingly I was thinking about Star Wars, ha ha. It's the movie the Boondock Saints. I don't know what it is but I just love the movie. Wel, there's always been a rumor of a sequel so I would checkout the website from time to time to see what was going on. Wel, on the website there's pictures of people who love the movie also and there were a lot of people who who have gotten things from the movie tattooed on them. Aha! I had an idea of what I wanted to get! Also, my roommate and I, when we had moved to Manchester decided to buy a bunch of posters and one of them that we got was a Boondock Saints poster. On it you can see what the brothers have tattooed on their hands. One brother has a tat on his left index finger and the other a tat on his right index finger. The brother with the left hand has "VERITAS" and the right has "AEQUITAS". Well, I couldn't exactly get that tattooed down my finger so I came up with a better idea. Get it down the back of my arms! So, I setup my first appointment. I decided to go with VERITAS first. For those of you who don't know it is latin for truth. And so, on a friday I went and got my first tat done. My roommate drove and his gf(now wife) came along. I went to Green Man Tattoo in West Hartford. Afterwards we went to the movies with some friends and I showed them the new tat.

The Second One: Well, after I got my first one I knew I was now addicted to it. I'm not sure what it was about it, but I knew I wanted more. I knew I was going to get at least one more but I wanted more than that. I also wanted to expand on them. But things around them. Well, the Monday after I got my first one I setup an appointment to get my second one done. I went with the same guy and went the next Friday. This time I went alone. So, after 8 days I now I had two tattooes. Also, for those of you who don't know, AEQUITAS is latin for Equality or Justice.

The Third One: So the addiction grew. I wanted another one and I wanted it bad. But what to get? What did I want? I couldn't really decide? There were some ideas that I had but none of them really stuck with me. I know that eventually I'd like to have a Star Wars tattoo but I wasn't sure what I wanted. I started to look different things up. Here are some ideas that I had: A Yin/Yang symbol but with either a half Decepticonz, half Autobots symbols instead of with a half Empire, half Rebellion from Star Wars, I thought about getting a cross going over VERITAS, or getting the Irish mascot with holding a Guiness in one hand. In the end I decided to go with something that would represent my family. Well, the nationality that I associate with the most is being Norwegian. When I was younger, like back in elementary school or middle school my grandmother researched my family line all the way back to a Norwegian King. It was King Olaf who was King of Norway for about a whole 3-4 years before being killed in battle. Probably the thing that Olaf is known for the most is sending Leif Erickson to explore the West, and as people know, Leif ended up finding North America. So I decided that I wanted to get a shield with the Norwegian flag in it. I ended up getting my last tattoo about 3 or 4 months after my first two. In fact I think I used my tax return to pay for it. Ha ha.

The Hidden Reason: I also think probably the strongest reason for me to get them is because I've always felt just like an average person. There's nothing special about me, nothing that makes me stand out from the next guy. I've never done anything great, nothing that would make people, and by people I really mean women, to notice me. I think I've had this sort of complex since high school when I started to be interested in girls. I guess I've wanted to stand out in some way but since I've never been really great at anything I had to do something else. And well, having tattooes is definitely a way to stand out, especially when you see some random dude walking away and there's something tattooed down his arms. I've had a bunch of people ask me what I have and what it means. Actually the funniest story I have with someone asking about them was I was at Hooters one day with my old roommate(who has at least 6 of them) and another friend our waitress came over and saw my AEQUITAS tat and asked if that was my last name? AEQUITAS? Last Name? Ha ha. It was also funny because my old roommate has a lot more than I do and she noticed mine. See how it works? Now, all I have to do is convince the wife to allow me to get more. I don't think it'll happen, but whatever. I still have the urge to get more and some day I'd like to get some. We'll see what happens.