tattoo stuff again

Everyone who sees the tattoo seems to want to know What It Means. Does everyone who gets a tattoo mean something by it?

Mine does, of course, have a bunch of personal and intellectual symbolism wrapped up in it. So when people ask me, I try to tell them. Ideally this would involve a short description of the Eleusinian Mysteries, a quick summary of Noh and Zeami, some speculation about the "apples" of Semitic and Mediterranean myth, and finish off with my thoughts on the politicization of the fat belly. I could write an essay. But people ask and then immediately glaze over.

Does that normally happen? I mean. Why ask, if you don't want to know that much? Is it a polite question that requires no real answer? Should I have a 2-sentence answer prepared? In the past week or so I've taken to saying "oh, it's about change and growth".

Also, everything in the world is connected. My hairstylist (in Richmond) and my tattooist (in Maryland) went to high school together.

universe conspiring again

I feel like everyone loves me today!

Everywhere I go, there's no line and people are smiling. Work was totally chill (if sadly lacking in Dickensian prose). There was no one in the Taco Bell (hangover food, though I'm not exactly hung over) drive-thru at lunch! In Short Pump! I got into and out of a Lowe's filled with happy people in about 3 minutes. An entire line of people patiently waited for me when I got the wrong thank you card for my colleague and had to go pick out another. I just happened to have cash on hand as I was driving down Broad St by VCU, so I got to stop at Aladdin (which was emitting the yummiest smell ever). They tried to get me to stay, and when I didn't, they gave me free cake.

And, guess what?! To the Earth will be TWO next Monday! We're a toddler.