A few people have asked me over my time on here and other Crypto blogging sites the origin of my name on here, which is a bit of a Faux Pas on my part, it should be TattooedJay which would make people think I have tattoos, but I messed up when I made this name years and years ago and spelt it wrong so most people think it means Tattoo Djay and think I am a DJ or a tattoo artist which is not the case, most people call me JJ which is my first two Initials, well it could be Jcubed, triple J, JJJ or JJJR but that's a story for another day for this post I will focus on the fact that it should mean I am a Jay or JJ with a few tattoo's
these shots were taken my iPhone and aren't great photos but they will help to tell the story of my tattoos, and my writing is not my forte so this may be a failure of a post
This first shot is of my first I got maybe 40 odd years ago, I got this one in Singapore, and for some if not most of my tattoo's there is some thought process in the selection of the tattoo, but for my first one the eagle and snake on the top of my right arm, in all honesty there was not much though that went into this tattoo or not that I can remember, as I said I got this in Singapore, I was on an exercise with the New Zealand Army there and a group of us went out for drinks one evening and I woke up the next morning with this tattoo, infact I woke up to the outline of the tattoo and had to search and find where I got it done to get it finished another day
Below it is a tribal Gaelic Band my third tattoo if I remember correctly which I got in London UK, also many years ago and to me I selected this as I like Gaelic bands and for me this design represents life's pathway is never straight and it has twists and turns and is affected by those around us, you cant always set your course alone you need to do it in unison with those around you and find a pathway that is best for all
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Next up is a photo I got in Sarajevo Bosnia and Herzegovina when I was working there, the fine detail in it does not really show well in this photo, but it is on my left shoulder and is one that represents again balance for me, incorporating the yin and Yang, the principle of Yin and Yang is that all things exist as inseparable and contradictory opposites, which is highlighted as well in my way with the dolphin and shark, and again says to me control what you can do what you can and do not stress about what is out of your control and you have no way to affect.
Under them I have another tribal band the base of it was designed based on a small silver pendant I had that I picked up in Ireland.
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Having said that this next one is a combination of two tattoos one I got in Bali Indonesia, the center darker tattoo I just liked the flow and feel of this one , but the red color faded badly, so a I asked a Tattoo artist I went to in Queens NY, to touch up the red in the tattoo, ( which he did but it has faded to a degree again, which is quite common for many people for the reds to fade) and while he was doing it we were talking and we came up with the idea to add the subtle background curves to give some softness and contrast to the harsher main tattoo and the soft and perhaps gentle background.
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Now you may notice some patterns emerging with the contrast between light and dark or harsh and soft, with the yin and Yang, Dolphin and shark and harsh and soft, that wasn't just coincidental, when I was young I had a viscous temper at times, which fortunately in my teens I realized was not a good thing and I got it under control and that's due to me realizing I had to have balance and calm in my life and thoughts and that has come across in my Tattoos, or that was my intention.
I have controlled my temper very well since then only a couple of times have a lost it, when I was mugged a couple of times once in Hong Kong and once in New Zealand, I was doing well and was happy to give them whatever money I had and just let us all walk away, sadly ( for them) they wanted to prove how tough they are and took some swings at me, and in both case ended up trying to smash me in the face, and to this day that's one area I cannot control my temper if someone tries to hit me in the face then I just react often without thinking and really do not remember it, just remember the swing and then seeing the muggers on the ground, two of them in NZ and 3 or 4 in Hong Kong, now this is not something I am proud of, but it is par tof my life story, trust me over the years there has been many other cases where I could have got into a fight but talked my way out of it, but enough about that lets move on
Now the next two photos are of a full leg piece I have on my left leg, well almost a full piece, unfortunately after i had blockages develop in my legs and had a vascular surgery to open them up and put stents in my legs I have been on blood thinners ever since and getting tattoos on blood thinners is not recommended so I never did get this one finished completely.
its an ocean scene with Dolphins and a shark ( yes dolphins and sharks again), coral, angel fish, done by the Tattoo artist in queens over many sessions, and for those who follow me will know I love walking, for me it is very calming, when I get stressed I have bene known to take a break head out and walk, when I was living on my own those walks could be anywhere from an hour to a day walking just to clear my head put things into perspective and get into a good frame of mind, and even better when the walks can be by the water hence this scene on my leg.
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Not sure why this one is loading so small, sorry about that
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The original thought with this tattoo was just a dolphin with a little background but it grew in both mine and the tattoo artists mind
And these next two are sort of my too alter egos, the second one the clown me was done in Vegas and not sure about the first one the suited me, perhaps in Montreal Canada.
so lets talk about the suited me, this was my style when working in NYC, for many years a suit and tie, but always carrying my camera bag, camera and cell phone I think at the time of getting it it was a blackberry.
The tie was based on a Jerry Garcia tie I had at the time, when I came to work in the HQ in NYC I had to wear a suit and tie, ( quite a contrast from Jeans and t-shirt in the field) so I picked out ones with vibrant colors and patterns and had a good collection of Jerry Garcia ties, which I find quite funny, I often call myself a wall flower as in in a group setting with people I don't know well I am often off in a corner sitting or standing quietly and watching everything that is going on, but hardly noticed by people which is what I like in that setting, but then I can be an extrovert with bright colored ties that are hard to miss.
I was swamped with work at the time, and used to get up at my normal time of 4 AM, and check and reply to emails and make a plan for the day which generally took a couple of hours.
At the time I was getting a lot of emails, infact when in a work conference I think in Entebbe, Uganda a colleague asked how many emails I was receiving and sending a day as I always seemed to be multitasking, taking part in the conference and working on emails, I replied I had no idea but quite a few, at the table was a colleague who managed the Email group for our offices at the time and he asked them to run a report for my emails for the last 6 months and it turned out that I was receiving on average 600 emails a day and replying on average to around 400 a day.
the numbers shocked me at the time and the others there, that's when they realised a couple of things I was good at multi tasking as they said doing that amount of emails would be a full time job for them, and secondly, they understood why my emails were short and sweet but to the point.
Funny thing is I think even when I was not that swamped with emails I was always short and sweet with my emails, its just the way I am, get to the pint deal with it and move on, but perhaps it would have bene better to add a bit of personal interactions into my emails with colleagues, but ohh well I am what I am.
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Perhaps also to match my little token of being different I always like to wear mis-matching socks, sure probably never noticed by most people, but just my little private statement of being different and perhaps a little rebellious, but secondly we all know washing machines eat socks, that way when I lose a sock I don't have to throw out the one remaining one.
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But it does remind me many find getting a tattoo uncomfortable of painful, I don't I found them so relaxing and would often dose off to sleep while getting then done, which I did when getting this one done and the tattoo artist was surprised. he said most find lower back ones quite uncomfortable and he had never had someone fall asleep while being tattooed there, what can I say I admit I am weird.
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And this next one is on my upper back and again the Yin and Yang sign, I felt it sort of went with the one on my lower back so it relates to that one in a way, but more related to my daughters and how things didn't go as I would have wanted in our relationship, and I went through a lot of hurt, but thats a long story in itself
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Oops I almost forgot this one on the inside of my Upper left arm, it is of the Fern a symbol worn proudly on the uniforms of many NZ sport teams, with a touch or Maori Art ( the indigenous people in New Zealand) on the base of the fern, being a big fan of the All Blacks New Zealand's rugby team, I had to get this one on one of the trips back home to New Zealand.
Rugby is more than a sport in New Zealand or it was when I was growing up, every boy at the time wanted to grow up and be selected to play for the All Blacks, I never made that tea, I did get selected for the School Boy All Blacks which was quite an honor, but in the last game of the season before I would have gone to the training camp and played for the School Boy All Blacks team, I went down wrong in a tackle and tore muscles in my thigh and was out for months and never made it to play, infact after that I never got back into Rugby, while recovering and in the off season I started working after school in a market gardens and enjoyed that and stuck with that and gave up on sport at.
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this next one is on my upper back by my right shoulder, a dream catcher, Dream catchers are to ward of Bad spirits, nightmares and dreams,
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My zany side came out again in this next tattoo which I got in Canada, I had read about an artist there and wanted to get a tattoo while we were there, but I wasn't quite sure what, Lulu, Mark and I were at the movies and in the pre show ads a coca cola bottle opening with the fizz of bubbles gave me this idea, to take a coke like logo and add Jay Jay to it.
Now thats the funny thing perhaps about me, many get tattoos as they want to make a statement for them to be seen , most people who I work with didn't know I had tattoos as I always wore long shirts and pants so they were hidden, and I very seldom wear shots so most of my tattoos are hidden from view of most people I meet.
So my tattoos are really for me and a way of expressing myself even if only to me and my wife lOL
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These next two were a spur of a moment tattoo on my side, a shark on one side and a dolphin on the other, I had a real bad week at work, was overwhelmed a bit and also a little stressed, which is unusual for me I seldom got overwhelmed, and to be honest I thrived on stress I was told that by many people over the years, but for some reason that week got to me, I got up on a Saturday Morning and said to Lulu my wife, I need to get a tattoo, she knows me so well and understood so off we went and got these two
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Again with the Dolphin and sharks, I had a colleague/friend who years ago said I was like a dolphin so kind and gentle for the most part nothing ever bothering me , but if someone or something messed with those close to be I could be so hard headed LOL
WOW I think this has to be the longest post I have written and perhaps shared more about me in this post than in all previous posts LOL, I should proof read it now but I suspect if I do I will change my mind and delete the post, so will leave it as is please pardon bad spelling and grammar
And that’s all folks
PS as promised tagging 
!pinmapple 41.619467 lat -70.913685 long Cove Walk New Bedford MA d3scr
