Book of Jamez

55 y/o malcontent, something of a writer

Category: Zeus

  • My Tattoos

    More than a few men recently have commented on my tattoos (and piercings) and said that having tattoos means your into kinky sex. No really, this is what they keep telling me. This really kind of throws me, I’ve had tattoos much longer than I’ve been having sex. Also I’ve had sex with people who have tattoos and really – a few of those encounters were pretty boring.

    In the gay community over the years they established lots of little tells to let other closeted gays know they were there or what they were into. Rainbow stickers are everywhere now, but 10 – 20 years ago and longer people had to be much more discrete about these type of things so they developed these markers for others. There is even a hanky code for what you might or might not be into – I should warn you clicking on that link might be TMI for you.

    For me it’s about art, about expressing myself and the things I like. Each and every tattoo I have is based on something I like or something that means a lot to me. Superman, lightning bolts, Greek gods, AA, bear paw prints, old nicknames…

    My first tattoo was done by my friend Ted or maybe his brother Tim (I was 14, stoned or drunk and my memory isn’t what it used to be) using a needle, some thread and india ink. That symbol was painfully put on one needle stick at a time and represented the 12 Greek gods. It was crude in comparison to what I have on my body now, but at that age it was pretty cool thing to have.

    Since then I’ve gotten more complicated with what I want on my body – my first tattoo as an adult covered up that tattoo that I got when I was young, but I wasn’t very clear about what I wanted it to be and gave the artist too much leeway so it ended up being a question mark that isn’t really very pretty – it looks better now that I’ve surrounded it by a dragon (which was hand drawn on my arm by this guy at Jinx Proof, so cool. The next was the Superman symbol, then the lightning bolt, armband, bear claw print, tramp stamp (Zeus), AA symbol on my leg, and finally the ancient Greek Gods tat on my back.

    None of those, well except maybe the tramp stamp and the arm band, says anything about sex. Well not that I know of. Its like when I wear a cross necklace – I don’t wear a cross necklace because I believe in crucifying believers – I just happen to like how cross necklaces look sometimes.

    Recently with the Sikh shooter the press has been throwing this statement out there: 

    An agent from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms told ABC News that the shooter had tattoos.

    Tattoos don’t make a shooter anymore than sandals make a monk. That’s the motivation behind this post (even though I did have several men express that my tattoos meant I was into kinky sex – which I’m not…. well, what did you have in mind exactly? )

    I do sometimes worry about my tattoos and them being misinterpreted by others. Lightning bolts, dragons and Superman can all be associated with the KKK and I keep my head shaved. But really, I’m just an ordinary gay guy that likes tattoos – I have no hidden agendas (well none that I’m ready to share with the world, my manifesto will be on the New York Times Best Seller list – I’m certain) or particular hates of any kind of people. I dislike humans in general, but I don’t target specific groups to hate, really it takes too much effort.

    I just really don’t like when we associate bad/stupid/moronic/crazy people with what they wear or how they look. After the Aurora shootings movie theaters banned folks from wearing masks when going to the theater – the guy who shot those people didn’t buy a ticket, he came in through the back door. After Columbine schools across the country banned black trench coats. After the Amish school shooting in PA in 2006, our President expressed his concern of school violence (this last one I’m not sure which was the more bad/stupid/moronic/crazy  – the former President or the shooter).

    You know the old saying: don’t judge a book by its cover.

  • Olympian Ink

    I knew I had wanted a tattoo honoring the ancient Greek gods for a long long time. I have been a fan, a student of the gods since … well as far back as I can remember. In high school I even worshiped them as a real religion for a while. There was even an elaborate story written with my friend Ted where he and I were children of the Gods trapped here on Earth due to the vicious jealousy of Hera (note: this is long before Hercules: The Legendary Journeys or Rick Riordan’s Percy Jackson – the Lightning thief)

    my lightning bolt tattoo

    First I went with a lightning bolt, I got a blue and red one as I have blue and red Superman crest on my other arm, but that didn’t seem enough.

    So next I got the word Zeus tattooed on my lower back – a tramp stamp if you will (yeah, I can be a tramp).

    But even that didn’t seem to do it, so I thought long and hard about what it was that I wanted.

    Back in high school I had somehow ended up in woodworking class – I think this was my mothers idea, or maybe we had to take a class like that – kind of like gym or math – something stupid I’ll never do again unless I have to. Everyone else was making gun racks (it is WI after all) or chests and I started to make a chest but it was pretty awful – the teacher told me I should make something that mattered to me so I opted for a symbol for the gods. I called it a star chart – had nothing to do with stars, but had a symbol to represent each of the Major 12 Greek gods. At first I tried carving the symbols in, but I have no talent there, so the teacher taught me how to use a wood burner and I burned the symbols into the wood. I had a lightning bolt for Zeus, a peacock for Hera, a trident for Poseidon, a skull and cross bones for Hades, a sun for Apollo, a moon for Artemis, a sword for Ares, a heart for Aphrodite, a… um, I can’t remember what I had for Hephaestus, a caduceus for Hermes and grapes for Dionysus. In the center of the star chart was this drawing I used to put after I signed anything, kind of a mixture between the Van Halen V looking symbol and Johnny Quick’s symbol (Johnny Quick ironically got his powers by reciting a mathematical equation… oy). The star chart was lost during a move during my drinking days, probably didn’t survive – it was just stained and varnish varnished decorated wood – but powerful wood – lol, powerful wood.

    So I thought maybe I’d like a tattoo with those symbols so I started to design what I wanted over a year ago. I’m not much of an artist so it was pretty basic. My idea was given to my tattoo guy Matthew at Jinx Proof Tattoos in Georgetown, who came up with this basic drawing:

    Matthew’s drawing based on my rough idea

    He had also come up with a bunch of the symbols representing the gods, which eerily reminded me of the Star Chart, but I opted for the more artistic version.

    I had six sessions with Matthew over the last few months, with a minimum 2 weeks between each visit to ensure proper healing. Last night we finished and I’m really glad. It was expensive, it was time consuming, it was totally worth it!

    Olympian Ink Tattoo

  • Year in Review – kind of I guess

    I feel like I should write something on here. Most of the year I’ve had a minimum of four posts a month, but this month so far it’s only been my birthday trip. The last couple of days I’ve thought about writing something and just couldn’t find anything that really struck out as needing to be wrote about. So after deleting another few sentences I thought I’d say, “Hey, I don’t know what to write about.”

    Phew! I feel much better now!

    It’s been similar in what I’m reading this year, haven’t really found a book that had me engrossed so much or made me want to spread that I had read it. The notable exception being the latest from George R. R. Martin, A Dance with Dragons. I struggled with the first three chapters of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo but I think I’m interested now and might finish it before the end of the year – or at least before I see the movie. So many people have raved about it I feel the need to see what the fuss is all about. I’m sure it’s a great book, part of the reason I’m not really into it is comic books. With DC’s new 52 released this summer I have a slew of new comics that I’m reading and some of them are really really good – even though they’ve changed the fundamental parts of what has long been their history. For example, did you know Wonder Woman’s history has changed so that now she was NOT formed out of clay and brought to life by the gods? Yep, now her mother had a torrid affair with Zeus (he gets around) and to hide that from the jealous Hera they made up the story about the clay… so, there I am – reading Wonder Woman. I’m also slowly rereading A New Pair of Glasses – which you should too if you’re in recovery.

    For superhero movies this year, I really loved seeing Chris Hemsworth without his shirt multiple times in the movie Thor, but thought Captain America was the best superhero movie of the year. Ironic as each and every preview was unappealing to me. The complete opposite for Green Lantern which I thought had such good previews – turns out those were the only parts of the movie I liked at all.

    I’ve personally changed a lot this year – I’ve gotten five new tattoos, a new ear piercing (8 gauge), and been working out at the gym with a personal trainer. I’ve lost a few pounds and firmed up in places that guys have been complimenting me on (chest, abs… whatevs). I’ve also changed my diet up a bit – more fruit, smaller portions, less pizza, more nuts. Seriously an apple a day. As a result of these things (well maybe not the tats or piercing) my cholesterol lowered considerably making my doctor a very happy man.

    This year I’ll have three trips to the Midwest, a few trips to San Antonio that I wish I could do over, two trips to Ft Lauderdale and Virginia Beach and a trip to Canada. That’s slowed down from last year with a one or two trips to San Antonio a month, plus Maui, SF, WI, Ft Lauderdale and VA Beach. I travel to much, but I doubt that’ll change any time soon.

    I started watching some TV shows this year that I really enjoyed: Dr. Who, Breaking Bad, Son’s of Anarchy, Homeland, Dexter, Louie and more. Seriously these are some kick ass shows and if you haven’t seen them it’s your loss. OK, I’ll admit that I enjoy Son’s of Anarchy for the sexy bikers too – but the story lines are incredible. Most of these shows have been on for a while, pick up the first seasons, you’ll get hooked.

    Like most of the rest of the world I fell back in love with Adele with the release of 21 – it was released in January, but really struck home with me after the fiance departed. I’m also enjoying the Green Album a re-imagining of the songs from The Muppet Show. 3 Doors Down new album Time of My Life, Bruno Mars, Rascal Flatts, Blake Shelton, David Nail, John Legend… well a lot of music.

    I’ve watched a few of the Republican debates this year – after I couldn’t stomach them anymore I turned to Twitter to watch other peoples funny comments about them. It would be incredibly funny if these crazy people weren’t serious. It’s been an interesting year watching the protests, the news, game playing with lives at stake. I hope we can get through this mess and move past the old guard that is only serving as an obstacle to progress.

    It was a good year, it was a bad year… it was a year. Some of the events that happened in my life were pretty hard to get through. I found myself crying more than I wanted to this year – any time I cry is more than I want to. This is another opportunity for me to grow, change and get better. I’ll learn to love again – probably! 😉

    Through every trial and tribulation and every moment of jubilation and wonderment I’ve had the best of friends there with me. Really couldn’t ask for anything more could you?