Inked #6

Done by Craig at Skin Fantasy

So I got my first tattoo last summer and almost a year on I've got six.  Plus I'm soon due to get my next one, my biggest one yet.  You coulddd say I'm addicted, yes.
I really like my newest one, I'd be lying if I said it has absolutely nothing to do with the fact that Rihanna has a very similar one in a very similar place.  It wasn't like I saw it on her, though, and immediately planned to get one and just thought of what significant date I could use to go with it.  I look at her tattoos, think 'Oh I like that!' and that's it, not 'I must get oneeee!'.
Maybe I should get around to mentioning why I've put this date permanently on my body, or else I'm just leaving you hanging aren't I?  The date is Freddie Mercury's birth date - the 5th of September, 1946.  Freddie Mercury is an important figure in my life - as much as someone can be without meeting them/being alive at the same as them - and I've known for a while that I wanted something dedicated to him marked on my body.  From the start I had my mind set on getting a portrait of him, although I couldn't decide if I wanted his whole face or just the whole body, maybe a still image of him on stage?  (You should have seen my mother's face when I was discussing this with her, and she's cool with tattoos...). However, the night before I was going in to get a tattoo on my ankle, I stumbled upon this idea instead (the ankle one will still happen, just not right now...).  It's simple but with a lot of meaning behind it, and it's one of those tattoos which intrigue people and encourage them to ask you about it, which I like. 
Freddie is important to me because he was a very quiet, isolated man.  He didn't do many interviews, he had a lot of secrets - hell, there's only one person in this world who knows where his ashes lie, and she'll never reveal it - which is why I feel like I relate to him, whenever I see him on television or listen to his music I just feel like we have this, I don't know, bond?  Crazy person talk, I know, but it's hard to explain.  On the other hand, though, he'd go out on stage or make a music video or whatever and be a completely different person - ridiculous costumes, tiny shorts, this huge, amazing voice.  That was where he could let go, that was his zone, and that encourages me to find my own.

"When I'm dead, I want to be remembered as a musician of some worth and substance." - Freddie Mercury (Farrokh Bulsara)

If you're curious, the font is New Times Roman in bold, I'm not sure of the size but I can cover it if I put my finger over it, so not huge.  I love the placement, I think it's sexy and I like how it'll peek through when I wear tank tops and stuff in the summer.  The pain was there, it always is - it's a needle - but I genuinely didn't even notice it after the first minute and it was over in no time.  I remember there being a side which was slightly more painful but I can't remember which, probably on the shoulder seeing as that's bone, but I could be wrong.
Tips for getting a date tattoo: make sure it's the right date when researching or whatever!  Hell, get out the birth certificate if you can.  If you're gonna do Roman Numerals, go on various websites to find them out, check, check and check again!