Bluejake

More: I'm not sure how he found out about the tattoo- we have few friends in common any more. In his post, A.S. writes that he thinks of me about once a year- but the Bluejake traffic logs tell a different story- he pops up in them at least once a month. For my part, I check his site about every two weeks.

Is it impossible that one day A.S. will get over his feelings?

How bizzare:
1) Despite acknowledging that the anchor tattoo appeared on Popeye, AS claims that it was his "signature tattoo". Popeye predates AS by a few years.

2) AS complains that Jake's tattoo is on the forearm rather than the bicep. Following his link clearly shows Popeye's tattoo to be on the forearm.

3) AS claims that his "signature tattoo" would be "a fat anchor". He then goes on to denigrate Jake's tattoo as "a graphic-style drawing" as opposed to Popeye's line drawing. Are we to assume that he wanted a "fat" line drawing? Is he confusing "fat" and the out-dated slang term for good, "phat"? Inqiring minds want to know.

4) AS provides a link to a site with Gaultier ads featuring "Muscle-bearing young men with tight sailor shirts and that fabulous anchor tattoo". Presumably, this is meant to show how AS is brilliant and ahead of the curve for having come up with this idea, while Jake is gay for having gone through with it. However, if we follow the link we discover that none of the ads feature his "signature tattoo". Does AS not know what his signature tattoo looks like, or is he just too incompetent to provide a link that properly supports his argument?

going through the story and all the links, it reminds me of how frequently i re-introduce myself to any ill online sentiments or things of the sort.

things like googleing ex girlfriends. and ex-friends.

my computer was once a safe place to explore music or cat porn. alone. with no online trail of my thoughts.

it was cathartic. a good vehicle for all the mindwandering of late nights.

now, we can track where i've been, how many times 123.11.234 or whomever is takin' a look at someone's site. the spiderweb of links makes even a casual observer a well informed one or- and more importantly - a very poorly informed one who has falled victim to masses of trash that are all too easy to post.

suddenly, this online life is less of a safe haven and more of the watch-your-ass type we get from 9-5.

ick.

now, planting your flag online via blog or page - which used to be an outbox for your $.02 - is now very much an inbox with too many ???

too many vindictive idiots out there & too much free time.

I second and third the second commenter's point about Jake being gay enough to get the tattoo. It seems more like the code for all the boys who will do it with sailors.

Another angle: in his post A.S. writes "The interesting thing, I think, is that a few months of madness can really hurt you in the long run." Is this true? I mean, looking back, did my being depressed about things during those seven weeks in September of 1999 really hurt me in the long run? Hard to say. Obviously, it's a question I ask myself from time to time.

The most obvious costs seem to be not being a doctor and the end of my friendship with A.S. The most obvious pluses are my relationship with K and the maturity and insight that I've gained. Does one set balance out the other? In some sense it's a pointless question- I couldn't have continued as I was- so there was no choice to be made. There was something inevitable about all of it, including the whole feud with him. That's not an excuse for what happened- but it is a part of the story.

Even poor Moby is no stranger to web beef. http://www.moby.com/cms/viewdiary.asp?Diary_ID=1200&ViewType=Current

Hey i was Wonering, im getting a tattoo on my butt of lips, its not gonna be very big,perrty small and i was wonering if thats not gonna hurt that much? but i was reading sum stuff about tattoos and they say the first 60 seconds it hurts the most but u get used 2 the feelings of it, but anyways send me back ... plz and thx