I am the last one in my group of friends to get a tattoo. My friends have been hounding me for years to join them in their body art obsession, but I have resisted until now. I had a million excuses for not getting that tattoo - fear of needles, fear of parents, fear of joblessness - but in reality, I had run out of legitimate reasons for not getting one. The ultimate irony is that I am a tattoo artist!

One day, I finally got tired of resisting. It didn't help that I got a ribbing every day. I let them talk me into it. I promised them all that I would do it by the end of the year, and as December grew near its end, I had run out of time and I needed to start working on finding a design. To my surprise, one of the greatest ways to find cool tattoo designs is to look online.

I went to a few tattoo design sites but never really found any cool tattoo designs until I went to Tattoomenow.com. There I found a lot of designs as well as photographs of actual tattoos that had been based on the designs. Within minutes, I was able to pick a design, download it, and I was headed out the door to the local tattoo artist.

Unfortunately, one of the few things that my friends didn't tell me about was the pain - the incredible pain. Call me pathetic, but I had no idea how such a small needle could cause quite so much agony. I now understand why people have a few drinks before they get dragged into get a tattoo. And I understand even more why they get even more drunk when they are done. I cannot overstate how excruciating the experience was.

But, yes, I am pleased with the results. Much like a mother just days after having her first child, I am ready to have another one. My joy with the results has overshadowed the pain that I went through. I'll be back online soon to pick out the next design.