One day my sister was showing off her latest addition to her ever-growing Princess Mononoke themed sleeve, and I realized that I had been considering the same tattoo idea for twelve years without doing anything about it. The tattoos were small, simple line work, so I came along to my sister's final coloring and shading session on a big forearm piece, and her artist fit me in at the end. Sister started her session characteristically chatty and ended it two hours latter terse and covered in a sheen of sweat. I started mine characteristically terse and ended it thirty minutes later passed out in a public place.

That's what I get for being impulsive.

It's easy to think of tattoos, of any sort of appearance alteration, as a surface matter. But these evidence an aesthetic, and a proper aesthetic governs all the way down. Not only does it structure a person's outward manifestation, but it orders incoming information and influences perception of it. An aesthetic is a way of understanding the world and interacting with it based on intuition.

Aesthetic works below the surface of language consciousness, drawing connections, ordering, weaving a web of picture thought and feeling thought bigger than DH's clearing in the forest. And then, wonderfully, aesthetic provides a pattern that can be spoken about, that can be considered rationally.

Tattoos permanently shift an aesthetic. It is more than an alteration of the visual surface of the body. More than a social signal that borders interaction and opportunity. It's an expression and adjustment of the aesthetic paradigm. It alters understanding of the world as well as one's place in it. It repositions.

Calcification is a peril of any well developed aesthetic. The right move is a heavy move, and stillness is easy beauty. If you are aiming at a single, narrow space, you are aiming at stillness, and stillness is one kind of death. So it's difficult within that aesthetic paradigm to get a good tattoo. It is a change, a movement.

These are very good theoretical reasons to get a tattoo, even a shitty one, and my first tattoos are a bit shitty. My sister's tattoo by the same guy looks great, and since she has rather many great tattoos, I trusted her judgement. But there's lesson number one: do your own research.

Theory's well and good, but what about the practical aspects of getting inked? There are plenty of skilled artists in Helsinki specializing in a variety of styles. This summer I got a set at Tatuata in Punavuori, and these ones are beautiful. Do a search, check out online portfolios, and make sure you have a look at tattoos the artist has done on actual flesh, not just concept drawings.

Have a good meal before you go to your appointment, give yourself a sugar high, and bring along some soda or something to keep your blood sugar at a truly disgusting level - don't pass out like me, they hate that. It's going to hurt, quite possibly like you are being branded, depending on where you get it, so remember to breathe.

Think a little about where you put it. So far, I've gotten only compliments and positive curiosity when my tattoos are visible, but given my field, I'll probably be wearing long sleeves to work for a good part of my career. Still, I guess what I'm saying is, you shouldn't hesitate to go get a tattoo. Cardigans are not the end of the world and regret works both ways.

Life comes in through the window of spontaneity. Making a permanent mark in the flesh can despoil an aesthetic, or you can coordinate it with your aesthetic, create a living aesthetic. Tattoos are permanent, but they move with you.