Those Invisible Pink Unicorns. They’re so hard to spot in the wild. That is, unless you happen to have a black light.

Under normal light. With any luck when the scarring heals, the part inside the ring will be nearly invisible, leaving a (slightly broken) pink circle visible.

Partially black-lit

Just black light

My friend Josh got me in with his artist, TeeJay, the owner of White Tiger Tattoo in Rochester. It was her first time with UV inks (Chameleon), but I’m thrilled with how it turned out (glad to be a guinea pig in this case). Thanks Josh and Michelle (and pee, too) for coming along, and to Teejay for working me into her busy schedule. :)

I did a fair amount of looking around at the UV ink before jumping in. I was nervous enough about a first tattoo, but I really wanted the UV ink due to the subject matter. This type of ink has been in use for over 10 years with very few problems–it’s fluorescent, not phosphorescent (EverGlo ink caused problems for many people in the 90’s), and it’s encased in little PMMA microcapsules (a plastic they use for medical uses and has a very low rejection rate). The ink part never actually comes into contact with your skin due to those. The ink itself is FDA approved for use in marking animals that are for human consumption, although not for tattoo use (no tattoo ink is). I feel pretty comfortable with it after having read articles by artists and people who have used this ink for years. And it really, really looks neat. :)

Why IPU? I’d been thinking of tattoos for a long time and although a life-long agnostic, in the past few months, after having listened to The Atheist Experience and The Non Prophets podcast and starting to read more Atheist blogs, I’ve realized I’m really an agnostic atheist. Of the various free thought symbols I’ve seen, the IPU seemed both the most humorous (I wanted something fun) and also aesthetically pleasing. By making the circle part the only visible part in normal light, I actually get two symbols with the same meaning in one (yeah, I know it’s supposed to be unbroken, but close enough :)

-epe

My Liberal Identity:

You are a Reality-Based Intellectualist, also known as the liberal elite. You are a proud member of what’s known as the reality-based community, where science, reason, and non-Jesus-based thought reign supreme.

Take the quiz at www.FightConservatives.com

I usually avoid memes, but I couldn’t resist. -epe

(explicit lyrics)