be all there

Now, I didn't really want to advertise it. I just wanted people to notice it whenever they did. That way, I don't feel like I'm showing off and I still get all that shock value. But...I haven't had any interesting interactions with strangers to recount, and this is what's up...



My lobster. In one sense, it is a representation of an actual geographical place - my family's lake cottage in Massachusetts, built by my great grandfather, and visited every summer for longer than I've been alive. If you know me, you've heard of it.

In another sense, it represents a perspective and quality of character I want to possess. Massachusetts is my place of peace and contentment. When I am there, I am all there. In day-to-day life, I have a hard time being present, because I'm so nostalgic, with my head in the past and sometimes the future and sometimes some alternate reality that I've created for who knows what purpose. I want to carry around a sense of contentedness and being fully present wherever I go, no matter what the circumstance. I want to be a calm, refreshed person, so I can be refreshing to others. So I have tattooed it on my arm. My little lobster. My paradoxical symbol of both nostalgia and presence in the moment.