The Boy with No Tattoos

     If you know me to any extent or you've seen me tweet about them, you know that I want tattoos. Two of them. But because you know me, you also know that I'm not allowed to get them...yet. My dad, who has supported me through everything and in any way he can, including financially, and is supporting me through college via money when he can and letting me drive his car while I am away at school, believes that Christians should not get tattoos [Leviticus 19:28b - "...nor tattoo any marks on you: I am the Lord."]. Because of this belief, I am not allowed to get one until I can fully support myself financially (including transportation). As his son, whether I agree or not, I have to respect that. And I do. To say that I've had the chance to get a tattoo would be an understatement. I've had MULTIPLE chances, including an offer to get one for free. As difficult as it is, I am respecting my dad's wishes (now, if he were to change his mind, that'd be great!). After all he has done for me and is continuing to do, I can abide by this one rule.

      But the purpose of me blogging tonight is not to tell you about my dad's beliefs and such. I wanted to write about my feelings about tattoos, which tattoos I want, and why I want them.

     I am a big fan of tattoos...to an extent. I believe that something permanent on your body should have significance. I know people get random tattoos all the time, but I say what's the point? I really don't mean to offend anyone who has done that, that's just how I feel about random tattoos. A tattoo should have significance to you, and it should be something that a person has thought about it for a long, long time.

     A friend who has a tattoo or two (I can't remember) told me her process for getting the ink. She designs what she wants on paper and puts it somewhere she'll see it everyday. After what I think is 6 months, if she looks at it everyday and STILL wants it, then she gets it. I think that's awesome. Something permanent on your body should be something you've thought about extensively.

     That being said, I have thought about what tattoos I want, and why I want them. So far, there are two tattoos that I know I am getting someday.

     The first is ἀγάπη. It is "agape" in the Classical Greek. The word 'agape' is one of the Greek words translated into English as love. It is the love that God has for us as humans, as well as the reciprocation of love by humankind to God. It is the strongest form of love. Of the 4 forms of love translated into English from Greek (agape, eros, philia, storge), I picked this one because it is the love that means the most to me. I am constantly in a state of being blown away at the unconditional love that the Father has for me. It's honestly one of the most amazing things about my faith. I love that, despite everything I have done, I am still loved by my Heavenly Father. I think Relient K said it best in their song "I Am Understood": "You're the only one who knows me yet still loves completely." I love this song, but specifically this part (I actually blogged about this song awhile back. You can read my interpretation here!).

     Also having to do with why I want it is WHERE I'm getting it, which is on my left wrist. [I know, I know, wrist tattoos should be a no-no for anyone who ever wants a "corporate" job, or, for me, a teaching job. I've heard the speech MANY times from MANY people, including family members who have tattoos. You'd be crazy to think I hadn't thought about that aspect as well. I have thought about it, and quite a bit at that. I know it means long-sleeves at work everyday or a big watch that will cover it up. I am ok with either of those options. I want the tattoo on my left wrist, and that's where I am getting it. End of story.] To Write Love on Her Arms is an organization that is near and dear to my heart for a number of reasons. This is their mission statement (obtained from their website): To Write Love on Her Arms is a non-profit movement dedicated to presenting hope and finding help for people struggling with depression, addiction, self-injury and suicide. TWLOHA exists to encourage, inform, inspire and also to invest directly into treatment and recovery." The things they they help treat (depression, addiction, self-injury, and suicide) hit close to home, I love this organization and what they stand for. I want LOVE written permanently written on my arm to serve as a reminder to myself and to others about the unconditional love the Father has for each one of us, and that no one should ever have to struggle with those things.

     So that's the first tattoo I want, and all the factors going into my decision to get it. I hope that even if you're one of those naysayers regarding the location I want it, you can at least respect why I want it there.

     The second tattoo is the middle part of Philippians 1:21, which says, "To live is Christ." This is definitely one of those verses I would consider a "life verse." If you've spent any time in a church or just studying the New Testament, you are probably familiar with the entire verse, "For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain." I myself have heard it many, many times, but the meaning did not really hit me until about two years ago. It was a Wednesday night, and I was at church. There was a guest speaker in youth that night, and he spoke on this verse in a way that I had never heard. He really focused in on the "to live is Christ" part, making me really think about the words. He said, "'To live is Christ.' That doesn't say to live includes Christ." That really stuck out to me. As Christians, we are called to live our lives as Christ followers, striving to be more like Him everyday. In life, we should not include Christ in the things we do. Christ should be the center and the focus of everything we do. I think that in this verse, Paul is talking about how Christ lives inside of him and guides his daily path and gives him the power to live the life he was called to live. This is the life that every Christian should strive to live, and I want to strive to live like this. This verse means a lot to me, and I want to represent that importance through tattoo. With that being said, I'm not going to tattoo every verse that means a lot to me, but this one I am. For this one, I haven't decided exactly where I want it, but I will probably get it on my chest, right above where a pocket would be on a shirt.

     While I know what I want and such, I don't have actual pictures of them anymore. They were both saved on my computer back home, but it crashed awhile ago and I lost them. As soon as I get them on paper again,  I will be sure to post them on my blog!

     If you've stuck with me until now, thank you. This is obviously something that means a lot to me, and I wanted to share it with you, so thank you for reading it. If you have any comments about this post or about tattoos in general, or if you have a tattoo and want to tell me about it, feel free to use the comment box at the bottom of this post! I would love to hear about your ink!



Thanks again,
Cameron

The Ramblings of a Man Who is Unable to Sleep

Like the title suggests, there really isn't a point to this post. It might just be ramblings about things you do not care about, but I do know that I am going to talk about Teen Wolf. We will just see where it goes from there!

I think I should start with the obvious: I SAW MYSELF ON TV TONIGHT! For most people, this is probably nothing, but I think that it is really cool, so it is kind of a big deal to me. The episode ended at 11pm, and here it is 4:30am and I am still riding the high. That's some kind of high right there if you ask me.

I knew this day would eventually get here ever since I was on set the day that episode was filmed, back in February. I have had 4 months to prepare for it. But I wasn't ready.

HAVE YOU EVER SEEN YOURSELF ON TV?!

I mean, back in February, I was an extra. Talk about Cloud 9! I actually blogged about my first experience as an extra (You can read about that experience here! Extra! Extra! Read All About It!). The episode that aired tonight was filmed the week after that. I can't believe that I did not blog about this experience! It was SO MUCH BETTER! I was, as you can see from the picture below, SO CLOSE to the two main characters! I WISH I could have talked to them (I actually did say a few words to Crystal [Allison, the main girl] when she first came into the classroom and sat down)! I do have to say that I did get to talk to Mama Argent (Eaddy Mays), though. She's SO cool and down to Earth.

Yes, that's me!

In case you were wondering what I was writing/looking at, here is the notebook I was given to use as a prop for the scene. We were told to take notes. You probably can't read it, but it is what was written on the board. I just started copying it, and that's how far I got. Apparently, this scene was filmed on Wednesday.

I think that, if I was a professional TV actor, I would take some time to talk to those extras that knew and followed the show and actually wanted to talk to me. It might actually make their day as it would have mine as an extra if one of the main characters talked to me.

But anyway, back to the extra thing. As you can see, I was chosen to sit right behind Crystal Reed! So cool! Then Tyler Posey came into the room and sat really close to me. I could have talked to them if we had had like a 5 minute break to just sit there and chill haha, provided they actually wanted to talk to me. There are scenes that we filmed that either were not used for other reasons or that will be in future episodes, so that'd be really cool to see myself again :) But really, don't hold your breath. I had my time on screen, and that was totally awesome.

I think I put these actors and actresses on a pedestal. I know they are just normal people like me, but at the same time, they aren't. They are on TV every week like it's no big deal. We expect to see them there. They have tons of followers on Twitter, and people tweet them ALL the time. There's something different about them that makes them not "normal humans." So yea, I put them on a pedestal, and I am ok with that. I bet they'd all disagree, that they really are like normal people just like you and I are, but I think I would have to disagree. Normal people don't have upwards of 10,000 followers on Twitter. Normal people don't appear on a hit TV show every Monday for 12 (or 24) weeks. So while they are just like you and I, they are celebrities, so they aren't.

I think (I do a lot of that, especially late at night) that I have figured out the whole purpose behind that last paragraph. I put them on a pedestal because they have what I feel like a lot of people want, what I want. Honestly, I was eating up all the attention on Facebook and Twitter tonight. No lie. I loved it. This is going to sound really vain and shallow, but I liked the attention. Eyes were on me tonight, and I liked it. It was just a small, a very small, bit of what the actors/actresses go through a lot I bet. I want that. That'd be so cool. To have total strangers approach me and say, "Hey, aren't you the guy on [insert name of TV show here]?" I think that'd be so cool. I have had this itch, this dream, to go West, to LA, for awhile, before I have to come back to reality and settle down with a job and whatnot. How cool would it be to go to LA, somehow get an audition for something, and it lead to something else, something big? That would be amazing. I think I would put teaching on hold for a few years to do that. I think.

(I am desperately trying to not begin each paragraph with "I think," but that's really what this post is, just me thinking) I think that I want those things: the fame, the attention, etc., because I have a fear of living a useless life. (Not that NOT being "famous" would be a useless life, because that's not what I am saying at all, but that having the fame would be a surefire way to have a "useful" life.) To know that people, a lot of people, were affected by me being here on this Earth. I think that is one of the main reasons I want to be a teacher. I want to impact lives. I would hate to live my life knowing that I didn't impact anyone. That would totally suck. I know that teachers impact people, because I have been impacted by several teachers, but I am just scared that I won't find the same satisfaction in the impact teachers make that I think actors make.

Even if it's just one film, or one TV show that only gets a few episodes before getting cancelled due to unforeseen reasons, I still want it. I hear that people sometimes start out as extras, become stand-ins, get a line or two, and BAM! they are "discovered" and whisked off to some big TV/movie set where they have major screen time and tons of lines. That would be awesome.

If you have read all of this, thank you. I realize that I rambled, but I did give a fair warning. I went from being a superficial extra, to a real guy who actually had something deep to say in this post. I'll call this a successful post, but I might be just a little biased ;)

What do you think? The comment box is just below this, what else are you waiting for?



Cameron