Sweep me up We are all God's unwanted children, so let's bitch and whine about our feelings.

My latest not-so-life changing decision of this year is to draw on my skin – permanently. I’ve decided to get some ink done, partly as a means to cover the scars on my arms and partly as a life-affirming message that I’ll be able to carry with me, you know, just in case my brain gets too full. I have my chosen appendage and I have my chosen venue, but as yet I haven’t quite decided what I would like written.

I figure as this will be a permanent feature of my body I would like it to have a fairly timeless and inspiring quality to it. Generic patterns and images just won’t cut it for me, they have no significance, there is no satisfaction in colouring myself in with doodles. I want to be able to look at my tattoo be reminded of something important to me, it should clarify my thoughts and ultimately I should be able to take comfort from it. When I’m lost and my mind is all at sea I want to know there will be one sobering thought that I can call upon for some clarity.

So you see this is quite an important thing for me, it will be different from the rest of the scars on my body, this scar will be created out of hope, not out of despair. There will be no blood this time, only the cool black ink, crystallising some piece of wisdom that I hold close my heart. Now the hardest part naturally, is deciding what this clever piece of wordplay should be, a single phrase or sentence that encapsulates my life philosophy…no small feat. So the first place I looked was patently among the things I draw most inspiration from, my favourite films, songs and books. After a few hours rifling through some choice lines I managed to isolate the people, films and songs and resonate my attitudes and feelings most eloquently.

Fight club, Waking life, the works of Lewis Carroll, Placebo, Nirvana, Oscar Wilde, Alfred Hitchcock. Anyone or anything that had made me stop and take stock of my life in the past featured on this shortlist of wry sayings and thought-provoking verbalisms. I compiled a shortlist and it sits in front of me as I type, a scrap of paper that’s contents will soon be transferred to my arm. I think I’ll ponder it some more, maybe even pick up a biro and scrawl them on my arm, try them out for size, see which ones feels like a good pair of jeans and which ones feel like a pair of shoes a few sizes too small.

Until next time (ooh, adds to shortlist).