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I started this project called A Stranger A Day to overcome my shyness and talk to people. The challenge: talk to a stranger a day for a year of my life and try to convince them to let me take a picture and share a story. Since most tattoos have a story behind them, this will be my conversation starter and a common thread that links them all. Every week I will be sharing the story of the week here on Vancouver Is Awesome. Join me in this Stranger a Day adventure and let me know what you think!

The stranger #300 of the project!!!

Location: Granville and Nelson, outside Adrenaline.

Wow, what a day, full of surprises until the very end. After spending the evening with a lovely dog named Diesel, I walked home and had the chance to talk to some strangers. First I approached a couple of guys who were chilling outside a coffee shop. They didn’t have any tattoos but we got talking for quite a bit. One of them even suggested that I asked every stranger, just out of curiosity, if they had gotten tattooed if we were living in the 80’s. Although this sounded wacky at first, he was referring to the way today’s society views tattoos, compared to 30 years ago. Probably a question I would be more comfortable asking my friends, than strangers; interesting nonetheless.

After said conversation I kept on walking and talked to a girl who was smoking outside Adrenaline. I could tell she had quite a few pieces, and was a bit shy in telling her about the project. She had awesome tattoos that ‘looked like tattoos’, if you know what I mean, so I put aside the shyness and approached her to tell her about the daily challenge. She was into it and picked this one to share. I almost jumped when I saw it had the East Van cross in it!

“I’m from Alberta. When I moved out here, I didn’t have any friends or knew many people, so I decided to look for a place on craigslist. I ended up moving in with this pretty cool girl, whom I still talk to ‘till this day, and we ended up moving into this place in East Van for about four months. The thing with the place was that it had cockroaches, it was infested with them. So after living here for about 3 years and still being friends, we decided to get the same tattoo to remember the time we spent in East Van dealing with that shitty cockroach situation. That’s probably one of the best stories I have from all of my tattoos…”

She was pretty cool, and this tattoo was pretty rad and unique as well, still looking very classic. She happened to finish her cigarette with her story, so I thanked her for sharing and then I continued on my way home.

Thanks stranger!

To check out the daily strangers click here: astrangeraday.com

I started this project called A Stranger A Day to overcome my shyness and talk to people. The challenge: talk to a stranger a day for a year of my life and try to convince them to let me take a picture and share a story. Since most tattoos have a story behind them, this will be my conversation starter and a common thread that links them all. Every week I will be sharing the story of the week here on Vancouver Is Awesome. Join me in this Stranger a Day adventure and let me know what you think!

Stranger #288

Location: Turk’s on the Drive

I came by to read for a bit. I sat down and downed a bottle of orange juice. My project still needed to be done for the day, so on my way out I took the opportunity to talk to some people. For some reason I was a little bit more nervous than usual, but the girls were really nice and one of them shared her story. I took the picture first, then she explained (and I paraphrase):

“It is a seed in the wind. A dandelion seed being carried by the wind, to be more precise. This is about a sort of impossible friendship. Well, it is not limited to that episode of my life but there was a lot of learning from that time. I ended up connecting wit this special person and when I finally went up to meet her, for some reason she said she just couldn’t see me then, she just couldn’t. It was a pretty sad moment, but you learn to let go and to accept that, just like a seed in the wind, there are many things you can’t control or change. You can’t control where the seed is going or where it will land, but you have to trust that wherever it lands, it is where it is meant to be and something beautiful will come out of it…”

I wish I had recorded the story, because she told it in a very beautiful way. Even her friend mentioned that it was beautiful. I know I’m missing some details but that’s what my memory remembers for now (oh the perks of oral storytelling!). I thanked her for sharing her story and her tattoo and then went on my way. Fate is a tricky thing. I’ve been thinking about the dandelion seed metaphor a lot since then.

Thanks stranger!

To check out the daily strangers click here: astrangeraday.com

I started this project called A Stranger A Day to overcome my shyness and talk to people. The challenge: talk to a stranger a day for a year of my life and try to convince them to let me take a picture and share a story. Since most tattoos have a story behind them, this will be my conversation starter and a common thread that links them all. Every week I will be sharing the story of the week here on Vancouver Is Awesome. Join me in this Stranger a Day adventure and let me know what you think!

Location: Cafe Deux Soleils on the Drive

What a cool night. My friends and I came to see my roommate-extraordinaire and her band who were headlining the show last night. After working all day, meetings and stuff like that, I still needed to find a stranger. I went up to a couple of girls sitting on a booth. For some reason they had a pretty chill vibe about them so I explained the project. One of them shared her tattoo and its lovely story:

“This is my Dad’s tattoo. He got it done about 30 years ago back in the 80s. Originally the banner didn’t have a name in it when he got it done. He waited until I was in about 8th grade and then he got my name put into his tattoo and he added another banner at the top with my mom’s name in it. He died about two years ago and I wanted to get his tattoo in his memory, on the same place he had his. AND by accident I got it done by the same guy who did his 30 years ago.

Then, because I didn’t want my own name in the tattoo, I put in the name he had for me when I was little, ‘spooky’. And that’s it. And yep, I got it done here in Vancouver. Westcoast Tattoo by Tom Lockhart.”

It was an awesome story. What are the odds of randomly getting tattooed by the same guy who tattooed your dad? Let alone, doing the same tattoo. Crazy! Anyways, I thanked them, wished them a good night and went back to my table since the show was about to start. Good times!

Thanks stranger!

To check out the daily strangers click here: astrangeraday.com

I started this project called A Stranger A Day to overcome my shyness and talk to people. The challenge: talk to a stranger a day for a year of my life and try to convince them to let me take a picture and share a story. Since most tattoos have a story behind them, this will be my conversation starter and a common thread that links them all. Every week I will be sharing the story of the week here on Vancouver Is Awesome. Join me in this Stranger a Day adventure and let me know what you think!

Stranger #271 // Location: the Foundation on Main

Out of the blue nacho-sangria night with friends. Waiting for a table often means you are stranded (with your friends) in a confined space with absolute strangers (and their friends) doing the same: waiting. It sounded like a perfect time to get the daily challenge done. I went up to the group of people who were right ahead of us and someone volunteered him to share his tattoo story.

“I’m an Engineering student, and engineers in Canada wear an iron ring on the pinky finger of the hand they write with…”—he pointed to his ring. “…so when they are doing their work they see it and remember the ethical implications of their work. I also practice the Bahá’í Faith and in the Bahá’í Faith the work done in the attitude of service to humanity is an equivalent form of worship as prayer. So this (tattoo) means prayer in Arabic, and it is also on the hand I work with to remind me to approach my work in the attitude of service to humanity.”

I found this to be a beautiful tattoo and story. I thanked him for sharing, and just after this him and his friends were given a table. Perfect timing. We had to wait a couple of minutes more, and then nacho galore! Good times.

Thanks stranger!

To check out the daily strangers, click here: astrangeraday.com

I started this project called A Stranger A Day to overcome my shyness and talk to people. The challenge: talk to a stranger a day for a year of my life and try to convince them to let me take a picture and share a story. Since most tattoos have a story behind them, this will be my conversation starter and a common thread that links them all. Every week I will be sharing the story of the week here on Vancouver Is Awesome. Join me in this Stranger a Day adventure and let me know what you think!

Location: Starbucks on Thurlow and Davie

This was a cool encounter in terms of how it came to be: a few weeks ago someone  left a comment here on Vancouver is Awesome saying that she had a few tattoos from all around the world and wanted to be part of the project. This was the first time a stranger had volunteered herself to be part of it, so I emailed her back saying that I’d be down for it. It was a very nice surprise.

A few of weeks went by and then I heard back from her, we emailed back and forth and finally found a time and place that worked for both. That’s how I ended up meeting with her. After a few minutes of chatting we went around the corner, away from the starbucks windows, and I took the picture.

“I am Irish, and when I travel, I like to get a tattoo or piercing from every place I visit. This one in particular is my Vancouver tattoo, the first of a couple, I hope, since I now live here. It is for my auntie. She passed away when I was ten, and growing up I always wanted to do something to honour her and remember her, so I thought what better way to do that than getting a tattoo.

This was a little prayer I used to say when I was younger and it was also on her funerary book. Not very many are able to read it, since it is all in script lettering, but it says ‘Love in your heart is not there to stay, love is not love ‘til you give it away’.  This resonated a lot with me, and her passing. She always wanted to marry and have a family, have kids, then she got sick and that never happened. So the whole letting go, and and giving love away ties in into this piece. It is a special one.”

She was a really cool person. I thanked her for contacting me and wanting to be part of the project. I then wished her good luck on her upcoming trip to Ireland and then we both went our separate ways. A nice encounter.

Thanks ‘stranger’!

To check out the daily strangers, click here: astrangeraday.com

I started this project called A Stranger A Day to overcome my shyness and talk to people. The challenge: talk to a stranger a day for a year of my life and try to convince them to let me take a picture and share a story. Since most tattoos have a story behind them, this will be my conversation starter and a common thread that links them all. Every week I will be sharing the story of the week here on Vancouver Is Awesome. Join me in this Stranger a Day adventure and let me know what you think!

Stranger #264

Location: guess? Bon’s!

I came by for breakfast food at 5pm (because why wouldn’t you?) to the epic $3 all-day/day-after breakfast place. Sitting on a table nearby were a couple of guys, and one of them had lots of ink showing. While I waited for my food, I decided to go up to them and tell them about the project. And guess which tattoo he shared?

“Well, maybe I can tell you about this one since is very topical ‘cos we’re here. I really dislike the stories behind significant tattoos. You know, there is always the ‘it was for my dad’ or whatever, but it is always some lame… I don’t know, it always disappoints me. So the reason for this one is that I like Bon‘s.

My buddy and I each got one. We’ve been coming here for years and we always enjoy the cheap food, and also I’m a big fan of East Van, and this is an East Van ‘place’ so yeah, this is where we grew up, where we eat. It’s definitely of significance within us and our people as it is a very recognizable area. And everyone knows Bon’s, so they see this and they say ‘OH MY GOD IS BON’S!!!’, you know?

So yes, I have a lot of skin to fill so I can’t have a reason behind everything (every tattoo), and the ones that have a reason now make me think ‘why did I get that?!’ haha. I think the ones that look cool and/or are funny are the best ones. So that’s that.”

They were both super chill guys. I took the picture and soon enough my food was ready, so I thanked them, shared the blog and went to eat bacon. :)

Thanks strangers!

To check out the daily strangers, click here: astrangeraday.com