My Two Cents
For anyone thinking of getting ink for the first time, I've noticed alot of advice that all says the same thing IE. "get something meaningful" my kids berthdate, flag of country I'm registered in ect.
I'm going to offer an alternitive idea, the tattoo you get should be entirely meaningless. Lets say you get some religious iconography proudly drilled into your flesh, and in ten years change your mind about said convictions (not my god, i voted for the other guy) well you then become a buddhist with an image of an ancient jewish guy getting tortured. However if you find a great artist and get a piece of meaningless art on your body, well then its always just going to be a piece of art, no matter how many personality changes you go through. I think most people gravitate towards astrological signs, tribal lines, or typical flash because they want a tattoo and yet possess no imagination what-so-ever; well thats why you pay the artist so much freaking money. You are commissioning an artist to create something for you. so give him/her an idea of some theme, general size and placement and the honus is on them. and if you dont like what they come up with, get em to draw it again!
But what do I know, lost count of tattoos after about sixty hours...