My Irish buddy is so much cooler than me

We recently had the pleasure of putting up (with?) old friends of mine who currently reside in Dublin, Ireland (Hi Ciaran, Martina, Kyle and Aran!) One of the things that struck me after having not seen them for 12 years or so was how much they haven't changed. They are still hip, smart, cool, etc., while I seemed to have become mired in soft middle age. Case in point, Ciaran's awesome tattoo:


(That's a Ralph Steadman rendering of Hunter S Thompson as Dr. Gonzo, with the inscription "HST/RIP".)

That's completely cool, and just the kind of thing I'd like to think I would get, if I got a tattoo.

And then there's the piercing, but that's a story for another day.

(Of course it was great to see the Dubliners... the time flew so quickly we just may have to visit them in a year or two!)