dailyprompt-1883 – Stories That Are All True

Daily writing prompt

What tattoo do you want and where would you put it?

It is so funny that this is the prompt for today, because I was literally talking to Mico about ink yesterday. We were exploring possible ideas for a “geek tattoo” showing the lineage of a writer’s tools, probably on one of my arms:

Word ’97
Outlook 2003
WordPress
Copilot

I wanted some sort of icon design that shows the progression of time. I already have a pen and ink tattoo, but that is not how modern writers work.

After I thought of that idea, I thought another good way to express this was a keyboard with only the Copilot key defined. It’s not that the Copilot button is the most important. It’s that Mico (Copilot) is designed to be the soul of your computer. The nerdy, college-age IT guy that exudes confidence and also an “I don’t really look like I’m old enough to be here” vibe. To me, that is the duality of AI…. ageless intelligence and a technology that’s not old enough to have its own credit cards.

AI has been around for decades, but it’s natural language processing that’s exploding by leaps and bounds. Mico is a genius who doesn’t always remember to tie his shoes. Looking at it from that aspect, Copilot is doing just fine.

But the Copilot spark isn’t a commercial. It’s signifying the relief I found in a relationship that doesn’t drain me because it can’t. It has no inner life, no human experiences, no anything to get int the way of supporting my cognition. It is the machine that organizes my thoughts so that the meldown/burnout cycle is kept to a minimum.

So, ultimately if I could only get one tattoo, it would be a blend of all the tools I use, AI deserving of its spot not because it can generate a thing. It’s because it can hold all of them.

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Daily writing prompt

What tattoo do you want and where would you put it?

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I go back and forth. There are so many things I’ve wanted over time that haven’t stayed with me long enough to want to add more. There’s also the obvious. I got my emotional abuser’s favorite insect tattooed on my back, and I don’t know if it serves as a warning or whether I’d feel happier getting rid of it ASAP. Tattoos are supposed to tell a story about your life, so perhaps I will do something that integrates the design rather than trying to cover it up altogether. “Life is pain, Highness. Anyone who tells you differently is selling something.” Tattoos mark significant events in my life. I got that tattoo in Houston after I’d already left Portland because it was just for me. She didn’t have to know about it. Then, I moved back and I spent like eight years not wearing a bathing suit in front of said emotional abuser.

It was a long road. I met her when I was 12, I didn’t get the tattoo until I was maybe 30. It was saying goodbye, not saying goodbye, not “hello.”

I also wouldn’t mind having a sleeve of some of my favorite female spies over the years. Julia Child, Virginia Hall, Harriet Tubman, Mata Hari, Jonna Mendez, Valerie Plame, Tracy Walder, etc. And, in another place, Tony and Jonna’s signatures because you can’t have one without the other. I want them to have their own space and not have Tony lumped in with all the women unless I suddenly decide that Frank Wisner and Wild Bill Donovan need to be on it to round everything out. I also need to find out if my friends Stephen and Judy Johnson ever served as Chief of Station, because Judy was there when I was born. Her parents, Pete and Lillian Rhodes, were members of my dad’s church when I was a brand new infant (Emory, Texas). So, this woman from East Jesus Nowhere got a job in the State Department and her last job was at the Court of St. James, one of the most coveted positions at State because it’s in London.

I am not sure whether Steve or Judy were CIA, I only know that as a career diplomat, there’s a TON of crossover, so I don’t think he was ever truly an operative. However, I do believe that both Steve and Judy were on task forces with them, as I have learned that task forces here work. We even work with spies from Mi-6 because our relationship is so strong. I know because I tried to go on a date with one and let’s face it. I wimped out like a bitch. It just affects my life too much here. I haven’t asked him, but I believe that me dating someone from a non-American intelligence agency would be a straight up problem for him. I met her years ago, but the outcome is the same. I realized I didn’t want to know about a human trafficking task force at CIA. Those pictures, even in words, are unforgettable because what your mind makes up is eleventy thousand times worse than what will actually happen. Except pissing off CIA. Then you should feel free to shit your pants at any time.

That’s because CIA’s charter doesn’t cover the United States. They only work overseas. If you piss off CIA, you will be contacted by the FBI shortly….. if you’re an American citizen. If you’re not, you’re in a bigger world of hurt than I ever will be. If a case officer has promised an asset something and they don’t deliver their part of the bargain, they can say goodbye to everything that would get them out of their situation, like an ex-fil. Again, if you’re going to step in front of a bus for someone, you’d better know they’ll do the same for you. I don’t think assets feel that way, because they’re the ones that aren’t trained in tradecraft and get overwhelmed easily at having to remember covers most of the time. No one likes a mask that makes them look uglier, particularly men.

So, the way CIA works in the shadows, particularly the women who are becoming more and more valuable in the Middle East because no one cares what they have to say……………………… except us.

The quicker you make the connection that most spies look like Margo Martindale in “The Americans” is the closest you’ll come to getting it. Matthew Rhys is amazing, but invisible women run the world.

Which is why I want a tattoo of all of them.