Friday, April 27, 2007

Commitment

If you want commitment, get a tattoo. There's no rollback once the needle sinks into skin.

Having a really big dragon on my back makes random strangers (mainly wasters in clubs) think they can reach out to touch it. It's irritating. I value my personal space and hate being touched by randoms. *Uggh* get your germy paws off me.

Having a really big dragon on my back also gets me some inevitable questions from people *sigh* Here's the FAQ based on my own experience.
1. Did it hurt?
Errrr, you don't have to know much about tattooing to realise a needle is used to permanently embed ink into your skin. Think about it, why _wouldn't_ it be painful? Of course it hurts!

According to How Stuff Works, tattoo artists use "an electrically powered tattoo machine that resembles (and sounds like) a dental drill. The machine moves a solid needle up and down to puncture the skin between 50 and 3,000 times per minute. The needle penetrates the skin by about a millimeter and deposits a drop of insoluble ink into the skin with each puncture."

Approx 3,000 times a minute... It's truly a masochistic experience.

2. Am I born in the Year of the Dragon?
No. Fair enough assumption to make, I guess. Since I'm oriental. But come on, I've grown out of cliches :)

3. Does it mean anything?
It's an ancient Chinese symbol carved into my back and blessed by monks (the kickass kung-fu type) when I was just 3 years old. When I cry out, "PIKACHU, I CHOOSE YOU!",the dragon materialises into life and eats my enemy. Inflicts Damage -201. Wah!



To me, it's a great piece of art. To my father it's a great piece of self-mutilation. When I was 22, I walked into a tattoo shop in Ybor City, fell in love with the design and got it. Of course, at the time, I was with some very concerned friends, who stopped me from getting it straight away. You know who you are, gals :P So I actually had to sneak out of the apartment, and do a stealth mission one night. To be honest, the dragon looked a lot smaller on the wall *lol*

4. What's going to happen when I grow old, or stop liking it?
This question REALLY annoys me. Fickle people. I'm not like you :P Don't do things that you're going to regret just because of age. When I grow old, the tattoo will still be there. Regardless of how it looks, I'll still love it because it's part of my history. If I don't love it, heck it's on my back and I can't see it :P

So why all this talk about tattoos? Cause... I have a confession to make. When I was 19, I got a really REALLY corny tattoo of a *whisper* blue rose on the back of my left hip *cringe*

My excuse is, I was 19! And like I said in Point #2, I've grown out of cliches ;) As an aside, if your kids ever want a tattoo, tell them they have to get past their teenage years first.

Why a blue rose? Oh you know, cause roses don't come in blue naturally, and it's therefore unique. Well, it _was_ unique until one of my best buddies who was with me, decided to get the same tattoo!!!! *lol* Ah well, it's touching that we have the same tattoo. Buddies forever.

That is, buddies until this weekend *grin* DM, you know I love ya (and I also know you don't read my blog, so hopefully you won't find out!) ;) I'll be honest, I don't regret getting the tattoo, but I've always thought it could've been done better. The tattoo doesn't even look much like a blue rose. My brother once commented that it looked like a weed :( So this weekend, I'm getting it fixed in Amsterdam! It's getting replaced by something else. That's assuming my Dutch tattooist remembers my appointment... He's a little slack on the email communication front :P

Excited? Yes, I am. How do I feel about the pain? Not good. Although the area is fattier above my hip than on my back, it still HURTS.

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