so after years of wanting one and deciding what to have, i got myself inked. like seriously inked. several things i'd like to pinpoint:
about the process:
* i've set a target to have one when i'm still 27. and i finally did it only several days to my 28th birthday. why 27? i don't know, maybe to just be a remembrance that i was once young and reckless.
* i've always been easily drawn to strong independent female artists, name it singer-songwriters, designers, visual jockeys, painters, and so i've always known that i wanted only female artist to got me inked.
* does it hurt? i'd say yes, it's like having a knife constantly cut through your skin. the more it got to the inner part of my arm the more it hurt so bad. but in the end, i got used to the pain along the process and i have to say it felt almost addictive. i could imagine myself impulsively getting a tattoo just to feel the physical pain to ease the non physical one.
* it takes time to get used to it. being a tattooed person, that is. at first it almost felt like you just had a very bad haircut. it's like there's a sudden change of image which will be perceived differently by people around you and at first i was cautious of them all. but after a while it just becomes a part of me and i don't give a damn what people say.
about the tattoo:
* the number one question that i got is "what drawing is that?". i actually didn't expect this kind of banal question, like every single person expects me to answer with a concrete answer like: "oh it's a rabbit" or "oh it's a dragon". honestly i expected people to ask question more like, "what's the meaning of it?" instead of brutally ask "what drawing is that?".
* the number two question i got is "it's not finished yet, no?". well, i've always wanted to have a simple graphic one instead of a realist drawing. and i've always wanted it to be a black and white one. but when people think that my tattoo looks like it hasn't been finished yet, i'm actually fine with it. i don't aim for perfection and i think it's cool to leave impression as if it's not finished yet although to me it actually has.
* to answer the banal question of what drawing it is, i usually just answer "oh it's just an abstract drawing", just to save the energy by not telling the story that people won't get anyway. while actually, it's a simplified version of my doodle i did based on a song by a japanese DJ who died at the age of 36 in an accident. it's a song with at least two samplings, one is by a male american pop-jazz singer and the other is by a japanese female pianist. to me the song resembles two kind of cultures, east and west, at the same time. and the whole song gives me a strong impression about the proximity to the nature. so every time i look at it i would think of how every interaction with the nature has always made me feel.
* i won't ever post any picture of it or send it through any kind of media. i'd reserve that to a face to face interaction which has become rarer these days.
* do i have regret about it? the only regret is only regarding the technical craft and maybe because i didn't have proper treatment on the first days so the result was a lil' bit disappointing. but overall, no regret at all.
