--inked--

I got my 6th tattoo last week. Nothing fancy, it’s an Ohm (I feel the need to explain what an OHM is…in Hindu belief, it’s a symbol for the sound of the universe). You might be wondering about the other tattoos I have, here goes…..

I have always been fascinated with tattoos and body art. My interest in tattoos increased when I saw Chris Garver, he’s like the God of Tattoos –at least for me and one of the closest friends has a lot of tattoos, (I don’t want to sound cheesy but Tea is the sister I never had). I had my first taste of the needle, December 2007. I have a high tolerance for pain, but it hurt like hell. I can give a myriad of reasons why it hurt and I’m pretty good at describing things.

· The tattoo artist weighs 200 lbs give or take (use your imagination)
· He has huge hands – im not exaggerating, he has NON-Human huge hands
· I got inked on my nape
· Imagine all of his weight on my shoulders while two needles slash and puncture my skin and all the blood dripping – nah! there’s no blood, I’m exaggerating (at least I didn’t see any)
Enough of the blood and gore, I got my other tattoos the following year.
· “Tacet.” that’s Latin for silence. I got this along my waist, near the bikini line
· “Dum spiro, spero.“ That’s Latin for “while I breathe, I hope.”
· Tea and I decided to spend sometime together and we got inked. I got an ambigram along my ribs and she got “Rohan”
· There’s a time in our life that we are allowed to be corny and childish. I had my “corny” moment and decided to get stars embedded in my skin.

I had my first tattoo retouched as well…..and lemme tell you it hurts like hell. The original plan was to buy pirated DVD’s and I ended up having my ink retouched. It was a funny experience. Whenever I get inked, I always listen to my ipod because I hate the sound of the tattoo machine while it slices and punctures my skin. The sound is similar to a group of killer bees buzzing all the same time. I wasn’t expecting pain because I had 5 tattoos already and I feel like I’m used to the pain. So I set my ipod to full blast and started listening to “Air Supply” (one of those days when I listen to corny music). When my tattoo artist started doing the outline, I was stunned because of the pain, I wanted to faint – it felt like all of the air is being sucked out from your lungs. The worst part is - I can’t react, I can’t even flinch because I wanted to maintain my cool and calm demeanor.

Lessons learned:

· Never listen to Air Supply while getting inked
· No matter how calm and cool you are, you will feel pain when 3 needles start to poke your skin in rapid succession

I haven’t mentioned anything about Grams’ disgust with people with body art, have I? Chill! She didn’t disown me or something. I know for a fact that I am the only one in our family, who likes tattoos. After getting my first tat, I was hell-bent on hiding it from Grams. She’s cool and all but I’m not sure how would she react if she sees my tat. And to my credit I was successful in hiding it from her for almost 6 months (during that time she rarely visits my place). One gloomy afternoon, I was preparing coffee in the kitchen when the door swung open and she came in (yes, grams teleported from Bulacan to see me). I was preparing to get the bashing of my entire life when she said:

“Ano yan tattoo?” (She asked that while she’s poking my nape with her index finger)
I uttered a silent prayer and said, “Opo” (then I closed my eyes)
“Eh, bakit ang liit?”
I chuckled and said….”Ayoko ng malaking tattoo eh.”
“Next time, agila ipalagay mo or dragon…” (Grams still managed to be sarcastic while maintaining her cool.)