This week, the one true love said, ‘when I get into the money, I’m gonna get a tattoo of a snake, maybe somewhere on my ankle’.
I have a tattoo on my arm, a tribal-like thingie of a dragon, in black, but which is now so faded that people think I got it a long time ago.
I got the tatt done three years ago now, back when Karen and I spent every waking moment together. We were browsing around Queensway Shopping Centre looking for a cheap pair of sandals, as one does when one is there, and we walked past the tattoo parlour on the third floor. This was no ‘modern’ tattoo parlour, like the ones you’d see on Orchard Road and thereabouts. This was a Hokkien-speaking, chain-smoking, Kuan-Yin-Goddess-of-Mercy-tattoo-special-discount, simi-si-Celtic-design tattoo parlour.
Karen said, ‘Hey, let’s each get one’, while I looked at the second hand mobile phones in the adjacent shop window. Next thing I know, she leads me into the tattoo parlour and pores through the clear folder of designs. Next thing I know, she picks a dragon and says ‘let’s get this one’. Next thing I know, I’m sitting on a chair in pain and there’s blood flowing down my right arm.
The tattoo ‘artist’ comments in Hokkien that I bleed unusually profusely and says he has to use extra ink. Or something. At the other end of the parlour, Karen is going ‘Ow, fuck! Dammit! It didn’t hurt so much the last time. Fuck!’.
Half a box of kleenex later, we leave the parlour with bloodshot eyes and sport identical bandages which we lift and peek into every now and again on the way home, as if to check if the ink’s run. Her bandage is just below and to the left of her belly button, while mine’s on my right arm.
So, Karen and I have the same dragon tattoo. Much like how some people close to each other have same rings, except it’s a bit harder to take off a tattoo. I don’t attribute any other special meaning to that. I am just too open to suggestion.
Puff the Frivolous Dragon
Wah, your dragon is nice man! Very mystical, not like the cina ‘angkong’ type. Ever got ah beng jio u one-on-one?
I found a few tribal dragon & scorpion designs on the net, tot of using them as designs behind my mobile, but tot better of it. Wait kena ‘jio’…
Wah, your dragon is nice man! Very mystical, not like the cina ‘angkong’ type. Ever got ah beng jio u one-on-one?
I found a few tribal dragon & scorpion designs on the net, tot of using them as designs behind my mobile, but tot better of it. Wait kena ‘jio’…
How about a rose on the butt cheek? Hee hee hee.
How about a rose on the butt cheek? Hee hee hee.
Egad, do all tattoos fade that much after three years??
Egad, do all tattoos fade that much after three years??
Yes, Kevin, got Ah Beng jio me one-on-one because lim peh ang kong sibeh fierce. And yes, a rose sounds appealing. And yes, tattoos fade. You’ve seen the old aunties with the faded eyebrow tattoos what.
Yes, Kevin, got Ah Beng jio me one-on-one because lim peh ang kong sibeh fierce. And yes, a rose sounds appealing. And yes, tattoos fade. You’ve seen the old aunties with the faded eyebrow tattoos what.
Coooool … a bit Maori-looking too. (Ok, I know dragons don’t feature much in Maori folklore)
The problem with us Chinese guys is there is a very fine line between looking cool and looking Beng/Drug Addict, when it comes to tattoos, facial hair, coloured hair etc. It’s so easy for Malay and Indian guys to get the surfer dude look, but for us one wrong move = char kway teow stall helper …
Coooool … a bit Maori-looking too. (Ok, I know dragons don’t feature much in Maori folklore)
The problem with us Chinese guys is there is a very fine line between looking cool and looking Beng/Drug Addict, when it comes to tattoos, facial hair, coloured hair etc. It’s so easy for Malay and Indian guys to get the surfer dude look, but for us one wrong move = char kway teow stall helper …
Yes, when only the lower half of my tattoo is showing, I kid people that it is the Air New Zealand logo. Sad thing is, they take that seriously. Po karekare ana!
Yes, when only the lower half of my tattoo is showing, I kid people that it is the Air New Zealand logo. Sad thing is, they take that seriously. Po karekare ana!
fuhhhh you so darn gangster….
fuhhhh you so darn gangster….
I got my zodiac tattoo when I was 22 and my dad didn’t speak to me for a month. He thought I had joined the secret society. *ahem*
I got my zodiac tattoo when I was 22 and my dad didn’t speak to me for a month. He thought I had joined the secret society. *ahem*
Nice tattoo. My mom then my bf objected me having a tattoo… Then later I decided that I don’t want one fading on my sagging skin.
Nice tattoo. My mom then my bf objected me having a tattoo… Then later I decided that I don’t want one fading on my sagging skin.
anyone can advise where’s a gd spot to have a tatoo on -some place we our skin wont sag pref. and mayb disguised at times?
anyone can advise where’s a gd spot to have a tatoo on -some place we our skin wont sag pref. and mayb disguised at times?
nice angkong, how much did it cost you?
nice angkong, how much did it cost you?
$80
$80