friday the 13th

This is a long post due.

Turning 29 this year, i decided to get a tattoo as a birthday gift to myself.

I've always wanted one but never gave it a serious thought until i saw my cousin's cool tattoo and decided this is a now-or-never moment.

I started collecting ideas for the image a month before (a lot of tattoo-magazines reading and net surfing) and filtered the pictures based on the location i wanted, which was behind the neck.

A thing i wanted to avoid the most was tattoo-plagiarism (thanks to this eye-opening article). It's amazing how this is not an issue for some people at all. So, i stopped searching for ideas with the word "tattoo" on the google bar and instead went straight to "Line Drawing" on google images with any ideas for a tattoo that came to mind. 

I brought several images to my tattooist and we finally decided on an image of a heart-lock (based on Proverbs 4:23). Awi was also there to give his input as i am what you described as "plin plan parah". I usually give other people the privilege to make a decision for me rather than doing so myself (pathetic right?).

The two of them convinced me that the heart-lock combined with a little array of flowers around it would be much better than just a plain black-and-white heart-lock.

I was sold.

After 6 hours, here's what it looks like...

"Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life."

The pain was not that bad at all, just like what i had imagined really.

But the healing process, the scabs and the itchiness, were driving me crazy. 

It takes a LOT of willpower not to pick up any of the dried scab and/or scratch it when it feels itchy. Some mornings i woke up with the dried skin in shape of leaves on my pillow ("autumn" in my neck said awi). I guess this is the price you pay for beauty, right?

Finally, special thanks to Denny of INT Tattoo, my tattooist, who did a great job and kept me entertained for the whole 6 hours with his stories. He said "Welcome to the club" before we parted and i beamed with a smile. It was a happy birthday indeed.