tattoo

so i got my tattoo done last week. i went to sacred tattoo in downtown nyc. it's a popular tattoo shop in the city with more than 30 years in the biz. matt adams was my tattoo artist. he specializes in japanese inspired tattoos. he's my age and muy cool. he has done several pieces that i really like. check out his website

back in college, i thought of getting a tattoo. i wanted it to be a trail of red ladybugs climbing my back. i thought that was cute. but the "rational/conservative" voice in me warned against it. what if decades from now i find myself in a nursing home with early dementia? i look myself in the mirror and find bugs crawling from my ass up to my back?! tragedy i tell you.

so i cancelled my plans of getting a tattoo. friends got theirs. briggs got one on her ankle. edong just got one on his arm. charly has one by her pelvis. jerrold has little triangular thingies on his knuckles.

more than a decade later , at this turning point in my life, the thought popped in my head again.

during the drunken hours of my birthday eve, i entertained the idea and asked my friend lubs what she would think if i get one. she was thrilled by the idea and admitted that she wanted to get one herself. she even suggested we get one together before i ride back to nj, sort of a birthday present to myself.

and so, the idea simmered in my head. i researched tattoo websites and read on FAQs on how painful it may be. finally, on july 7 i planned a trip to the city to sacred tattoo. alas, i did not get my tattoo on that auspicious day because matt was too tired. i did not want to risk getting a tattoo from an overworked artist. no. i can wait. i scheduled my session for the following day.

i was at sacred tattoo a few minutes before our appointed time. matt and i brainstormed on what tattoo i had wanted. and this is how it looks like.




the session took almost two hours with three mini breaks. i brought along a graphic novel to keep my mind off the whirring needles and of course, the pain. matt was a very cool guy. we listened to jam music and we talked in between. did it hurt? yes, but not as painful as i have anticipated. did it hurt? this kind of pain is nothing to the one inflicted in my heart.

and so, by dusk i sauntered out of sacred tattoo feeling like a big girl and a whole new person. my friend from blogging berks put it best. it is time to let my ankh bearing phoenix fly unfettered.