For those who haven't read it, I'd like to draw your attention to a guest blog post by Anastasya, a good friend of mine, on her brother's blog, An Unquiet Day.
I love the last paragraph. It describes down to a T how I feel about tattoos and I could not have said it better myself.
People often tell me to slow down. They point out that tattoos are permanent... but face it – nothing is. Life is a fleeting, beautiful experience, and we make our surroundings as pleasant as possible while we're here. I decorate my body in the same way one decorates any dwellings. I put down meaningful symbolism, trying to capture as much of my journey as possible. This vessel isn't sacred. It is dust. What is important to me is the fleeting thoughts, feelings and ideas dwelling inside it, which I attempt to represent on the outside in small colourful icons.
I went to see Manuela at Wildfire again yesterday. To touch up my last piece and to discuss my next piece. I scheduled the next session for later in the year. It's a bigger piece and I will need to save some money for it.
I don't get any particular pleasure from the actual tattooing process. I don't have a needle fetish. Tattooing can be uncomfortable, painful some times, a tattoo is ugly when the scabbing starts and you want to scratch off a layer of skin when it starts healing.
But I love that buzzing sound. Knowing that soon I'll have another beautiful decoration on my body.
There are a few things that I am not ashamed to publicly admit that I love. Every week (mood dependent), I will post an entry about something I love.
This week's entry is about my adorable kitty, Noname (pronounce: Noh-Nah-Mi). Noname is no longer a kitten (I don't think he ever was!) but I still call him my kitten.
Noname was a stray living in the parking lot of my old flat block. There were quite a few strays (at least 3 of them Noname fathered). But unlike the other strays, Noname didn't shy away from humans. He would meow a response when called. And then actually approach you. So, naturally, I started feeding him. First, with expensive cold meats since that is what I had after returning from a picnic. Then later with microwaved frozen hake (man, did that reek!).
Noname is prone to following people. At first he needed a little encouragement. But I managed to get him into the lift and into my flat. He ate, he drank water and then I discovered (as did half the neighbourhood) that he is not really an inside cat. Feeling horrible about his distress about being inside I let him out again. He remained a stray.
At some point between The Netherlands and here, I decided that at the very least I needed to get him to a vet and put up for adoption. This is when i decided to call him Noname. I couldn't really think of a name for him and he wasn't going to keep him at this stage. It was a while before I could make it to the vet so I deflead him and bought some cheap catfood. At the Animal Anti-Cruelty League I was told that adoption was unlikely because of his tendency to run away and because he's already over the age of 4. He would most likely be put down. I adopted him. There was no way I could possibly let such a beautiful beast be put down. I wasn't allowed to keep pets. But I risked it and Noname was kept indoors. I was slowly being driven insane by his meowing and destruction of my blinds. This went on for over 6 months until I moved to a new place. A pet friendly townhouse complex.
Noname was almost immediately at home. I felt such joy at being able to let him out. And the best part is, he comes back. Time and time again. It's probably just for the food.
I've grown incredibly attached to Noname and cannot consider life without him right now.
His tendency to follow me has no turned into a need to be walked. He's also unique in that he comes when called. He loves ribbons, snakes and grasshoppers. He attacks the neighbours' dogs but he's not stupid and will not take on dogs 4 times his size. He can only handle dogs twice his size. He insists on always being in the same room as me (it drives me nuts). He doesn't think there is anything wrong with sleeping on my breadboard. That's, of course, when he's not taking up all the space on the couch. He's prone to destroying rugs but stopped climbing up my curtains after I threw him out of house the one time he did. His tail is broken and he has issues with having his tummy rubbed.Noname's new friend, ahem, enemy is Salem who thinks that it's perfectly ok to walk around in Noname's house and eat Noname's food. This morning was spent trying to get Salem to understand that this is not ok. So, Salem climbed into my car. After 3 out of 4 doors were open I managed to grab Salem and returned him to his own house. Noname was to return inside as I cannot risk him attacking the neighbours' animals while I'm not there. Noname was not having any of it.
I hope there are no casaulties.
