tattoos.

dis morning, it was rather interesting.
as i was again, walking in the midst of the stampede,
there was dis girl in front of me.
not a very tall one, but i'd say, quite dark..

she had a tattoo.
that caught my attention..
she was wearing a dress,
but her back was quite low-cut.

so her tattoo was half-seen,
or maybe it was just the tip of the inked iceberg.
it was a chinese character,
which i think reads, 'jian' or 'xian'.

my chinese is seriously too good man.
jian as in jian qiang de jian,
or xian as in those commonly used
in chinese names like hui xian, qi xian, that xian.

so i was just thinking abt tattoos,
and what tattoo will i put on me if i were to put one.
just then, another american guy streamed past me,
and he has a roman word on back of his forearm..

it was pretty cool,
and he looked really funky man.
baldie wif a lush goatie and aviators.
a not so bulky physique but really tall..

and so i was really thinking dis time,
what would i put.
i've always told myself,
"if i weren't a christian, i sure put one man."

and when i asked myself why i wanna put it,
where will i put it,
and what will i put,
i can't resist thinking abt identity.

some of them likes to put an 'elusive' tattoo.
like ljungberg wif his jaguar tattoo,
'climbing' out from his boxers.
i always thought that was damn nice.

those tattoos where pple can only see abit,
and probably only their wives gets the 'full picture'.
and there're also others who tattoo on more obvious places,
"so expensive! must flaunt ma. if not put for what.."

some for status and stature purposes,
where the whole body is tattooed!
more commonly, neck down.
maybe they find more security in being intimidating..

and that is the overview of the placements.
what abt the 'symbol' or 'characters' or pictures?
some calls it a fashion statement, a sign of tribal origin,
their names, their gang symbol, their status.

it is interesting,
i've a few acquaintances,
who happened to belong to some society groups.
and they used to explain to me what each tattoos mean..

there's the 'teardrop',
and even on which eye has a different meaning.
i forgot the order, but if i'm not wrong,
one means 'scouter', another means something else.

and there's also what they call, 'diam'.
means dot in hokkien.
dis one i rmb clearly.
its a dot or a line on the forehead in between the eyebrows.

a dot means he's the fighter of the group,
and the longer the line, the more experienced he is.
and there's a dot wif red colour in it,
which means he's a fighter who won't stop until he sees blood.

these are some tattoos that signifies the status
or the ranks or 'occupation' in their group.
another symbol is of coz symbols of their groups themselves.
locally, the more common ones are 'sparrows' and 'monkey'.

it is usually found on either the right or left thumb.
you know the bigger surface of your thumb?
the part closer to your wrist,
and the part not on your palm but behind.

all those that i've mentioned,
are vague memories of what i've been told in the past,
maybe its changed now.
i don't know..

but my point here is dis,
tattoos often tells you who you are.
and it seldom depicts the wrong you.
it usually tells the true inner self of you..

why do i say that?
firstly, tattoos are permanent,
they're expensive,
and they're visible.

nobody in their right mind would tattoo
something they don't like.
they'd tattoo something that represents them,
so that when pple see them, their tattoos speaks truth too!

i've a platoon of colourful dudes in army last time.
and one of them caught my attention.
he's a typical chinese hooligan,
but he has a coloured tattoo of 2 hearts stringed in an arrow.

very cute looking thing.
so i asked him,
why would you waste money putting that funny thing?
he said, last time my gf like ma!

and true enough,
it was out of impulse that he tattooed that.
and in person,
he's really impatient but would sacrifice for the ones he loved.

i've another fella who has a dragon on his right shoulder,
that stretches from his chest to his upper arm.
he's a petite guy but a thunderous voice!
quite a cute guy, and i like him alot..

he often gets buillied in sch last time,
and one day before his 'N' levels, he went to tattoo that!
spent 500-600 on that dragon.
and i didn't hafta ask to know why he tattooed.

and he said from then,
he had a lot of friends and wouldn't poke fun of him.
he loves to wear tight fitting shirts,
so when he plays arcade, pple can see the tail of the dragon.

so some really finds security in external symbols,
and they find that their most effective deterrence
would be the decorations on their skin,
visible and big..

i used to struggle v hard,
coz i can't think of what tattoo to put.
but recently,
i've finally came to a conclusion..

if i really can put,
i'll wanna put an anogram,
wif my name in greek,
and the name of Jesus in hebrew..

and where?
i'd probably either put it at the back of my forearm,
or my left lower back,
just above my full bossom..

well, what does it speak of me?
i'm baffled as well.
maybe that's why, i couldn't decide whether to put or not
and the bible decided for me.

struggling wif your identity?
not really sure who you really are?
think of what tattoos you will put and where.
that might be one of the closest depiction of you!