Archive for February 22nd, 2007

Ten Years of a Tattooed Finger

Posted by Everywhere and Here. on Thursday, February 22nd, 2007 @ 10:14 pm in Personal - Philippines.

My tattoo turned ten last February 17. I got it when I was a jock in NU 107. I was assigned to cover a music/tattoo

My tattooed finger.
My tattooed finger.
festival at Intramuros and immediately thought of actually getting one on my finger. Two weeks after getting the assignment and countless design ideas in my head, I went to the festival set on subjecting my skin to a lifetime of permanent ink, painfully etched on in less than five minutes.

Seriously.

Nothing prepared me for the agony of the needle but submit myself I did to the expert hands of Alfred Guevara. Could he put an anesthetic or some kind of numbing solution? I asked. No, was his reply. I figured it was a rite of passage for anyone with body art to simply endure. So I sat and screamed and forced my body to relax and screamed some more and tried to recall my Lamaze breathing techniques - but to no avail. It hurt. Bony parts are the most painful, Alfred explained. Thanks, Alfred, I know.

Backstage pass
Backstage pass

The agony went on for a good three minutes. The whole time I kept remembering my mom's voice that afternoon. "You're going to look like an ex-con!", "You'll be stuck with it forever, Thelma Elaine!", "What's gotten into you?!", "Baka isipin ng mga tao, kriminal ka!" ["People might think you're a criminal!"] Twenty-seven year old me could only smile and say, "Mom, I know what I'm doing. I'll have to live with it. I want to live with it." To which she gave her resigned, "Bahala ka. ["It's up to you."] It's your choice."

And choose I did. To stop Alfred from taking the design full circle around my finger. The pain had gotten even worse as he reached the skin where the top meets the palm. It literally felt like he was cutting off my finger! So stop he did as tears rolled down my cheeks.

I looked at him and smiled. "It's so pretty..." Sob. Sob.

The night went on with me sharing my experience live on the air. I went home with petroleum jelly covering my new ring and the pride in knowing I was now part of an unspoken club - the tattooed.

Over the years I have added more - a ring around my toe, a tribal anklet, a floral anklet and dainty leaves on my left ear lobe. Many people ask - those with untrained eyes at least - are those real? To which I reply yes. Did they hurt? Of course they did! Why'd you get them? I wanted them, I always smile.

My tattooed toeTribal meet floral ankletsMy left ear lobe


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on naysaying

Posted by Possum on Thursday, February 22nd, 2007 @ 2:06 pm in Personal - Philippines.

Shag
Shag
(image from here)

The truth is that I find anti-valentiners every bit as disturbing and cliché as those who celebrate the holiday wholeheartedly - perhaps even more so. Yes, we get it; love does not equal money. And yes, it's consumerist-oriented and sometimes shallow and unimaginative and anything but spontaneous. Yes, it's manufactured. How intelligent and original and rebellious of you to rage against the norm. (Never mind that everyone's doing it now too.)

To be honest all this Valentine's Day rage is just so... teenage. You don't buy into it? Then don't, and let the ones that do have their fun. Sure it's planned and ritualized, but isn't every holiday? V-Day doesn't have to be the be all and end all of love - but what's wrong with a reminder? Dressing all in black, being moody and prone to bouts of unprompted tirades about the stupidity of Valentine's Day, the color pink, capitalism, god, take your pick - it all stopped being cool after high school. It's like the god thing - if you believe there is no god then why do you care enough to 'convert' a believer? I think it's just as irrational to believe in a non-existence as it is to believe in the existence of something you can't prove... but that's another post.

The cheeseheaded one doesn't celebrate Valentine's Day. I do, albeit simply. I don't expect the flowers and the chocolates and the dinner out, especially because the lines are horribly long. I don't expect him to race home the second he gets off work. I don't expect him to dress well or smell good or leave the toilet seat down. I don't expect him to be sweet and rough and gentle. I don't expect him to be especially considerate. I don't expect to be taken out shopping. I don't expect any of these things... at least, not solely on Valentine's Day. But if he does do any of these things, it would make me happy. The way it always makes me happy when he does, on any day of the year. If all the hearts and commercials inspire him to be extra sweet, I'm grateful for it. If not, he is attentive enough and loving enough for me not to need more. I don't expect anything 'special' because it is always special.

I do, however, expect sex.

Happy Valentine's Day to lovers and naysayers alike!

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Vox Hunt: Overdubbed

Posted by Everywhere and Here. on Thursday, February 22nd, 2007 @ 8:34 am in Personal - Philippines.

Audio: If you could sing like anyone, living or dead, who would you choose to sound like?  Share a song of theirs.
Submitted by aa.

Hmmm. Tough one to answer but I think I'd have to go with Sarah Betten's of K's Choice. Her voice is distinctively hers - imperfect with its tiny breaks like she has laryngitis. But this is what makes her so interesting to listen to!

K's Choice - Believe
K's Choice - Believe



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