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| First and foremost... Diwali Valthukal to all my Indian machas. Although the likelihood of any of you guys to be reading my blog is as good as me having a romantic dinner with Jessica Alba in this quiet country town, I sincerely hope all of yous are enjoying a safe and fun Deepavali...
Today marked the second week I'm suffering from this bloody flu. It is terrible when you fall sick again every time you are about to recover because you couldn't resist the temptation of a crispy cold Heineken and a few nice puffs. I know alcohol will block my nasal even more and that nicotine smoke will aggravate my sensitive nose but I'm too stupid to comprehend this very complex scenario. I always thought I know how to take care of myself after spending so much time living by myself abroad but this is one of those things that I have yet to learn. I hate to get sick but yet, I never take enough initiative to prevent or to reduce the pain.
What the hell, anyway this is one of the best weekend I've had for a month despite being a sickie cause I have been working for the past few weekends. Life as an engineer is boring. I'm really satisfied with my job and that I'm making progress in my professional development. But I'm not happy that work has slowly crept in and started to take control of my social life. I go home everyday hoping that there will be no emergency calls from the plant on my mobile and that I can just spend some quiet time watching some classic movies, listening to songs, reading books or to do some sports. All these little things that I've taken granted for during my student days are now a luxury and a thing of the past.
All I'm thinking now is Chinese New Year next February. I'm planning to use 3 weeks of my annual leave to go back to Ipoh. I can't help but to visualise the awesome time that I'll have when I'm back. Ipoh is a sleepy town alright but it has its charming side. I grew up and spent half of my juvenile life there. Things haven't changed too dramatically compared to our neighbours in Penang or KL. And while the local government are fretting over it, I found that this is what make Ipoh so enchanting in the first place. It's as if you are stepping 10 years back to her glorious tin mining days everytime you drive or walk past Ipoh Old Town. The shops are so nostalgic and look so so much better aesthetically and structurally compared to any newly built buildings. It's no surprising why movie makers love to film in Ipoh. The latest I heard was Ang Lee's Lust, Caution joining a host of other movies like Anna and the King and Sepet making Ipoh as their prime filming location in Malaysia.
I'm really anticipating for this trip as I have also included Phuket in my stop-list. Hopefully, everything will turn out as planned. By the way, I watched Malena on SBS last night and gosh, Monica Belluci is absolutely stunning. I don't know what's going on with the current crops of Hollywood actresses and female celebrities; Jess Simpson, Lindsay Lohan, Paris Hilton are craps. We need more classy ladies...
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Transition (Part II)
I was inspired to write a new post on this forgotten
blog of mine when during the last weekend I suddenly realised how much I have
changed since my younger days in high school and in college. This might sound
all too weird but to be frank, I do think it’s weird when I found myself
watching Hayao Miyasaki’s ‘Spirited Away’. Wtf am I thinking?
People have told me that I’ve changed a lot but I
never took it to heart because I just weren’t aware of the change myself. But
to find myself enjoying a Japanese anime that centres around the adventure of a
young girl in the realm of fantasy for 2 hours or more is definitely something
that can’t be overlooked.
For the record, the animated movie is certainly very
well made and deserves all its due credits. But I was never an anime fan nor do
I have much appreciation on them. The last anime that I remember watching was
Dragon Ball and we are talking about an anime more than 15 years old.
I still remember when I took a piss at my housemate
when I caught him buying and watching ‘Spirited Away’ on VCD with his
girlfriend. I laughed at him for that and I guess I owe him one as I’ve now
gone the distance to rent the movie on DVD and watch it myself. How time has
changed me; cause I would never have watched this movie even if the DVD is
right in front of me computer, not to mention going all the way to rent it.
Feeling more curious about discovering my ‘new’ self,
I started to look back at old pictures of myself a few years ago and comparing
them with the new ones. Boy, did I find some discoveries. The most obvious
difference is that I no longer shave my hair and I no longer wear baggy
clothes. I now spot a neat and decent haircut and have a liking for body
hugging outfits. These 2 are at the top of my ‘no-no’ list when I was in
college cause I deemed neat hair and tight shirts as gay. I was a sexist and I
am not embarrassed to admit it.
How time has changed as I now take pride with my neat
haircut and with my new fashion sense. Bloody hell… 
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| Transition
A lot of things have happened to me lately. I doubt if there’s anyone following my blog to know much about myself (not that I complain since I don’t update it regularly) but I’m certainly glad that things start to look all so well again after such a torrid time over the past 6 months.
It all started to change after I went back to Malaysia for my Chinese New Year holiday last February. Before that, I was so worried about my future as I have not started to work despite having graduated last August 2005. On top of it, I was still waiting for the results of my Australian permanent residency application. I was really depressed for a period of time.
The moment I reached Adelaide, I promised myself that the next time that I board the plane and step foot on Australian soil again, I’ll be more successful; a man who no longer needs financial support from his family and is more than capable to look after himself. My 2 other friends and I tentatively set a date when we will all return back to Malaysia if we are still unable to get any jobs by July 2006. We somehow realised that we shouldn’t be so obstinate and adamant with our desire to stay in Australia and have to resort in working shitty jobs to support ourselves here. I worked as a glassy in a nightclub during weekends while my other friend worked as a construction worker and another working in a pizza place. It’s just unacceptable to me that people with our qualifications have to succumb and gets trapped in this sort of work. Not that I despise the job or anything but it’s appalling that the 3 of us had wasted a valuable 6 months of our life doing nothing much and have completely lost a sense of direction in life. It’s even more mind-boggling as one of my friends is a top student in the engineering faculty; he’s a first class honours degree holder who was on a full scholarship with the uni. He has since went back to Malaysia because he has all but given up his hope and desire to stay back here in Australia. It’s a wise decision anyway because people with his qualifications and excellent academic results should not have any real problems in securing a good job in Malaysia.
Fast forward to April 2006, my fate has taken a complete twist. Not only have I been granted my Australian PR, I bought my first car, a ’98 Mitsubishi Magna and had been offered a 2 year Graduate Mechatronic Engineer position by Kraft Foods Ltd in Victoria. I couldn’t really ask for more considering all my friends here are having troubles in getting a good head start in their respective careers. Some are either unemployed and has to do labour jobs or are working in some shitty companies as technicians.
Thinking aback, although the past 6 months had been the most unproductive and depressing period in my 22 years of life, it has taught me a few good lessons.
Lesson 1 – Value your family, friends and anyone around you
Lesson 2 – Don’t be afraid to sacrifice because you won’t be getting any benefits without first making sacrifices
Lesson 3 – As much as you judge other people, you are also being judged yourself
Lesson 4 – Be humble and true to yourself
Lesson 5 – A great man is not judged by his success but by the way he picks himself up each time he falls | | |
| My first tattoo
After much pestering and putting up with ear-numbing lectures, I finally managed to get approval from parents to let me to get a tattoo. I've actually made a decision to get a tattoo when I was in highschool but I was denied by my parents and also because I was still studying back then.
To ink a tattoo on your body is a life-long decision. One should never get one simply to look macho or be fashionable. Poor quality or bad design tattoos will not only make you look like a wannabe but it'll haunt you for life. During conversations with my tattoo artist, Bobby, I was told that there were many people coming to look for him because they were unhappy with their tattoos inked by other artistes and needed his help to cover it with a new one.
There are 2 important considerations that should be carefully appraised before one decided to get a tattoo. One is the search for a good and experienced tattoo artist and the other one is the search for a good design. There are people who were really concerned with the pain during the tattooing process but from my experience, the pain is bearable. Besides that, if you happen to get a good and experienced artist, the pain is minimal.
I'm actually quite lucky to get hold of Bobby due to my sister contacts in Singapore. My sister's boyfriend happen to have a share in a tattoo centre there and he recommended Bobby to me. On the first day, I spent much time thinking and coming up with a design with him. I can tell how good he is because he rejected any proposals to do simple objects and tribal designs because he claimed those tattoos lacked spirit and can be done by anyone. At the end of the day, we finally came up with a design that both of us were happy about.
I went back the next day to ink the tattoo. The first step was Bobby tracing the tattoo design on piece of paper and then sticking it on my arm. It's very much like making a carbon copy. Once he removed the paper from my arm, the tattoo outline can be visibly seen. He repaired some lines that were not visible with a pen and then the inking process can be started.
The first inking process required him to do an outline on the tattoo. This time is not by pen with tracing paper but with a tattoo machine. The machine looks like a handgun and the needle is at the tip of it. There are various different sizes of needles avaiable for different needs, apparently. My tattoo required 3 different needles. Throughout the process, the artist will occassionally dipped the needle into a special ink to get the tattoo colour. The frequency of it will affect the overall colour and its brightness. Also, the skills of the tattoo artist is very important during inking as you don't want to damage your skin cells. Good artists are able to know how much strength he/she needs to apply in order to avoid the needle to penetrate too deep into the skin; thus damaging skin cells and caused bleeding.
After making an outline, Bobby started to use a bigger needle in order to fill in the colour for the tattoo. After 2 and a half hours, my first tattoo was done. The pain was bearable. However, be warned that bony areas such as your shoulder, elbow, collorbone etc will bring far greater pain and anguish. As my tattoo stretched from my upper arm, Bobby did the top part near the end. Hence, all the great pain was reserved till the end. It's hard to describe the pain but just imagine how you will feel if someone poke you with a needle or a knife on your skin and repeated it for almost 3 hours and around the very same area! Pain + agitation...
There was a time when I felt really agitated and wanted to punch something or just walk away. But there were quite crowd watching both me and Bobby as the centre is located in a shopping complex. More imperatively, there were quite a few girls who were interested with tattoos came inside to watch us. As a pride Leo, I had to forcefully put a brave macho face despite all the pain.
The next one week involved applying soothing lotion on the tattoo area as the skin will dry up and eventually peeled off. Just for this reason alone, I bought a few singlets so that the I don't further irritate the skin.
The name of my tattoo design is called Maori. It's a Samoan tradition to get Maori tattoos and culturally, each tribe will get a Maori tattoo called Ta Moko to signify their positions in the tribe. Although my tattoo is based on the Maoris, it is not Ta Moko in principal because Ta Moko tattoos involved traditional inking process and each tribe/family has a distinctive Maori design that can only be applicable to their tribe/family members. More info from http://www.tamoko.org.nz/
My tattoo design is blended with Maori influence but I have no intention whatsoever to imitate Ta Moko because Ta Moko tattoos represented deep cultural significance and importance to the Maoris.
My tattoo comprised of a large central circle at the top and is surrounded by 5 stripes that stretched downwards from the circle. The circle actually represented the unity and strenght of my family. As this part also bought me the most pain during tattooing (it's bony cause it's near shoulder area), it also represented the pain and sacrifices of my parents. The 5 stripes represent the 5 members of my family; my father, mother, elder sister, me and my younger brother.
I have friends who have asked me how to get tattoos that can carry meaningful messages. They have to understand that there is not textbook on the meaning of tattoos. Every tattoo can carry personal messages. Even common designs like flowers, lotus, butterflies etc can have its own unique messages.
At the end of the day, I'm truly satisfied with the results. In fact, I don't have to pay a thing for this tattoo because of my contacts. This type of tattoo normally costs around $300... I also need to mention the professionalism of Bobby. Bobby is not a full time artist and only occassionally come over for the sake of his interests and challenge. On the day of my tattoo, he actually had to start his work shift at the hotel at 3pm but he only left me at 2.55pm. Instead of rushing it out, he took his time to explain to me on some post-tattoo care and even took his time to take pictures with me. I was really really impressed with his professionalism and commitment. The fact that he's not charging me anything further impressed me.
Sadly, Bobby will be leaving for Borneo soon and Malaysians and Singaporeans alike will lost an opportunity to meeting one of the best artists in this region. My best wishes to him...
For people who are staying in Singapore or nearby and are interested with tattoos, feel free to drop by this tattoo studio:
Dragon Pearl Tattoo Studio
100 Eu Tong Sen Street
#01-12 F Pearls Centre
Singapore 059812
Bobby + Me.
Me + Raymond. This dude has really good tattoos all over him...
Me + my brother. They said we looked like twins... although I'm actually 4 years older than my bro... >.<
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