I had been wanting to get a tattoo but my fear of needles always held me back. Back then, I wanted Sasuke’s Cursed Mark somewhere between my nape and my left shoulder – the same spot where Orochimaru placed it on Sasuke. For those who have no idea who Sasuke and Orochimaru are, they are characters from a Japanese animation called “Naruto”, which I’ve been a fan of.

But because I am also a big Harry Potter fan, I decided that my [first] tattoo should be Harry Potter related. That for sure, I won’t ever regret. I searched and searched for designs and for tattoo stories. I wanted to know what the others’ first experiences were like. How the pain was… They all said the same thing, though – that the pain was tolerable. And they all said that once you got one, you’d want more.

There’s only one way to find out! I have to really have it done! And I finally did on the 18th of December this year. Through my cousin Generoi, I met Kuya Christopher Ponce, who’s normally called by his last name ‘Ponce’. His works are awesome. He also does portraits! My cousin had his sons’ portraits on his forearms. There’s this guy who had John Lennon’s and Yoko Ono’s faces tattooed on his forearms as well and they looked as though they were taken out straight from a picture!

 

Guil’s sister and I were in my cousins’ house waiting for a loooooong time for the artist. 😦 That time, he had other clients, too. When he was finally done, he had to go to buy some stuff. He came back after about 5 hours! We initially wanted to start around lunch time. But we started at 7 PM.

Seeing his tools made me so nervous, but I wasn’t going to back out, of course. I was already determined. It’s just that I was sooo nervous! I was sitting on one of the dining chairs, and he on the sofa. I placed my left arm on the arm rest (or whatever you call it) and closed my eyes. I kept saying, “Oh my gosh! Oh my gosh! Oh my gosh!”

When the needle touched my skin, I was like, “Hmmh… Okay…” Of course it wasn’t “honey” but it was truly TOLERABLE! Some parts were a bit painful, but mostly okay.

The results are worth it (except for the ‘Patronum’ which turned a bit messy) so I hope to get it fixed in the future. The whole session took us only an hour.

I’m just so happy with my first tattoo. It’s the Deathly Hallows symbol, from the seventh book of Harry Potter. It represents the Elder Wand, the Resurrection Stone, and the Invisibility Cloak, which were believed to make the uniter invincible. The text is ‘Expecto Patronum’, which is the spell used to conjure one’s Patronus that drives away the Dementors. A wizard or a witch could only conjure their Patronus by thinking of a strong happy memory. The happier the memory is, the stronger the Patronus can get. This is from the book Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. J.K. Rowling said that the Dementor was the representation of her depression. So for me, this tattoo is like a reminder that I can be invincible even when my Dementors come.

A friend has even asked me if there will be more [tattoos] to come. I wasn’t sure that time, but then, I thought of the possible designs I might have next time. I’m not sure if I’m gonna get them, though. As soon as Guil approves, then I’ll go. 🙂

At this point in time, I feel satisfied that I have finally crossed out one big item on my bucket list. I’m not getting any younger and as I age, I hope I could say that I lived my life to the fullest!