May 18, 2004

I got another tattoo on Sunday so here's my total list, in order of inking:

Around my left ankle
Chinese letters for CATBIRD*
SCORPIO astrological sign
Japanese symbol for POETRY
TAURS astrological sign
The initial J
Chinese symbol for STRENGTH
The initial R
Gaelic spelling for STORYTELLER

On my lower back
Chinese symbol (but I won't reveal what it means until I feel it's time. Don't ask.)

So that makes what, 9 total now? Unless Marilyn is still counting the anklet as 1 since it forms one piece, in which case I only have 2 tattoos.

* The Chinese don't spell with the same alphabet that we use for English, therefore, don't ever go into a shop thinking you can spell out some name like "Suzie" in Chinese letters. The Asian cultures use Kanji, which is more like symbols, to write with. That means that my nickname "Catbird" probably should have come out as Kanji for CAT and BIRD, as two symbols. That's a lesson for all of you wishing to ink foreign languages onto your body - research it first! I found out the hard way and now I have no idea what my first "Chinese" tattoo really means. Before I got the second Chinese tattoo I researched the symbol and when I got the Japanese one, I had a friend with me who spoke and read Japanese and could verify the symbol. As for the Irish one, I had researched it but apparently Gaelic spellings will vary so my particular spelling might not be the most widely used or recognized spelling, but at least I know I didn't write "dumbass" in Gaelic on my ankle by accident.

that was then - this is now