They are windows into reminiscence-filled magic.
People with tattoos often say, each tattoo they have on their body has a story. Some, dates of importance, names, symbols, or phrases.
They say memories are tattoos of the heart.
Etched, memorised, remembered
My tattoos consist of small but worthy memories, some painful, some happy, or angry, but most of all are the ones I can reflect back on and laugh or cry about. Those are the ones where I don’t think will ever get replaced, or deleted. Though, I can’t say the same if along the lines of age I get Alzheimer’s or dementia; but that’ll be for another story later.
#1| happiness.
I had gone to The Gambia for a 2-week school project with other lower and upper sixth students during the Easter break. It was an amazing trip, and one day I really want to go back and see the children we taught and visit the river where I dropped my phone in (hopefully, I’d have a waterproof phone bag the next time). I was the only Asian in the group, who had to take another flight the next day to go home. I was feeling a bit homesick and lonely, and of course without my phone I felt even more alone. I was really excited to be going home, the trip was great but I missed home so much. I arrived in Hong Kong International Airport with my luggage and my backpack, took the airport express to Central Station and found myself waiting to be picked up by my parents. By the time their car pulled in, I could no longer stop the tears from rolling down my cheeks and was full-on bawling by the exit. (I think a lot of people didn’t know what was going on and just stared at me while they did their duties), and then the greatest moment of all was when my mom pulled me into her arms for the first time in 5 months, and hugged me so tight while telling me to stop crying. I could even see my brothers’ eyes glisten with tears when we hugged.
#2 | accomplished.
I was craving Asian food, I think I watched too many food videos late at night. It’s hard to find Korean food in the small village of my boarding school, and just had to make do with what I had in my box filled with Asian deliciousness (a.k.a. instant snacks and sauces). I woke up one Saturday and decided that ‘I’m going to buy ingredients for kimchi (preserved cabbage) and dumplings.’ I got on the train to Worcester to go on a hunt to find dumpling wrappers (then, I wouldn’t have to make the dough) and went to the local grocers to find ground pork and chicken, regular cabbage, a head of Chinese cabbage, carrot, pear, apple, ginger and a whole lot of garlic. Went to bed early in preparation for a busy Sunday. Let me tell you, I spent so long making the kimchi. And, it turned out amazing; I had purchased red pepper flakes from Amazon the week before and it turned out to be one heck of a homemade kimchi. Then, I had a therapeutic afternoon with a good friend of mine, and we were making dumplings and folding them. It was a success! It turned out so juicy and delicious, I froze the leftover dumplings to be eaten throughout the week and gave them out to my boarding friends. The kimchi became a celebrity within my friend group, and it was devoured in a week.
Exclusive kimchi tip: add Yakult to speed up the fermentation process.
#3 | confused.
This was in Year 13, a year full of stressful times. I rarely go down to have breakfast in the school canteen because I would never wake up in time or that I can’t be bothered to go down to eat and would always just settle for a cup of Earl Grey tea and biscuits before starting my day. But, a particular day when I had woken up early and went down with friends for breakfast; t’was probably a good 8 months since the last time I’ve eaten breakfast on a school-day. I was greeted with a fried egg (I’ll tell you, fried eggs rarely come up often because our school basically lived on the two words ‘Healthy Eating’). Internally, I was like ‘It’s a good thing I chose to come down for breakfast today.’ I was happily eating my breakfast, and my beautiful godly fried egg; when I discovered more than a crunch in my egg I kind of stopped chewing but was in mid-swallow. Aha! An egg shell is lodged in my throat, and it hurts. I believe it was a rather big-triangular piece that somehow decided itself to poke me every time I moved. I was instantly frustrated that water didn’t seem to be helping me, neither was yoghurt nor a banana. I was even given Wheaties and milk in the nurse’s office (kinda useless if you ask me). Healthline sure gave me some tips, but I had to wait it out and let my body do its thing. By dinner time, my throat was free from the poking but it also left me with a sore throat.
#4 | disgusted.
This gives me the heebie-jeebies whenever I think about it, please bear with me here. It was during lunch, and I think it was some sort of curry and rice with a side of broccoli. I was eating, enjoying lunch when I found that my plate was infested with bugs. I then discovered that the broccoli was the culprit, I used my knife to cut open the broccoli; and oh my days, it was a bug world — on my plate. I literally spat out what I was eating onto a tissue, and told my friends that there were insects in my food. Everyone on the table stopped talking and wanted to take a look at my insect infested plate. It was grim. A good friend of mine was fed up with it, and she took it to one of the cooking staff; I think the cook was rather shocked too. They did however, compensated my lunch with a sandwich (mind you, I did check inside the layers of the vegetables in my sandwich and it was bug-free). After that, I didn’t touch broccoli for a good couple of months and always made sure to check before I ate. I think everyone sitting on that table made sure to check before eating too.
#5 | a bleeding mess.
First semester of university, didn’t really think that it’ll be tough or painful. But, as a Hospitality school we had to do shifts for F&B. A transition from a person who can never walk 10,000 steps per day to a person who walked 30,000 steps per day because of service. It was rewarding to think that I worked to my fullest until my feet couldn’t take it anymore, but it was bruised and bloody for a good week or two. My toes were bandaged up in my shoes, and by the end of the day the soles of my shoes were coated with dried blood (grim, I know). It hurt every single time I walked, and I had not seen my feet in bruises ever before. But, it did let me invest on a good pair of shoes afterwards.
#6 | attraction.
He made my heart flutter, and he still does make it flutter. I never knew someone could ever make my heart beat so fast, cliche as it is. He’s like sunshine, that’s how warm he is. I know that he has a lot of admirers and it will only ever be one-sided (he knows I like him, so it’s okay for me to write it here). I remember it so clearly, standing by the window in his dark blue suit and red tie, amber-coloured hair reflecting the sun and his eyes are so beautiful — I’m a blushing mess when I look into his eyes (which must mean something). His toothy grins and head tilts when he says ‘Hello’ to me, is the most heart-warming. He is quite absent-minded, a daydreamer one would say; he’s almost always staring right into space — thinking. He’s someone I admire a lot, and also someone who proofreads most of my articles. Thank you.
To many more other tattoos, as life is not one straight line, and you’d probably be able to find more hidden gems in one’s life than in a gold-filled mine.
Visually, tattoos mean a lot; but we don’t really talk about the unseen tattoos that everyone has within themselves. I may not have a visual tattoo on my arm or on my body, but I know for a fact that I have tattoos riddled on my heart.
I think everyone has a tattoo, or at least a tattoo covered heart.
a/n: I want to get a tattoo, yes a visual one (one day); but I might just have to remove myself from the family register if that happens. “(^o^)”
