For a few years now, I've been wanting a paintbrush tattoo somewhere on my right arm as a reminder for myself to never stop creating. I knew it was the next tattoo I was going to get after my lotus flower (Read about it here), and I was just waiting for the time (and funds) to get it.

When my grandpa passed away suddenly a couple weeks ago, I knew I wanted to commemorate him the same way I had commemorated my grandma with my first tattoo. It didn't take very long to decide what I wanted to get for him - the Chinese character for Eternity. It's the first character in his first name, and it's a nice reminder that he and my family will always be there for me. Even though at one point I thought I'd never get a Chinese character tattooed on myself, I thought it was so fitting - my grandpa has always been good with the language. He's named every new baby (except funnily enough, Hera) that's come into the family with beautiful, meaningful words despite his lack of schooling.

Since I knew I wanted to get the character for my grandpa, I decided to just take the plunge and get both at the same time. I visited Chameleon this past Saturday with my roommate, Emma, after we got brunch at Shake Shack (I highly recommend the SmokeShack because bacon, and also, the guy making the burgers behind the counter was mad cute), and we spent less than an hour in there getting them. Shout out to the tattoo artist that saw me, Jorge Seested!

Just in case you were wondering, no, these two images are not to scale to each other. The Chinese character tattoo is actually quite a bit larger than that, although it's not as tall as the paintbrush.

The Chinese character is on my left forearm. I wanted it to be near the same area as the one I got for my grandma, but I didn't want them to be next to each other - they weren't from the same side of the family and it didn't feel right to not give them an ample amount of "real estate" each. I found out that getting this area of the arm tattooed was actually a really bizarre sensation - you know that game where you walk your fingers up someone's arm and see if they can figure out exactly where their elbow crease was? This was kind of like that, because I kept misplacing where the feeling of the tattoo needle actually was. It didn't particularly hurt more than my other tattoos, although it stung for a really long time afterwards, probably because of the coloring. Also, the skin around it is still a bit red, so it's probably a tad bruised.

The paintbrush is on my right outer wrist. It's pointing towards my fingers, because my fingers are what allows me to create, and it's maybe two inches long and so cute. This one also hurt just as much as the other tattoos (so, not that much) except for the paintbrush tip, which hurt just a smidge more probably because it was a lot closer to the bones in the wrist. However, unlike the character tattoo, this one barely stung afterwards.

All in all, I'm super happy with both tattoos - I think they're both really beautiful and they represent two more important parts of my life.

Will I eventually get more ink? Probably. I've been considering getting a tiny robot because Hera likes to call me her robot, since I do and make everything she asks me to. Is that weird? Maybe I spoil her too much.

I know tattoos are kind of a controversial topic, but these are quite small and fairly easy to cover up with sleeves once they're fully healed if I need them to be hidden. I think they're just another fun way to express myself, and besides, live a little!

How do you feel about tattoos? Would you ever get one - let alone two at the same time?

This past Saturday, I got myself another tattoo.

I once read a beautiful old Chinese piece of writing about lotus flowers, way back in middle school in Shanghai. It talked about the strength and beauty of the lotus flower, and how it symbolizes surviving and thriving through adversity because of how it grows out of mud. The author believes the lotus flower to be a superior flower to others, and that we should all strive to be like lotus flowers.

For some unknown reason, this piece of writing has always resonated with me. It is one of the few things I was forced to memorize in school that I can still remember. I always found it beautiful and passionate, and while I don't believe in denouncing other flowers to raise the level of the lotus, I think that many of the points the author made were beautiful and valid.

I wanted to get something that could commemorate that.

More importantly, I've now become a senior at MIT and I finally finished the last of my studios - I chose to opt out of the final one because I wanted to take the last two semesters and see what else MIT had to offer (and also because I finally decided to prioritize my mental health). To sum it up, I had some pretty dark times the last year, and I wanted to get something that could commemorate my perseverance through those times where I thought it wouldn't get better.

On Saturday, I finally decided (after 4 years of going back and forth on pros and cons) to get my first tattoo! I got it done at Chameleon, in Harvard Square, and overall it was a really great experience. (spoiler alert: it didn't hurt nearly as much as I expected it to.)

First things first: the pain. It's not really like anything I've ever felt, but I think the best way I can describe it is that it kind of feels like getting one of those vaccinations that leave a little bubble beneath your skin - the sharp little pain from the needle coupled with the burning sensation of the actual vaccination. So that, but like, a lot of times. And for longer. (I guess if you're super queasy about shots you might not want to get a tattoo? But it really wasn't a big deal, pain-wise.) Also, the after-care is super simple and so far, so good - it seems to be healing nicely and there's a tiny bit of scab on top of the tattoo but there isn't any itching or discomfort whatsoever. My long sleeves haven't been bothering it at all when they rub against it, so that's good too. (All in all I'm not very good to my hands/arms in general, so I'm actually pretty surprised that everything looks fine.)

tattoo! Sorry about the gunk around the tattoo - I think it's dried blood? In any case, it washed off