Month: January 2012

When I was in China this summer, the students we met in Shanghai informed me that 2012 was the year of the dragon.  Turns out I was born in the year of the dragon.  This means that this year, 2012, is my year.  Technically, I’m a fire dragon and this year is the year of the water dragon but, let’s not get technical here.

LE DRAGON:

Occupying the 5th position in the Chinese Zodiac, the Dragon is the mightiest of the signs. Dragons symbolize such character traits as dominance and ambition. Dragons prefer to live by their own rules and if left on their own, are usually successful. They’re driven, unafraid of challenges, and willing to take risks. They’re passionate in all they do and they do things in grand fashion. Unfortunately, this passion and enthusiasm can leave Dragons feeling exhausted and interestingly, unfulfilled.

While Dragons frequently help others, rarely will they ask for help. Others are attracted to Dragons, especially their colorful personalities, but deep down, Dragons prefer to be alone. Perhaps that is because they’re most successful when working alone. Their preference to be alone can come across as arrogance or conceitedness, but these qualities aren’t applicable. Dragons have tempers that can flare fast!

Considering their hard-working nature, Dragons are healthy overall. They do get stressed and suffer from periodic tension/headaches, likely because they take so many risks.

Dragons prefer leading to being led.

Dragons will give into love, but won’t give up their independence. Because they have quick, sometimes vengeful tempers, their partners need to be tough-skinned. Dragons enjoy others who are intriguing, and when they find the right partners, they’ll usually commit to that person for life.

A Fire Dragon’s emotions can flare instantly. Fire Dragons put themselves on pedestals, and because they react quickly and recklessly, they sometimes make wrong decisions. Fire Dragons need to slow down and keep their tempers in check as that’s when they’re best.

That’s totally me.  Even the bad stuff.  I’m very much ok with it.   😉

So, this year, I’m going to make things happen!

I’ve been planning a big tattoo for years.  Cherry Blossoms.  I love what they look like and I love what they mean.  I started thinking about them over 5 years ago.

“…besides being an enduring metaphor for the ephemeral nature of life…”

“The transience of the blossoms, the extreme beauty and quick death, has often been associated with mortality…”

The little one was an impulse tattoo but I love what it says.  I don’t like the job the guy did but I can have that fixed.  If I can’t have it fixed, I see a big shoulder piece in my future.  😉

I went with my friend Karley from work.

She got her “Live to conquer”.  Pretty.

Then we went for Pho.

And now for the big one…

He just drew it on me from a picture.

This one hurt a lot!  I didn’t cry though.  Not even close.  Just a lot of deep breaths and clenched teeth.  Maybe a little historical laughing.

And maybe a little texting.

This is around the moment I found out my long-time friend Denis was coming home for Christmas.  Yay!

This is Kyle, my new favorite tattoo artist.

Almost done!

Voila!  How pretty!!

Thanks Mario for taking all these pictures.  He sat there through the whole thing.  You are totally Super!

Then we hit the Lone Star and I had one of these!  Yum.

This is what it looks like all healed.

So, that’s the story of my new ink.

Next post: the things I’ve been working on.