Tattoos and other things

Okay, so I've got a lot of things to tell you guys! First off, I've finally went ahead and done it: my third tattoo is now officially a fact! For quite some time, I've been brainstorming about what the final design should look like, but after an afternoon of sketching I settled on this particular design.

For those of you who're wondering what it is, it's a crack on my right side. I chose this design because in a way I consider myself to be fractured. I've always had to struggle with weight issues, so whenever I looked into the mirror I could always see the cracks, no matter how small they were. I also think of other people as fractured in a sense that we are not just one person, we are multiple. Fractures of our original personality, each divided and put in a niche. We are not the same person around different people. One of my favourite quotes is that of Nathaniel Hawthorne,

"No man for any considerable period can wear one face to himself and another to the multitude without finally getting bewildered as to which may be the true"

which basically means that we behave differently in private than we do in public. So, we become fractured, separate people. The same goes for me. I've had a lot of friends over the past few years, but I've seen them come and go. I've been through quite a lot, and each time the experience has taken something away from me, but at the same time, I replaced it with something new. So who I am keeps adapting itself to my changing circumstances, making me a fractured person.

Please ignore the fact that this picture was taken in a bathroom, I am not like those slutty girls, it was just the only room in the house where I could be alone for five minutes. In case you're wondering, no, my parents don't know about this latest addition to my physical appearance and I don't really want them too either. Seeing as how they weren't exactly gung-ho on me getting a second tattoo two years ago, I doubt they'll be throwing a parade for this one. But it is my body and I will "decorate" it as I see fit. Regardless of future sagging and wrinkling, the meaning of these tattoos will always be known to me. I also want you to know that I don't take these decisions lightely. I think a lot about what I'm going to put on my skin, since it's going to stay there for quite some time. You'll never see me wind up with stars across my face or something so desperately messed up like that.

The first pictures of the tattoo were quite bloody and messy, so I waited a few days for the redness to subside and the swelling to go down a bit, but I think it looks pretty great now (or at least it will, once I stop smothering it with this lotion that I have to rub on it). This concludes part one of "Things To Tell My Faithful Readers".

Part two and three involve something I've recently discovered. Well, it's actually been up in the air for quite some time, but for some reason I wasn't able to form those thoughts into solidity. A couple of months ago I had to go out and buy some bread (sounds like the beginning of a bad joke), and as I was putting the money in the machine, I got so fixated on the price: two euros for a loaf of bread! And it got me thinking, ever since 2009 the economic world has been in a crisis, therefore prices everywhere are soaring (or dropping, depending on the demand-and-supply), but when the recession ends, you never see prices go down. So it got me thinking, as of 2010, chances are slim that I'll ever be able to buy bread again for less than two euros (unless I get it from some shady night shop, but if I want the real deal, I'll have to pay top dollar for it).

Okay, so perhaps this wasn't the most interesting strain of thoughts, but it just made me wonder as to how our future lives are going to look like, because pretty soon, we'll be the ones worrying about mortgages, bills, grocery shopping and all those other joys of adulthood.

The third thing I thought I should mention is something I experienced about ten minutes ago. Now, I don't have to explain to you what Facebook is, I think you're all pretty well aware of what this little website is. But what amazed me, is how much I've become dependent on it. Can you imagine being dependent on a computer program? Which is, when you think about it, just a whole bunch of ones and zeros? It occured to me when I wanted to put some pictures of my new tattoo online, but Facebook was offline (yet again!) and I noticed how frustrated I was by this. For a minute, it seemed as though nothing would ever make sense again. When did we become more obsessed with meeting people online than in real life? When did Facebook and others like it, knock human contact off of its throne?

There, I think I've said my two cents again. Stay tuned for more insight into the psyche of me, the most interesting person you'll ever meet (for the record, that last part was submitted by the ego-tripping piece of me, so there lies absolutely no blame with me, the original me).