Tattoos on Tattoos

Just kidding. I only have two tattoos.

Forever can be a scary concept, and I guess that's why getting a tattoo can scare some people. A tattoo is permanent (unless you get laser removal but lets not think about that aspect too much) and the idea of getting something drawn/written onto you forever can be scary. Will you regret the tattoo you get? What if you end up not liking it?

Growing up, I never thought I'd get a tattoo. I remember as a little kid, the sound of the needle you can hear from outside the tattoo parlor scared me. Fast forward many years and I was set on getting tattoos. Four to be exact. Well, that was about three years ago. And lets just say that I don't even remember the idea of one of them so it obviously didn't mean as much to me as I thought it would. As for the two tattoos I have, I had thought about getting them for at least two years each. For some reason I currently have the itch to get another tattoo-- a small tattoo but I don't even know what I would want. I guess it's true when people say tattoos are addicting. I mean, I got my first tattoo in August and my second one in November.

So, here are my two tattoos.

Tattoo #1:

Yup. I'm a Harry Potter one. A huge one at that. I had tears while on the "knighbus" ride from Watford Junction to Leavesden Studios and started crying when I saw the Hogwarts model at Leavesden. I've sat on the idea of a Harry Potter tattoo since before Deathly Hallows Part 2 came out. Ideally, I wanted to get it that summer to signify the ending of Harry Potter and saying goodbye to my childhood years (I turned 18 that summer). On a side note, my birthday is July 31; aka J.K. Rowling's birthday and therefore Harry Potter's birthday (I think it was always meant to be). The idea of getting a Harry Potter was in my mind for so long, but I just didn't know exactly what I wanted. For quite a while, I sat on the idea of using the quote "We've all got both light and dark inside us. What matters is the part we choose to act on. That's who we really are.". Sirius Black is one of my favorite characters in the series and I just love the quote. The only thing that always crossed my mind was how long the quote is and where I would get it. I also thought about getting Expecto Patronum, because of what that spell means.
How I came to "mischief is never managed" is that I first settled on wanting to get mischief managed, and my best friend suggested mischief is never managed because it would be different yet it's still Harry Potter related-- and I absolutely loved the idea (obviously). Why mischief managed? Well Prisoner of Azkaban is my favorite book and the spell is obviously used in the book. Harry uses the spell once he's finished using the Marauder's Map so that it looks like a plain piece of parchment to anyone else; the spell signifies the momentary mischief being put away. Like I said, I wanted to get a HP related tattoo to signify the end of HP and my childhood years and I felt that mischief managed did just that. Harry Potter was (and is) a huge part of my life and childhood, and the end of Harry Potter happened to mark the end of my childhood. Harry Potter was my childhood, childhood is associated with mischief, so I guess you could say that saying goodbye to Harry Potter was like saying goodbye to mischief. But with "mischief is never managed", it says that 1) Harry Potter will always exist and be a part of my life and 2) Growing up doesn't mean the end of mischief.

Tattoo #2:

What is it? It's the geographical coordinates of London. (If you google the coordinates, it'll take you to right in front of Trafalgar Square because it is considered the center of London.) London has and will always be my favorite city in the world. I remember falling in love with England at the end of elementary school and always being fascinated with the country. London was the one place I always wanted to visit, and in 2008, I was able to do so as I spent two weeks in England. Being in London and England in general made me fall in love with the city and country even more. I'm not quite sure what it was that made England so fascinating to me, but maybe it was the combination of my love for soccer, interest in the monarchy, and the architecture. Either way, it's always been my favorite place in the world. When I found out about the concept of study abroad while in middle school, I knew that I wanted to study abroad in London once I got to college. Around the time I realized I wanted tattoos, I knew that I wanted to get a London/England related tattoo when I studied abroad in London; I just wasn't sure what I would get. Fast forward to spring semester of sophomore year when my dreams of studying abroad in London comes true as I got accepted into the program and I knew that I would be getting my tattoo the next semester.
Fall 2013 (last semester) was when I studied abroad in London. I went to London knowing I was going to get a tattoo while there, but I still didn't have a concrete idea of what I wanted to get. I contemplated getting the outline of England and potentially a heart where London is and also contemplated getting the silhouette of Big Ben, but neither felt right. Then within the first weeks of being in London, I decided to look for inspiration online and stumbled upon pictures of geographical location tattoos and instantly fell in love. There was no looking back and I knew that I was going to get London's geographical location as my tattoo-- something that was simple and just looked like numbers to people, but held a lot of meaning as I would potentially be the only person to know what it represented. I don't mind people asking what it is, and that's what I love. Until they ask, they don't know what is; until that point, me and a few of my friends are the only ones that know it represents London. To me, the tattoo represents my love of London, England, my favorite place in the world but also my time abroad. I got the tattoo in November, towards the end of my study abroad, and it sums up my experiences there. It was never my intention to get the tattoo and have it represent my time abroad. I wanted to get it in London because I wanted that special connection of getting my London related tattoo in London. But now, I get to see my tattoo every day and be reminded of not only the greatest and most amazing place in the world (to me), but also be reminded of the best 3.5 months in London.

So there it is. My two tattoos. I didn't write this to try to make people understand why I got my tattoos. I got these tattoos because they both mean something to me, and I don't need anyone's understanding or acceptance. It means something to me, and that's all that matters. But I wrote this because I often get asked what my tattoos are/what it means and I find myself having a hard time truly explaining the meaning. Truthfully, I don't think I ever can because it's something personal. People might understand, but they won't completely understand. And that's okay. I think that's what I want people to understand: no one gets a tattoo to please others. I say this because when someone asked me about my London tattoo, they said they wanted to get the stars on the Australian flag because they studied abroad there but didn't because people told them it was cheesy. In the end, it's their decision, but all I could think was how they shouldn't let other's thoughts make their decision for them. As long as it means something to you, that's all that matters.

So. Are you thinking about getting a tattoo? Do you have a tattoo? Let me know! Lets bond over some tattoos.

Cheers,
Aya

A Little Introduction

As my bio says, my name is Aya and I'm currently a junior at Loyola Marymount University. Although I'm a semester ahead so technically, I guess that makes me a first semester senior-- that's a scary thought. I was born in Japan and had travelled to Australia three times and Thailand once all by the age of six; probably the reason why I love travelling so much. I moved to Los Angeles two months before my seventh birthday and have lived here since. Most people are surprised when I tell them that I was born in Japan because I'm so Americanized. I have huge love for London and the UK in general, so much so that I have a London related tattoo that I got while studying abroad in London fall semester 2013. Yup! I have a tattoo-- two to be exact. But maybe that'll be a story for later.

I'm not quite sure if this blog will be focused on one thing. I originally thought about a travel related blog, but the truth is, I don't have the funds to travel on a consistent basis to make this a travel blog. So instead, I guess it'll be a blog that covers travel related subjects (both from my past experiences and hopefully future travels) as well as whatever exciting goes on in my life, whether it be my mental breakdowns thinking about my future, baking adventures, or the number of baseball games I attend each year. I guess my hope is to just consistently post and have something to look back on and in the process connect with others.

So what do I like? Well truthfully, I dread this question. But to list a few things, I love baseball and soccer, or just sports in general, binge-watching tv shows, theatre, reading, travel travel travel, baking, and drinking tea. What do I want to do in the future? Not exactly sure. For a long time I thought I wanted to do PR but I'm not so sure anymore. I'm looking towards something in baseball but at the same time looking for a way to go back to London. I've actually been looking into an abroad internship program for spring 2015, since I'll be finished with school by then but the thought of having to find a job in January 2015 scares me. I mentioned I studied abroad, and maybe that'll be a blog post I make later because lets be real, if there's ever any chance for me to talk about my study abroad, I'll take it. My favorite movie ever is The Sandlot and if The Sandlot didn't exist, it'd be The Social Network. I love British television and I probably watch more YouTube than normal. I think I need to put out there that I'm a huge Harry Potter fan and will judge you based on what your favorite Harry Potter movie is (just kidding. sort of. not really.)

I'm not sure what else to write for now. But I'm actually really excited to start this blog, because if you couldn't tell, I have quite a few posts I want to write already. So here's to a wonderful adventure (of this blog).

Cheers,
Aya

(Here's a picture of me in Santorini-- a dream years in the making come true.)