i had my first tattoo done earlier today. i had been thinking of getting one since last year, but due to a lot of things that i needed to get out of the way, ngayon lang ito nangyari. may ilang designs akong ini-consider, all of which ay balak ko ding ipalagay lahat – but i had to choose one because i believe that my first tattoo should have a personal significance. i have always said that i am a professional wrestling nerd/geek – i go out of my way to watch matches on TV/the internet, get the latest news, analyze storylines, read articles, and even play pro wrestling video games. and speaking of video games, pro wrestling for the japanese family computer console/american nintendo entertainment system was one 8-bit/old school game that i was only able to play once in the original famicom console. why is that so? first, pro wrestling was one of the more expensive game cartridges back in the day – mga 500-600 PhP ang presyo niya – and second, yung mga tapes namin sa bahay, with the exception of mike tyson’s punch out and castlevania, were the cheaper but still entertaining ones like popeye, mappy, donkey kong jr., super mario bros., adventure island, gradius, zippy race, tag team pro wrestling, and wrecking crew. the one and only time that i was able to play the famicom pro wrestling game was during a visit to our neighbor eric’s house. out of the six playable characters, i chose starman, and eric chose the amazon. needless to say, i got such a bad ass-whooping in that 2 out of 3 falls match that we never played the game again. to elaborate, i got several kicks, punches, clotheslines, backdrops and brainbusters – but i never took it personally, hahaha! that was in 1989, as far as i can remember. before playing the game, i had read eric’s nintendo magazine and that’s where i first saw a short article about the game and the six playable characters, plus various screenshots of them in action. with all due respect to the amazon, i always thought that starman was the coolest character in the game. fast forward to 2007, our original famicom console and cartridges have become a thing of the past, but thanks to game emulators like fceux, i have been able to play pro wrestling again and finish it, as well as take screenshots in my PC. the starman design was taken from a screenshot after i pinned the great puma (the game’s boss character) after a match to unify our 2 titles, that’s why starman wears the video wrestling association title on his waist and holds the video wrestling federation title (that he won from great puma) above his head. i modified starman’s colors to make his tights and mask white and his boots yellow gold, as opposed to his original pink bodysuit, blue trunks and blue boots – just to make him look like an old school luchador. and that, in a nutshell, is the aesthetic aspect/reasoning for the design i chose for my first tattoo.
for the philosophical aspect, pro wrestling as a part of popular culture can be likened to a soap opera, a movie, or, when i look at the bigger picture, life itself. i am making an analogy that i am a wrestler, and my life is the game/storyline. each day is a struggle, a challenge to give my best effort in spite of obstacles and adversity - like a wrestling match. ultimately, we are uncertain if we are booked to win or lose our matches, but we can always choose to give a 5-star effort every time – so that regardless of results, we could say that we tried our best. i can accept losing, but i will never love it – and i believe losing with honor is better than winning without it. but i also believe that someday, God will give me that hard push and book me “to be the man.” and if that means that i have to “do the job” and make sacrifices, then i will accept. i will keep working and trying until i get over, until i become “the one” – and i will not give up. oo, para sa akin, ang buhay ay parang wrestling.
going back to getting my first tattoo, i emailed my inquiry as well as my preferred design to P&P Tattoo last November 12. i waited for a reply, but after two weeks there was still none, so i decided to send a message through yahoo messenger last November 26 (friday) – wala namang mawawala kung susubukan, di ba? the secretary, Ms. Ebby did a wonderful job in facilitating/setting up my appointment, so i was both excited and nervous as i awaited November 29. on Saturday, November 27, it was my birthday so i kept busy by eating, watching Forgetting Sarah Marshall, answering birthday greetings, reading Foley Is Good (a book written by then 3-time world champion Mick Foley given to me by my cousin Noel), sleeping, grilling meat, drinking beer, sharing stories, and preparing take-home goody bags for my friends. the following day, i spent time watching the WWE Survivor Series 2010 and Monday Night Raw replay as well as surfing the net. this morning, i got up before 10 am, surfed the net a bit before taking a bath and proceeding to Makati
after all, the bleeding and the pain was all worth it. trust me.
