Etched In Skin

Tell us more about what brings you to the CBD today. Do you work in the area?
I had a CrossFit class in the afternoon, so I just hung around after to get some work done.

I’m currently working in marketing. I left a full-time job in the industry and am freelancing right now, but I’m also on the search for a new full-time job.

I’d like to continue working in marketing, not because I love it per se, but because it doesn’t make sense financially to have to restart my career after spending so many years in the industry. I know it’s always easy to say that the beginning is the hardest part, and that it always gets better, but I don’t know, sometimes it’s just not easy to take the plunge.

What do you enjoy doing outside of work?
I enjoy working out. I mainly do CrossFit, which is very intense, and yoga, which is very relaxing, so alternating between the two helps me to destress.

There’s a certain pleasure that I get from working out—it’s not just about health or losing weight you know? To me, it’s more about personal development and growth, getting stronger and picking up new forms of knowledge everyday.

How long have you been doing both?
I’ve been doing CrossFit for five years, and yoga for eight or nine years. I focus mainly on aerial and Vinyasa yoga, hardly on stretching or Yin Yang yoga because I’m quite impatient, so I can’t do anything that’s too slow.

My friends enjoy the slower forms of yoga that goes into meditation, but I would fall asleep and snore (laughs). But still, it can be nice sometimes. When I watched Julia Roberts’ Eat, Pray, Love, it was so nice to see how relaxed Elizabeth Gilbert was doing yoga in the film, so to each his own.

You’ve got quite a number of tattoos. Can you tell us more about them?
They’re all done by local artists, except this one fine line tattoo on my arm, which I got in Auckland, New Zealand. I used to live in Auckland, so I got this tattoo during my time there. I don’t really know what it is, but when I first laid eyes on this design, I fell in love with it, and just decided to get it.

But anyway, I love that particular studio so much! I’d love to go back and get another one now that we’re free to travel again, and also visit my friends that are still there.

Tell us more about your first tattoo.
My first tattoos are the ones on my fingers. I wanted to test my threshold of pain, so I got my first ones on my fingers, and my next ones on my leg, near my ankle.

Back then, not many artists were willing to tattoo fingers because there are so many nerves there, so I really had to go around asking different artists and studios if they could do it for me. But now, it’s a lot more common.

In fact, there are so many new artists in the tattoo scene these days, so much so that I don’t know if I can trust them all you know? I mean, getting a tattoo is an even bigger commitment than a marriage, because you can’t divorce a tattoo (laughs).

You must have quite a high tolerance for pain.
Actually, it varies based on the area. For instance, my Roman numerals and circle tattoos on my shoulders hurt the most—the pain was so real!

Also I realised that as you age, your threshold for pain gets lower, so maybe 10 years down the road, you’ll feel it for yourself, especially when you go to get touch ups.

What’s your next tattoo going to be?
My next one will be a bulldog from @kelvinleow.tattoo from Tooth & Nail Tattoo.

I was looking to get something with harder lines because I want a mixture of different types of tattoos on my body, so I did some research and discovered Kelvin, and I really like his work. Plus, a friend recommended him to me as well.

I’m actually looking to fill up my arm with a number of smaller pieces, so I’ll be getting more gradually.