Saturday, December 2nd, 2006:Tattooed in Helsingborg

What I think:

Gosh readers, we've got a lot to catch up on, eller hur? (London-Brit. English, roughly: "innit?")

November is not very well-liked in these parts of Sweden; it's just started to get dark, but it's not quite cold enough to be called "winter" yet. It's generally just a really blahhh month all round.

I, however, happened to quite enjoy this particular November. I met a girl and I got a cat at the end of October, and I've had some great experiences. But more on these another time. Firstly, I'm happy to announce that I finally had that tattoo done; you know, the one I wrote about earlier...

I made the appointment at the House of Pain tattoo place, and trotted merrily off on November 16th to have it done. It was a Thursday (work day), and I must say that I was more than happy to leave it the meeting I was attending. The tattoo would definitely be less painful.

House of Pain is a friendly place, staffed with a few talented people who are happy to stab you with ink-filled needles over and over again. They will even make holes in your private parts as well, if you pay them enough. It's amazing what some people will do for money, eh? I suppose it's equally amazing that some people are more than willing to pay to have these things done.

Here's a photo of House of Pain, taken just before my appointment:As you can (almost) see, House of pain is located downstairs from Tim's, a trendy hair salon. I went there once, and a bloody haircut with a bit of colour cost me more than my previous tattoo.

By the way, I now have three tattoos: a Canadian flag, with a Union Jack (British flag) just below it, on my right upper-arm, and my new one is on my left upper-arm. Each tattoo cost me 800 Kronor (about US$120/ €90/ £60).

And that thieving trendy trumped-up barber bastard upstairs charged me over ninety quid for a haircut. I hope he gets a nasty series of bad-hair days; that'd probably kill him.

Here's my tattoo:

Nice, innit? I think these particular Chinese characters look really good. I won't tell you what they mean. For that, you'll have to read my previous entry. But I'll give you a hint: When I showed a Chinese guy at work, he said, "Why you got food on your arm?" (in a Chinese/Swedish accent, bless).

And here's a photo of me,
taken just a few hours ago,
looking very pleased with my tattoo:

Yes, I like my tattoo, and the price was very reasonable for something that will stay with me for the rest of my life. But haircuts should never cost more than 100 kronor. OK, maybe 150 if it's really good, but no more than that. It's time that the Swedish government did something about it. That's what I think.