Growing Old Disgracefully - FreeBlogNetwork.com

One moment at a time

Sometimes, I can't help but feel a little pleased that an old fart like me's still got enough interest in living and being horny not just to go and work my derriered off at the gym (not to mention play tennis so hard) but also to learn new stuff like pottery.

I got my latest stuff back after they came out of the kiln. I cant say I'm too happy with the way my little bowl and plates turned out but since they were my very first attempts to turn out something on the wheel and to produce a set of three plates with the slab technique, I can't really complain. I know I'll get better.

The thing is, I suffer from clinical depression - every day's a battle not to do something drastic to myself - and over the years, I've learned to live from moment to moment, avoid trigger situations and just learn new creative stuff so that I don't have the time or energy to sink into one of those self-destructive black moods.

I guess one of these days, I'll just quit fighting myself but until that day comes, I guess I'll just have to do the best I can not to let things get me down.

Posted: 12:08 AM, Thursday, June 4, 2009

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My Chest Tattoo

I thought I'd upload a picture of my new chest tattoo today. The original tattoo comprised just the turquoise dragonfly and the magenta butterfly. Over the course of thirty years, both had turned into black blotches and finding suitable colours that would cover up the original black was the first problem. Luckily, my tattooist, Max from Exotic Tattoo, knew that turquoise and magenta with a bit of white to lighten the original colours slightly, would do the job.

The next thing was to decide what to put on my chest. I am after all, a Chinese, a mystic and heir to nearly 5,000 years of history, culture and symbolism. I would not simply put a series of black and white shapes on my body, never mind if they all combined to form a beautiful bigger picture. For me, a tattoo must symbolize something meaningful in my life and each component of it must have meaning. So, for those of my many beloved nephews and nieces who might one day stumble upon Crazy Uncle Winston's blog, here are the meanings of the first set of markings on my torso -.

The Chrysanthemum
To us Chinese, this flower represents achievement late in life and endurance in the face of adversity since it blooms best in autumn. To the Japanese, it is the flower of the sun and represents the creative aspect of the male essence. The orange and yellow petals represent the sun's rays.

The Butterfly
It represents the freedom of spirit with which I encountered the spiritual side of my roots. Now that I know a little more and understand such things a bit better, it is all those things which are beautiful but transient, those hopes and dreams which my own creativity engendered.

The Dragonfly
A creature of air and water, this represents both my mental and mystical abilities as well as maturity and their coming to fruition. It is also intelligence as well as empathy - conscious and subconscious mental powers.

Taken as a whole, the tattoo is a pictorial representation of my beliefs and my knowledge of myself and all that I might be. What I am going to put on my shoulder and back (both of which require exyensive work over the old black tattoos, I haven't decided yet. Max is on holiday and won't be back until next month, so I'll have plenty of time to decide on what to ink - and draw the new designs for myself. It's not that Max can't do that. I'm simply so fussy about the symbolism and the look that I have to do it myself.

For those who read this blog, if you happen to be in Penang and want a tattoo, have a look at Max's shop. Here's the URL - http://www.exotictattoo.com.my/contact.php

Posted: 1:15 AM, Monday, April 20, 2009

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No pictures until my new tattoos heal

I haven't been taking any new pictures of myself recently because I'm having my old tattoos re-done. I've added a bright orange and yellow chrysanthemum with five leaves to the dragonfly and butterfly on my left pectoral and obliques. The dragonfly has also been coloured a deep turquoise while the butterfly is magenta and yellow. On my back, I'll be having a second flying koi, lots of floating peach blossoms, storm clouds and rearing waves while the old snake has been coloured yellow and orange.

I haven't quite made up my mind yet what I am going to do with the old butterfly on my left shoulder. That was actually the very first tattoo I had done and I want to retain it but with fresh new colours and maybe add another chrysanthemum under and around it. The black dragonfly on my left thigh is another open question. I was thinking of a small, multi-petalled lotus in white and yellow with trailing leaves and curling stem.

I guess most Asians who see me will be wondering what in the world possessed an old fart like me wants with so many new and garishly colourful tattoos but they would never understand even if I took days explaining it all to them. For starters, they would not be either mystics nor possessed of sufficient mental talents to comprehend the symbology of it all...like I care. As far as I am concerned, I was never particularly concerned what other people thought about me and I am not going to start worrying about it now. Besides, I love shocking people. I love that tight "secretly horrified but politely-trying-not-to-show-it" expression that makes their faces look like badly puckered you-know-whats!

Whew! having got that off my chest, all I have to add is that when my tattoos are ready, I'll be posting my new pictures here.

Posted: 9:42 PM, Sunday, February 22, 2009

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Happy 2009

Happy New Year!
Only ten more days before I hit the BIG 5-Oh!
Luckily I don't look too out of shape in spite of all the Christmas feasting,
the food poisoning three days after that and another bout of flu two days ago.

I might not be quite ready to have my naughty grandpa poster pictures taken,
but I'm getting there. And anyway, I still haven't done anything about making
my tattoos more spectacular. Did I mention that my ambition is to have selected
parts of my body look like a Sung Dynasty whorehouse's carpet?

Posted: 10:53 PM, Thursday, January 1, 2009

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Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year, everyone.

I'm not going to complain or diss any idiots on such an auspicious weekend.
After all, if I can be kind to animals all the time (even those I eat), the least I can do is refrain from talking about even dumber humans one day or two a year.

Here are my pictures taken today, right after coming back from the gym. I still can't tell if my muscles are growing any bigger yet. I guess it's too soon to tell since I started my new programme just two weeks ago.

I put three pictures of me this week as a sort of little bonus for all those guys who lust after horny old farts like me.

Posted: 6:38 PM, Friday, December 26, 2008

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Doing something about limitations

Everybody has limitations but I wonder why so few people realize that most of the things which hold them back are, more often than not, self-inflicted. Somebody told me I'd never build big muscles no matter what I tried or did. Well, my answer to that was, "I can still build my muscles as big as they can grow." Not that I've grown any more muscles this week, it seems. Not even with the new programme, but then, I've only switched over less than 9 days so I'll have to wait another 3 months before I can see whether maximum training of one body part at a time once week is going to give me bigger shoulders, chest and arms.

Fair enough that I might never look like a real bodybuilder but that isn't important to me. What does matter is that I end up with such a nice, muscular body that I wouldn't be ashamed to take off my shirt at the beach. For someone like me who's spent so many years being ashamed of my fat, slug-like torso, that's better than winning a car at the lottery.

I do wonder, though, why so many people insist on limiting themselves so badly, and then complain that people aren't giving them any chances to show what they can do. Like someone I know who insisted that he couldn't learn to use a computer, wouldn't try at all and then wondered why he couldn't get a better or more well-paid job at management level.

Posted: 6:06 PM, Wednesday, December 17, 2008

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No lame excuses for me

Somebody told me that I should be happy with what I look like now and not train to get bigger muscles or better definition any more or my body won't look nice and natural. Hah! If ever I heard a lamer excuse for being lazy, I certainly can't think of it.

What do people mean when they say they want a 'natural body'? No muscles at all? Lots of fat? All skin and bones? I am not sure which fits into their definition of 'natural' but I do know one thing. All the people I know who say that either -
a. don't have the discipline to do anything about their flabby breasts (the men, too), flapping arms and sagging bellies

and/or

b. want a magic pill that will make them look like one of those models in fashion magazines overnight

These sad cases seem to think that if they stuff enough pills or weird substances or best of all 'detoxify' theselves, their bodies will somehow become better looking like magic. Never mind if whatever they stuff between their lips has any kind of medically substantiable effect. They might as well gulp down a few sugar pills for all the placebo effect they get.

As for those 'detoxers' I always laugh my head off when they start spouting their nonsense. Some have even dared to claim that their herbs are based on ancient Chinese medicine, as if they are experts or the so-called experts they see on TV can even speak a single word of Chinese much less know a thing about Chinese medicine...ha ha ha! The best joke is that these 'experts' don't even know what a Chinese means when he talks about cleansing the blood. Note : NOT detoxifying. That's a word the PR people came up with for the mumbo-jumbo companies to con gullible idiots into opening their wallets.

But the sad thing is that word has now gone into popular vocabulary and even Chinese doctors use it to refer to a completely different thing - the traditional process - which makes it all even more confusing for the ordinary person, and helps make the great con even more believable. *Sigh*...I guess I shouldn't go on and on...that's the way of this world. Poor attention spans, quick fixes and low brains. And they say mankind is evolving into a smarter species.

Posted: 6:55 PM, Thursday, December 11, 2008

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My Links

One moment at a time

My Chest Tattoo

No pictures until my new tattoos heal

My Birthday Suit!

Happy 2009

Merry Christmas

Doing something about limitations

No lame excuses for me