Monthly Archives: September 2010

narcissist

The narcissist is the guru at the center of a cult. Like other gurus, he demands complete obedience from his flock: his spouse, his offspring, other family members, friends, and colleagues. He feels entitled to adulation and special treatment by his followers. He punishes the wayward and the straying lambs. He enforces discipline, adherence to his teachings, and common goals. The less accomplished he is in reality – the more stringent his mastery and the more pervasive the brainwashing.

The narcissist claims to be infallible, superior, talented, skillful, omnipotent, and omniscient. He often lies and confabulates to support these unfounded claims. Within his cult, he expects awe, admiration, adulation, and constant attention commensurate with his outlandish stories and assertions. He reinterprets reality to fit his fantasies. The narcissist is dangerous.

Narcissism, in the context that I have chosen means a deep sense of self-appreciation. When you KNOW just who you are, and who you’re supposed to be, when you KNOW how to look the way you need to look, when you KNOW how to carry your own ego into a room, the best way you know how, a way that is genuinely ‘you’. All this in a sense of self-appreciation expresses what I believe is true Narcissism.Contradictory as it sounds, it’s a selfless sense of self-appreciation, truly appreciating who you are, without bringing yourself into the picture.

        Also, inspiration came from a prologue in Paulo Coelho’s “The Alchemist”, it reads:

            The Alchemist picked up a book that someone in the caravan had brought. Leafing through the pages, he found a story about Narcissus. The Alchemist knew the legend of Narcissus, a youth who daily knelt beside a lake to contemplate his own beauty. He was so fascinated by himself that, one morning, he fell into the lake and drowned. At the spot where he fell, a flower was born, which was called the narcissus.
But this was not how the author of the book ended the story. He said that when Narcissus died, the Goddesses of the Forest appeared and found the lake, which had been fresh water, transformed into a lake of salty tears.

“Why do you weep?” the Goddesses asked.

“I weep for Narcissus,” the lake replied.

“Ah, it is no surprise that you weep for Narcissus,” they said,

“for though we always pursued him in the
forest, you alone could contemplate his beauty close at hand.”

“But….. was Narcissus beautiful?” the lake asked.

“Who better than you to know that?” the Goddesses said in wonder,

“After all, it was by your banks that he knelt each day to contemplate himself!”

The lake was silent for some time. Finally it said:

“I weep for Narcissus, but I never noticed that Narcissus was beautiful. I weep because, each time he knelt beside my banks, I could see, in the depths of his eyes, my own beauty reflected.”

big piece dragon

As Dragons were said to represent the Four Elements, so the stories and myths of dragons who had dominion over Air, Water, Earth and Fire. Each of these elemental dragons had unique characteristics that had to be taken into consideration. To the Chinese, the fire-spitting dragon was principally associated with lightning, and by extension to thunder and rainmaking, which made it a symbol of fertility. All this celestial activity was how Earth and Water elements were united. Water dragons were thought to protect and act as guardians of streams, lakes, rivers and even individual pools. It was thought that dragons were able to make springs bubble from the ground.

ambigram of his name

italian client gets an ambigram tattoo of his name done in morbid tattoo parlor in cash and carry mall makati manila.

An ambigram is a typographical design or artform that may be read as one or more words not only in its form as presented, but also from another viewpoint, direction, or orientation. The words readable in the other viewpoint, direction or orientation may be the same or different from the original words.

best of friends

canadian client gets a lettering tattoo name of her bestfriend.

american client gets a custom grim reaper tattoo

The Grim Reaper and the Skull were often used as symbols in medieval and renaissance art as a stark reminder of the fact that life is finite and hints powerfully at the afterlife that awaits us. Many paintings of saints in particular prominently feature skulls, and art that depicted famine and disease often contain the cloaked and hooded figure of the Grim Reaper, skull peeking out, scythe in hand to better harvest human souls.

This is a potent symbol of death and a graphic reminder of the transitory nature of life.