Keyword: Tattoo

The word 'tattoo' may seem like a word that is taboo and many times misunderstood. The dictionary meaning of tattoo is a permanent marking made by inserting ink into the layers of skin to change the pigment for decorations or other reasons. The definition may mean one thing but the reasons behind getting a tattoo are unique to each person.

Tattooing has been a Eurasian practice dating back to the fifty millennium B.C. Tattooing techniques began with hand pricking that is widely used in Japan and rubbing cuts and wounds with ash. With advances in technology the standard and common way to tattooing is with a tattoo machine that uses alternating electromagnetic coils that move a series of very thin needles up and down. Tattooing techniques and technology have come a long way with even ink that glows under a blue light such as the picture below.


The reason why I believe that the word tattoo should be a key word is because it is a word that is still widely misunderstood. From a personal experience, in my family the thought of getting a tattoo is forbidden. My mother believes that people with tattoos are bad influences that do drugs and are going no where in their lives. Many of my friend's parents have the same mentality as my mother. From a traditional and very conservative Chinese prospective, getting a tattoo is taboo that defaces your body. In my mother's eyes, getting a tattoo is just as bad as smoking and doing drugs.

In my eyes, tattooing has no connection with defacing one's body. People with one or many tattoos view their bodies as a canvas, similar to a painting, where one can express their uniqueness. It is a way to show their identity on their body whether one has a cross or like myself, Chinese lettering on their body. Whenever a person gets a tattoo, there is some meaning and reason behind it. For example, my brother has a quote in Chinese characters on his left shoulder blade. When my parents found out about this, they were contemplating to disown him and kick him out of the house. My brother being a very sensible person would not get a tattoo for any reason. His quote on his back is a memorial to his very close friend that passed away. He views his tattoo as a symbol that he will never forget about his friend because he will always be on my brother's back. He wanted to show his deceased friend that the pain of getting his tattoo was nothing compared to the pain that he felt when his best friend passed away. Similarly, I got my tattoo to signify my bonds with my friends. It took me three years to decide if I really wanted a tattoo and I took my time to do my research on the Chinese characters I have on my back. The decision to wait three years also allowed me to decide if I really wanted to get a tattoo or not.


The image above is of my first tattoo that I got on December 1, 2007. The Chinese characters translate to loyalty. The reason why I chose to get this word was to show a quality of my personality on my skin. It was a way to show my friends that I would always be loyal and trustworthy to them in good and bad times. It was meaningful to get my tattoo because all of my closest friends went with me to show them the minuscule amount of pain that I would take for them.

The reasons and meanings to why people get tattoos is very personal. In the show Miami Ink, every person that comes into the Miami Ink shop has a story to why they want to get a specific tattoo. Watching Miami Ink, one can see the touching stories of people getting tattoos to remember a loved one or to signify one's faith. Getting a tattoo from a tattoo artist also shows a sign of faith towards the tattoo artist to let him or her put something on one's body for the rest of his or her life.

Why should the word tattoo be a key word now? Tattoos have become increasingly popular since the twenty-first century. Many celebrities have been getting tattoos such as David Beckham's famous angel wings. As influential people in the media get more tattoos, fans become intrigued with getting tattoos. I believe that the purpose of getting tattoos are loosing its meaning. Teenagers follow trends and see that tattoos are popular but they loose the meaning of why to get a tattoo. Even though there is an increasing population of people getting tattoos to just have one, there are still people out there who get and have tattoos for their own personal and meaningful reasons. Tattoos and tattooing has been misunderstood by many generations and even banned in countries. Tattoos are mistaken to be a symbol of rebellion but in reality tattoos are a person's symbol and identity. Whether a person gets a tattoo just to follow the trend or to remember a loved one, tattooing is a growing trend that is evolving and a style that older more conservative generations must learn to accept.

References:
Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia. Wikimedia Foundations, Inc. July 30, 2008
You Tube. Google. July 30, 2008

UWP 101 Coming To An End

As the last days of UWP 101 get closer and closer, I remember the first day I went to class and thought that this class would be a typical composition class. I dreaded summer session I when I thought that the teacher would be a typical English teacher where he would tell us to read several books and write several essays. For being an engineering major, my fingers are typically on a calculator and not on a pencil writing an essay or on a book reading about how to become a better writer. Even when Mr. Schaberg told the class that the class would be his guinea pigs for his new prospective on teaching a class, I thought that we would have to write rigorous and lengthy blogs everyday. As summer continued I did not participate much in the class by voicing my opinion. I am the type of person to listen more then speak, and I view myself as someone who speaks when something needs to be said. Writing online gave me inspiration to express my thoughts online without the worries about raising my hand and speaking in front of random peers. Blogging aloud me to see how my peers responded to my thoughts and some helped me to polish my writing skills. As I read through my old posts I can see the evolution of my writing and my continuous problem of not capitalizing my "I's." Even though Mr. Schaberg wrote some lengthy comments on my blogs, his insight aloud me to see how I could express my thoughts more clearly. It was interesting to see the different backgrounds my fellow classmates came from and all the different views each of us had. I found classroom discussions to be very funny which is rare because there were no boundaries to the subjects we discussed about and we did not have to hold back from using foul language or not being afraid to talk about some gigantic testicles a person saw. After each class discussion, I was anxious to write in my blog, to my surprise. Writing in my blog aloud me to let a lot of my thoughts be put online where I could comment on my fellow classmates' thoughts. It was rigorous to get myself up so early everyday but the hour and a half of class seemed to pass by in a flash because of the interesting discussions the class had. Something that was very different from the writing classes that I had in my college career was the freedom the whole class had to say what was on their mind and to even pose questions to the rest of the class. Another unique quality that this class had was a student's opportunity to view everyone's unique style of writing and be able to voice one's opinion through a comment. Each person had a unique style of writing but we were aloud to write and relate what each of us was interested in. The option of comment on another person's blog to gain participation points was a plus as well for people such as myself who do not like to speak in class to have the same opportunity to get the same amount of points as a person who spoke frequently in class. All in all this class has changed my view about writing. In the past I dreaded writing classes and writing essays, but after this class I am confident to write at a level that I find to my liking. I would never think I would see the day where I would write seven hundred plus words about a subject, but my thoughts have changed.

The New Way To Fight Terrorism?

This is a post responding to Truman's post about the Segway. Wikipedia defines a segway as a two wheeled, self-balancing electric vehicle. Computers and motors located in the base of the segway allows the device to keep upright no matter how far a person leans forward or backwards. From a very laid back and lazy person, I see the segway as another device to aid people to become more lazy. The segway is different from a skateboard or a bicycle. Unlike a segway, a bicycle requires a person to pedal for the bicycle to get moving. Similarly a skateboard requires one to push off from the ground for the skateboard to move. The segway does not need any rigorous human motion from a person's legs or arms, just for one to lean forwards for the segway to move.

There have been several advances in human technology that has replaced or made travel more convenient for people such as an escalator and an elevator. An escalator somewhat replaces stairs because one just has to step onto an escalator for a person to move to another level of a building. Just like an escalator, an elevator can take you from the ground floor of a building to the very top floor of a building quicker then an escalator. The segway seems to be following in the footsteps as the escalator and the elevator. The segway is trying to replace walking. It would seem to be more convenient for a person to ride on a segway then walk to your destination, but for some parts of the world, the segway would create more problems. Within the bay area twenty five percent of children are considered medically obese. In the United States, twenty five percent of adults are obese in ten states. I do not believe that the segway will help with the obesity problem in the Uniter States. Segways is not only for civilians, but foreign powers are investigating the use of segways for defense as well


My friend showed me a picture of a police squad all on segways in a tactical formation. I looked up segways and defense on google and found out that China's military are trying out segways as a tool for defense. Chinese military officers demonstrated their skills at balancing and shooting on segways. The segway allows a police officer to hold both hands on their weapon while using their lower body to maneuver the segway. When I saw this picture, I thought the segway was a useless tool for the military. Maneuvering around in a segway leaves a soldier wide open because the soldier has to be at a constant height to move around the segway. From looking at the picture, if a terrorist or rioter gets close enough to an officer on a segway, that violator could easily take down the officer off of the segway and even obtain the officer's weapons. Also the segway can not move left to right and moving diagonally would create awkward and difficult positions for an officer to shoot from. In my opinion, the segway would be an impractically accessory for an officer and would not benefit an officer unless he or she is too lazy to walk around to keep the peace.

Segways have become somewhat popular. Shaquille O'neil was seen on a segway when he was showing is illustrious house on the MTV show Cribs. The segway was seen on the big screen when it was seen being ridden on the movie Iron Man. I believe it is difficult to make the segway popular because I believe it looks scary to ride on and also it is quite costly to purchase. As seen in television shows and movies, it seems that only the rich, famous, and powerful are the owns who are able to purchase segways. This does not mean that the upper class are lazy and buy segways to replace walking, it is that rich people have the money to buy segways and indulge in extraneous items. I personally would never buy a segway because it seems impractically. It would be useful if one were to walk a long distance and use a segway instead, but a car would do the same job faster then riding on a segway. Another reason why I could never purchase a segway is if there were only stairs in a building, a segway would become useless to go up a flight of stairs. Maybe in the future they will create a segway that can go from left to right and even go up stairs, but for now, I would stick to walking instead of using a segway.

As I was looking through the pictures in my computer that I have taken with my cell phone, many memories become vivid as I remember when I took each picture. A group of pictures caught my eye as I was searching through my photo album, the picture above. Looking at this picture for the first time, one may assume that I caused the damage on this car. In reality, this Honda Civic is my best friend's brother's car. One may ask how did this type of destruction was caused on this car, I shall give some background of how this tragedy occurred.

The night before my last final during spring quarter of 2007, I received a phone call from one of my good friends informing me that my best friend Kris had just gotten into an accident. This was also the night before my friends and I were going to go to Lake Tahoe to celebrate the end of a school year. Before I could panic my friend predicted that I was going to drive straight back to San Francisco right away and skip my final, but my friend told me not to worry because Kris was not injured. After my final I rushed home and went straight to the hospital to see my friend lying in a hospital bed with a broken tibia and tibia. To make matters even worse I thought Kris crashed his own car but I found out that he was driving his brother's car. This took a toll on all my friends and I because that Honda Civic meant more to us then just a regular car. We all put in time and effort to make that car the way it was. It took us about two years to get the car to where it was and have it be crashed within an instant.

The next day I went to Kris' brother's house to check out the car and saw the damage done by the car. It was painful to see the car in that condition and it was even more painful to take a picture of the car. Every time I look through my pictures in my phone i see the pictures of the battered car and it pains me to see our project car be destroyed. It may seem strange to some people to think it is painful to see someone else's car destroyed but each person in my group of friends had a special place for that car. It was a four cylinder monster that could beat any muscle car on the streets. We took joy in seeing the accomplishment that was that car. Although Kris' brother was nine years older then us, the car connected his generation to ours because we shared the same passion. There was no age gap whenever all of us would work on the car or take joy rides in it. That car will be sorely missed.

Going off subject to the car, I wanted to make a point about a subject we were talking about in class but I did not get the chance to say my opinion. The class was discussing how the food industry does disgusting things to their food products to make their burgers look more appealing during commercials. Food industries such as Carl's Jr. would paint nail polish on the sesame seed buns to make the seeds look shiny and appetizing. The food industry is not the only companies that make their products seem more appealing then they really are. Car companies also create commercials that would make a car seem more appealing then it really is. Since there is a growing sense of going green, car companies have made their cars more "gas friendly" by saying their cars get an average of twenty-five miles per gallon or more. This is true only because car companies test our their cars in optimal conditions and test their cars at fifty-five miles per hour to obtain their statistics on their cars' average miles per gallon. In reality, cars get about five miles less per gallon because people drive on the highway and on the streets, up hills, and in bumper to bumper traffic. These conditions reduce gas mileage drastically. From a personal example, my car is supposed to get thirty-two miles to the gallon on a highway and street based driving. My average gas mileage has been more at twenty-five miles to the gallon on highway and street combined since I got my car. Thus, do not be fooled by the extravagant car commercials displaying their cars to be gas efficient when in reality they are not.

Postal Workers Having A Bad Day?

Ashley's recent post describes the poor work ethics of FedEx and UPS workers. On her posts she has two videos of two different FedEx and/or UPS workers handling packages carelessly and being caught on camera. The first video shows a UPS workers kicking and throwing packages around in his truck with no care of the damage he might have done to the packages being tossed around carelessly. The second video in her blog shows a delivery man tossing a package towards the front door like it was a baseball. Although these two videos may show two instances where delivery workers doing their job inappropriately mishandling packages, I personally believe that not all delivery workers take their job so carelessly. One of my close friend's father is a FedEx workers and he says he has never been so careless with his packages. It is a mistake to believe that all postal workers treat customers' packages so carelessly. I believe the employees that were caught on camera were workers having a bad day and took it out on the packages they were delivering. Even if they were having a bad day, there is no excuse to take it out on their packages but one can not help do think carelessly while emotional. I personally have never received a package battered. My mother even orders very fragile Swarovski Crystals online and has the packages delivered to our house by FedEx or UPS. None of the Crystals she ordered have never been broken or damaged. Ashley also discusses the fact that packages are rarely delivered on time. People must take into consideration that delivery companies such as FedEx and UPS have millions of packages to deliver everyday and one has to be patient for their package to arrive. If people were to complain about their tardy packages, I would not be surprised that FedEx and UPS employees treat customer packages so carelessly. One should never complain at a person who is taking care of your food, packages, or any item one is receiving.

Google

Everyday when I go to my computer to serf the web i double click Mozilla Firefox to take me to my homepage, Google. The search engine that is Google has a plain web page with the classic Google logo with each letter in different colors. Under the Google logo there is the search bar where one can serf the web by simply typing what he or she is trying to search for. On the top right of the web page is various links that, if clicked on, can make your search more specific. The links include web, images, maps, news, shopping, mail, and more. If a person wanted to search for just a picture, one could just click on the images link and type in what he or she wanted to find in the search bar and only images would appear. Under the search bar there is a link for one to go to the online Google store where one can purchase Google related merchandise and souvenirs. Below the Google store link, there is another link that connects you to another page giving one more information about the search engine. On the top right hand side of the page gives one links to his/her personal information and settings. The Google main web page may seem plain and simple, but Google is one of the biggest and used search engine in the World Wide Web. Google allows one to search for websites, videos, images, and even news without leaving your seat at home. The search engine allows one to become mobile without getting up from your seat.

The Bucket List

Today in class we discussed about the word mobility. During our class discussion, the teacher had a question for the class. Essentially, he tried to ask why people see sky diving as something that should be put on a person's "to do before I die" list. When my fellow classmates gave their answers and opinions, a movie that I recently watched came to mind; that movie was The Bucket List. "The Bucket List" is a movie about two old men who were both diagnosed with cancer and share a hospital room. One is a hard working mechanic and the other is a wealthy owner of several hospitals. The mechanic decides to make a "bucket list," a list of all the things he wants to do before he kicks the bucket. The wealthy of the two men decides to take the other man and complete his bucket list. The first thing they do on their bucket list was sky diving. The wealthy man jumps off the plane whole heartedly while the other man is hesitant and is pushed out by the professional sky diver strapped behind him. The wealthy man takes in as much as he can during his free fall while the other man is screaming and terrified while in the air, causing him to pull his shoot prematurely. They continue to do everything on the list such as riding a motorcycle through the Great Wall of China and fly above the polar ice caps. The movie ends with both men passing away but not before both of them touching each other's lives in a unique way that changes their perspectives on life. My fellow classmates discussed how people want to sky dive before a person becomes too old to. I believe that a person is never too old to do the things they want such as sky diving or even getting a tattoo. All a person needs to do all these things is time and money. A person can go sky diving at any age or even get a tattoo when he or she is fifty or sixty years old.