New Tattoo: Saudade

If you follow me on Twitter or Tumblr, you probably know I got a new tattoo (my third) last Friday. I’ve been anxious to post photos except I injured my back that same night and have been stuck at home, unable to move properly, since Saturday morning. I am terribly bored and have sort of quit smoking (so I’ve been looking browsing the internets for the best electronic cigarette starter kit).

It sucks.

(If you must know how in the world I got myself in this lulzy situation: I fell off a chair and landed smack on my back. I must have tried to break the fall with my left arm because I ended up with a swollen left palm and scratches on my elbow. I had to to go to the hospital to get some x-rays done and my friend, Erwin, had to push me around in a wheelchair. It’s that bad. I haven’t even been able to go back for my x-ray results seeing that walking hurts.)

It’s really no fun and I am hoping this injury isn’t permanent.

Anyway, here are photos of my new tattoo. A warning: my skin doesn’t look nice. I couldn’t find my bottle of fragrance-free lotion so my skin is extra dry (I also haven’t been able to shave my legs because I can’t bend forward yet). I use Drapolene (diaper rash cream) to ease the itchiness and it does wonders.

BLOODY! This was really painful. I’m not sure if it was because the tattoo artist had a heavy hand but I was told that calf tattoos really do hurt, even more than shin tattoos? Thanks to Chui for this photo.

YES, I KNOW MY SKIN LOOKS GROSS. I cannot wait for it to fully heal so I can start using lotion again.

The font I used is Aphrodite Pro (combined two different styles) and I added the leaves because I thought it looked pretty. I chose the location to cover a scar I’ve had since high school (from a roller blading incident). If you notice, there is another scar right above it; I got that from backing up on a hot flat iron that was on the floor (also from when I was in high school). Before getting this tattoo, I planned on covering up that scar, too; now I’m not so sure.

Saudade (if you’re too lazy to google) is a Portuguese word and is one of the hardest words to translate into the English language. Put simply, it means nostalgic longing. According to Wikipedia, it means:

a deep emotional state of nostalgic longing for something or someone that one was fond of and which is lost. It often carries a fatalist tone and a repressed knowledge that the object of longing might really never return.

Saudade has been described as a “vague and constant desire for something that does not and probably cannot exist … a turning towards the past or towards the future”. A stronger form of saudade may be felt towards people and things whose whereabouts are unknown, such as a lost lover, or a family member who has gone missing. It may also be translated as a deep longing or yearning for something which does not exist or is unattainable.

Saudade was once described as “the love that remains” or “the love that stays” after someone is gone. Saudade is the recollection of feelings, experiences, places or events that once brought excitement, pleasure, well-being, which now triggers the senses and makes one live again. It can be described as an emptiness, like someone (e.g., one’s children, parents, sibling, grandparents, friends) or something (e.g., places, pets, things one used to do in childhood, or other activities performed in the past) that should be there in a particular moment is missing, and the individual feels this absence.

It’s a beautiful word, isn’t it? You can hear how it’s pronounced on Forvo.

And here is a photo of my right calf, pre-tattoo:

And my outfit last Friday lol: