It’s a touch old skool, with a bunch of common tattoo motifs plonked together.

The green-eyed beauty is my gorgeous girlfriend.

The scroll says “Eternity” in some Sailor Jerry-like script. The meaning of this is two-fold. Firstly, I hope this whole love thing I’m feeling will be eternal. Secondly, my GF is from Sydney, where a homeless man known as Mr Eternity wrote the word on sidewalks all over the Harbour-side city. He had converted to Christianity, and this was his gentle way of spreading his gospel.

The nautical star is an old sailors’ tattoo, which they had inked to help them sail home and protect them. The swallows are also a favourite tattoo motif for sailors. It’s often a sign that land is near. During migrations, swallows are known to travel far out to sea, but would alight on boats when close to land – a welcome sign for the sailor hoping for landfall. It’s a tradition for sailors — after logging 5,000 miles at sea — to have the swallow inked. Two swallows proclaims 10,000 sea miles. Since I’ve travelled a lot more than that, I feel comfortable about sporting the two swallows.

The cherry blossoms is my nod to the amazing tattoos of Japan, where they are a metaphor for life. Bushido, the samurai’s code, takes the cherry blossom as its emblem. The blooming of the cherry tree is the purest manifestation of beauty in Japanese culture, but then the blossom swiftly fades and is scattered by the wind. The essence of Bushido is that the true Samurai lives every day knowing it may well be his last. The cherry blossom is a powerful reminder that life is fleeting and we must live in the present and cherish every waking moment.