June 17

In a twisting little street in Kowloon, I passed a shop where tattooing was done. Pictured in the window were some suggestions: a mermaid, a flag, and the motto “Born to lose.” I was so astonished by the latter that I entered the shop and asked the man if anyone ever had those words actually tattooed into his skin. “A few,” he replied. But then he added a wise insight in broken English: “Before tattoo on body, tattoo on mind.”