Annika's Lucky Cat

Back in September, as summer was coming to a close, I met Annika near Federal Hall on Wall Street.
She had a bunch of tattoos, and shared this, her Lucky Cat:

This is a version of the traditional Japanese maneki-neko cat.

Annika explained, "I studied economics and, in Asia, everybody has [the maneki-neko cat] in their shops for business prosperity." She added, "for me it’s just like having a career and being lucky at what I do and loving my job."

When I asked why the cat is holding a sign that says "No Pain No gain," Annika replied, "because sometimes you just have to work hard to earn what you deserve ."

Annika hails from Germany and I asked why she had the phrase in English. She modestly replied, "Because it doesn’t sound that good in German … I used to live in England and California, so I really like English … I have [tattoos in] English and French and hardly any German lettering."

This cool cat was tattooed by Andrik at Farbenpracht Tattoo in Munich, Germany.

Thanks to Annika for sharing her maneki-neko with us on Tattoosday!

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Gene's Tattoo Commemorates His Service to Our Country

Back in September, I met Gene on Broadway, just outside of Bowling Green Park.

I've been saving his tattoo for today, Veteran's Day, as it seemed most appropriate:

Gene told me a guy named Michael did this tattoo "about seven or eight years ago" and that the artist lives in Florida now.

"Believe it or not," Gene told me, "this is lie, the sixth tattoo he ever did."

This image of three soldiers, two holding up the one in the center, is an iconic one. Gene told me he served  twenty-three years in the U.S. Army and Army Reserve.

Thanks to Gene for sharing his tattoo with us on Tattoosday. And a big thank you to Gene and all his fellow veterans for their service to our country!

This entry is ©2015 Tattoosday.

If you are seeing this on another website other than Tattoosday, without attribution, please note that it has been copied without the author's permission and is in violation of copyright laws. Please feel free to visit http://tattoosday.blogspot.com and read our original content. Please let me know if you saw this elsewhere so I contact the webmaster of the offending site and advise them of this violation in their Terms of Use Agreement.