My second skin, made in Thailand

I first got inked in a dingy tattoo parlor near the Cowley car works in Oxford, England, in 1986. I had a skull-and-crossbones motif tattooed on my left shoulder -- less a gesture of rebellion than a gambit to woo a girl from the clutches of a competitor. My rival opted for a Tasmanian Devil cartoon on his behind; an unwise move as it turned out.