What inspired you to dress the style that you do, and what category does it fall under?

For me, it was exciting music to begin with (punk music!) and then it was increasingly about how I laugh and have fun in a way that others don't like or respect or think is dumb... I was kind of weird. Not like, anti-social, brooding, misfit type weird, but just really talkative, bombastic, "weird," maybe even a little effeminate for a teenage boy -- not like I was gay or signaling I was gay, beause I am not, but because I was lanky and acting silly & having fun....

I was chatty & energetic...

And I saw how that clashed with the more conservative culture and norms, and so then it was also all about how this music isn't just super fun... It's about how I can distinguish & express myself in a real fun way.

(Isn't me - just a fun reference pick of what the style & lifestyle was all about)

I also found my teenage girlfriend through my punk lifestyle and it was just so fabulous having this pretty girl who was also a punk, going to shows with her, hanging out, dressing punk on a budget with DIY shit, pirating music... We had our group of friends and just on a school night, you know, going out to the Wal Mart and buying cheap snacks and playing hacky sack and talking way too long, going to a payphone and saying "dad dad don't worry I am sorry I don't got much time I will be home by 11, just go to bed first, I'll try to not wake you up" (comes home at 2)...

So many fun shows & bands, new sounds, everything was exciting, and the whole crew was just into... experiencing life from their own perspective that was resepctful, non-judgmental, and you really FIT IN, and it filled youw ith pride to be out with the punks & skins & hardcore kids and people LOOKING over...

And you'd occasionally see that 12-13 year old kid who didn't have any of the gear except maybe a band shirt (poseur band!) and they'd give you that look of like... "oh man I am going to be like those guys - I am on that path..."

Just the other day in the supermarket picking up milk I was walking with my heavily tattood arms out and that... LOOK of the face of a man who was a punk rocker, you know, the expression of the joker, the trickster, the life-loving rebel... and I saw a boy in his late teens with long hair and a band shirt give me that look of admiration - of mutual souls.

You know it when you see it.

Keep the fire alive, guys! Whether it's punk, goth, rockabilly, even if you are a raver... Live the life. It's beautiful and changes you forever and never goes away. It's an indelible mark.