Getting the Outside to Match the Inside

I touched on this when I wrote about working for a conservative. Usually I have chosen the clothes I wear or other aspects of my appearance to reflect who I am or how I feel. I do feel comfortable in a wide variety of styles of clothing. In the late 70s I was attracted to the "fuck the world" attitude of punk music. There has usually been a touch of the punk in my outward appearance since then. Some things are a combination of punk with other things. On my left thigh I have a tattoo of a barbed-wire cross. This is a combination of punk and Christian. At times I have worn a spiked leather collar. This started as punk statement. This later became a sign of my connection with furry fandom (more about this later). I stopped wearing that collar, because the leather started wearing out. I now wear a cloth collar with tags. The tags have my name and a reference to a special friend who means a lot to me. People ask me sometimes why I wear it. Sometimes I ask them why they don't wear one. Sometimes I say there is no reason, but I just want to wear it. How I answer the question depends on the situation and the questioner. I have a pair of boots with spikes on the toes. These were given to me by a younger punk friend. I enjoy wearing them from time to time.
I have enjoyed having different hair styles. During the 80s I would have my hair cut and dyed at a beauty school. For a few years I would have it dyed platinum blond with a blue streak somewhere. After a while when I went to get my hair done a group of students would form around where it was being done. They were curious what new thing I was going to have done. I usually have a buzz cut now, because I can do it at home myself. This saves money. I still may have the color changed again.
I have two tattoos in addition to the one mentioned above. One is a pink triangle (It has faded. and it no longer looks pink. I need to have it re-inked) inside a black heart. This combines the pink triangle of gay pride with the black heart used by Joan Jett and the Blackhearts. The other is a lion. This was initially inspired by a tattoo that I saw in a photo of Brad Wilk, the drummer of Rage Against the Machine. There were designs for lion tattoos in the place where I had my tattoos and piercings done, but they were all smiling. I found one I liked, but I said I did not want the lion to be smiling. I have plans of getting more tattoos done.
I like wearing t-shirts that make some sort of statement. Sometimes it might be for a band or musician I like, Gogol Bordello, Social Distortion, Hank Williams III, etc. Some are meant to make people laugh or to piss them off. I have a few that Tucker Max sold on his website. "I Hope They Serve Beer in Hell," "Assholes Finish First" and "What Would Tucker Do?" Some reflect things that mean something to me, gay rights or anti-racism for example. I wear some shirts to show people that their point of view is not the only one. For instance I sometimes wear a t-shirt with "Buddhist Atheist" on the front. I also have t-shirts for schools where friends had attended or have other personal attachment of some kind: Wichita State, Baker University, KU and NCSU. I became a fan of the University of Kansas after moving back to North Carolina. Sometimes I just wear a t-shirt as a way of saying, "Fuck you, I am who I am. If you don't like it I don't give a shit.