Author [JL Peridot](https://jlperidot.com/) publishes [One Nice Thing](https://web.archive.org/web/20240826010004/https://sendfox.com/lp/3qdoxj), a beautiful Monday email with one nice quote or picture and it often ends with a small question or thought for personal contemplation. Previously I've used them for prompts in my journal and she recently she posed the following:

> How would you describe your sense of style?

It's something I've been thinking about recently, because I've always wished for my personal style to be:

> Goth, cyberpunk, a bit weird.

## Goth

[![A side profile photo of Az showing a tall teal and blue mohawk, like an ocean.](/img/2022-11-28-personal-style-mohawk.jpeg)](https://www.instagram.com/p/CirPRa2vqiy/)

I've been sporting a mohawk for 7 years now, but I've always felt like I'm still not "goth enough" in my own eyes. But last week I took a look around our living room and noted:

* 5x skulls.
* A sword.
* A dagger.
* Creeping Devil's Ivy over all our bookcases.
* A lot of really strange books.
* Dried plants.
* An apothecary.

Okay, so maybe there's a few goth elements to our house.

In my wardrobe I have:

* 6 identical black v-neck shirts.
* 3 pairs of black jeans.
* Demonia platform boots.
* Two mesh singlets.
* Fishnet dress.
* Leather harness.
* Spell book shoulder bag.
* A decent amount of dark lipstick.
* A few collars and wrist cuffs.
* A messenger bag bedecked with pins, including 6 separate skulls.
* Various silver necklaces and pendants with strange charms.

Alright, when I actually reflect on what I own, maybe I am a bit more goth than I realise.

## Cyberpunk

Here I found a definite natural fit.

While the mohawk counts here too, going for the wardrobe first I've got:

* Combat boots.
* A few pairs of cargo pants, including some fancy fitted [Verillas](https://www.verillas.com/) ones.
* A series of very dystopian graphic tees and crop tops from [Dustrial](https://dustrial.net/).
* 2 sets of leather fingerless gloves.
* Flourescent sneakers.
* A balaclava.

I also always carry a zippo lighter and a Swiss army knife because of the everyday utility they provide. So maybe my daily wear does also tend towards both the function and form of cyberpunk.

Where I really shine on the cyberpunk side is probably my tech.

I've got:

* A modern gaming rig in my 14 year old PC case, outputting to 3 monitors.
* A [NAS that is over 10 years old]({{< relref "/content/personal/2021-08-01-lbs-nas-of-theseus.md" >}}).
* A [virtualisation server]({{< relref "/content/ops/2019-07-10-new-server.md" >}}) running 10 different VMs with various functions.
* An [N40L microserver]({{< relref "/content/ops/2022-03-26-n40l-power-and-data-issue.md" >}}).
* 8x Raspberry Pis including:
  * A 4B 4GB media server.
  * A 3B+ handling [HAProxy for all my servers/VMs]({{< relref "/content/ops/2021-04-02-haproxy-http-and-https-multiple-domains-and-backends.md" >}}).
  * [5x 4B 8GB in a cluster]({{< relref "/content/ops/2022-09-19-raspberry-pi-cluster.md" >}}).
* 2x slowly aging Macbook Pros that still get a lot of use.
* 2x old LCD screens [displaying weird things]({{< relref "/content/ops/2022-05-22-streaming-hack-attempts.md" >}}).
* Two funky keyboards (OLKB [Planck](https://www.instagram.com/p/CIjrl5dHXUd/) and Preonic).

Alright, I think that fits the bill for pretty cyberpunk. I self-host a bunch of stuff too so I have more control over function and data, including:

* [GitLab]({{< relref "/content/personal/2019-02-26-gitlab-quick-start-guide.md" >}}).
* CI/CD nodes.
* RSS reader.
* [Mastodon](https://scorpinc.social/).
* 2x Gopher sites[[1]]({{< relref "/content/personal/2019-06-20-gopher-maze-game.md" >}})[[2]](http://interns.scorpinc.solutions:70/).
* [Mail server]({{< relref "/content/ops/2022-07-13-running-your-own-mail-server.md" >}}).
* [Funkwhale]({{< relref "/content/ops/2022-04-18-funkwhale-configuration-and-first-impressions.md" >}}).
* A personal wiki for notes and recipes.

## A Bit Weird

I think I've got this one down without further explanation needed.

## Conclusion

I think it's interesting to take note of what I wish I had as a personal style, and then taking the time to reflect on what I have and wear and do I can see that I am already there. In this I find some level of contentment and satisfaction.