If I Had the 90's to Do Over, I Would Be a Ska Kid

I am for serious. Ska music is quite possibly my favorite genre of music. Why did it end? If freakin' leg warmers can make a come back, then where is the ska revolution?
Let's start one.

"Skater pants.
Sixties suits.
Looks real modern but its all about roots.
Two tone army!" - Toasters

I'm not kidding. Ska is like if emotions had theme music. Happiness would be ska. (Or banjo music, Steve Martin is correct)
I did actually try to be a ska kid in the 90's. I had those huge baggy jeans, the brand started with a J? JYNX? JYNC? There were letters.
 I wore thrift store Vans. I tried to skate board. I pretended I knew how. I was what people refer to as a poser. I did listen to a lot of ska though. This phase was between the ages of 13 and 15.
When I turned 16, I got a Squad Five-O CD from a friend and that was a game changer. Chucks soon replaced my wore out Vans, and straight leg jeans and back t's replaced the baggyness. This started the phase of poser-punk and my attempts to be cool.
18 years old finds me listening to mostly Christian music (I was in Bible school and also its no longer the 90,s, I'm not that old) and having no style at all. All I wore was straight legged jeans and black shirts. I guess Christian music doesn't inspire much style options.
When I was 20, I started college. This was when my music genres were:
1.) Screamo
2.) Classic Rock
I also was obsessed with being cool. This had always been a minor obsession, but now I had money to actually support it. I think I was able to achieve a small level of coolness. Somewhere between Flight of the Concords cool and sipping lattes in book stores cool. (notice my level of cool never left out the goofy factor thus the Flight of the Concords reference) Unfortunately though, being cool is totally bogus. Its really boring, because you can only do "cool" things and say "cool" things and also people don't really like you, they just like your coolness.
So after finally reaching what I considered to be cool, I decided it sucked and returned to my real self. Goofy.(I did go through a punk phase too later but that phase was more serious then my other phases, I mean once you wear suspenders for style theres no going back)
Its funny how music almost my whole life was influenced the way I dress. This is true with certain genres for lots of people. I'm glad its not true for all genres. (People dressed like polka or new wave would be quite disturbing.) Ever since I was a teenager, I let the music I listened to influence the way I dress. Why is this? Why does music provoke such a strong reaction?
Ska music = baggy pants & Vans
Punk = straight leg jeans & Chucks & suspenders
Folk = tie-dye & scarfs & moccasin boots
God created music. God created us. I think that He has placed a song in each of us, something unique to each person. While all the music I love has contributed to who I am today, (with the exception of baggy pants) who I am really lies inside, the song He wrote for me about me. Sometimes (by sometimes I mean practically daily)
I forget this song exists and listen to the songs of this world and let them define me. As I sit here listening to ska and remembering the struggle of being a teenager, and feeling the same struggle these days, it dawns on me that I haven't been listening to the right song.
Our identity lies in who the Lord says we are and when we listen to that song then we can access our true ID :) Though I do think my true identity does come with suspenders :)