Project Narcissist is an effort to collect interesting things from my daily life that can then be compiled into a big and coherent piece at the end of the week. It is not a journal. A basic point of difference here is the keen editorial eye that’s supposed to fit material into an interesting structure.
So a day’s entry goes something like this:
Let’s just start with a recap of what all happened today. The day started with a lot of music blaring. NxWorries’ Why Lawd. Struggled to find a bike taxi. Saw a man refusing to move a roadblock even though it was clearly in the wrong place. The man looked young and was ready to fight over that roadblock. He was dedicated to his crusade against traffic. We trudged along more bad traffic burning under a hot sun. Got to the office. Came back. The cook had a black eye. It looked very suspicious but I didn’t want to interfere. Communication with her is bad enough as is. Perhaps I lack moral courage. Seeing her like that wasn’t a pleasant experience regardless. Got some new clothes. They look promising.
At the end of the week there’s six of such notes. That’s a decent bit of material to identify philosophical themes and a structure that might draw interesting things out of the mundane. It’s a way to collect material. A way to establish the habit of collecting material.
The self-centered nature of this project informs its title. Expanding consciousness from the personal to the interpersonal seems about right. Perhaps one day my consciousness expands enough to capture society at large. But for now it’s baby steps. Let’s see how it goes.
white ants 