About

There is little that can be said about me; unfortunately, I know myself too well to discern what it is. From my perspective, both privileged and confused, I see a chaotic abundance of facts; and no matter how I select and order them, I will be guilty of misrepresentation.

Notwithstanding these difficulties, what follows is my earnest attempt to describe myself, as if I were taking notes for my own use, in case I ever forget who I am.

Values and qualities I hold dear

Some basic facts about me

• There is something wrong with me.
• I’m decidedly introverted and solitary, but I have deep and strong bonds with the few people who are important to me.
• I believe that everything has hidden depths, and that the world is replete with mystery and meaning. I try not to lose sight of it.
• I place the highest value on everything that is useless and unprofitable; everything that goes overlooked, dismissed, or forgotten; and everything that is inexpressible or left unsaid.
• I live a simple life on the margins, away from the main currents. I don’t pursue excitement, variety, luxury, or prestige. I am content with small things and everyday experiences.
• I’m sensitive to beauty in nature and art and appreciate the aesthetic dimension of life.
• I alternate between phases of romanticism and cynicism, which I believe ultimately makes me a romantic.
• I enjoy calm, silence, and emptiness.
• I’m drawn to the linguistic and visual aspects of experience.
• I’m a hopeless dilettante. I’m curious about many topics and enjoy intensively learning about them for brief periods before becoming bored or disappointed. I have broad, if generally shallow, knowledge in a variety of disparate and often esoteric fields.

Some further facts about me

• I appreciate both conceptual rigor and flights of fancy. I enjoy both tasks that involve logical reasoning and creative imagination. However, as a dimension of life, I value imagination more highly than reason.
• I prefer natural environments over cultural ones. I’d much rather go for a walk in the forest or along a wild riverbank than visit a café, shopping mall, cinema, or museum.
• I’m fairly competent with computers. I quickly grasp technical concepts, enjoy learning how things work, and can handle various “advanced” software and hardware tasks. However, I don’t really like technology and would prefer to use it far less than I do.
• In some ways, I’m out of step with the times. I don’t feel at home in the 21^st century, despite having spent most of my life there. I tend to unwittingly regard the 20^th century as a “baseline” state of culture and society.
• When it comes to works of art, I’m more sensitive to mood than conceptual content or structure.

“Biographical information”

• I’m Polish.
• I’m male.
• I’m 35 years old.
• I don’t consider myself to have a “career”. I work as a freelance book designer and typesetter. I dislike most aspects of it and it makes me feel miserable. I’m okay at it, but I’ve long lost the motivation to be really good.
• I have a master’s degree in philosophy, which I pursued out of desperation and despair after dropping out of two other university programs. Later on, I dropped out of a PhD program in philosophy. I like the abstract concept of academia, and I enjoyed taking various courses; however, I discovered that I couldn’t become a scholar because I’d have trouble defining any “research interests”.
• I don’t have any notable achievements to speak of.

More about me

• I describe my current circumstances on the Now page.
• I explain why I call myself “wargaluk”.