Update: Point of clarification: By “diet,” I mean “what one eats” and not some plan at weight loss.

Twenty years ago I met the most amazing woman of my life.

The poor thing has been putting up with my eccentricities ever since.

The first time I read Walden by Thoreau, I was taken with the simplicity of his diet in the woods.

In addition, I’ve been thinking a lot lately about life in a pre-industrial (actually post-industrial) world. I am obsessed with simplifying and reducing the role of big corporations in my life.

Then I read somewhere (sorry I forget where) about someone eating oatmeal for breakfast, greens for lunch, and beans and rice for dinner.

So I’m modifying that. Right now it’s the same but homemade bread and natural peanut butter for lunch.

I’m looking into making my own peanut butter.

You may have noticed that this is vegetarian. This is by happenstance, not by design.

I don’t have a plan for duration. And I’m not a zealot. I teach a graduate class on Tuesday nights, so I had a vegetarian burrito at Freebird’s tonight.

But I want to understand what it’s like to subsist on staples. So this is an exploration. It’s a journey. Not the destination.

One day I will wake up and be done with this exploration. All I know is that it’s not tomorrow.

Cosmopolitan it is not.

However, wide open space abounds here, and that suits me just fine.

I’m contrary at times and fancy a place to escape my fellow humans.

The seemingly endless West Texas horizon offers just such a place. The panhandle causes one to forget the problems of overcrowding that plague this planet.

This is, after all, where the deer and antelope play. And just 5 miles from where this is taken, a handful of bison still roam their piece of the stockaded plains.

And most days, it is true, that the sky is not cloudy all day.

If memory serves, this project was started on January 1.

I briefly pondered the effort, but that faded.

Now, a Texas Tech student and Twitter friend, Allison Ralston, has started a similarly themed photo blog.

And that’s all the motivation that I needed.

But it’s too late to start on Jan. 1, so I’ll start on Jan. 3. Look for a new photo later today … and each day for the next 365!

There’s something wrong …

In addition to rekindling my love of photography (it was my career choice for a few months), I am hoping that it allows for some creative expression for my Transcendental soul.

Two years ago, I read Walden, and it spoke to me.

I was born 150 years too late to take part in the original Transcendental movement but not too late for my own.

As any citizen of the world can tell, there is something wrong with the world today.

And I have a strong suspicion that it has nothing to do with any of the things that we talk about. Certainly few of the things so many shout about.

Oil, suburbia, ennui

In the past month, I have read about the post peak-oil world (The Long Emergency), Eastern thought (Zen Buddhism), philosophy (Michel Foucault), and Hindu scripture (Bhagavad Gita).

I am also rereading Walden.

As always, I am struck by Thoreau’s words.

The greater part of what my neighbors call good I believe in my soul to be bad, and if I repent of anything, it is very likely to be my good behavior. What demon possessed me that I behaved so well?

I have some thoughts about how I can negotiate this life less encumbered by the trappings of the rat race. As those thoughts make more sense, I will share them here.

In keeping with this project, however, I will attempt to share those ideas visually … starting later today.

I hope you’ll stay tuned.

P.S. Texas Tech student Simon Ponder also launched a Project 365 this year.