is there a self other than an aglomerate of conditions?

connections

I spent a very long time thinking that something was definitely wrong with me. I then met a friend who, unlike a lot of people, was okay with talking about these feelings. Once we realized that we both had this concept of abnormality, we started asking other people. It seems to be that most people I know have this issue. I've started referring to it as, "A big fat case of 'the symptoms,'" although I also like your smarty-pants way of saying it. I've come to a point where I can only explain it like this: Humans, for some reason I don't understand, feel the need to categorize themselves. I.e. I am a libertarian, lesbian, left-handed, white, gemini, year of the sheep, buddhist, etc. None of these things really make any difference, in reality. In the grand scheme of things, I'm none of these things. These are labels. The biggest label of all, the way we separate ourselves the greatest, human. We think we need to separate ourselves from other animals as well. We have, in my opinion, because of this, lost our humanity.

And now I've started late-night rambling, so I've sort of stopped answering your question. That is my short-story, long-answer.

Cat fellatio?

I am sorry but I think you got it the other way around.
We label ourselves to belong to the tribe we are not in.

This is interesting. I never really thought about the psychological or philosophical self so I've done a little research and found this is a very complicated topic. "The self has many facets that help make up integral parts of it, such as self-awareness, self-esteem, self-knowledge, and self-perception."
So, I guess the "self" could be broken down into many categories. William James said "the self is composed of our thoughts & beliefs about ourself. " I guess it also includes our memories and how we interpret these memories. Our experiences certainly shape our sense of self. Our self-esteem which is "our overall emotional evaluation of our own worth." "Self-esteem encompasses beliefs (for example, "I am competent," "I am worthy") and emotions such as triumph, despair, pride and shame."
Our sense of self can and will change over time. You could be extremely depressed and view the world and view your experiences in an unrealistically negative way. You could meet a beautiful lover or get a promotion, and get an elevation in mood and a boost in self-esteem. Your sense of self could be unrealistic: You may think of yourself as smarter or dumber than you actually are. Our memories & perceptions are often unreliable. I think the biggest component of self is how you perceive and interpret your memories, & the happenings in the physical world around you.
Your experiences through-out life could subconsciously be dramatically effecting your sense of self. e.g. Were you abused as a child, or did you grow up in a nurturing environment.

“Probably the best account of the origins of selfhood is that the self comes into being at the interface between the inner biological processes of the human body and the sociocultural network to which the person belongs.”

Check out the YouTube video of neuroscientist Bruce Hood called "The Self Illusion: How Your Brain Creates You" I like his take on the self.

By the way, what is imagination (when I mentioned 'connections', this arguably breaks it)?