All About ME
I figure the website is fairly self explanitory. So, you've probably come to this page to learn about the motivations and intent of whoever runs it. If there's ever a good time and place to let my inner narcissist run free, this is it.
What is Your Name?
Kathleen Ayn Shepherd. I like to include my middle name, because I think it says more about me than the other two. I don't go by it, though. I don't actually go by anything. I am in the habit of insisting people choose what they'd prefer to call me, themselves. I find their choices to shine a spotlight on their attitudes and intentions toward me. Continuing to go by the name they choose is a constant reminder of the exact social etiquette and underlaying realities of the situation.
What do you want to be when you grow up?
I've never had a straight answer for this question. Upon it's asking, my mind immediately begins tracing a myriad of philosophical paths. "Do they mean professionally? Is anyone every just one thing professionally? With any level of success generally comes some change in function. What I am to become ethically and morally is a far more accurate judge of a person, no? So, then, when am I grown up? Is it an age? A developmental stage? Is anyone ever truly grown up? Conversely, if the seed of their selves and future exists at birth....the portion that never truly changes...then isn't everyone already grown up?" This kind of thing expands upon itself until something distracts me - usually the questioner making an awkward joke because I've been silently staring off into space for as long as they can tolerate.
What is your favorite sport or hobby?
Sport? Baseball. I think it's nostalgia for my tomboyish childhood more than an earnest interest, but any modicum of success by the Oakland A's still brings me pleasure.
Hobby? Anyone that knows me would probably say travel. I love experiencing something new. Can you keep a secret, though? Like, a real one, that no one knows? My favoritest hobby ever is actually school. Not teaching it, but attending. I'm always attending classes online or in my local community. I learn better in person, but I'm completely addicted to the overly organized kind of rote learning of the online classroom. It's my farmville. Someday, I hope to break records for the number of degrees I hold. When people call me a know it all, it won't be sarcastic.
What is your favorite meal/food?
Sushi. mmm....rainbow rolls are my favorite, but I love tuna, and shrimp, and California rolls are like candy. I especially love to try the crazy house specials. You know, the ones named after the town, or sports teams, or their crazy nephew who would eat anything. If I were a boy, I would have been that nephew...
What is your favorite book?
Atlas Shrugged, by Ayn Rand. No, it's not because I was named after her...which, yes, I was. It's also not because I agree with her politics. I totally get why she came to the conclusions she did. I just think she never learned the political order of operations, so when x should equal 4, she thought that x equals cat. She was a brilliant writer, though, who saw the soul of humanity with a nearly unequaled clarity. Until I read her work, my heart had always cried out in quiet anguish over the things that I saw in the world around me. Sometimes I thought I was mad, because I saw things that I was constantly told weren't there. Ayn Rand saw them, too. Reading her works is like having a best friend.
What is your favorite song?
New Soul, but Yael Naim....because that's what it feels like to be me.
What is your favorite subject in school?
So far, probably Psychology....but it's never a field I could work in. I lack subtlety....and patience.
What is something you are really good at?
Research. If I could figure out how to make a living at it, I'd be wildly wealthy...because I'm just that good. Also, making incredible meals out of whatever happens to be in the kitchen when we really should have gone shopping like a week ago. Just don't ask me to follow a recipe. I have a husband for that kind of thing...