What Do You Want to Be?
May 4th 2009
LoriHandelandGoddess Grins & Lori Handeland
Remember when you were a kid and adults asked you “What do you want to be when you grow up?” What did you say?
My first recollection for an answer is a grocery store clerk. I thought pushing all those buttons must be cool. I moved on to writer fairly early–around 10 years old. Then, later, when I actually got close to deciding and realized I’d need to have money for pesky things like food and rent., I said teacher. (Hey, three months off to write!) Lawyer (John Grisham anyone?)
Right out of college I ended up as a receptionist for a wastewater treatment sales company. Yeah, I needed four years of college for that.
Interestingly enough, I still get asked this question in a slightly different form–If you weren’t a writer, what would you be?
I still answer teacher. I’m not trained for anything else.
But I also like to ask myself this question. It’s a fun game when I’m avoiding work. If I could be anything without concern for money, education, or reality what WOULD I be.
Well, I’d still be a writer, but that’s cheating. Soooo–
A princess–Why not? It looks like a REALLY good job.
The person who makes up the names for nail polish color and ice cream flavors. I’d be GOOD at that.
A professional gramma–Kids, fun, love, they go home. What’s not to love?
Now satisfy my curiosity–
What did you want to be when you grew up?
What did you become?
What would you be if you didn’t have to worry about money, education, age or reality?
75 Comments »
75 Responses to “What Do You Want to Be?”
Bronte on 04 May 2009 at 4:19 am #
I always wanted to be a doctor. My cousin was born with spina bifida and I remember from an early age wanting to heal him. I ended up becoming a veterinarian. I sometimes flirt with the idea of going back and doing human medicine but the thought of going back to university again convinces me otherwise. If I didn’t have to worry about money etc I would want to be a movie reviewer.
LisaK on 04 May 2009 at 4:26 am #
When I was little I first wanted to be a comic artist, then, when I could write more than just a few short sentences, a writer. I’ve always had the idea of studiying art, but a year or something ago I came to the conclusion that art is something I’d rather have as a big hobby.
I’m still at school, my graduation will be next year, so I don’t have a real job yet. But I’m pretty sure now that I’ll enroll at a translation school in Munich to become a translator for English and French. I love writing and dealing with texts and I love languages, so that’s the perfect job for me, actually. But I’ll still go on painting. Always.
If I didn’t have to worry about money etc. I’d be a writer. Definitely. In fact I’m working on my first novel but as I don’t know whether I’ll be successful or not I’d first learn a job so that I’m not lost in case my writing career ends before it starts.
Pesky on 04 May 2009 at 5:23 am #
1. Growing up I wanted to be a park ranger or a librarian or an artist (famous of course)
2. I ended up being a database administrator (though my degree is in commercial art)
3. Hmmmm…if I could be anything. I would be one of the mythbusters or write unusual travel guides.
Beth C. on 04 May 2009 at 5:26 am #
1) I wanted to be a veterinarian and then an astronaut.
2) A Software Quality Assurance tester
3) If I could be anything, I’d be a full time student who audited classes. I love learning but hate the tests. Or a librarian.
Cail on 04 May 2009 at 5:40 am #
1) i wanted to be an actress (and went to college for it)
2) first i became an analyst now i’m onto my 2nd career- teaching
3) i’d probably be an artist.
LoriHandeland on 04 May 2009 at 5:53 am #
Bronte-my son wanted to be a vet until he found out how much school was involved. I wanted to be one too when I was a kid until my cat came home after surgery and I nearly passed out looking at the incision. Nothing medical for me!
I wish I could speak other languages, Lisa K. What a talent! I had 4 years of Spanish and 2 of Portuguese and remember nothing.
Pesky–Mythbusters!!! I’d like that. Or how about a cryptozoologist. Kind of the same thing I suppose.
LoriHandeland on 04 May 2009 at 5:58 am #
I love all these great ideas and cool jobs y’all have. I always ask people what they do and how they got into their jobs because that leads to such interesting stories. Unless people are nurses or doctors etc, they don’t usually have a set idea of what they’re going to do and wind up getting into their occupations in a fascinating, roundabout way.
Beth C–I thought about librarian too. Even applied to go to grad school. But I was schooled out by that time. I wish professional reader was a job.
Cail-Tell me about acting school! That sounds like fun.
Freedom Writer on 04 May 2009 at 6:08 am #
As a kid I wanted to be a writer, a vet and a MD.
Most recently I have been working on my writing, but the paying gigs I’ve had are in the accounting/office manager area.
I’d be a writer.
Mooslady on 04 May 2009 at 6:11 am #
When I was 4 I wanted to get married, be a Native American Indian and live in Chicago. Don’t ask me why Chicago, I grew up in upstate NY.
From my teens, I wanted to be a teacher. In college I ended up with adegree in German Literature, of all things, and had to go to graduate school to get a teaching license. I now have the credits I need to teach History, Social studies, German and French. Yet I always wanted to be a stay at home mom most of all and I have been for much of my adult life, with 5 daughter from 17 to 20 months. All my kids who old enough have been taught to read by me, which I consider a great privilege.
Just down the road from me is a segregation era one room schoolhouse now owned by a Black Baptist church. I dream of renting the building and opening a one room private school for 10-15 kids of various ages, and charging no tuition. Just taking the kids who wouldn’t have fit in at government schools and helping them realize thier potential. Of course, here in the rural South, where only Catholics attend non-segregated churches, there is no way they would rent to a white, transplant from the North, sigh.
Margaret A. Golla on 04 May 2009 at 6:24 am #
Easy Q’s, today!
1) I wanted to be a veterinarian, actually worked in a vet clinic throughout high school, but I didn’t like the idea of four more years of college.
2) Medical Technologist–my fourth year of college was a hospital internship, then they chained me to the equipment for another 22 years before I found a way to pick the lock.
3) A writer, of course, published would be nice, but I’m happy doing what I’m doing. It’s one of the best ’set your own hours’ type of job. What other job can you plot and carry out a murder without getting arrested? Or live in a fantasy world with faeries, goblins, and other preternatural critters? Too bad non-writers just think we’re weird.
LoriHandeland on 04 May 2009 at 6:34 am #
Ah, accounting and office management–right up my alley, Freedom. Couldn’t get more than a D+ in math, yet I’m still doing that job on the side.
Snort. Moos! I love that you wanted to be a NA in Chicago. Kids have such fantastic, creative dreams. And I think that’s SO cool that you taught your girls to read. I was clinging to sanity by my fingernails when my kids were little and I only had 2.
I’m with you Margaret A. The things I’ve done in books! I’d never get out of jail, or the nuthouse in real life.
And that’s the reason most writers end up with the majority of their friends being writers. Everyone else wants to have us committed.
Kathy/Cookiedough on 04 May 2009 at 6:34 am #
when I was little, I wanted to be a hairdresser.
As I got older I wanted to be a daycare teacher.
I went to school and worked as a hairdresser for 5 yrs.
then became a nanny- which is kinda like professional grandma, except I’m the one who got to go home.
Michelle B on 04 May 2009 at 6:49 am #
1. I wanted to be a nurse when I was little, then a lawyer, then a med tech, and finally a journalist. When I got to college that changed to a Special Education Teacher.
2. I’ve been lots of things over the last 22 years thanks to 10 military moves. Currently, I write and carryout recreation programs. My favorite job will always be when I was the stay at home Mom.
3. But an empty nester should have something so.. I’d love to be a photographer. Or an x-ray technologist (different kind of photos).
nancyg on 04 May 2009 at 6:49 am #
From the time I was a little kid, I wanted to be a lawyer. I think it was my dad letting me stay up and watch my first rated-R movie, Al Pacino’s “And Justice For All” that did it. During my teen years, I idolized Elizabeth Dole (told you I was a geek!).
Moved my way up from customer service rep to National Sales Manager in 12 years before staying home with my girls the last 6.
If I could be anything right now, (besides Clive Owen’s personal assistant) I’d have to say sportscaster. It really annoys me as a female sports fanatic to see these totally vapid females on the sidelines asking inane questions, whose only qualification seems to be they look good with the 3rd button on their blouse undone.
LoriHandeland on 04 May 2009 at 7:01 am #
Kathy-I like the nanny idea. I could do that!
My dad was a professional photographer, Michelle B. I managed his office for years and it was very interesting, though I’ve always been nothing but lame in the taking pic dept. He was always there and his photos were so great, I never bothered. Now he’s gone and I can never remember to bring my camera. Sigh.
I am with you, Nancy G. Whenever I’m watching games on TV I’m always yelling at the TV women to “move out of my way! “stop talking” and “you’ve got to be kidding me.” I’m a very active sports TV watcher.
Karen Rose on 04 May 2009 at 7:25 am #
Lori, I wanted to be a nurse from my earliest memory until I was 14. Then I shadowed a pediatric nurse on her hospital shift and decided that wasn’t for me. I got shaken up just seeing kids with tonsillitis. Anything more serious would have me falling apart.
Then I wanted to be an architect, but I found out I couldn’t draw. Small setback. Then I wanted to be a nuclear physicist. I went to a geek high school. Now it would be called a charter school or magnet school for sci and tech. Being a nuclear physicist was SEXY. But my mediocre B in physics stymied that dream…
Then I wanted to be a chemical engineer because I liked chemistry and match, but didn’t want to take biology in college where they’d make me cut frogs and assorted other animals up. Squeamish, I am. (It’s true!)
The university gave me a full scholarship for Chem Engineering, and then I was stuck. Too poor to change majors and lose the dough, I stuck it out, even though I knew after the first year that engineering was not what I wanted to do.
I wanted to be a teacher. Being a writer never entered my mind as it was not a Practical Occupation. AKA, I wanted more than living in a garret, eating rats.
Karen Rose on 04 May 2009 at 7:30 am #
Interestingly, I spent 15 years doing engineering type jobs, struggling for the “right fit.” I moved to a different company, got laid off and as part of “career counseling” I took a personality test that predicted which job would be my match.
Chem E? Bottom 5% out of several hundred occupations.
Top 2 best jobs? Writer and Teacher, LOL. That explained a lot about why I could never fit into the engineering mold!
So if I couldn’t be a writer, I’d be a math teacher. I like teaching the complex stuff, but got greater satisfaction teaching the kids who were missing big chunks of math skills, for whatever reason. They had to pass the std. testing to graduate and helping them do that made me both frustrated and energized.
If I couldn’t be a math teacher or writer?
Princess would require me to look good too often.
I still can’t draw, so architect is right out.
Still squeamish, so no medical jobs.
How about CHOCOLATE TASTER? I’m liking it.
LisaK on 04 May 2009 at 7:36 am #
Oh Ka-Ro, don’t talk about chemistry, please! I’m having a test tomorrow and I don’t want to think about it… *claspingmyhandsovermyeyessothatIcan’tseetheevilstuff*
Chocolate taster, hmmmm, yummy!
What do you say to professional shopper?
Claudia Dain on 04 May 2009 at 7:36 am #
A movie critic. I love watching movies, love thinking about them, love discussing them scene by scene. I know it’s possible to make money at this, but how? How does anyone get a job as a movie critic?
Freshechelle on 04 May 2009 at 7:43 am #
I used to want to be a Foreign Service Officer until I realized I didn’t have the drive to ever become fluent in any foreign language. Now I just want to be a kept woman. That has the absence of a corporate structure I’m seeking.
Karen Rose on 04 May 2009 at 7:44 am #
Claudia – you should review films on IMDB.com like my DH does. He started one summer when I’d gone into my writing cave. Now he’s the most prolific reviewer in the world with 6500+ reviews.
Don’t know if you could make any money at it, but if you like dissecting films, it could be fun. You could also teach film, but I think you need a degree for that, which, like, sucks.
If you want to be a critic on TV, I think you gotta know somebody, so you should schmooze
Lisa K – GOOD LUCK on your chem test!
Kat on 04 May 2009 at 7:45 am #
Well, when I was younger, I wanted to be a dancer, then a singer, but since you actually have to have serious talent to do that and I was already writing songs and stories, around the end of middle school, I decided to be a writer. Now that I know I have to actually by published in some sort of way to make money off my drabble — well, I still want to write, but for now I’m a secretary for a Pediatric geneticist — talk about children with it bad off? It’s really hard not to think about that when I write about these kids with life-threatening diseases and genetic mix-ups.
I’m saving money to go back to grad school, as soon as my boyfriend finishes with his grad school and we move on to the post-doc, I have a BA in English, con: Professional Writing, with a minor in Liberal Arts — since I decided that I could teach college and write as so many of my professors did. I don’t think I could handle anyone younger — I just don’t have the people patience.
If I could do anything — I think I would be a professional crafter — I knit, crochet, sew, quill, quilt, draw, and scrapbook, so it’s something I do anyway. And it leaves you at home for pets, kids, writing, etc. . .
Julia London on 04 May 2009 at 7:46 am #
I wanted to be a merchant marine and sail the world. I became a public administrator. If I didn’t have to worry about money or health, I’d be a writer
. Somehow I managed the dream job!
Kathleen A. on 04 May 2009 at 7:56 am #
When I was in 9th grade, I decided to become a writer…told my folks…and heard my mom sigh and say, “But how will you make any money? How will you take care of yourself? Business school might be a better choice, Kathleen.” In an effort to prove her wrong, I decided to become a journalist, because, well, in theory one could get a job with a journalism degree and get paid, etc., etc. It worked, and I stayed in the business of magazine publishing for almost 20 years. Then the deadlines burned me out and I now work from home, freelancing for nonprofits as a grant writer.
What would my fantasy job be? Casting director person for a major film (you know, the one who gets to see all of the actors audition for parts, etc.)…the female version of the guy in the wireless commercial who gives free shoes to needy kids all over the world…princess (it does sound like a great gig)…or some kind of goodwill ambassador who gets to travel to exotic places and has assistants to set up all travel arrangements and helps me get ready for big events.
JudyPatooty on 04 May 2009 at 7:57 am #
When I was about 9, I wanted to be an Archeologist Veterinarian! That would be an interesting combination, don’t you think? Later in life I wanted to be a Forest Ranger, but only if I couldn’t just be a hippie living in Colorado. That didn’t work out either.
While I was in college I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life, so I drifted into graduate school for two more years of not knowing what to do with my life. After getting my master’s degree, I took what was supposed to be only a temporary job with a political consulting firm and ended up staying with them for almost 17 years.
Now I’m a plain old budget analyst with the county government and I’m enjoying the heck out of it! It’s wonderfully low-stress and it leaves me plenty of time after work and on weekends to do what I would do if I could only make a decent living at it – genealogy. Doing family history research is such fun! If only someone would pay me to research my own family, that would be ideal!
Kathy/Cookiedough on 04 May 2009 at 8:06 am #
For the last few yrs I wanted to be a continuity expert on films. I love those details!
If I had no worries on money, I’d probably still be looking after children, just not charging for it and I’d have a great backyard for them to play in, instead of my 8ft by 6 ft deck I have now
LoriHandeland on 04 May 2009 at 8:07 am #
I cannot believe you’re squeamish, K-Ro!! That defies the odds.
Chocolate taster works for me!
Lisa K–my mom would snap up that professional shopper job in an instant! Good luck on that test.
I don’t know how you get a job as a movie critic, Claudia, but if you find out, let me know.
Now that you mention it, Fresh, I remember filling out an application to be in the foreign service. Huh. They never called back.
LoriHandeland on 04 May 2009 at 8:11 am #
I’ve always wanted to be able to sing, Kat. Sadly I’m so bad my kids would put their hands over my mouth when they were babies and say “No, Mama, No.” How’s that for a critique?
You could still sail the world, Julia. Like Joan Wilder and Jack–take the computer along!
Any job with a professional assist sounds good to me too, Kathleen.
Judy–my oldest just started hinting about grad school. (twitch, twitch) I don’t think he knows what he wants to do wither.
That would be a good job, Kathy. I love looking at websites that tell the continuity mistakes people find in films. Very interesting.
elsiehogarth on 04 May 2009 at 8:13 am #
1. I wanted to be a ballet dancer. I took ballet until I was 9, left it, for 2 years, and went back to it until I was 16. It just wasn’t fun any more. I just wanted to dance not be a prima ballerina.
2. International Finance Anyalyst. I speak 4 languages and I love numbers.
3. I would be an Egyptologist. I have been a chair Egyptologist since I was little girl. When I was 16 I bought my first Book of the Dead and have many books on Egypt, Mummies, Kings & Queens of Egypt etc. Also right after college graduation I spent 1 month, in Egypt, helping on a dig, took a 9 day cruise up and down the Nile, a week in Cairo-spent most of it in the Museum and rest was just sightseeing. it was wonderful.
nancyg on 04 May 2009 at 9:07 am #
It’s so awesome reading about everyone – great topic!
Reading about this made me think of a family sit-down dinner about a month ago. We got to talking about careers, as my oldest is graduating from high school next month. She’s majoring in art history & wants to be a museum curator… I have downloaded some volunteer applications for the Dallas Museum of Art and Nasher Sculpture Garden for the summer. She can get her “feet wet” & maybe learn the machinations of a real museum.
The 13 year old wants to be an actress – she’s been nicknamed “drama queen” since she could talk. She’s taking honors theater classes next year when she starts high school & I’ve enrolled her in a few summer workshops with the Dallas Summer Musicals.
The youngest just turned 10 and said she’s narrowed it down to 2 occupations – either a vet or an “invisible Ninja”, lol. She claims she’s working on her stealth properties by unauthorized sneaking into her sisters’ bedrooms!
Kathleen O on 04 May 2009 at 9:14 am #
I always thought that I would be a teacher. We had this big chalkboard in the basement and some how we had received so old school desks. We would play “classroom” and I would be the teacher.
Then I wanted to be a singer and dancer on Broadway and in the movies.
I also wanted to be a writer. I was going to be the next Helen Gurly Brown and have my own magazine. Cosmo was so big when I was a teenager.
I eneded up working in an office most of my life. Mostly in the Customer Service area and in many various fields.
LoriHandeland on 04 May 2009 at 9:33 am #
Elsie–I would so love to be good at languages.
Also love the Egypt stuff. If there’s a book with an archaeologist/Egypt theme, I’m always there.
Nancy–I love the invisible Ninja job! Kids are a hoot.
Kathleen O-Ah, Broadway. Wouldn’t that be grand?
evlqn on 04 May 2009 at 9:33 am #
I wanted to be an actor when I was a kid. As an a adult I was in a commercial with my oldest son , we filmed it in several locations in San Diego on a Friday. After a truly horrible day pretending to like cold food smothered in ketchup I had to drive through going home traffic on the I-5 through LA to Lake Piru in Ventura County.I hate ketchup and heavy night-time traffic now. And I never did see the commercial.
When I graduated from HS I wanted to be in computer repair. Everyone else wanted to be a programmer. I figured someone had to fix them when they broke. My dad convinced me to have the Army give me the training, so I took the tests and everything to join. But dad had also said DO NOT sign until they put it in writing I can have the school I want. By the time they came across with the deal, I had moved on with my life.
If I could do anything, I would travel the world and take pictures. I love photography. I would also find a way to help with alternative energy.
Dorthy on 04 May 2009 at 9:44 am #
I wanted to be the first female five star general.
I am actually a stay at home mom. Kinda like being a general…
If I didn’t have to worry about money, education, age, or reality….I would be a masage therapist, writer, rancher, owner of a book store, oh and of course a mom.
Lorena on 04 May 2009 at 10:05 am #
When I was little, I thought any job that involved exploring would be great. First choices, of course, were female Daniel Boone, Kit Carson, etc. Then I discovered the west had been won.
Then I wanted to be a nurse or an airline stewardess. Then I discovered that real nurses and airline stewardesses didn’t solve mysteries.
Then for years I didn’t know what I wanted to be, but thought it would be really cool if it included discovering something (anything). Loved biology but hated chemistry, so that kind of narrowed the options. Then somehow (I’m still not entirely sure how it happened) I ended up in law school. I liked studying law a lot more than practicing it (I’d go home and get sick from nerves.).
Now I’m in “marketing communications” — PR, marketing, blogging, etc etc etc. as a day job, and writing (3 short stories published under a pen name). Working on novels.
What would I be if money weren’t an issue? I’d still write–I’m a story teller. But cryptozoology and or researching myths (at one point I wanted to travel around the world and just collect stories from indigenous people) would be really, really cool.
As long as there aren’t any snakes.
Julia London on 04 May 2009 at 10:06 am #
lori, sailing the world would require a bit of scratch, I think. Plus, the older I have gotten, and the more times I have seen Titanic and stories of pirates, I have an unhealthy fear of being way out in the ocean with no land to swim to. Think I’ll stick to seeing the world by trains, planes, and automobiles.
Isn’t it weird how you develop fears you never had? And I’m a good swimmer, so its not fear of water. Its fear of really deep water. With sharks. And killer whales. And pirates.
Karen Hawkins on 04 May 2009 at 10:06 am #
Lori, what an interesting topic! It’s fun to see where people came from and where they’re going.
When I was younger, I wanted to be Art Buchwald, political humorist and, failing that, a lawyer. Why I wanted to be the newer (and prettier) Art, I don’t know, but even today, political humor is my favorite kind and I love The Daily Show, Dennis Miller, The Colbert Report, and that Washington DC improv group (can’t remember their name).
Naturally, this was a difficult path so I ended up majoring in poli sci and heading for my PhD only to be distracted by this writing gig. But it’s pretty cool because I still get to write humor, which was my ultimate goal, anyway … funny how things are sort of linked when you look at them.
Lorena on 04 May 2009 at 10:06 am #
Or other reptiles. I just don’t do well with reptiles, especially big ones. But I could investigate Big Foot and other things that live in forests and mountains. I like hunting ghosts and other things that go bump in the night.
Lorena on 04 May 2009 at 10:07 am #
K-Hawk: The Capitol Steps!
Margaret on 04 May 2009 at 10:24 am #
Once again I am truly impressed by you all. You dreams and your actualities.
Heck, I didn’t even know there was a position for an invisible Ninja! I could do that. (G)
I wanted to be a writer and a singer. I was fairly decent at both but lacked the backbone to put myself out there and take a chance. Instead I spent my life being wife, mother, divorcee, grandmother and temp worker. So, I say go for your dreams, ladies, and never look back.
Julie, an uncle of mine was a merchant seaman during WW2. A very dangerous job w/o the glory of being a military guy. Those guys were heroes too. I used to want to travel on the ships that carry oil and other supplies to ports around the world. I wonder if they still do that. At the time, I read that those ships had a certain # of cabins available for just such a thing. Not fancy, but an adventure none the less.
evlqn on 04 May 2009 at 10:24 am #
I could investigate “haunted” places. We have lived in so many otherwise occupied places that spirits don’t scare me. Those shows where the investigators get all panic’d give me a rash. Find a new job if this one scares you.
Margaret on 04 May 2009 at 10:24 am #
I meant Julia, of course. Sorry. My finger slipped.
Janae on 04 May 2009 at 10:31 am #
I think that the first thing I ever wanted to be was a meteorologist. That was followed by lawyer and dr.
I went to college and have a degree in history. I do research part time for our film company, while we’re waiting to hear if we’re going to receive any more funding from the NEH to make a pilot. I, also, just got my first commission as a jewelry designer, which is exciting. I’m, also, a sahm.
My dream job would be working as a tour guide at colonial or Revolutionary sites because I want to share what I know and correct the information people learned in school. Or what they learned at other historical websites like a few I could name, that give out inaccurate information. However, to do that it’d require a cross country move. I did tell my dh that I could wait until we retire to do it.
Karen Rose on 04 May 2009 at 10:33 am #
I got engaged on the Capitol Steps. Now I have to go have a listen to the improv group
Julia, I’m with you. THe older I get the more I fear large bodies of water. Cruises are okay as they generally stick close to ports – where all the tourism and money lurk. Plus there is the midnight buffet and the chocolate fountain. Those can make me forget I’m at sea.
But working at sea? I don’t think so. Sea is for lounging and being brought girly drinks with paper umbrellas in them.
LoriHandeland on 04 May 2009 at 10:38 am #
My dad had that happen to him in the air force, Evlqn. He went in as a radio operator and never got near a radio. Ended up a photographer. But he loved that so it worked out okay.
I love that, Dorthy. I agree 5 star general, mom. Same thing.
Lorena–that’s what turned me away from law school. Nerves.
I never used to be afraid of bridges, Julia. Don’t know why, but now I am. Don’t like to drive over them and the last time I walked over one on a vacation in TN, I had to sit down and put my head between my knees when I got done. Maybe I fell off one in another life.
Hey, K-Ha, why not be a humorous lawyer.
That would be interesting.
LoriHandeland on 04 May 2009 at 10:41 am #
I wonder if they do still have cabins like that on ships, Margaret. It would be fun to travel that way, although like Julia, I’m now afraid of pirates.
Congrats on the jewelry commission, Janae. That sounds like a great time.
K-Ro–I always wanted to work on a cruise ship. Not sure what I’d do as I can’t sing. Maybe dance.
Which would be an interesting trick on a boat, wouldn’t it?
I could run the Bingo game!!
SheridanLA on 04 May 2009 at 10:55 am #
Fresh, you crack me up.
It is interesting to see how many vets, drs and lawyers there were in the childhood aspirations.
I wanted to be a ballerina (mainly for the tutus and how pretty the toe shoes look).. then I wanted to be a teacher, then I wanted to be in advertising. I also wanted to be a singer and writer, and a superhero. Sadly, none of those panned out.
ended up in PR, then event planning, then owned a couple shops, now I work in commercial photography – more on the business side, but shoot some as well.
If I could be anything? travel photographer and writer. But not like a Rick Steve’s or Lonely Planet – but more on the stories of things to do and places to see..local customs and folklore… and take the photos to go with it.
Margaret on 04 May 2009 at 11:11 am #
Lori, I know what you mean about bridges. I never felt that way until I was halfway over the Bay Bridge near Annapolis, MD. Looked to my left and saw it twin with NOTHING UNDERNEATH IT!!!! I was fine as long as there were supports. At the peak, 120 ft in the air, there is nothing but tiny bits of concrete. And you are expected to drive merrily over this as if you weren’t going to plunge 120 ft to your death any second. They tell me this is so ships with masts can pass beneath. But I am convinced “they” are out to get me one day.
The bridges are beautiful as long as I am on the ground.
http://www.baybridge.com/cms/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=15&gallery=3
Yasmin on 04 May 2009 at 11:16 am #
When I was younger I wanted to be an accountant now I am just a blank slate and cant really decide what I want to study for. I am going back to school this year hopefully and have time to decide what I really want to do. I have noticed that I love working with people so i dont want a job where I’ll be suck in an office with no people interaction
LisaK on 04 May 2009 at 11:24 am #
Yaya, really, you’re going back to school? How cool! A university or something directly for a job?
Come to think about it, I’d love to review novels. I could babble about books for hours. What they do over at RNTV for example is something soooooo cool! The only disadvantage with that might be that I might have to read books I don’t like – and I’d have to deal with them afterwards, too, even in written form. But, well, I would get over it, I think. Barely.
LoriHandeland on 04 May 2009 at 11:29 am #
What kind of commercial photography place do you work for, Sheridan? My dad was a commercial photographer later in life. He did mostly corporate stuff–Serta Mattress was one of his clients. Also a burial vault company, which was always a “fun” shoot. He also did a lot of work for sports illustrated at one time and worked for a newspaper for 25 years. he had so many stories.
Margaret–There are two bridges over the Mississippi River–one in IL and one that goes right into the city that make me nuts. I have to have someone else drive over them. There’s also a nasty one north of Green Bay WI that gives me the hives.
Yasmin–good luck going back to school. I hope you find something you really love to do.
Lisa K-I love to talk books, but I wouldn’t want to have to review them. Just talk and talk. What a job that would be, hey?
SheridanLA on 04 May 2009 at 11:34 am #
Lori, we shoot mostly food and beverage clients and mainly advertising assignment work and a fair amount of stock images. Course, we’ll shoot anything the clients want us to, so we have also shot everything from suncare products to network routers. It’s pretty cool. I get to travel some with the job, which suits me fine
Mooslady on 04 May 2009 at 12:08 pm #
Julia and Margeret, my husband was a submarine sailer in the navy for 8 years, and before he could qualify they dropped him in the ocean, with nothing but his clothes, no life vest, sailed away and left him for 48 hours because if he was in a shipwreck, there is nowhere in the world they couldn’t reach him for rescue within 48 hours. He swears he never heard of anybody drowning. So all you need to do to feel safe on a ship is learn to stay afloat at sea for 2 days according to the Navy. Not me, my kids tells stories about how panicky I get when I have had to be on a ferry with them, I could never handle anything bigger.
Pesky on 04 May 2009 at 12:51 pm #
Invisible Ninja!!! Yeah, I’m adding that to my list. Mythbuster, Invisible Ninja, or person who writes unique travel manuals…
I actually applied for a job once as a full charge bookeeper for a government agency. The job was up in Alaska and the job description read “Must be willing to board ships in extream weather conditions”. I was disappointed I didn’t get the job, but my mother told me a few years later that she was doing the trying to be supportive thing and praying every night I wouldn’t get it.
freshechelle on 04 May 2009 at 1:04 pm #
Celebrity alert: having lunch in Chicago and joel mchale from the soup is sitting next to me with the wife and kids.
Margaret on 04 May 2009 at 1:11 pm #
Holy smokes, Mooslady! Another reason I don’t like submarines. I would go nuts being cooped up in one and knowing I was underwater for days on end. Which reminds me, of course, that tunnels rank right up there with high bridges as scary places.
I think being an invisible Ninja is more my speed. nancyg, ask your 10 yr. old what an invisible Ninja’s duties are, please. Also how much does it pay?
Margaret on 04 May 2009 at 1:12 pm #
Enjoy your lunch, Fresh.
Sabrina Jeffries on 04 May 2009 at 1:15 pm #
I wanted to be a romance writer, believe it or not. At 12, I told myself that when I grew up, I was going to write down my romantic fantasies and sell them to people. *G* I also considered being a professional singer, though. That never came to pass.
Now I AM a romance writer, so I guess that worked out well.
My fantasy job (other than this one) would be being an actress or a singer or some other performer (stand-up comedian, anyone?). I’m a ham.
LoriHandeland on 04 May 2009 at 1:25 pm #
Sounds fun, Sheridan. I did some work with studio stuff but mostly location. Got to meet Michael Jordan before he was hugely famous. That was fun.
Mooslady–Eeek. That would get me out of the Navy toot-sweet!
Pesky-that job description gave me a flash of The Perfect Storm. No thanks.
Wow, Fresh, I’ve never seen a celeb out and about except Buddy Hacket one time in NY. Cool.
Sabrina–I sense a theme here. Maybe you and K-Ha can perform stand up for us at the Goddess Party in DC.
Julia London on 04 May 2009 at 2:18 pm #
That’s it, Mooslady. No seaman jobs for me. EVER. ohmigod, I am shaking just reading about it! Doesn’t the Navy watch Dateline??? No one ever survives being dumped into the sea!
Rachel Gibson on 04 May 2009 at 2:21 pm #
I was never quite sure what I wanted to be. It changed all the time. Had no idea I wanted to write until one day I just sat down and started doing it.
nancyg on 04 May 2009 at 2:23 pm #
margaret -
Will ask the 10-year old what invisible ninja duties entail at dinner tonight… That kid does crack me up every day! She made a “fort” yesterday out of our TV box and put it smack dab in the middle of the garage.
She wants to do her homework out there after her Girl Scout meeting today…
Ladies, keep your fingers crossed for me. Just found out a friend of mine’s kid tested positive for N-flu virus – sample was sent to the CDC today… She has 3 kids who all go to the same elementary & middle school as my kids.
They’ve already shut down 3 schools here in the district & looks like they might shut down the whole thing if another school goes down…. It’s a toss-up right now – my youngest daughter’s school has a 40% Hispanic/Mexican demographic, so they’re really worried.
Becky on 04 May 2009 at 3:30 pm #
When I was little, I wanted to be an actress, a writer, and a mom. All at the same time.
Now I am a massage therapist….go figure. Oh, and I guess an “aspiring” writer…if that counts.
But I really would love to be an actress, either on stage or on screen. Ugh, love love love. Sigh…if only someone would discover me and make me rich…then I would invite all of the goddesses over to my mansion for our dessert festival and yes, I would invite Hugh Jackman, Karen, and yes, he would come, because I would be that cool. =)
Jen on 04 May 2009 at 4:26 pm #
I’ve always secretly wanted to be a writer. I’ve never felt that I see the world well enough to be a good one, though. As a kid I even picked out the pseudonym I would use. Now I write poetry, but that’s about it.
I was one of those kids who had a little talent in a lot of areas, but not a lot of talent in any one area. When I left high school I decided that I would become a teacher, I’d either teach math or english, or even phys. ed. When I was half way through collage I got a chance to teach Phys Ed for a year, not student teaching, but my own classes with no supervision. That in it self says a lot about the state of the education system in the town that I was living in. Anyway, I couldn’t really handle the social work aspect of the job. I loved the teaching part, but that really had very little to do with the job I was doing. So I’m now at the point where I’m asking myself once again, what I really want to do when I grow up. I still haven’t found the answer.
If money wasn’t an object, I’d travel as much as possible, be a travel writer, or a philanthropist. Professional athlete works too.
LoriHandeland on 04 May 2009 at 4:40 pm #
That’s pretty talented, Rachel!
Sorry, Nancy!! Sending good thoughts your way. They had 4 schools closed here too, but none anywhere near here.
I like the way you think, Becky. A fancy mansion party with Hugh and desserts. Bliss.
If you’re writing poetry, Jen, I think you’re seeing the world pretty well. Same thing happened to me when I was teaching. Got in the classroom and thought, “Uh, no.” I don’t have the personality for it.
Sabrina Jeffries on 04 May 2009 at 4:55 pm #
K-Ha would be better at stand-up than I am, I fear. *G* But I actually do have a cousin who’s a stand-up comedian. I don’t think he makes much money at it, but it’s probably fun.
Of course, my brothers all THINK they’re stand-up comedians. And one of my brothers gave me one of my favorite lines for a book: “That was like Genghis Khan calling Attila the Hun cruel.” Except that HE said the Marquis de Sade. Which I couldn’t use. I didn’t think the heroine would have heard of de Sade, gently bred as she was. *G*
My brother is a smart-aleck. It runs in the family.
Madeline Hunter on 04 May 2009 at 5:38 pm #
Writer was right up there from the beginning. But in H.S. I had a spell when I wanted to do theater work. Not acting. Costume, directing, etc. I guess being a teacher was always there too, but not in “ooooh, I wanna be a teacher.” Just an awareness that maybe I would do that.
I took one of those tests in college where they match you with jobs. I think they base in on similar interests with people in those fields. I came out teacher and librarian. Pretty close.
nancyg on 04 May 2009 at 7:33 pm #
Sabrina:
That’s too funny you mentioned Ghengis Khan – I just picked up Conn Iggulden’s latest Ghengis novel in his series. I read his Julius Caesar series & fell in love with his writing.
Madeline:
I never took one of those personality/job compatibility tests. However, my husband & I had to take one during mandatory pre-marital counseling. It was uncanny what they said our similarities & differences were and what we would argue about years down the road!!
LoriHandeland on 04 May 2009 at 7:59 pm #
Madeline-I think my test came out teacher and writer. I always wondered if they were that right on for everyone.
Mandatory pre-marital counseling, Nancy? Sounds like a good idea to me.
Rachel Gibson on 04 May 2009 at 8:21 pm #
I don’t know about talented. I just know that I flunked my way though English classes in school, so writing didn’t ever occur to me until I sat down one night and rewrote Gone With The Wind. It took me a year and a half.
Margaret on 04 May 2009 at 8:55 pm #
Nothing like setting your sights high, Rachel. How did you change GWTW? Anything would be better than the pitiful sequel that was written some years back.
Miranda on 04 May 2009 at 8:59 pm #
*Popping out of lurking for ages with comment*
, I have family near there.
Lori-That bridge north of Green Bay WI I grew up calling it the Tower Drive bridge… here’s a nice picture of it
http://packerland.blogspot.com/2007/10/tower-drive-leo-frigo-bridge.html It’s much better in this view than having to drive over it
To be a bit more on topic
When really little I wanted to be a spy, a mermaid (not a job I know but gotta love being able to breathe underwater so you can check all the cool fish out and if you’re the Splash version of a mermaid you get all the perks of dry land too), a super hero (mostly just in my imagination not sure how many I told) archeologist until I realized it was paleontologists that dug up dinos then I wanted to be a paleontologist. In high school decided on biomedical engineer… got the bachelor’s but felt too burned out (and too deeply in debt) to go for the masters that you need as a minimum ’cause they expect you to work in research. Currently I’m a systems engineer on military stuff. Dream job mmm.. chocolate tasting *drools* actually, maybe running a bakery wouldn’t be that far off… I could see myself doing that.
nancyg on 04 May 2009 at 9:02 pm #
Lori:
Yup, we’re Catholic, and “the Church” won’t marry a couple unless they go thru “pre-Cana”. You have to take a bubble-sheet multiple-choice questionnaire. Then meet with an older, established married couple in the parish a few times. They go over your test results, and tell you stories from their marriage and what happened, what they did to work it out, etc.
They told us what the test said we were going to agree on, disagree on, and to keep it in mind the first few months/years. Keep it in mind when the various subjects came up – family, finances, religion, etc.
Reminded us that marriage is a marathon, not a sprint.
We hated it at the time, being in our 20’s and knowing everything about the world, but I tell ya, the test was DEAD ON!
15 years later, we chuckle about it, actually, even when we’re arguing about the very thing(s) they said we would!
Rachel:
Would LOVE to read your treatment of GWTW!! Did you submit it?
LoriHandeland on 05 May 2009 at 5:34 am #
I find it interesting that you flunked out of English and are a NY Times bestselling author, Rache, and I got a D+ in Math and am the financial officer of a large contracting company. Go figure.
That’s the one, Miranda! Just looking at it gives me the heebie-jeebies. I was driving a suburban load of high school kids to a FB game, came over the hill, saw it and said, “F*%$!” I made my oldest drive us over it on the return trip.
Nancy–Counseling sounds like a great idea to me. Those first few years are a killer. Like the first 20.
StephanyFaith on 11 May 2009 at 5:22 pm #
Hello !
hmm … when i was little i dreamed of either being a Vet, wonderwoman (haha), Actress, or a shapeshifter. now in highschool i realized i want to be a Nurse practitioner, Writer, and breed German shepherds. a ninja sounds good too. or an FBI agent. . i like the ice cream namer idea…haha or maybe a archaeologist…..hmm so many occupations out in the world.. chocolate taster is good too …