What Was Your Childhood Dream Job?

[Kanra Jest]

I seriously considered being a singer in an Emo Band when I got an offer.

 

[Sacrophagus]

This:

 

[Lark]

I wonder if there are any books or training course or online materials on stage comedy or stand up?

I mean there are certain discernable patterns that I think most people know about or could talk about "call backs", the more unexpected the better, there's the old idea bout re-enchanting life by taking the daily or mundane and making your reflect a fresh on it with humour, stuff like that but I wish there was some kind of canon or "comedy bible" to refer to which I could read but there's not, just lots of sociology and psychology of humour and laughter and stuff like that.

 

[Jaq]

Doctor

 

[tony_goth]

Architect.

I work in the IT for a living, and I want to create the job of "moral engineer" as a passion. Basically both are engineering or "abstract architecture".

 

[anticlimatic]

Jesus. Comparing childhood dream jobs to typology rating is amazingly hilarious...

Archaeologist for me. The boring kind, not the indiana jones kind.

 

[Shadow Play]

Paleontologist, followed by zookeeper. Maybe I could claim zookeeper is similar had I decided to become a vet, but my present career aspirations are completely different.

 

[laintpe]

Then: Marine biologist because I thought that meant I'd get to be in the ocean/tide pools all the time. Plus, I loved animals and marine animals were the most alluring to me at the time.

Now: I work on the design side of construction. I like about 70% of it. Too many meetings, though. The politics of it falls on the 30% side, as well.

 

[Red Herring]

Then: Marine biologist because I thought that meant I'd get to be in the ocean/tide pools all the time. Plus, I loved animals and marine animals were the most alluring to me at the time.

Now: I work on the design side of construction. I like about 70% of it. Too many meetings, though. The politics of it falls on the 30% side, as well.

My brother is a marine biologist. He did do research projects off the coast of Namibia and deep in the jungle of Sumatra while still studying but now he does quality control for an algae breeder. Earning a living is usually prosaic, I guess.

 

[Lexicon]

Child me:

Main dream- I wanted to be a Disney voice actress and be in Broadway musicals. Had a passing desire to be a vet after one of my cats birthed kittens, but changed my mind when one of them died.


Backup plan- I wanted to own a little bookstore with a hot cocoa cafe inside, & a small apartment above it on the 2nd floor. I’d sell nothing but fairy tales & scary stories. There was to be a secret passage behind one of the bookcases that led to a speakeasy where I could be a lounge singer like Jessica Rabbit at night. Another secret passage behind a false wall near the bar, to get up to my apartment. There’d be a big fire escape outside my bedroom window, where I could climb out & look at the stars, or watch people on the streets below, or sing out at the sky like an overdramatic weirdo, walking up & down the fire escape stairs.



Retirement plan - I fully intended to end my days living in a creepy Victorian house, at the end of a long, narrow, suburban neighborhood street (with normal pretty little houses). I would have high walls in my backyard that no one could see over, concealing a lush garden that grew all kinds of food, and catnip. Cats would roam free, there. I’d let the paint peel on my porch, & leaves pile up. Cobwebs would be my outdoor curtains. I’d stay inside most of the time, dressed in nothing but black high-necked dresses with my hair completely gray & down to my feet. Playing with my cats. Who all hate children, growling and yowling as they pass the property. And all the neighborhood children would make up stories about me, to share with one another in their treehouses at night. I heard she turns kids into mice to feed all her cats! - I heard she rides a broom when the moon is full, and her eyes glow! - I heard if you look her in the eye, she can turn you into a cat in just one blink. That’s where all those cats came from. All those kids who ‘moved away.’ Or so we thought. They’d think of me when a branch snapped in the dark, wind rustled their drapes, or when cats screech and fight beneath the lamplights. They’d stay far, far, from my house on Halloween, but dare one another to go knock on The Witch of [Whatever] Street’s door, nonetheless.
(In truth I’d just be an eccentric mean old cat lady, of course)





Adult me:

I’ve gotten that witchy recluse part down, at least.

 

[Schrödinger's Name]

I switched a lot between becoming a professional dog trainer, 'something with nature or animals', dolphin 'trainer' (I'm against keeping cetaceans in captivity now), professional photographer/videographers (I was amazed by the documentaries about the amazon forests in New-Guinea), police and eventually the military.

Now the military 'dream' kept up until I was 18. The major reason why I wanted to join was to train dogs. I met a woman who did this. Her dogs lived at her place, she trained them, did everything with them. It seemed amazing. Because you know, you can't make a lot of money (or just money to live) when you're just training some dogs, it's pretty hard to find a job like that. So the military seemed like a perfect 'solution'.

 

[???]

I wanted to be a game developer. But kind of became disillusioned when I realized how games require hundreds of people that all work on different parts of the game to put something together. I wanted it to be a form of interactively telling a story, like a director, but it's crazy how much time and detail goes into everything in a game, not to even begin on the programming aspect of it. I wanted to be in control of the whole process, but that's unrealistic. These people work constantly and everything they design has an overly complicated procedural mathematics that underlies it all. It's way too much work for one person. And it would just make me depressed.

So I repair electronics instead. It has steady hours and the pay isn't bad and I don't have to deal with people a whole lot. So It's alright. I get more out of doing home renovation stuff or working on cars and electronics than I think I would investing into a gaming career where that's "all" I would have time for.

 

[Osiris]

I wanted to be a secret agent.

 

[StrawberryBoots]

I wanted to be a veterinarian. I still do.

 

[Tina&Jane]

Elementary School: professional gymnast, soccer player, swimmer etc. (I liked sports, but wasn't great at them)
High School: something related to biology
Actual career: school psychologist

I could see myself possibly changing careers in the future or moving toward a more behind the scenes role (possibly something research-based). Working in schools, particularly urban schools with limited resources and incompetent leadership, has really disillusioned me and I've been questioning the value of my role a lot this year.

 

[Warrior]

early childhood: author, then it was conservationist/biologist
Later childhood: Academic.

 

[FemMecha]

I've probably answered before. As a child I was obsessed with gymnastics and singing and wanted to do that for my life. I didn't really picture actual jobs, but just wanted to always play. As a teenybopper I wanted to be an astronaut and secretly wondered if I was actually an alien. Then as a teenager I wanted to be a singer/songwriter and was torn between majoring in astrophysics or music. Music won out. I guess I sort of am a singer/songwriter and a wannabe dancer. I AM doing my childhood dream jobs, except I'm poor and relatively obscure and not on Mars.

 

[Morpeko]

I've wanted to be a few different things as a child. A cancer doctor, a rock star, a famous author, an assassin.

I really don't want to be a cancer doctor. Not sure if I have the guts or the skill to be an assassin.

Being a rock star or a famous author would be nice and fulfilling, but I do fear that if it becomes my career it would ruin my loves for writing or music.

I got a degree in marketing and communications and now I am a reports analyst. It's somewhat close to my desired writing job, I guess. I think one day I would like to become a book editor, though.

 

[Schrödinger's Name]

I've wanted to be a few different things as a child. A cancer doctor, a rock star, a famous author, an assassin.

I really don't want to be a cancer doctor. Not sure if I have the guts or the skill to be an assassin.

That took quite a dramatic turn. Going from wanting to heal people to killing them. What happened there?

Not only do you possibly not have the guts, it's illegal too. Though some states in America make an exception for killing people on death row, apparently that doesn't count as murder. (This reminds me of a 'funny' story a teacher once wrote. She asked the kids what they'd like to do as a job once they've finished school. One of them wrote he wanted to become a serial killer...)

 

[Morpeko]

That took quite a dramatic turn. Going from wanting to heal people to killing them. What happened there?

Not only do you possibly not have the guts, it's illegal too. Though some states in America make an exception for killing people on death row, apparently that doesn't count as murder. (This reminds me of a 'funny' story a teacher once wrote. She asked the kids what they'd like to do as a job once they've finished school. One of them wrote he wanted to become a serial killer...)

I was a nice kid while I was homeschooled for a few years, but I turned edgy and hateful after attending public school.

And yeah, for sure it's illegal and definitely not worth it. It's definitely not a desire of mine at this point. I wonder if that serial kid that teacher knew ever followed his dreams, haha.