Question of the Day – Dream Jobs

~ Laura

I just wasted an hour doing that 25 Random Thing meme on Facebook. I felt very self-conscious writing that much about myself –  an odd sentiment for a blogger, I know.

Here's my #20:

After an errant knife cut during my emergency c-section and the
subsequent reconstructive surgery, I am not entirely sure if my
internal organs are in the exact order and location as God intended.

And my #4:

Careers that I have considered and never actually pursued: computer
programmer, anthropologist, business mogul, trust fund brat
(admittedly, the lack of an actual trust fund was a bit of a stumbling
block), newspaper columnist, novelist, figure painter (here it was the
lack of actual talent that was the problem), marathon runner, actor,
singer in a rock band (again, that talent problem), charter school
founder, and mayor of a small town.

Question of the Day: What careers have you considered and never actually pursued?

Published by Laura

31 thoughts on “Question of the Day – Dream Jobs”

  4. Maker of BBC radio shows for schools (job now defunct)
    Stand up comic (too boring)
    Dean (approached by head-hunter, thought about it for two minutes, said no).

    Like

  5. Politician, librarian, entertainment reporter, television show producer (not writer), and private investigator.
    I also wonder if I should have gotten a PhD in social psychology instead of English.

    Like

  7. I very seriously thought about becoming an electrician after college, but eventually decided I didn’t have the health for it (I’ve had knee trouble since I was a child).

    Like

  8. Wow, Wendy and I were separated at birth or something. I’ll echo her librarian, TV show producer, and private eye. And I’ll add physician, “person who restores vintage woodwork”, and historian.

    Like

  9. Professional golfer (the talent was arguably there, but the willingness–and the money necessary–to spend that much time and energy in practice was not)
    Archaeologist (like every other white male child of the 1980s, this was my Indiana Jones stage)
    Methodist minister (I’m the wrong religion, but you want to know what? I would have been great at it)

    Like

  10. I started out university intending to be a geophysicist. After three years, I switched to engineering (with a interdisciplinary spin in communications). I ditched that the following year to study history and never really looked back.
    Well, except for the years that I did some work for a NYC dotcom. But I did the math and realized I’d have to quintuple my salary, there, to afford the same standard of living I enjoy here.

    Like

  11. RAF,
    Why Methodist as opposed to Lutheran, Episcopalian, Presbyterian or whatnot? And did you have a specific synod in mind? Just curious.

    Like

  12. Well, I had great plans to become the USTR (U.S. Trade Rep.) but then I got married, moved to Wisconsin, and had kids. USTR sort of fell by the wayside….

    Like

  13. I was seriously going to be a journalist–did the whole school newspaper, internship with magazine thing. I decided it was “too easy.” Hah! Also considered lawyer, sociologist. Honestly, I wish my advisers in college had been a little more creative. I was interested in writing *and* economics. I so could have been a writer for The Economist. Every once in a while I contemplate being a therapist or working retail (for the discount). 🙂

    Like

  14. Only slightly off topic, and prompted by RAF’s comment: What careers do people say you should have entered? In my case, more than one person has said I should have become a minister (Methodist is what it would have been). To my protest that I lacked an essential qualification one person said “Oh, I’m sure lots of ministers don’t believe in God”.

    Like

  16. Harry, there’s a reason I could see you as an Anglican minister and not, oh I don’t know, a Pentecostal pastor. To be fair, I at least added that I really thought you believed anyways (or certainly would eventually if you became a pastor).

    Like

  17. People have told me I should write for tv or romance novels or soap operas. Could never do that–I don’t have an ear for dialogue. When I was at a career low point, some friends seriously suggested I go into being a PI. I have a talent/compulsion for finding things out about people.

    Like

  18. What Lindsey says is true (about what she said) and I didn’t meant to misrepresent her. I certainly couldn’t have been a Pentecostal pastor.
    My dad actually wanted me to go into comedy writing, and I think he’s still a bit disappointed that I didn’t.I’d have been terrible at it.

    Like

  20. When I was living in Budapest, there was apparently a rumor among friends back in the States that I had become a chef at a Turkish restaurant.

    Like

  22. In ascending order of seriousness:
    1) Rock band drummer (lack of ability to syncopate limbs got in the way, among other factors)
    2) Comic book writer (I still think I could do it better than most, even though I can’t draw at all)
    3) Professor of American history – yes, really – I even applied to graduate school. Reading your blog, among others, has been a daily affirmation that I made the right choice.

    Like

  23. Actor, veternarian (complete lack of scientific knowledge/preparation was a problem). For a while, I thought about going back to school for a MSW and becoming a therapist. Glad I didn’t–I made the right choice for me.

    Like

  24. MH,
    Why Methodist as opposed to Lutheran, Episcopalian, Presbyterian or whatnot? And did you have a specific synod in mind? Just curious.
    I admire their services–they have, I think, a doctrinally sensible mix of traditional liturgy and congregation innovation. Of course, I’m just speaking of what I’ve seen in the United States; I don’t know what Methodism is like in the place of its birth. I’ve also liked Presbyterian and Episcopalism services, but Methodist best.
    I haven’t enjoyed Lutheran services that much, though I probably agree with Lutheran theology more than I do with Methodist and Anglican. But then, my suggestion of a possible career as a minister is based on how I think I might enjoy using my talents to do the kind of work–including conducting services–which pastors do. I’m bracketing the whole question of theological belief. I assume that, if I was basically the same sort of person I am now were I not raised Mormon (which is, on its face, a pretty ridiculous suggestion), then I wouldn’t commit to a church unless I could at least feel at peace with the theology I would be proclaiming. So I guess what I’m really saying is that if I hadn’t been raised in a church with a lay ministry, if I’d been open to developing a real belief in a church where being a professional minister was a genuine option, than I very well might have pursued it. Even today, when I speak in our church services, I recognize a kind pastorspeak which I seem to almost instinctively slip into. (I suppose I probably lecture in much the same way.)

    Like

  25. There’s a reason I could see you as an Anglican minister and not, oh I don’t know, a Pentecostal pastor. To be fair, I at least added that I really thought you believed anyways.
    For what it’s worth, Lindsey and I have a half-serious running bet that at some point Harry will decide that, while he doesn’t believe in God, he does believe in something close enough to God that he might has well convert. Pascal’s wager and all that. (No offense meant, Harry.)

    Like

  28. Oh, and one more thing. It’s a good thing you didn’t become a comedian Harry (or a pastor!) because then I’d have become a lawyer.

    Like

Comments are closed.