I don’t know what got me started on this. Maybe hearing my son say he’s debating between being a ninja and a space ranger. (Can we say too much Power Rangers? 
) But last night as I lay in bed, I thought about all the jobs that crossed my mind–some serious, some not–as I grew up. This is only a partial list too. I see this as healthy. I think my husband sees this as flakiness. LOL! What do you think?
1…. Flight Attendant–of couse it was still stewardess then. And I can remember the first grade picture book that had all the pictures and the stewardess had on a blue uniform. I liked the fact that she could fly anywhere. I wanted to do that.
2…. Wonder Woman–The woman knocked me to their knees in more ways than one. What wasn’t there to like?
3…. Buffy–But then I grew up and met Buffy. Wonder Woman, alas, had to go. Buffy could kick major butt and barely break a sweat. Besides, she got to hang with Angel and Spike. So, yeah, wanting to be Buffy had serious potential.
4…. Quicny–no laughing, please. Yes, there was a brief time, when being a forensic examiner seemed way cool. With CSI still hot, forensics still seems fascinating. In Quincy’s case, I discovered you had to take a saw to a corpse and that basically killed that idea for me. Dead bodies, body fluids, um, there’s got to be something else.
5…. Doctor I did consider medicine. I liked school and studying. But you need to be able to deal with blood and pain to be a doctor. It didn’t take much soul searching to know that wasn’t for me, at all.
6…. Model–I think every girl runs up against the glamour machine. It doesn’t take long to realize it’s a world of illusion, where the false is given more importance than reality. And let’s face it, no way was this bod going to fit in any of those slinky outfits. So modeling got jettisoned pretty quickly.
7…. P.I.–So, Rockford got beat up quite a bit. Check out Remington Steele. Who wouldn’t want to work with a mysterious guy that looked like Pearce Brosnan?
8…. Cruise Ship Director–C’mon. Tell me you didn’t watch the Love Boat and think Julie had the coolest job. Thing was, I couldn’t quite figure out how one became a cruise director. They didn’t seem to list that in any of the college guides.
9…. Professor–This was one of my more serious considerations. I majored in Spanish and gave serious thought to pursuing a Masters and PhD to teach at the college level. I just wasn’t keen on all the emphasis on publishing that university teaching requires.
10…. Journalist–I think if I had attended a large university with a journalism program, I may well have ended up in that field. I went to a liberal arts college and headed in a different direction. But, I’ve always had a love of the written word.
11…. Bilingual Education teacher–With my major in Spanish and my experience teaching in Japan, I did consider pursing a Masters that would qualify me for bilingual education. California, though, was restructuring its programs as were many states and the status of the field was too uncertain. I suppose if I’d really wanted to do it, I would have gone for it. But, again, I made a different choice.
12…. Lawyer–For a long time in high school, I really thought I would go on to be a lawyer. Instead, I got an MBA. What was I thinking?
13….Writer–I devoured books as a child. Authors seemed like these magical people who could create these fantastic stories. I always ended up in writing endeavors like the yearbook or college newspaper, but writing fiction seemed to belong to “other” people. It took a long time to realize I had it in me to create stories that readers would like to read. I may be late coming to the game, but I can honestly say that I’ve finally found my fit.
Tell me what you wanted to be when you grew up.
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Well, we had ambition #13 in common.
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I’ve wanted to be a writer since I was six. I’m a lot older than that now (sigh).
I almost detoured to a record label and to law school (entertainment law), but the lure of the written word was too much. So here I am.
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I never went for the glamour professions, not being pretty enough as a child to consider them achievable, but I wanted to be an artist, a doctor, lawyer, and a professor. I did want to be an opera singer for awhile and later, to sing on a cruise ship..
But you seem to have covered them all; the only one I don’t see is “ballet dancer.”
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Interesting list — I could try this one and have lots of the same ones!
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I wanted to be an astronaut, an archaeologist, a model (if I were 5 inches taller!), a journalist, a dancer, a singer and an architect.
I ended up becoming a nurse.
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I still don’t know what I want to do when I grow up.
Happy TT.
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I had some of the same career goals – flight attendant, Wonder Woman, cruise director…
You and I must be around the same age.
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I wanted to be part of the Partridge Family…
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I nixed anything in the medical profession as soon as I realized that I got sick at the sight of blood. lol
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Gabriella – I’m going to make the assumption that we’re around the same age and therefore influenced by the same tv shows. When Loveboat was hot – I wanted to be a cruise director too. And I thought (seriously) I was the only kid in the world who wanted to be Quincy (and have my own Sam!!). I played ‘Wonderwoman’ a lot with my little friends (simulating the invisible plane was interesting!) and between Nancy Drew and Pierce Brosnan, yes to wanting to grow up to be a detective.
Writer, interestingly enough, didn’t even show up on my radar. I had no idea it was a profession
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Hurray for finding your fit. You must feel so great about that! I don’t think it’s ever too late. Patrick O’Brian, the author of the Master and Commander series, wrote the first book in his 70s. You have time!
Happy TT!
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Re: #4 — I’m reading Book of the Dead and think Kay Scarpetta is pretty cool. Doctor, lawyer, expert in Italian cooking, desired by all men she meets … So while “Quincy” may not have been a goal of mine growing up, I have a pretty good (albeit completely fictional) coroner role model now. (Thanks for visiting my TT)
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Re: #4 — I’m reading Book of the Dead and think Kay Scarpetta is pretty cool. Doctor, lawyer, expert in Italian cooking, desired by all men she meets … So while “Quincy” may not have been a goal of mine growing up, I have a pretty good (albeit completely fictional) coroner role model now. (Thanks for visiting my TT)
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That’s a fun list! My two biggies were (1) writer (from the age of three when I wrote my first little story) and (2) concert pianist (I began playing piano by ear around that age, too). Those passions never went away, and they’re still a huge part of my life — the writing, obviously, but the music, too.
And hee, when I was little, I liked Wonder Woman, too… and the Bionic Woman!
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I went the lawyer, flight attendant, doctor and professor route as well. But writing was there from early on and won out….
Though there are still a few things floating about that could co-exist with writing, so I haven’t let go yet.
~X
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I wanted to be a fighter jet pilot but was bummed to find out women couldn’t do that (at the time), Bionic Woman, veterinarian (too much school, $$, and too many others doing it for the number of jobs available), writer, zookeeper–oh, wait–I did that; and editor, which I do now along with writing
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I always considered myself a writer. I’ve been writing stories since I could form letters on that cool lined paper with the dotted center line for small letters/big letters. I also wanted to direct, which I did in high school (theatre) and in university (film school.) All storytelling. I just keep at it.
The only other thing I truly wished was to be a dark age warrior. Haven’t found my time machine so far, other than the stories that take me there.
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I never wanted the glamor stuff, but I did sort of picture myself as a gymnast, perhaps because I always knew there was no way I would ever become one.
I wanted to be a writer from when I was six. I am one, now. It took me 30 years to realize I was a writer instead of “I want to be a writer.”
Other careers I looked into were travel agent, librarian, professional astrologer, and astronaut. I actually had a place on a Master’s program in librarianship, but couldn’t get a grant and therefore couldn’t afford to go.
I have three TTs this week.
Raven’s Rides: 13 places I went on my motorcycle yesterday
Raven’s RV: 13 things we did in the RV when the power went out
Raven’s Range: 13 thoughts about Thursday Thirteen
The link above has links to all three.
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Me again – feel like a birth month meme…? I’ve tagged you, just in case.
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Great list. I must have heard, I should be a model’ a kazillion times growing up because I am so tall. So, that is the one thing I did not want to be lol A rebel then, and a rebel now. Happy T13 (better late than never lol)
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What a great list! When I was little, I wanted to be a pediatrician. But then when I was old enough to realize how much schooling was required for that….well, I just didn’t have enough drive to do it.
Have a happy TT!