Jobs: Dreams and Reality

[erkishhorde]

Remember when you were a kid and dreamed of being an astronaut or a race car driver? Maybe a firefighter or a movie star? Have you fulfilled that dream? Do you even care to anymore?

I remember when I was a kid (I still am by many standards but I'm talking 5y/o kid) I went on a tour of Sierra games. Remember them? They made the King's Quest Series, So You Want to be a Hero and other RPGs. At the end of the tour I proclaimed aloud, "I'm going to be a game tester when I grow up!" And yet, here I am, a bum.

I have been educated as a structural engineer and worked the field for 5 months before getting fed up with my boss and burning out. My unfinished master's project made a great excuse to quit work and yet, 6 months later, I've made little progress toward that goal and am going back to live at home with my parents. I feel like a complete failure but at the same time I'm remembering my childhood dreams and am feeling a bit of hope. At the end of my college career I started to explore some of them a bit. I started teaching myself how to do 3D modeling with Milkshape 3D in hopes of seeing what it's like to be in video game development. I also started trying to make my own recipes for a restaurant that I've always wanted to start since I was a kid. Now that I'm getting my energy up and am ready to pick myself up again these dreams keep floating around my mind and I am tempted more than ever to pursue them again. But first I must finish my master's project and stop being a disappointment to my family.

I am curious though. How many of you have fulfilled your childhood dreams? Are you doing what you always wanted to do? Do you even have any inclination to do what you dreamed of doing or was it just some far fetched childhood fantasy? I'm talking childhood dreams here.

[Mother]

I always dreamed of staying out of jail

so far so good

[teddy037.2]

I guess I'm content...

my P/T job is pretty cool, but when I was a kid, I never thought I'd be getting paid to drink and sell wine

[Popeye the Sailor]

I always wanted to be rich.


I'm on my way.

[Nitewaif]

I wanted to be a doctor.  I was working on it, and was very driven when my boyfriend went through a prolonged hospitalization and died.  I was already a respiratory therapist by then and was working full-time and going to school full-time (did that while getting the respiratory degree also).  When he died, it just hit me - I don't want to spend my whole life working my ass of and never really living.  Shortly after, I started the travel gig and aside from staying put long enough to knock out a nursing degree, I've been playing for 10 years now.  I've lived all over the country and have seen quite a bit of the world.  I've taken great motorcycle trips, as well as lots of hiking and camping and all that.

Now I'm getting burned out with healthcare.  I think I'd still be enjoying it if it was still about saving people, but now it's about paperwork, CYA, and ass-kissing.  I'm done.  I've just signed a one year lease, which is the biggest committment I've made in 10 years (still nervous about that one) and am trying to figure out what my next career will be.  I am quite creative and think design of some type would be ideal, but I also love to travel and wish I could figure out a way to incorporate that.  I dunno - I've given myself a year to figure it out and I'll probably be headed back to school within the next year or so.

CRNA would make more sense.  I'd make bank and could still be a traveler, but right now I'm just so burned out on healthcare that I'm thinking of bartending, waiting tables, or spanking people for money.   

[TiNi]

i've been the creative type since mrs. sutherland, my kindergarten teacher, told my mother i COULD NOT color the cow purple.

today, i'm a graphic designer, and could not imagine doing anything else for a living

[herm]

need more options in these hard economic times i think

[cyrus buelton]

I wanted to be a doctor.

I was smart enough, but really didn't like applying myself.

So I got a Finance Degree and do Corporate Treasury.

getting bored with it or maybe the division I work for.

[Big Troubled Bear]

I work with motorcycles, so yeah doing ok

[Porsche Monkey]

I fix cool cars.  Eh, its okay.

[ducpainter]

I hang out here...

and make dust.

[Big Troubled Bear]

and the last 3 posters are all poor and work long hours

[Porsche Monkey]

Doh!!   nah you got me figured wrong Bear.  I work 7:30 to 5:30 weekdays only. The poor part, well I wish I made more but in reality I'm one of the highest paid auto technicians in town.

[metallimonster]

^^^ I thought working on cool cars was what I wanted to do but really got sick of flat rate pay quick and went back to school.

Now I work in Accounting making more money for waaaaaaaay less work.  Not exactly a glorious job but I look at it as a means to an end.  Accounting is not the most exciting job but without it there would be no Monster and lots of other things in my life.   

[NAKID]

Yes and no. I wanted to be a doctor, but I'm in the Navy as a Hospital Corpsman. I'm currently in school to be an Independent Duty Corpsman on a Submarine...