BS: What you *were* going to do in life?....

Subject: RE: BS: What you *were* going to do in life?....
From: Big Al Whittle
Date: 07 Apr 05 - 07:10 PM

wonderful stories. thank you everybody.

it just makes you realise when you look at all these frustrated and difficult lives, how wise the young Joni Mitchell was when she realised that she was the one out of all the generations of wmen in her family whi was going to have her ambitions realised. It involved giving up her child for adoption, but how brilliantly wise to realise the rareness of the situation, when so young.

why do we get it so wrong - estimate our powers and weaknesses so misguidedly.


I suppose the perennial trouble is that we grow up in a world that is totally different from anything our parents experience. the only people who really love us, at our most unlovable age, are blinded by how wonderful they think we are.

all the best

bigalwhittle

Subject: RE: BS: What you *were* going to do in life?....
From: jacqui.c
Date: 07 Apr 05 - 06:49 PM

LH

1. You haven't a chance of getting that porky

2. Do you really want to downgrade your talent to that degree?

3. Borrow Brucie's goat - that will do the job.

Subject: RE: BS: What you *were* going to do in life?....
From: Grab
Date: 07 Apr 05 - 05:42 PM

From when we got our first computer (a Commodore Plus-4 for those who remember it), I wanted to work with computers. Computer programmer was the first aim. Then, this being the 80s, I found that stockbrokers made lots of money *and* worked with computers - luckily I outgrew that. Then I took an electronics course and crapped out, but discovered that I enjoyed it and liked the idea of controlling stuff and making it work. So electronics at uni, specialising in software and control areas. And some time since then in industry doing exactly that. However boring the details of the job are, it's still a vocation rather than an occupation.

I never wanted to be a musician early on, but that was most likely bcos my folks were into classical music. I literally didn't find out pop and rock existed until age 16, and I knew I wasn't good enough at classical piano/violin (and didn't enjoy it). Some years later, my wife and I have come to the point of considering trying to get a few gigs. Instead of coming to it with the confidence of youth, we've definitely got there the hard way. Should still be fun though to see what happens in the next few years. :-)

Graham.

Subject: RE: BS: What you *were* going to do in life?....
From: Diva
Date: 07 Apr 05 - 07:47 AM

Aged 5 I wanted to be a nun! Then I wanted to be a teacher and by age 14 I wanted to be a librarian. So far I've worked in an accountants, trained as a hotel receptionist, worked in a factory, worked for the Co op and for Woolies. Became a mum. Been an assistant manager in 2 different Charity shops and now I'm a full time (allegedly mature) student and when I grow up I don't know what I want to be!!!!!!!

Subject: RE: BS: What you *were* going to do in life?....
From: 42
Date: 07 Apr 05 - 07:34 AM

When I was young I wanted to be a horse.
A little later I wanted to be a cowboy and then Robin Hood was my aim.
At high school I decided I would be Canada's first amazing female playwright/actress.

After delivering the solioquy from Everyman from 30 feet up a scaffold for my university audition into the performance stream of the Fine Arts school, I opted to become Canada's first successful female playwright and leave the acting to those who do not experience vertigo when they are more than a couple of metres off the ground.

I've pent most of my working life in various educational environments terrorizing school administrators by refusing to follow curriculum, attempting to infect young children with a sense of themselves and their rights and responsibilities in the world around them.

Music was always a passion but, until I hit 40, I didn't do anything about it. Now, as a singer, a songwriter, a performer, presenter and promoter (avocations all) I can't imagine where those 25 years went. I've met saints and sinners along the way, done the expected and the perverse, loved well and lost hard...

At the moment I'm longing for retirement, menopause and a recording contract...in that order!

jen

"Even if the road should end the song will travel on"

Subject: RE: BS: What you *were* going to do in life?....
From: Peace
Date: 07 Apr 05 - 01:53 AM

Once upon a time in the Sahara forest . . . .

Subject: RE: BS: What you *were* going to do in life?....
From: heric
Date: 07 Apr 05 - 01:50 AM

I was going to stop irresponsible clearcutting in the Pacific Northwest and help to ensure sensible, sustainable forest management and old growth protection. I fucked that up.

Subject: RE: BS: What you *were* going to do in life?....
From: Ebbie
Date: 07 Apr 05 - 01:35 AM

Dern. I read that as "It boggles the menu!"

Subject: RE: BS: What you *were* going to do in life?....
From: Peace
Date: 07 Apr 05 - 01:23 AM

It boggles the mind!

Subject: RE: BS: What you *were* going to do in life?....
From: Little Hawk
Date: 07 Apr 05 - 01:18 AM

Since shortly after joining Mudcat I have decided that my one great remaining ambition is to BE William Shatner.

Step 1: gotta gain about 150 pounds.

Step 2: gotta master his acting and singing technique

Step 3: gotta kickstart the old libido and practice some groovy moves

I'll report in as significant progress is made in these 3 areas.

Subject: RE: BS: What you *were* going to do in life?....
From: Don(Wyziwyg)T
Date: 06 Apr 05 - 08:44 PM

Ah! ambition. I wanted to be:-

At 10. FIREMAN

At 14. MUSICIAN. Starting in skiffle, moving to folk. No earnings till about 1985.

At 18. ANALYTICAL CHEMIST. Worked at that one(s**t pay) till....

At 30. EMPLOYED. Steel erector, coach driver, taxi driver, sales rep, sewage worker, injection moulder, etc. etc.

At 50. SETTLED. Got a job as a school caretaker, with a small pension to come.

From 65. FOLK SINGER/ENTERTAINER What I should have done for a living in the first place.

I guess the rest has given me material for what's to come, so it hasn't been wasted.

Don T.

Subject: RE: BS: What you *were* going to do in life?....
From: Desert Dancer
Date: 06 Apr 05 - 08:28 PM

From fifth grade (and reading "Never Cry Wolf"), I was sure I would be a biologist of some sort. Got a B.S. in biology from Antioch College, which means I got "real life" experience teaching at an environmental school in Maine, taking care of animals (including breeding feeder mice and rats) and doing some public interpretation at a large aquarium/museum, and doing research on the social behavior of wolves in captivity. Cool.

After college, did two volunteer stints with the Fish & Wildlife Service in Alaska studying caribou (wolf prey!) and worked in a museum (and a company specializing in second mortgages and yacht loans) during a year off until grad. school. In grad school, studying foxes, I realized I did not want to be a university professor, however, they are not set up to tell you anything about the alternatives... Went off to work with captive chimpanzees (recordkeeping and behavioral research oversight) and never finished the graduate degree. Tried to free-lance for while doing research and writing text for zoo and museum exhibits -- too shy and undisciplined to market effectively on a nation-wide scale, which was what was required.

Got depressed. What to do? Got pregnant. Oh, I'll do that for a while.

When my son was 6 months old, had an opportunity to become managing director of our local "friends of traditional music". Did that for 8 years, but it's not too lucrative of course! ;-)

Decided to become a teaching artist -- bringing American folk dance and song to the schools. Had a part time position teaching "general music" to kindergarten-2nd graders. Still too undisciplined at the marketing end on the dance gigs, and so too slow off the block to make the $$ hubby wanted. Got depressed.

Now I'm an administrative secretary (picked up a lot of business/office skills with that "non-profit administration" job...) -- to a couple of professors who study evolutionary genomics at the local univ. And, in order to increase my part-time hours, I'm going to start working in the lab this summer as well.

You never know where life will take you. I still don't know... I figure I've got another 20-25 years of working life ahead, maybe more if Social Security and Medicare go down the tubes. Who knows when the next left turn will be? They don't tell you about that stuff when you're in high school and college....

~ Becky in Tucson

Subject: RE: BS: What you *were* going to do in life?....
From: Bobert
Date: 06 Apr 05 - 08:15 PM

Thanks, Ebbie... I never thought of having a horse step on my foot but once had a car tire run over my foot... Hurt fir weeks....

Bobert

Subject: RE: BS: What you *were* going to do in life?....
From: jaze
Date: 06 Apr 05 - 08:15 PM

Way back in catholic school, I thought I wanted to be a priest...until puberty hit and decided I didn't think I could do that. I then thought I might be a social worker. Did go to school for that some. Along the way, I have worked in a dry cleaners, a nursing home, a candy factory, several restraunts--dishwasher,busboy, waiter, and host,and a shoe factory. Went back to school to finish the social work degree and somehow decided to try nursing- it is social work in it's own way. Have been a nurse now for 23 years. Way back then, I would have laughed my ass off if you told me I would end up being a nurse. But I love it so go figure.

Subject: RE: BS: What you *were* going to do in life?....
From: Ebbie
Date: 06 Apr 05 - 07:56 PM

Phot, there always be a need for farriers, whether it's for the race track, the military, sheriff's posses, arenas, show teams, horse clubs, whatever. If you really want to be one, get the schooling and have at it.

My father, as well as farming with them, logged (lumberjacked) with draft horses in a small gyppo operation. He much preferred the horses to tractors, because the horses were active participants in the job.

We never had ponies, never had 'child-sized' horses. I remember one mare that wasn't as tall as most of them; we called her 'Shorty'. Most of our riding horses were around 15 hands, but some of our draft horses stood more than 18 hands tall.

Back to the subject...

Incidentally, if you're going to have your foot stepped on by a horse, have a BIG horse do it- it doesn't hurt as much. The big hoof displaces the weight= fewer psi. The little hoof cuts.

Subject: RE: BS: What you *were* going to do in life?....
From: Bobert
Date: 06 Apr 05 - 06:44 PM

Bad, Rap, bad....

Hey, seein' as I started this thread *I AM* reading it!!! Now say yer sorry... Okay, so you might have served in the armed services that's no excuse fir putting "contract killer" in yer danged resime', gol dang it... Now play nice...

And to everyone else... I am really enjoying you stories and like someone said, yeah, life is strange...

Bobert

Subject: RE: BS: What you *were* going to do in life?....
From: Metchosin
Date: 06 Apr 05 - 06:35 PM

Phot, I have a pony here who really needs your services. There is something intrinsically noble about draft horses and their work, so I can quite understand your longing.

It is really interesting to read on this thread, the aspirations and paths that people have taken or in some cases, have just happened.

Perhaps if I hadn't been smacked on the head at such a young age, I might have done a better job of overcoming some of my early cynicism. LOL

Subject: RE: BS: What you *were* going to do in life?....
From: Phot
Date: 06 Apr 05 - 06:09 PM

I always wanted to be a Farrier, but I could'nt get an apprenticeship when I left school, so I worked in a heating suppliers as a warehouse man, my Mum saw an advert that the RAF were looking for stores personnell so I applied.....And became an aircraft engineer. I loved the job, but was made redundant by Maggie Thatcher, so wound up driving a bus for two and a half years before joining the Royal Navy, doing pretty much the same thing I had done in the RAF. But when the RN started mucking me around I thought sod it! And became a photographer in the RN, great job, lots of toys (Helecopters, Destroyers, Frigates, Cameras) lots of creative oppertunities....Stress, high blood pressure, deadlines......

Still want to be a Farrier though, and drive a pair of heavy horses to the plough.......

Wassail! Chris

Subject: RE: BS: What you *were* going to do in life?....
From: Charley Noble
Date: 06 Apr 05 - 06:02 PM

I grew up on a small dairy farm where there was all kinds of work to learn to do but which I never seriously considered doing after I left home. I dreamed about becoming an oceanographer, and read a whole lot about what one had to do.

My college courses included sciences and geology but by the time I graduated it was either be drafted into the army or join the Peace Corps. Fortunately, the Peace Corps in 1965 came up with an invitation first and it was off to teach sciences and geography in Ethiopia for 3 years.

By the time I got back to the states I was too old for my draft board and enrolled for a graduate degree in geography at Michigan State University. Well, I did manage to get my Ph.D. there after 6 years but I found a whole lot of things more interesting by that time than teaching.

I had helped organize an Energy Demonstration Center (Urban Options), a Tenants Resource Center, a housing co-op (Rivendell), lobbied for statewide mortgage anti-redlining laws, and played lots of music. At one point I panicked and joined the state bureaucracy, becoming a researcher for the Michigan Occupation Information Coordinating Committee. It was a bad move, a thorously miserable 6 months, but fortunately I was able to write a successful National Science Foundation Grant and do something more useful for a year (monitoring the implementation of the new Redlining Law) and I never looked back to secure employment.

Since returning to Maine in 1982 I helped do the major fundraising for two Nuclear Power/Nuclear Waste referenda, worked full-time on a brilliant but failed U.S. Senate campaign, renovated and sold several buildings, and continued to make music. I now do digital photography for artists and builders, occasional fundraising for land trusts and other environmental organizations, and am looking for another building to renovate.

I'd like to do more writing, both stories as well as songs.

It ain't over till it's over!

Cheerily,
Charley Noble

Subject: RE: BS: What you *were* going to do in life?....
From: Metchosin
Date: 06 Apr 05 - 05:53 PM

Liz, I vividly remember that great divide, where non-academic programmes for females were regarded by teachers and school councillors as barely one step up from prostitution as well. As I had initially started out on that track, most of my friends were in that stream and I stuck with them, as I found that a lot were a hell of a lot more fun, kinder and brighter than many of their academic conterparts.

The prevailing thought at that time amongst many females was, if you went academic and chose something like nursing, you might snag yourself an engineer or a doctor, which seemed to me, as a primary reason upon which to base a career choice, far closer to prostitution than choosing a non-academic undertaking.

Subject: RE: BS: What you *were* going to do in life?....
From: GUEST, Ebbie
Date: 06 Apr 05 - 04:53 PM

hahahah

Subject: RE: BS: What you *were* going to do in life?....
From: John Hardly
Date: 06 Apr 05 - 04:51 PM

Gee, I always heard that asprin was a contraceptive.

Subject: RE: BS: What you *were* going to do in life?....
From: GUEST, Ebbie
Date: 06 Apr 05 - 04:30 PM

Oh. Sorry, that last bit was me.

Subject: RE: BS: What you *were* going to do in life?....
From: GUEST
Date: 06 Apr 05 - 04:27 PM

"...before contracting dermatitis and getting pregnant." Jacqui C

Jacqui, I had no idea those two were related. However, I do know to avoid giving aspirin to dogs - I did that once and 30 minutes later she had a puppy.

Bill D, a musican friend of mine - who I hope will be able to go to the Getaway this year- also got her degree in Philosphy then went on to became an electronics technician. She and her husband have a video shop and she also sells high-falutin' sewing machines and services them. Philosphy is a wide open field.

Subject: RE: BS: What you *were* going to do in life?....
From: HuwG
Date: 06 Apr 05 - 04:19 PM

I wanted for a long while to be a Geologist. I did indeed get a degree in the subject, and one short contract in South Africa, but the work dried up after that.

I next worked at a job in Sheffield which was a mixture of metallurgy and computer programming. This is a lot less glamourous than it sounds. However, I have been programming ever since (although I was made redundant over a year ago).

I also tried the Armed Forces briefly, but wasn't suitable (although it left me with some experiences and good stories). The Geology and soldiering occasionally come to the fore, as friends ask me to lead walks around the local hills.

When at school, I suffered from teachers whose attitudes seemed frozen in the late 1930s. They threatened if you didn't pay attention in class or do your homework on time, you would find yourself working down a mine. They seemed to think that the acme of academic achievement was to come back and teach at the same school you attended as a pupil. I am proud of having avoided that fate, and having worked down a mine.

Subject: RE: BS: What you *were* going to do in life?....
From: Janie
Date: 06 Apr 05 - 03:58 PM

By 18 or 19 I knew social work was my vocation. Have been at it now for 32 years.

Janie

Subject: RE: BS: What you *were* going to do in life?....
From: greg stephens
Date: 06 Apr 05 - 02:55 PM

At the age of 11 I heard Lonnie Donegan playing the guitar, and I thought, right, that's it. And that's been it ever since.

Subject: RE: BS: What you *were* going to do in life?....
From: Mooh
Date: 06 Apr 05 - 02:25 PM

Hmmm...At various times in my youth I thought I could see myself as a teacher, musician, forest ranger, fishing guide, architech, carpenter, or boat builder. In adulthood I tried, musician, janitor, retail sales, labour representative, unemployment (I was good at that, but it didn't last long enough to call it a career). These days I work as a musician, teaching, playing, fixing instruments, and so on. Still tramp the woods, fish, and build stuff, so the dreams of my youth weren't entirely mistaken.

Peace, Mooh.

Subject: RE: BS: What you *were* going to do in life?....
From: GUEST,Liz the Squeak
Date: 06 Apr 05 - 02:17 PM

I was told at age 14 that I was going to be the good little girl who stayed at home to look after mummy and daddy...... I sort of never bothered to even think about anything after that, because at that stage, I couldn't see any other option. I was crapping out badly at school, getting freindly with alcohol, fast motorbikes, Hells Angels and had a job in a pub kitchen. School careers advice was basically 'get these qualifications and you can be a nurse/teacher/vet, don't get any, you'll end up in an office' - said like it was one step up from prostitution.

Left home having discovered over the following 4 years down the line that the last thing in the world I'm suited for is looking after parents. I've worked as a cleaner, pub cook, in a chocolate factory, as a secretary, a researcher, archaeologist's scribe, illustrator, museum assistant, Vicars' PA, window dresser, seamstress, proof-reader, sous chef, youth club assistant, in scrap metal, painting and decorating, child minder, library assistant and Revenue assistant.

I have also been paid for singing, but that doesn't count as work, because I like doing it!

So from being told what to do, and having absolutely no idea what I wanted to do, I ended up doing a lot of different things. There are a few of those jobs I'd refuse to do again, and some I'd love to have back....

LTS

Subject: RE: BS: What you *were* going to do in life?....
From: GUEST,CarolC
Date: 06 Apr 05 - 01:16 PM

On the subject of serendipity... one of the best kinds of work I ever did, I never expected or even imagined I would do. That was my one season as an interpretive naturalist. I had submitted an application for employment to the local zoo. The director of a brand new nature center in the same park as the zoo found my application in the zoo's files, and he contacted me and offered me the job. I am forever grateful for that one. And the nature center job got my foot in the door (so to speak) for the zookeeper job.

Subject: RE: BS: What you *were* going to do in life?....
From: GUEST,Metchosin
Date: 06 Apr 05 - 01:01 PM

oops, my post 12:58PM

Subject: RE: BS: What you *were* going to do in life?....
From: GUEST
Date: 06 Apr 05 - 12:58 PM

I was small I was going to be a missionary, but that idea was knocked out of me with a sharp blow to the head, by a sunday school teacher wielding a hymnal.

I then decided animals were much nicer than most people and desparately wanted to become a veterinarian. That idea was abandoned when my father informed me, that educating women was a waste of time and money, as they only ended up getting married and having babies.

Later, I thought being a legal secretary sounded exciting, but gave up on that idea also, when I failed shorthand and typing.

Fortunately my other academic skills, apart from some difficulty with math, were somewhat stronger. Bound by the conventions of the time, I was advised to become a nurse, but later decided, a school teacher, although I hated school and had absolutely no idea of how I was going to fund the undertaking.

A far cry from earlier dreams, and by some intervening fortuitous circumstances, instead of teaching, I ended up in a laboratory playing with microscopic worms.

All subsequent endeavours have been just as diverse as fiddling with worms was from my childhood dreams and I did eventually get married and have babies, but not any of it has been a waste of time or money. Except perhaps the shorthand. BG

Subject: RE: BS: What you *were* going to do in life?....
From: GUEST,Mary in Kentucky
Date: 06 Apr 05 - 12:25 PM

oops, that was me above, came through the back door.

Subject: RE: BS: What you *were* going to do in life?....
From: GUEST
Date: 06 Apr 05 - 12:24 PM

When I was young, I resisted my piano teacher's push to major in music.

I started college as a Spanish major, absolutely fascinated with languages and literature. When I realized that a 6-year-old kid in a foreign country could always speak the language better than I could, I changed to chemistry.

I wanted more than anything to raise a family, so I taught high school math until my twins were 16, then worked as a lab technician and chemist in research - my favorite jobs.

After several downsizings, I was diagnosed with MS, so then worked for my husband in a veterinary clinic. It turned out better than I thought it would since I grew up working for my father in a retail store and never planned to work with or for a relative.

Now I'm home, play with the granddaughters, tutor math and ACT preparation, do a little data entry for a catalog, design web pages for friends/relatives. I gave piano lessons along the way, but don't encourage new students anymore. (I am trying to influence the granddaughters.)

Subject: RE: BS: What you *were* going to do in life?....
From: GUEST,Flamenco ted
Date: 06 Apr 05 - 12:02 PM

I wanted to become a walrus.

Subject: RE: BS: What you *were* going to do in life?....
From: GUEST,MMario
Date: 06 Apr 05 - 11:14 AM

all I've ever wanted to be war retired with a comfortable income. I figure I've got about 4 decades left to go.

Subject: RE: BS: What you *were* going to do in life?....
From: GUEST,Bill D ..in cookieless mode
Date: 06 Apr 05 - 11:04 AM

addenda:

I actually once worked as a genuine Bean Counter. I did cycle inventory at a Stokley-Van Camp's cannery/warehouse. (I had to count all the other canned good in the warehouse also, but Pork & Beans was the single biggest item.)

Subject: RE: BS: What you *were* going to do in life?....
From: Rapparee
Date: 06 Apr 05 - 09:08 AM

Well, along the way I've been a newspaper delivery boy, an inventory taker for closing stores, a contract killer, an assistant bookstore manager, a maker and setter of tombstones, a student, a system administrator on a Unix system, a strawberry picker (at 7 cents a quart), a caddy for golfers, a snow shoveler, a guy who mows lawns, and some other stuff I forget now.

Subject: RE: BS: What you *were* going to do in life?....
From: freda underhill
Date: 06 Apr 05 - 09:04 AM

I grew up in a non religious family. when i was 9 my father asked me what i wanted to do when i grew up. I said I couldn't decide between being a nun or a circus performer.

later i wanted to be an artist and writer. i have done of those things professionally.

my list of things done includes:

factory work (screwing one bit of wood into another); stand up comedy; writing and producing pantomimes for kids; door-to-door surveys; political cartooning for various trade unions and community organisations; social welfare worker (housing), some community activism (prisons & prisoners rights, anti-police verbal campaign, movement against uraniuum mining), refugee decision maker, community liaison work with various ethnic communities in oz, currently writing political briefs for politicians and bureaucrats.

ps. had three beautiful children - all in their twenties now, and one has given me a bneautiful grandaughter.
collected some very lovely friends on the way.

Subject: RE: BS: What you *were* going to do in life?....
From: A Wandering Minstrel
Date: 06 Apr 05 - 08:24 AM

I wanted to be an actor, but in order to make it pay I ended up teaching Drama (and English, Maths, Biology and Latin). Then somebody asked me to write a text book and gave me a word_processor to do it with. Took to computing and have been a systems analyst for 25 years.

Now my daughter wants to be a theatrical director

Subject: RE: BS: What you *were* going to do in life?....
From: Fibula Mattock
Date: 06 Apr 05 - 08:07 AM

Become an archaeologist. And now I am, albeit circuitously. Hurrah.

Subject: RE: BS: What you *were* going to do in life?....
From: Stu
Date: 06 Apr 05 - 08:04 AM

I decided to make my dream come true as I approach my forties and retrain as a Palaeontologist/Geologist by doing a degree, until I recently run out of cash (due to unforseen circumstances) and had to abandon the lot halfway through the second year.

Back to the drawing board.

Subject: RE: BS: What you *were* going to do in life?....
From: GUEST,MBSLynne
Date: 06 Apr 05 - 07:56 AM

First of all I wanted to be a zoologist, then that crystalized into wanting to be a vet.....I really wanted to work with animals. When I was 12 or so, I went through a phase of being extremely squeamish so decided I couldn't be a vet, and didn't do things like chemistry and physics, which I would have needed. I found that it had only been temporary, but by then I was in a diffeerent stream. I wanted to be a journalist but didn't get the cadetship I applied for when I left school. I always wanted to be a writer of some sort. I became, over the years, an Australian Government clerk, a waitress, a stocktaker, a chambermaid, a factory worker, a filing clerk, a strawberry picker, a milk delivery person, a sales person (lasted 2 weeks!), a cowman, a tupperware seller, and an artificial inseminator. The last I loved and worked at for nine years until I got pregnant (no jokes please!!). Now I milk cows part-time, and grow herbs and give talks on them. I sell the herbs and also a herb cookbook and herbal that I have written. My biggest happiness and satisfaction in life (apart from my family) have come from working on and around farms, so my original desire to work with animals was the right one. Having produced two books as well, though they were not what I envisaged when I wanted to be a writer, I guess I've fulfilled my other early ambition. Neither worked out the way I imagined. Isn't it funny how life often gives you what you want, but in a completely different way from what you might have expected?

Love Lynne

Subject: RE: BS: What you *were* going to do in life?....
From: dianavan
Date: 06 Apr 05 - 01:55 AM

In between I've been in sales in the fashion industry, a coding clerk (medical insurance), a deckhand on a couple of gillnetters and trolling boats, a cook on other fish boats and at folk fairs, a University fund-raiser, a manager of the coffee shop at the local community center, a tutor, a Special Education Assistant and a teacher. All paid positions.

I totally thought I was going to be a wife and mother. My husband and I would live on love. I dreamed of finding the man that would make it so. Beyond that, I really wasn't encouraged to do much except look pretty and know how to cook and clean.

Boy have times changed!!!

Anyway, my life didn't turn out the way I thought it would but I certainly do not regret the journey.

Subject: RE: BS: What you *were* going to do in life?....
From: LadyJean
Date: 06 Apr 05 - 01:26 AM

When I was a little girl I wanted to be a dancer. Not a good idea. I have coordination problems. But I still dance, just not professionally.
When I was older, I wanted to be an actress. I still wonder what would have happened if I'd pursued a career in theater. One of my high school classmates was Molly Picoun's niece. She couldn't really be said to act, but she looked like her famous aunt, so she got the lead roles in school plays.
My mother wanted me to teach. I volunteered at a local school when I was a senior in high school. I didn't mind the kids so much, but I didn't think much of the teachers.
So, I decided to be a writer. Well, I publish some, though not enough to pay the bills. And I'm still at it. I clean houses because that leaves my brain free to write.

Subject: RE: BS: What you *were* going to do in life?....
From: Little Hawk
Date: 06 Apr 05 - 01:16 AM

I have been a folksinger, a radio shack employee, a jewelry engraver, a computer technician, a guitar teacher, a worm picker, a newspaper columnist, an assembly line worker, a gas station attendant, a government employee, and what the heck else...most of which had its appropriate time and place.

I now run a small manufacturing business, and pontificate on the Internet. The first pays well, the second keeps my mind occupied in an enjoyable but largely useless fashion.

The only thing I ever wanted to be all that badly was a folksinger, but it was not a very workable way to earn a living, given my basic temperament.

Subject: RE: BS: What you *were* going to do in life?....
From: dianavan
Date: 06 Apr 05 - 12:16 AM

Not bad at all, Hesperis. Try visualizing your place to be. Write down everything you want as a home and then read it over every night before you go to bed. Think matter of factly that it will come into being. Its worth a try.

Me - I never wanted to be anything. I assumed I would be a wife and a mother. Later on I decided I wanted to know myself thoroughly. Then I wanted to become a bridge between cultures. I accidently became a teacher when my need to feed my family interfered with my love of learning.

My kids taught me more about myself than I ever thought was possible.

My students keep my love of learning alive.

Husband? Had one of those for a couple of years but now he's just a friend of mine.

Subject: RE: BS: What you *were* going to do in life?....
From: Peace
Date: 06 Apr 05 - 12:09 AM

Since I was four years old I have wanted to be a firefighter. I became one at the age of 46. I have failed at many things, but not that.

Subject: RE: BS: What you *were* going to do in life?....
From: hesperis
Date: 05 Apr 05 - 11:46 PM

Well, when I was less than 3 years old I wanted to be a world-famous composer and definitely did not want to be a world-famous piano player. Later I wanted to be a ballet dancer, but decided I didn't like suffering in order to dance... I wanted to dance for the enjoyment of it and not worry about performance and strict standards of what is beauty.

I wanted to be a wife and have a wonderful husband and family. Some of that's happened and some hasn't.

Then after high school was over I really wanted to be a professional jazz French Hornist... but could only afford a flute. And all I could play on flute without buying a ton of music were the old songs that my mother and I used to sing. So I got into this folk music kick and that hasn't stopped.

Then I discovered computers, and they ruled. And I discovered computer games and realized that in the field of computer game production, I could use all my generalist knowledge of art, music, programming, and writing, and my love of pulling creative threads together into a finished project with a team... in just one job.

And now, I compose music and songs, have created 2 CDs over time, have material for at least 5 more CDs if I can only find a place to live long enough to record them, and have friends all over the world who love my music. I'm also a Sacred Circle Dance teacher and a web host and a web designer, and just produced my first completed game with friends. (It's oldskool and kinda amateurish, but rather cute for all that.) Just wish I would earn enough money with all of those to have a nice place for myself and my husband to live.

Not bad for being sick a lot, eh?

Subject: RE: BS: What you *were* going to do in life?....
From: Rustic Rebel
Date: 05 Apr 05 - 11:44 PM

When I was about 6, swinging in a swing, singing, 'How would you like to go up in the air? Up in the air so blue" I decided I wanted to be a singer.
In high school I stayed in choir, but I took up a lot of art that got me into drawing, clay, fibers and painting. At that time I wanted to be a portrait artist.
After school I took off on the road with a friend and we hitchhiked back and forth across country for 5 years. That's when I picked up my first harmonicas and guitar. It also got me into working (carving) with stone, hunting and studying rocks and minerals, and I wanted to become a geologist.
When I settled down and moved into a farm I started studying and growing herbs and wanted to be an herbal healer.

Time sure flies- So now I, play my music, sing, play harps, write, sculpt clay, go on rock hunting trips, grow herbs and gardens and have a seasonal job as a supervisor in a beautiful park, and I still can play half a year!