By Kirsten Scott
Chemistry.
Now I had had chemistry in high school, but nothing on the scale of college. And for the first time in my life, I flailed around in a classroom, utterly unable to grasp the concepts everyone else embraced with ease. After a mind-boggling amount of work, I squeaked out a B-. And so the die was cast. No vet school. No more science.
It took a lot of angst to get over this dream. Eventually my rational mind won, and I pursued another path: outdoor education. (That's me, climbing with my son.) Except, this path didn't really work out either. I liked the woods, but as I've mentioned before, I didn't want to make it my home.
So what then? Law school. Everyone had told me it would be a good fit. I loved to argue, ergo, I should be a lawyer. But I'm not competitive enough to be a good lawyer, I whined. I won't fit in at law school.
HA!
Surprise again. Turns out, I can be a very competitive little bugger. Not in sports, which I find an absolute bore, but in arguments. In fact, once I get started, it's pretty hard to shut me up. So, much to my surprise, I found that the law suits me very well. (And then there's the whole writing thing, but that wasn't a surprise to anyone who knows me. Just another side of me.)
As we celebrate the one year anniversary of our little blog, I know I've been surprised. I had no idea we'd become such good friends. I had no idea our Bandita blogs would become popular. And most of all, I had no idea we'd be so...ROWDY! :-)
So what did you want to be when you grew up? Ballerina? Doctor? Mail carrier? Any surprises along the way? Two lucky commenters today will win prizes -- a Romance Bandits T-Shirt and Mug! I can't wait to hear the stories!
81 comments:
Sorry,
Had to jump in to snag the rooster!
I've got him entered in the Derby tomorrow! :-)
I would have loved to be a ballerina! (Hard to do without ballet lessons, though!) And I thought I wanted to be a doctor for a while, but that's hard to do when the mere sight of blood makes you queasy... so I thought I wanted to be an engineer (I liked the math and stuff), but that didn't work out so well either.
I *did* work as an editor for a children's software company until I had kids, and now I'm home with them for now :) Still not sure what I'm going to be when I grow up... ;)
Congrats on the GR, Joan! ;)
Ok, now I'll comment for real :-)
I cannot think of anything I'd ever considered doing with my adult life save being a nurse (Oh, wife and mother...didn't pan out but challenging job nonetheless).
My mother said that is all I used to talk about. I do recall spending an innordinate amount of time putting bandaids on my dolly Rebecca. Poor tyke was ALWAYS having to be patched up.
I was a Candy Striper the minute I could be one, took nursing aide vocational training in high school and remember loving every minute of nursing school.
And despite all my moaning and groaning about today's healthcare world (which is SO much more stressful than when I started) I know that being a nurse is part of who I am.
Fortunately, the rest is all writer/author. :-)
As to other pursuits the only other one I might have liked to have done would be teaching....the little ones. Though I think it would be tough to teach calculus etc. to first graders LOL
BTW, hooray to you, Joan--I'm in awe of those of you who tirelessly care for others! (And you write!!!)
Oh, as for the teaching, I thought that might be fun, too--then I had kids of my own ;)
Put five bucks on that feathered bandit to win for me, Joan!
I have wanted to be a writer from the time I was nine. I wrote my first novel at ten. A whole novel. It was a romance novel about a half breed Indian scout and the general's daughter. It was called, and I KID YOU NOT - I Hate You General, Sir. It took me over a year to write it in my little room under the eaves of our house in England. It was almost 800 hand written pages long! (No surprise there. I mean look at my posts!)
Then a strange thing happened at a school talent contest. I sang "I Was Born Under a Wandering Star" from Paint Your Wagon. The rest, as they say, is history. I started taking piano and music theory lessons at the London College of Music. At sixteen I started studying with the first of my private voice teachers. I never wanted to be anything other than an opera singer. My Mom said it is my paternal grandmother's fault as she played Maria Callas records at my cradle.
I have enjoyed all of the places and things my opera career have allowed me to do. It was a fun ride!
I even considered vet school after I retired from singing, but the chemistry got me too! I worked as a veterinary technician for five years.
I also taught high school and college for five years. (High school - English, History, Foreign Languages. College - music history and voice.)
I wrote on and off through all of this. It was like that fickle, tempestuous, passionate romance that I couldn't escape. I just kept coming back to it. Now it is all I want to do.
Yay, Joanie! Keep him sober.
I always knew I wanted to be a teacher, and in fact, can't remember thinking of any other career.
The great surprise of my life was having children. What about that ??!! It was the sixties and I fully intended to attend Woodstock and go braless. I never planned to marry, yet alone have seven kids. I fully intended to have a long and satisfying career teaching high school history.
Not that I'm complaining, but life sure throws some curve balls, huh?
Hey Joan, congrats on the bird!:)
Kirsten, great post. I know a lot of PT students that dropped out once they hit the chemistry classes. Yikes! No thank you.
I wanted to be a marine biologist from the time I was little until late junior high. I have a huge sea shell collection. But try growing up in Kansas and telling your teachers that...:) And there was this little fear of deep water thing.
Then I was going to be a journalist. Went all the way with a full college scholarship to do that. Then got yelled at in a photojournalism class because I helped a student on campus who was hit by a car while on his bike (he was Ok) instead of taking pictures of it. So I quit.
Stumbled my way into speech pathology from there. And it's been a very rewarding career. I do love my little special needs kiddos. Especially when the teachers want to know why the only words they say really clearly are the swear words. *g*
I'm laughing at your comment, flchen1, because I could only dance in my head, so I knew I could never be a ballerina.
Pam, how multi-talented you are! Giggles on the title of your first book.
Joan, like flchen1, I admire good nurses. I think it takes a special kind of person truly to care about and for the needs of people who are basically strangers to them.
Congrats Joan
Great post Kirsten
When I was young I wanted to be a nurse by the time I was in my 3rd year at high school I had all the paperwork that needed to be filled in and was even going to live in at the hospital while I did my training (that was the way it was done back in the 70's) but I met my husband to be towards the end of that year and decided I didn't want to do all that studying and live away from home so when I left school I started work in a bank and stayed there till I left to have my first child then was a stay home Mum for 10 years before I went back to work at nights I have enjoyed the path I have taken but sometimes I still wish I had done the nursing thing. Now my wish is to retire.
Have Fun
Helen
Well, I wanted to be a rockette, but hey I never grew past 5'4" and well, there was the whole glamorously thin, never getting to really eat thing.
I love history, and would've loved being either a teacher or archeologist. But there was a plethera of teachers in the, **coughlate70scough** and Indiana Jones hadn't come out yet, so had to give those up for a slightly more lucrative career.
OH wait, I'm a nurse. and trust me when I say that when I started nursing $$ was not good at all. $6.10/hour. BUT I loved taking care of people, anatomoy, physiology, and the whole Hot Lips Hoolihan persona...I so wanted to be a M*A*S*H surgical nurse.
Then I saw my first baby being born...and I was hooked! Still love that part of it. And I get to scrub for c/sections, so I get to live the M*A*S*H fantasy on occasion, too.
I wanted to be a teacher way back when. At some point I feel in love with the idea of becoming a doctor and working to cure infectious diseases. I'm still hoping to discover what I want to do when I grow up. :)
Congrats, Joan. I've always wanted to an archaeologist. I was probably influenced by the Indiana Jones movies. I thought it was so cool that you get to travel to faraway lands and dig for treasure.
Kirsten, I have to laugh at how often I nod my head in your posts! I wanted to be a brain surgeon when I was at school. And then what happened? Chemistry. I took one semester, LOATHED it and dropped it in favour of Ancient History, which I absolutely adored. Oh, and when Helen Francis bloodied her nose fooling around in a haunted house we set up for a school fair, I could barely look at her without gagging, so I decided then that I wouldn't have done too well in an operating theatre.
I enjoyed being a lawyer most of the time, just like you. Wasn't that fond of arguing--I worked in the commercial arena so it was more subtle persuasion than argument, at which I'm a lot more adept! But I couldn't be happier ending up as a writer. Don't think I'll ever go back!
Although I took many years of dance and flirted with the idea of doing it professionally, I always only wanted to be a writer - even before I knew what writing actually was. You see, I think I was born with a pen in my hand and I'd been "writing" for many years before I learned, in seventh grade, that what I was doing instinctively had a name - writing. I can't remember a time when I didn't write, when I wasn't telling a story in one form or another. My dreams have changed and reformed many times over the years, but they have never disappeared completely. I still write and tell stories, in one form or another, and one day (hopefully soon) I will be able to say that I am a published writer. Whether or not I do publish, I will always be a writer.
When I was young I had wanted to become a teacher and then I found out what their salaries were. Teachers salaries have definitely improved since then but at that time they were ridiculously low.
I always wanted to be a nurse, unfortunately that was not to be. That requires a lot more schooling than I was able to attain. I do work in a hospital though! The office was as close as I could get to that particular dream.
I am of the generation where women worked as a 'fall back' -- something to do until you got married, and in case things didn't work out. I loved animals, but my parents had higher aspirations (although I remember my mom saying 'you could be a secretary--if you work for a major company, they often run the show') I studied psychology in college, and loved the animal behavior stuff. But I have a naturally lazy streak. Also, when I realized I'd be happy being a zookeeper, which would NOT please my parents, I went into teaching.
Strangely enough years and years later, I ran an educational Outreach program for a Zoological Society.
Fun blog, Susan!
Good luck to the GR in the Derby! Let's just hope he doesn't get stepped on! Joan, maybe you should just buy him a gorgeous hat and let him watch?
I always wanted to be a writer. Had to take the practical route first, though, so the surprise is that I actually made it!
I wanted to be a Vegas Show Girl (I *loved* the sequins, the feathers, and the tiny outfits and heels) OR a country music singer (you see, Dolly probably had a lot of influence on my formative years).
I can neither dance nor sing.
I used to pretend to be a schoolteacher (I loved Laura Ingalls Wilder), but my high school English teacher said (later), "No, you don't want to do that. It's a horrible job." And considering how it plays out in These Happy Golden Years, she was right.
mshellion, that drives me nuts! As both a mom and a professional, I know there's nothing worse than someone in education who doesn't want to be there. For heaven's sake, teaching is COMPLETELY what you make of it; I know you follow curriculum, but the daily variables are limitless. You have the ability to transfer between grades or buildings if you wait for openings, and you have one of the most powerful unions in the country watching your back. Yes, they want us to cram too much into a school day now and the demands of our student population are greater than ever, but no job is perfect.
Ok then. . .time to climb down from the soapbox in search of some decaf :). . .
I played the trumpet in school and I wanted to play in a band/orchestra, but that never turned out, I suppose it would have helped if I actually owned the instrument. :)
Good morning everyone! It's early here on the west coast, but there are so many wonderful stories I'm just tickled. I am headed to my office (er, coffee shop) and once I get that first round of latte down, I'll check back in!
Yay, Joanie! Keep him sober.
Might be hard to do with all the bourbon flowing around here. Though ONE taste of a mint julip and he'll race to be on the wagon.
Derby Tip #1 Mint Julip's are GROSS! Mint, sugar and a LITTLE bourbon. Blech!
Good luck to the GR in the Derby! Let's just hope he doesn't get stepped on! Joan, maybe you should just buy him a gorgeous hat and let him watch?
Actually, Deb that's his strategy! Hop from hat to hat (Fake feathers, GR feathers who knows the difference? LOL)until he gets to the finish line!
Derby Hint #2 The hats will not stand up to the 40 mph winds and driving rain we had yesterday.
His odds are currently 120-1 but hey....the mutual windows haven't opened yet!
Pass me the Derby Pie!
PS Nora Roberts is in town for the Derby!
PSS I'm reading Elizabeth Bevarly's new release "Fast and Loose" which she wrote around Derby time. LOTS of landmark places and events very familiar to Louisvillians plus has REALLY captured the craziness that descends on our city this time of year. And FUNNNY!
Joan, don't run that bird too hard! We need to leave some of his feathers intact for the RWA conference! I am so in awe of you and Suz and all the other nurses out there. I'd just end up telling people to stop whining! LOL.
So what does a Candy Striper wear? Do you actually wear pink stripes? This is fascinating, because I didn't think they really had candy stripers!
Fedora, my daughter is pretty sure she's going to be a ballerina, and I just shudder for the moment she realizes that my husband and I have cursed her in both the height AND weight department. And LOL at the blood thing. That would be a detriment as a doctor! Don't you run your own business as well? That takes such guts. I thought a little about going out on my own as an attorney, but it scares me too much!
I wanted to be a fashion designer... and I loved to draw shoes all day long. However, I ended up going to med school. I hope one day I will be able to take some design classes though.
Jo, I would be surprised, too, if I found seven kids in my house! LOL. You know, we've never actually met, but I get the sense you're born to be a teacher. You've got that steady, unflappable disposition, the patience, and the kindness part down. And you obviously love literature. Sounds like a teacher to me! :-)
My kid surprise went the other way -- I thought I'd be the perfect warm and fuzzy mom who can't get enough of her kids. In reality, I flee for the peace and quiet of my office on many a Monday morning! Being a mom is incredibly hard work, and my hat is off to you for doing it seven times over!
Oh Gillian, your story just cracked me up! I think having a fear of deep water would be a definite impediment to being a marine biologist. Unless, of course, you were the beachcoming sort of biologist (which sounds pretty nice, actually). Your experience with journalism sounds pretty amazing, too. I love how few of us actually ended up where we thought we'd be!
helen, have you considered spending time in a hospital setting now as a volunteer or some kind of trainee? the amazing thing these days is that people start brand new careers at almost every stage of life. i heard on the radio the other day about an eighty-year old woman graduating with her college degree. She was thrilled, and I was really inspired. there's always a chance to follow your dreams!
Suz, LOL on the rockette thing! I can't imagine you as anything but nurse and live-giver. Just think about all those people you welcomed into the world, and all those moms you helped through one of the most difficult experiences in their life. go you!
Ann, it sounds like you're leaving your options open! I love that! ;-) You've mentioned two professions that the world needs more of -- doctors and teachers. let us know if you ever make up your mind!
jane -- how do you feel about dust? LOL. I love to imagine finding lost treasures, but can you picture the size of the dust boogers you'd get?
(okay, TMI, but that's where my mind goes these days!)
Christine, I think you and I should have been born closer together so we could hang out more often! I actually don't love serious conflict. I stayed well away from the harder sides of the law (i.e., litigation, criminal law). As a utility lawyer, I work with the same bunch of people all the time (the regulators, the citizen activists, etc.) and we have very congenial relationships. We disagree, but we do it in a very polite way, and I get to buy people donuts for settlement negotiations. It's really a great gig.
Margay, I just loved what you wrote. Yes, it doesn't matter whether someone else publishes your words. You will always be a writer. Sing it to the rooftops!
Maureen, I hear you on the teacher salaries. My husband was a teacher (now administrator) and I was always amazed that someone with a master's degree could make so little! LOL. But things have gotten a little better, and it really varies from state to state. My mom is a teacher in NY, and she does pretty well for herself (now that she's got 30 years of teaching in the bag!). Like so many things, you have to teach for the love it, not the money.
Well the term "Candy Striper" has been replaced with "Teen Volunteer" but even those are few and far between.
But yes when I was a Candy Striper in the *cough70'cough* I did wear a pinafore with pink stripes. There were actually dress codes then. Crisp white blouse, stockings, clean, white shoes. I even worked enough volunteer hours to attain the coveted pink stripe pseudo nurse's cap! I was so proud!
Then we did all sorts of things...make beds, feed patients, take urine to the lab :-)
Now they don't let them have much patient contact at all. Between a litigious society and the universal precautions necessary for infection control it's too much to allow kids exposure to what the modern day world of healthcare is like.
Dianna, my SIL worked in health care as a nurses' aide and hospice worker for a long time. She was a single mom, and didn't start nursing school until her daughter was in fourth grade. She attended on loans and scholarships, working all the while. She graduated a few years ago, and the hospital she works at now paid back all her loans. So that's just to say don't give up! Maybe you'd be able to afford it now? I really believe in starting over, and never giving up those dreams.
Terry, LOL on the lazy streak! You sound just like my beloved auntie, who would like nothing better than to retire early and spend her days taking long walks, sipping tea, and reading. And you're right, BTW, about those secretaries. Especially at schools, those head secretaries can hold the keys to power. My dad told me that as well. He said he'd made friends with the custodians in college, and it saved his bacon on many an occasion. I think the key is to treat everyone with respect. Every job is important, and every person of value. Salary really isn't important, in the grand scheme of things.
Deb, I took the practical route as well. I did dream of being a writer throughout high school and college, but it never occurred to me to actually give it a try. It was just a dream. I'm still trying to get my head around the thought of writing as a career. LOL. Maybe you can help me with that one! :-) It's my risk adverse nature. I can't imagine not knowing if/when my next paycheck would arrive.
Most of my life, I dreamed of being a great singer and/or dancer. Someone who would wow the audience. That dream didn't pan out because I sing off-key and have 2 left feet! I am very talented in my mind, however! ;) What I ended up doing was teaching. I spent 30 years teaching kindergarten and first grade. When I started college, I had no intention of becoming a teacher and yet here I am 30 years later. Surprise! Those were challenging years, but I don't regret them. My deepest longing was fulfilled when I became a wife and mother. Now that my boys are grown and I have retired, I am satisfied with what I have accomplished. I didn't achieve all of my dreams, but I did get the best ones. Now my dream is to enjoy retirement...travel, read, and take time for me!
Dina, LOL on the instrument thing. I also wanted to play in a band, but my trombone lessons didn't go so well. I kept hyperventilating and giving myself headaches. :-)
Oh, and here's what sealed my fate musically -- my sister and Ani Difranco were good friends when they were in middle/high school. (Ani's a folk singer, if you don't recognize the name.) One day when Ani was over, and was waiting for my sister to get home from a ballet lesson, she saw my guitar (I was taking lessons at the time). She asked me what I could play, and at the time, it was "Shoe Fly" (a lovely little ditty that appeared on page three of the beginning guitar book). I played for her, thinking I was pretty good.
She was very nice, told me how lovely it sounded, and then picked up the guitar herself and hit me with an incredible, original song she was writing. I was mortified that the goddess of music had heard me play Shoe Fly! It was hard to pick up that guitar again, let me tell you!
Lily, I'm not sure you get much more opposite jobs than drawing shoes all day and being a doctor! :-) Three of my college roommates became doctors (one is still winding her way slowly through med school). The funny thing is, only one of the three is practicing traditional medicine. And she just had a baby, so who knows what will happen to her. Babies change everything!
Good luck with school and residency. It sounds unbelievably difficult. I hope you're making it through okay. Don't lose that hope of helping people. It makes all the difference.
Joanie, I think we need to see a picture of that hat! It sounds adorable! :-)
Cherie, congratulations on your 30 years! Wow! The wonderful thing about teaching is that you can look back and know you made a positive difference in the lives of hundreds of children. I salute you! (and I marvel at your patience.) I hope you enjoy retirement and traveling and making the most of all that lovely free time.
LOL, Joan. I'll be rooting for our GR and hoping he doesn't get run over by the thoroughbreds.
I can't remember exactly when I started thinking I'd be a writer, but it was fairly early on. It was my day job too since I was a journalist. But when I got older, I got to thinking I would have loved to be an interpretive (rather than law enforcement) National Park Ranger. And I also love movies so much that I believe I would have loved to work in the movie industry. One of my life goals is still to be an extra or have a small walk-on role in a movie. I think that would be SO cool.
Kirsten, I feel your pain with the subject that made you struggle. For me it was trigonometry. I was in the running for valedictorian until I hit trig. I loathed that class.
a singer
I'm so boring, I of course wanted to be a singer when I was little and then as I grew older, I wanted to be a teacher. Not very exciting, I know, but I'm sure that now a days it might be a little dangerous...LOL Along the way were a lack of focus for college, needed, an early baby, a divorce, and 10 years later, 2 more children and another husband. So no teaching and no singing. I work part-time at UPS unloading the trucks early in the mornings so that I can spend the rest of the days with the little ones while they are little and argue with my teenager at night.
SURPRISE!!!!!!
Thanks for a great blog Joan and huge luck on the derby!!!!!!!!
Amy
Alas my dreams never managed to come to fruition so next best thing is doing what I can to help my two daughters achieve theirs. Neither one picked a very easy career choice but I'm very proud of them. One is working with older people and the other is trying to get into the art field.
Trish, I love that you're doing exactly what you wanted to do! You're proof that it might not come easy, but that doesn't mean you give up. I think we can all learn from your example and thrill in your success.
Maybe you should move to LA and hang out with Kate. I bet she's got some connections to the movies. Doesn't everyone in LA? ;-)
I still don't know what I want to be when I grow up :P. When I was 3, I wanted to be a tightrope walker. This would not work, because I have a near phobia of heights. Then I wanted to be a marine biologist - yes, I did live near a Sea World. Then, a doctor or a lawyer. I never did the college chem, etc - and thankfully tested out of it, because before middle school, I got hit with the ick factor and couldn't handle blood.
So - though I'm in professional school now, I'm keeping my options open :X. Haha - we'll see. But for now, the JD wins.
Peggy, o' woman of few words, that's a great dream! I hope someday you grab it! :-)
amy, your life sounds anything but boring. Is life with teenagers ever boring? LOL. Anyway, here's to you for making a life for your family and children. And don't give up on those dreams -- my husband is a vice principal, and he sees more and more people coming to teaching as a second or even third career. Life is long, and there's always time to grab hold of those dreams and run with them.
catslady, empowering your daughters is an incredible life's work. it sounds like you've been an amazing mom and have a beautiful legacy in your daughters and their work.
limecello, did you post recently about becoming an editor at your school's law review? If that was you (sorry, the memory is faint!) than huge congratulations. I did that and it is grueling. you start to dream about the Bluebook, and that's the last thing you want to dream about. LOL. Good luck to you with the JD! And keep in mind there are hundreds of things you can do with a JD. Being an attorney is just one of them.
Thanx, Kirsten, for another of your fun and insightful posts.
Yes, I originally studied to be a teacher, but there were virtually NO teaching jobs back in the *KOFF70sKOFF* so I was stuck in several dead-end secretarial type jobs until my BFF's aunt told me, "If you can type, you can get a job with the State of California." REALLY?!?! So I did. Took me almost a year, but I finally did get hired, and then I became like Joseph Stalin -- I had a 5 year plan, get 4 promotions. Accomplished it too!
I said I would never supervise, but SURPRISE! When the opportunity arose, I knew I could do a better job than 2/3rds of the supervisors I'd had in the past, so I did it! I think I may have mentioned that I supervised nurses... MANY of them asked why I never became a nurse myself. Simple answer, the first patient who threw up on me, I'd have thrown up right back on them. Weak stomachs do not cut it in the nursing profession. LOL!
Of course, I always wanted to be a writer, but since there was that instability factor, I had to wait until I worked myself into a place that I no longer needed that DDJ (dreaded day job). Happy to say, I'm there now, and LOVING IT!
It really is never too late, everyone!
AC
Kirsten,
Uhm, I often have to tell my patients to stop whining, in a very nice, tactful way almost always accompanied by drugs, an epidural or just breathing along with them! :) Apparently, I have a very calm, soothing, voice. (Wonder if I could become a hypnotist?)
By the way... the other thing I wanted to be when I grew up was...... a writer. I wrote short stories or scenes for years, until I actually penned my first manuscript. As with labor nursing...I was hooked.
I always thought I'd be a high English teacher. When I got to college and took my first education class, I quickly changed my mind. I know the classroom experience is nothing like this basic lecture course - but it was so boring! I figured I'd never last through the required ed courses so I changed my major to Journalism as I figured one couldn't do anything with an English major BUT teach.
The end of my scholarship brought the end to my Journalism major. An employer offered tuition reimbursement if I majored in a business-related course - TA DA - Accounting! I can't complain. It's served me well through the years.
But like you, Kirsten, I like to argue. It comes with having two older brothers. I considered law school but couldn't afford it.
Life is full of surprises, good and bad. Wouldn't have it any other way.
AC, I can't believe management was a surprise to you! You've got manager written all over that crop of yours! You know, we've got a joke in the utility business (I work for a natural gas company) that working for a utility is what happens when you wing it. Snort! I guess you ended up in government for the same reasons. I'm like you -- I need the stability of the paycheck first, and then I go for the passion second. And I am so thrilled you are following your dream! :-)
Suz, I wish I had had you at my side when I was going through labor. I did a lot of screaming. I could have used a calm voice. LOL.
Donna, I suspected there was a lawyer in you somewhere! Isn't it funny the paths that life takes us. I bet you found how suited you were to accounting after a while. I work with a lot of accountants and they are meticulous, detailed, and incredibly dedicated to getting the "right" answer. No grey areas for them! I really respect how hard they work and how little they complain. You must be able to do it all to be an accountant and writer. Which is pretty remarkable!
Inara, what a lovely post! I wanted to be a ballerina desperately right up until I was about 10 and realised that with no ballet training, it was an impossible dream. Then I decided I wanted to be an actress and that one hung around for ages. Then I was going to be a concert pianist and then I realised I had no talent. And all the time through this I wrote. I always thought somewhere, somehow I'd write books but this other stuff would come first. It didn't - although a lot of other jobs did! And what all those dream jobs have in common is they involve communication and expression so I don't think I was wildly off the mark in terms of theme if definitely off the mark in terms of variation!
Joan, congrats on nabbing the chook! I hope he does us proud in the Derby. *g*
I wanted to be a veterinarian, too, Kirsten! My father was one and I thought it would be the greatest thing ever. Until I was a teenager and worked summers in the veterinary hospital. OMG, that is a way to kill a dream! *g*
I then wanted to be an interpreter, which would have been very cool. But I found it a bit intimidating and, frankly, I think I was scared of the responsibility. So, I quit dreaming that dream.
Now I want to be a writer, but have a secondary dream of being a travel writer. Now THAT would be a cool job!
Hmmm.
This is hard cuz I've wanted to be everything.
Ballerina...but there were no dance classes in my small town. Veterinarian, but that would have taken WAY too long (who knew I'd do triple the college hours it would have taken?). Lessee....of course all this time everybody was telling me I should be a writer. Did I listen? Of course not.
From the time I was nine I wanted to be a singer--commercial music. I had the pipes for it, the business sense, the political ability...but didn't know how, so by the time I figured out how to go about it I was....drum roll please....too old. :0/ Did a good stint as a commercial songwriter though. Only thing tougher than fiction I think.
So I tried everything else--journalism, photojournalism, theatre, business, economics, horticulture...you name it I've tried it. With most of it, I just got bored. I'm easily bored. But songwriting wasn't boring, and neither is fiction writing. Hard, but not boring.
So here I am, back to writing. We'll see how it goes this time.
Posh said:
Now I want to be a writer, but have a secondary dream of being a travel writer. Now THAT would be a cool job!
Me too Posh. In the wine country all over the world.
Hey, Kirsten! What a great, thought-provoking post! But I'm a little ashamed to admit that I've always been kind of rudderless in the ambition department. Maybe it's my personality, maybe it's being a third kid behind a couple of *very* strong peronalities, but I always just kind of floated along, assuming I'd figure something out. I majored in English in college because I was good at it but not because I had some grand career ambition. I got a teaching certificate because my dad (bless him & his infinite wisdom) insisted I graduate with an actual skill. So I taught in various guises for a while but it was just meh. Then I went into training & HR stuff. Also meh. I decided to stay home with my babies when the time came, thinking maybe that would be my A HA moment, my fulfilling career. And it was great, but not quite enough. So I started writing during naptime & this is it. I stumbled into my heart's desire all backwards & unsusupecting. The same way, incidentally, I stumbled across my DH. It's starting to be my signature move. :-) Maybe I'll get published, maybe I won't, but my career as it stands right now--raising up my babies & writing on the side--is pretty much perfect.
But I would like a bit more sleep. :-)
Ack, Sorry, Kirsten! I attributed your blog to the wrong Bandita!
Anna, it sounds like you knew all along what you were -- an artist. You had something to communicate and you were just trying to find the right medium. We're all storytellers, right? Whether through song, music, visual arts. To me, it all comes back to stories. And I'm so glad the world gets to hear your stories, because they are so beautiful.
Um, Posh, didn't you leave out one very important thing? Like, as in, your job? Engineering? Mega-uber-amazingly smart as you must be to go that route! I'm always so impressed when someone can use both sides of their brain with such success. Maybe it's a good thing, that DDJ (dreaded day job), because it keeps your brain so lively.
Though the travel writing thing sounds cool, too. ;-)
Cassondra, you have lead such an amazing life. I've said it before and I'll say it again -- you are a romance novel heroine! But I hear you on the boredom thing. In my industry, people often stay put for thirty years or more. I find that incomprehensible. How do you avoid the boredom?
Have you considered writing some memoir/essays? A la HIgh Tide in Tuscon? I bet it would be amazing.
Susan, my dear, it's so funny to think of you falling backward into things because you have such energy and you always seem to me to be charging forward! Maybe you're charging backward? You certainly aren't passive! I love how happy and fulfilled you are right now, and the joy the writing and the mommy-ing has brought you. Keep it up, Bandita, and you'll be the inspiration for us all.
Oh Deb, don't worry about it! We Banditas sort of blend. Like the marital blend. The blend of people who hang out together and really like each other. :-)
I'm late to the party and still somewhat depresses about the end of the Derby. So sad.
Many realities of my life come as a surprise to me. Never thought I'd be divorced. Never thought I'd live on a farm in the middle of nowhere, AR (no longer live there). And I never thought I'd be a college student in my mid 30s.
But I'm working on my business degree and that's where I always knew I'd be. In fact, not long ago I found a paper I wrote in middle school saying I wanted to be a business woman when I grew up. So, that's not really a surprise.
Terrio, the party's never over here in the Lair! It sounds like you've been through a lot and I admire the heck out of you for continuing to push through and find your way to your dream. I hope you're enjoying the business school and that you find something wonderful on the other side.
Now, please, tell me where AR is? Is there a new state I don't know about?
Kirsten - AR is Arkansas. LOL! I grew up in the suburbs of Ohio then lived in Pittsburgh for college (the first time). You can imagine how a cattle farm in a county with no traffic lights would be a bit of culture shock.
Now I'm happy to report I leave on the east coast near the beach. I love it here!
I forgot to mention I did do 8 years of being a disc jockey on the radio. Loved it and always knew I'd work in music somehow. I don't feel any desire to do it again, but I wouldn't mind getting back into the music business somehow.
Oh lord, I am deeply, deeply ashamed. I always forget that Alaska is AK.
I blame the public school system. ;-)
(Oh, and the DJ thing sounds so cool!)
Hey, Ballerina was high on my list. But jockey won out eventually. Until I realized I didn't want to spend the rest of my life weighing in and dieting. Once I graduated college becoming a lawyer seemed like a good fit. But honestly I'd had enough of the ivory tower world even though I loved everyone within those walls. And, since Perry Mason is not alive and well in our current system of supposed justice, well, suffice it to say, I would never have stayed with that career path.
I also knew I'd make a pretty good teacher because of some childhood experiences I had teaching other kids how to show their dogs and obedience train them. But I also knew myself well enough to know I'd be at odds with any and all educational administrations, so that was out. I'd been writing since age thirteen, at least, stories for others to read, but I knew I'd never make it as a commercial writer in terms of what it takes to make a living at it consistently. Truthfully, I've never had a real career path until now, as an author. Which is one reason I'm finding it incredibly difficult to write the bio my publisher wants. What the heck do I put down, since I've had several jobs that were more like divine missions, a life with no apparent rhyme or reason, and never any sort of career. Until now.
I have always wanted to be a singer... but I ended up not taking classes, my mom wanted me to learn the piano. So now, my family is stuck with me almost all the time singing with a horrible voice! At least, my mom is happy, I am in college!
Hey, thanks, Kirsten. What a lovely take on my vacillations!
Savannah! Welcome to the lair!
Great post! I wanted to be a school teacher, a poet, a marine biologist, a nurse, and a mommy when I grew up lol. My aspirations were at least, well rounded. I did become a nurse and a mommy. I still write poetry, though just for enjoyment. As a mommy and nurse, I am able to teach. As far as marine biology, I have been snorkeling. Does that count? :)
Bamabelle, I think it counts. *g*
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