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Post by En on Apr 23, 2003 12:35:51 GMT -5
I would love to be a teacher; I would like-very-much to be a bookstore owner (used to work in a bookstore a few years ago, and I miss it horribly. It was like being a literary pharmacist who is licensed to prescribe; it rocked). *thinks about this for a while* The reason I'm so sure about these two is because my passion is books. No, more than my passion.
Anyone who has talked to me knows that I regularly make literary references to explain or support my thoughts. Anyone who watches me read or watch movies knows how furiously excited I get when I see something that really speaks to me. Anyone who has been to my house knows that I maintain my library carefully and add to it regularly, and that I can find my way through it with the same unconscious ease as I walk or touch my nose with my fingertip. I live in the avenues of literary pattern, moving from metaphor to simile like I might move from one apartment to another, working in the offices of interpretation, spending my free time in the parks of literary history, meeting book-strangers walking their dogmas.
And most importantly, I love to take people there with me.
The best week of my professional life was the one when I went back to visit my high school and an old teacher asked me to take over his Romantic Poetry class for a week. It was better than Dead Poets (one of my favourite recreational pastimes) -- I got to introduce people to my old friends Keats and Byron and Wordsworth, and I got to watch them find their own topics of conversation, showing me new sides of the students and new sides of my old friends, too. Every night I went home and pondered how to cover the curriculum in ways that would excite those specific kids, but also show them how many rooms there were to explore in the houses of Coleridge and Shelley. Every morning I raced out of bed because I couldn't wait to see what expressions would cross the kids' faces, hear what ideas would spring from their mouths.
The bookstore was like a lesser version of this, because only a few of the people who came in actually talked books with me; we were primarily a store. But those moments when someone said, "You know, you could make a section of exploration books -- I don't just mean Voyage of the Beagle, like, 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea too," those were fantastic. The joy of the bookstore was in meeting other readers, and in finding surprising but meaningful ways to arrange the books so that people looking for old friends found new ones, too.
So yeah, Sadey -- what's your passion? Does anything make you really happy, or really angry? What's the best conversation you ever had? If you had a free week what would you do with it?
...about age. I am glad that I'm one of those people who was 15 going on 90 and then gradually started to average out (I'm now 25 going on 55 ) Hey... I'm deageing faster than I'm ageing... that means by the time I'm 40 I'll be going on 20. Wahoo!
No, seriously. Don't give up, Ersade; sometimes the best youths are the late ones. I mean, think about how many ways it could be good to be young-at-heart later: it'd be like being reincarnated into a more enlightened life, or like recovering from a bad illness and having another chance to live, or like getting back together with someone you love because you both realised you really wanted to be together after all. Second chances are often better than the first go.
*edit* Ooo... Jack... can I be the person who wrote the book they're interviewing you about? *sudden mental image of Jack as Leslie Fielder and Nialle as Dow Mossman*
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fico the fur
Hufflepuff Alumni
Why'd you say "halleluia" if it means nothin' to ya'?
Posts: 964
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Post by fico the fur on Apr 24, 2003 16:38:57 GMT -5
I was talking with a friend a long-ish while ago. She asked me what I wanted to be, and I said I had no clue. So she asked me what I had been interested in being when I was younger. And I couldn't remember. I couldn't remember any of the jobs I thought of having when I was younger.
It got to really bothering me, so I asked my mom. She said I went through the same phases as my best friend did. (Apparently, this caused me to want to be a fireman and a policeman and a professional soccer player, as well as anything else [Jem] wanted to be.) But then she said that I wanted to be an artist for a really long time. And it all came flooding back to me. From, like, really-young-age until fifth grade, I wanted to be an artist like no other. And then I got this other idea for a profession, and I was going to be an artist on-the-side like. And then I found out my art sucked, so I dropped it. I mean, I didn't drop art. I just dropped the idea of ever selling anything.
But I think I'm more okay with that. I think everyone should have at least one hobby that they never try to make money off of. That they never associate with business. Like Twain said, about how if you make play into work, you ruin it. Everyone, even if they love their jobs, should have something that is purely play.
So along the same line of what you want your job to be, what kinds of not-jobs would you consider, just to keep yourself sane?
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Post by j.s.p. on Apr 26, 2003 15:59:13 GMT -5
I wonder how our conceptions of the "dream job" changed as we got older. I remember being in elementary school and every male wanted to eventually be a professional athlete. Is it the fact we get older, or the knowledge we gain in doing so that changes what we want?
=Jack
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Post by En on Apr 26, 2003 18:41:17 GMT -5
Most of us learn, as we get older, that life is a lot more complicated than it looks -- more rules, harder to play. So we lower our hopes and ambitions to match the level of complexity we have begun to see in life. Like, statistically speaking, I know I'm never going to win the Nobel Prize for literature, which was my ambition from about 7th grade through the beginning of college. A Pulitzer isn't out of the realm of possibility, but writing books is also turning out to be harder than I thought. So now I'd settle for writing one really good book.
And the non-jobs we have reflect those things we like doing but know we can't realistically go professional at. I am quite content to think that guitar playing and singing will only be a pastime for me. I do think I could be a songwriter for someone else, but I know I'll never be Dar Williams, and that's okay. I play and sing because it's important to me to be able to express myself like that, and because I like singing with other people, and because music makes me feel better. Also so that I can appreciate successful (good) musicians that much more.
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Post by KoNeko on Apr 27, 2003 0:34:48 GMT -5
(When I was in grade 2, all the girls in my class wanted to be hairdressers. )
Ditto what En said, and also that I think that as we get older, we have a different perception of what we are good at or what we'd like to do. Perhaps there is an incident that inspires you to follow a particular career path (that you might not have considered before), or you find that there is something in your previously chosen career path that you can't reasonably attain (e.g. not meeting the physical requirements to join the police force). Stuff like that.
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Post by guinevere on Apr 30, 2003 14:58:28 GMT -5
For the longest time I*ve wanted to work in a bookstore. We have a small B&N, two huge Borders and several Walden*s (closer to my house and I posess a 10% discount card) so when I began looking into something part-time, I first checked Walden, but found out I had to push those 10% cards and "sell" a certain number each month to keep my job. That would certainly take the "fun" aspect out of it. B&N is on the other side of the island at the base of Diamond Head and the commute down H-1 would be a nightmare.....and having 2 children who work at Borders, I didn*t want to trespass into their territory.... but youngest child, a part timer in the upstairs music dept. at the Borders in downtown Honolulu said "go for it, mom". I put in an application in January...and I have a job interview tomorrow!! I want to work strictly part time (with a 33% discount) in the book section.... and have my fingers crossed. I love Borders as the employees are really odd characters and everyone accepts that. There isn*t a dress code (well, other than having everything important covered and having to wear closed toed shoes) so I can wear shorts and a t-shirt, jeans, long flowing gauzy shirts...whatever. I*m nervous but I know my interviewers so I*m not sweating too much.
guin
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Post by j.s.p. on Apr 30, 2003 18:13:53 GMT -5
There are certain things I really hate being asked...one of them is "What are you going to do after school?" which is one step up from "what do you want to be when you grow up?" Throughout high school, I had two answers to that question depending on who was asking. If person A--the type of person that's going to tell you that you're wrong--is asking, I'd say that I was going to college and I'll figure it out there. Then they would ask me what I would major in, and I'd say I wasn't sure (which was technically true) just so they wouldn't get the "Oh that's interesting" disgustful face. If Person B--the type of person that I really didn't care what they thought--was asking, I'd say that I wanted to be a hermit. Even now, there are days I want to do this. But it's not...socially acceptable. I have a good friend who is a hobo for a living. He loves it, but it drives his family and even many of his friends nuts because he's "wasting his talents."
Perhaps we all should be hoboes.
=Jack
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Post by guinevere on Apr 30, 2003 22:59:08 GMT -5
it drives me nuts when a person finds their own personal "spot" and the parents or other members of the fam or friends criticize.. people should be allowed to live their own lives. I would be overjoyed if my oldest would finish college (she is thisclose) but right now she works at Borders as a manager on Maui, shares an apt. with a social worker she seldom sees, and can walk across the street to the ocean. She eats shushi, goes to the symphony....and enjoys her life. So should I nag about college? No--when she is ready, she will go--maybe.
guin
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fico the fur
Hufflepuff Alumni
Why'd you say "halleluia" if it means nothin' to ya'?
Posts: 964
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Post by fico the fur on May 1, 2003 0:43:45 GMT -5
*grins* Anyone here read the Wayside books? They're by Louis Sachar, and they're called things like Wayside School is Falling Down and Wayside School Gets a Little Stranger and stuff. Anyway, in one of them (can't remember which ) this kid brought a hobo in for show-and-tell. It was great. The books are kinda goofy, but really fun. And the kids were asking the hobo questions, like what his name was and what he did all day. And then one asked what he missed most from when he wasn't a hobo. (I think they all thought he would say showers. And I'm hoping I'm remembering this right. I haven't read the books in a while.) And the hobo said he missed socks the most, that he could never keep a good pair of socks. I thought that was way cool.
ha! I can't believe you wanted(want?) to be a hermit, Jack! That's great. When I was younger I... *mega-blush* ireadgoosebumps ANYWAY... There was this one book that had a hermit in it, and he was supposed to be some scary, scraggly, half-wild guy. I wanted to be that guy. I wanted to be a hermit in the worst way. Totally. But I enjoy good conversation way too much to manage it as a profession.
Ergh. I've gotten so sick of being asked what I'm going to major in. Like, 'cause all these people are asking me where I'm going to college next year. And then, of course, they have to ask my major. And I'm always like "I don't know. I like languages, so something languages/literature/English... something" (accompanied by swoopy hand motions). And they're all like, "Oh", and you can just see them forgetting you said it as they say the oh. And I think, "well, why the hell'd you even ask if you don't care?" Gleh. *is mildly poopy-feeling for no reason*
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Calantha
Gryffindor Alumni
My name is Luck, this is my song, I happened by when you were gone
Posts: 4,493
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Post by Calantha on May 1, 2003 20:23:41 GMT -5
Hahahahahahaha! I read those books! I know what you're talking about! Man, I always wanted to go to a school like that.
I have a really good friend who is dating a boy who lives out of a van, cool guy. He's really sweet and way friendly. I approve of him.
Hmm...maybe I just like to talk...or maybe I just talk to the right people...or I only listen to the right people, or maybe, oh I don't know...but when people ask me what I want to do, I really want to share with them. Ya know? I want to sit down and talk with them about it. I want to ask them what they did...and the list goes on. And, so when people ask me, I don't know, I want to tell them. And maybe it is me looking for acceptance or pride or something? Or maybe it has to do with my own insecurities? I don't know.
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Post by j.s.p. on May 1, 2003 21:19:49 GMT -5
It's probably a good thing that I have this lazy-streak or else I probably would have given up on college and become a hermit. Actually it is sounding more and more appealing just to escape the pretentiousness of some of my "friends." But that's another story.
I've actually been throwing around the idea of doing the whole truck-driver bit after graduation. Not as a career, but just as a way of figuring out what to do after that. (Assuming--and it's a pretty safe assumption--that gradschool won't offer me any full ride.) I don't really care for driving, but I'm sure I can get over that. I've noticed that all of my ideal careers tend to be more solitary. Even going into a teaching profession would be somewhat solitary due to the (artificial) student-teacher seperation. No, the biggest problem with being a truck-driver would be being alone with my thoughts. I'd probably go crazy with a capital K. But it might be fun.
=Jack
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Calantha
Gryffindor Alumni
My name is Luck, this is my song, I happened by when you were gone
Posts: 4,493
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Post by Calantha on May 1, 2003 21:33:36 GMT -5
Because I am obviously Beth tonight ( or would this make me the person who cannot be named?) I have a story about truck drivers! And I'm all about the profession. Some people I know look down on truck drivers, and granted, I am somewhat leary of tractor trailers, some of the nicest people I have met have been drivers. Like, a few years ago, I was in a really bad wreck during a snow storm. And we couldn't get out of the area but our bus was hanging over the bridge and there was all this fire and dangerous chemicals, yadda yadda yadda and we were really far away from home and stranded. And since we weren't hurt we didn't get a ride out of the car pile-up. Well, this one trucker sees the three other people I was with and one girl didn't have on a hat or a jacket because she didn't have time to find it before the rescue people made us get out of the bus. Anyways, so the guy gives up his jacket and hat for her and he only has a t-shirt on. And his truck is trashed too and he can't get into it because half of it is across the road under another tractor trailer. And so then we ended up spending eight or nine hours with this trucker guy. He let us check out his cab and fed us and gave us some blankets. And he talked about how he traveled all over the country, and how he had a wife but she had died so he decided to become a truck driver and before that he worked in a chemical plant. He was such a good guy. I mean, one of the few good people I have ever met. And he told us stories and cheered us up a lot because we were pretty traumatized, and our coach had been sent to the hospital for diabetic shock because he couldn't get to his medicine, and so this trucker (and I feel horrible because I can't remember his name) took care of us and enteretained us, and he had a huge collection of books too and was really intelligent. He was just a really...great guy. And then finally when we a rescue squad came to get us because no one could get out of the pileup and I guess we were special or something because we were on a bus and were students...he told the girl to keep the jacket and hat. And we got his address and we all went out and bought him a new hat and jacket and sent it to him. He was just a really great guy...and I know he had to sit there in the pileup at least another four hours because traffic didn't start moving until almost eight hours after we left. Anyways, that's my story about truckers and how I really admire them.
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fico the fur
Hufflepuff Alumni
Why'd you say "halleluia" if it means nothin' to ya'?
Posts: 964
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Post by fico the fur on May 2, 2003 0:38:19 GMT -5
*grins* Jack, that is too weird. I've wanted to be a trucker for ages. And Rue and I have this half-baked idea (that might actually develope into something, you never know) that after we both graduate, we'll become truckers for a year. We want to get one other person. Basically, we'll just trade off for driving times. One person sleeps, one person drives, one person keeps the driver awake. We would only get paid the amount of one trucker, but we could get wherever we were going faster since we wouldn't have to worry about stopping for sleep-breaks. And we could just have a great time, discussing things, sharing music, reading to each other, whatever. It sounds really fun. Besides, how many chicks can put "trucker" on their resumes?
My ideal careers... are all either really people-oriented, really me-oriented, or really book/smarts-oriented, depending on what career we're looking at. I'm not usually in the middle when it comes to people or me; either totally about others or totally about me.
*grins* Wow, Calantha. That's an awesome story. I just remember riding the bus when I was younger and tooting an imaginary horn, and the cool truckers would toot their horns for us. We loved it. I want to be a cool trucker like that.
I also have this semi-vague memory of a movie I saw once. There was this trucker-dude. He was giving some woman a lift. And they saw someone walking out in the middle of nowhere with an ice chest. And he's all like, "now, what do you suppose he's doing?" The movie was about this murderer guy. And the trucker said, "do you suppose that might be the murderer? You could fit a body in there." And the woman is getting freaked, and she's all like, "you couldn't, it's too small." And the truckers all, "sure you could, if you cut off the arms and legs first." And the woman flipped and ran away. Anyway, I have a habit of supposing things like that. Half my sentences IRL start "wouldn't it be cool if..." They are rarely actually "cool" things, but I find it interesting to wonder about them. So I always associate cool supposers with cool truckers, and I want to be a cool supposer, ergo, I must become a cool trucker in order to be a cool supposer. (If you ever want a screwy bit of logic, talk to me when I get rolling. )
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Post by En on May 22, 2003 11:11:40 GMT -5
Right, so, I've been writing a lot. Even more than usual. Like a thousand words a day, plus going back to revise.
And I like this, a lot. If I could make a go of it--I like it a lot. Talking to people about stories. Working with characters. Working out how things will happen. Choosing words.
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Post by Mikki on Jun 20, 2003 14:03:39 GMT -5
i want to be an equine vet. also i want to own my own riding school to teach little kids how to ride horses ;D i've wanted that since i was 5 years old
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