What if...

[ColdNoMore]

...you could go back in time and choose/change to the career or industry (with guaranteed success)...that you dreamt about as a young adult?

Not saying that there aren't a lot of successful people here, some of who were fortunate enough to have had the exact job of their dreams (because I'm sure there are some of those living here), but even for those of us who were very successful in our business lives, I'm also guessing there might have been that 'perfect job/industry'...that some of us would sometimes daydream about.

Mine would have been to be a race car driver, in multiple series...and a plethora of types of cars and surfaces.

My racing hero has always been Mario Andretti, who's innate driving skills resulted in almost unparalleled success...across a broad swath of motorized racing. :thumbup:

While my dreams were fueled by a couple of winters successfully racing snowmachines in my late teens, the cold reality of life, a new wife and then children...quickly put that fantasy to bed forever. :(

Any other Walter Mitty types out there?

[tophcfa]

I had a really good career, but I don't feel like I helped enough people through my job. If I could do it all over again, I would have been an orthopedic surgeon, helping people fix injured and worn out knees, shoulders, elbows, etc... The number of years of school required (and associated debt) scared me away and into a different field. I still have reservations on choosing a different career path, but I can't turn back the clock. Oh well, time to enjoy retirement!

[OrangeBlossomBaby]

I would've been a court reporter or possibly a copy-editor at a daily newspaper. That was the plan when I went to and graduated from college. I lacked motivation and impetus. Wanting something and working for it, I discovered, are not always the same thing. So now I write as a hobby and look back on the past 40 years of work, primarily in retail, and think - I could've done better. No regrets, but I definitely could've done better.

[Kenswing]

Quality Control Inspector at Ben & Jerry's..

[Inexes@aol.com]

Funny this should be a topic tonight after I spent some time sitting by the hospital helopad watching ShandsCare load a patient for the flight to Gainesville. Brought back all the memories.... I left my hometown in 1980 and headed for Va Beach with the intent of becoming a trauma/flight nurse at Norfolk General Hospital. 2 nights after I arrived in VB, I met the man that I am currently married to. Quickly realized that being a flight or trauma nurse would not work well with a "new relationship", I chose the relationship. Certainly turned out to be the better choice. lol..... but those helicopters transporting patients still get me going......

[Inexes@aol.com]

I think this post had the potential to be interesting..... why do some of these get removed so quickly???????

[Abby10]

I think this post had the potential to be interesting..... why do some of these get removed so quickly???????

Not sure what you mean by removed. It's still here, doesn't say it's a closed thread. It may have disappeared from the new posts or today's posts listing because it has had no responses in over 12 hours and other threads may have been bumped ahead of it on the list. For that matter, even closed threads are not removed, you just may have to search for them because they won't continue to appear in the daily rotation of threads. Not sure if this helps to answer your question or not..........

[Bucco]

I would've been a court reporter or possibly a copy-editor at a daily newspaper. That was the plan when I went to and graduated from college. I lacked motivation and impetus. Wanting something and working for it, I discovered, are not always the same thing. So now I write as a hobby and look back on the past 40 years of work, primarily in retail, and think - I could've done better. No regrets, but I definitely could've done better.

We share the same "dreams".

Nothing more interesting than journalism, and informing. I got into politics sort of by acident and had the privilege of meeting and working with the media a lot.

The integrity and "getting it right" attitude still stays with me.

Dream gone....journalist for The NY Times for sure

[Rapscallion St Croix]

Because our destinies are determined by pivotal moments, I feel like if I could go back in time, I would be limited to the date my family was completed. For example, my youngest came out of basic training with an assignment to Colorado but traded assignments so she could go to school on the base where I was undergoing extended training. Had she not done this impulsive thing, she would not have met her husband and therefore would not have presented us with two of our wonderful grandkids.

Career-wise, I wouldn't change a thing except for a couple of bosses, and I would like to have been two inches to the left at a specific moment in time.

[CFrance]

In my next life I will play the violin. I begged for that as a child, but was limited to the piano. (My fingers are short; I was never any good at the piano.) I think maybe there were two reasons for not being allowed to play the violin. Maybe three. 1. We had a piano, we did not have a violin. 2. I don't think my parents could afford a violin and the lessons. 3. It wasn't available in school the way it was for our kids.

There might be a fourth: I think the sound of me screeching on the violin would have driven my mother bats**t crazy. She had issues.:faint:

[jebartle]

Quality Control Inspector at Ben & Jerry's..

Giggle, snort, and I would have been your assistant after I won the LPGA US Open, me and James Patterson, miracle at St. Andrews!

[New Englander]

I wanted to be a GYN but my grade point average said no to med school. :cry:

[redwitch]

My dream was to become a child psychologist, set up a practice in Beverly Hills and work there three days a week. The other four would have been spent in a clinic in Watts. Life precluded me from getting the doctorate I needed for the dream but I pretty much used my degree every day of my professional life as a legal secretary.

Today, I would have gone a different route — artificial intelligence. The concept of getting a machine to think and possibly become self-aware would be truly amazing to me.

[Trayderjoe]

I would have liked to have become a marine biologist. My grandfather used to breed tropical fish back in the 60's and got me my first aquarium at 10 years of age. I also grew up on the shore, so I have always had an interest in marine life.

[Nucky]

I would have loved to have had a better direction in life shortly after High School. My Father passed away and we all lost our guiding star for a while. Fortunately, the entire family reconnected before some passed away from age & illness. Graduated High School in 1976 and was forced into College. It didn't go well as I am more Mechanically and Electronically inclined. If I had Mrs. Nucky at that time instead of on the Second Round I'm sure I would have been a successful business owner. I did own a Copy Machine Sales & Service business for about 7 years and made great money but my heart was never fully in it.

In the end, I'm Grateful For the Career I had in Concrete Manufacturing Business and miss it and the people badly. I consider myself fortunate. I could have all ended earlier a lot earlier.

I wish my Career was fully in Real Estate not just flipping houses. I'd be living in a beautiful house with a Palm Tree in the front. Hey, I am! Grateful!

[Nucky]

I would have liked to have become a marine biologist. My grandfather used to breed tropical fish back in the 60's and got me my first aquarium at 10 years of age. I also grew up on the shore, so I have always had an interest in marine life.

Fondly reminds me of George Costanza from Seinfeld. I was into Tropical fish at a young age and have considered getting going again. So relaxing when things are going well.

[manaboutown]

I wanted to become a Beverly Hills plastic surgeon but the training would have taken too long.

[Two Bills]

I became the 'man of the house' aged 11, when my father died in post WW2 London..
Education became secondary to earning, so I bunked off school on a regular basis.
I would have loved to been an author, as the only thing that gave me any further education and hope was books.
I devoured them, and even now there is always one open somewhere close by.
Mind you lack of formal education was not a handicap in later years, as a thick skull and a strong back, gave me a life I could never have dreamed of back then.

[Bay Kid]

I filled out the paperwork to join the Navy and see the world, but SHE convinced me to stay home. She is long gone, but not in time for me to join.

[aninjamom]

I wanted to be an astronaut from the age of 10. But American women weren't astronauts back then, couldn't even fly the military jets in the early 70's. I was going to join the Air Force out of high school, but then "fell in love" with a guy who wasn't supportive and chose him instead. Something women tend to do unfortunately!
I have also thought I should have been a Botanist, as gardening is my favorite hobby. Or maybe a Naturalist, a wider field. Or maybe Social Studies, I find other cultures fascinating. Or an artist, I do have a little talent. I really never could decide what to do when I grow up....

[BK001]

In my next life I will play the violin. I begged for that as a child, but was limited to the piano. (My fingers are short; I was never any good at the piano.) I think maybe there were two reasons for not being allowed to play the violin. Maybe three. 1. We had a piano, we did not have a violin. 2. I don't think my parents could afford a violin and the lessons. 3. It wasn't available in school the way it was for our kids.

There might be a fourth: I think the sound of me screeching on the violin would have driven my mother bats**t crazy. She had issues.:faint:

LOL - I wanted to play the piano but we could not afford one so my parents chose what they thought was the next best thing ... the accordion. Boy was I bad. Then in high school I started learning the violin. Boy was I bad. After my divorce from my first husband, I bought a piano and started taking lessons. Boy was I bad.

Conclusion: Don't quit your day job!

[BK001]

But back to career choices -- if I could go back in time -- I would have a. been a judge which to some extent was how I felt in my various positions as Director of HR for a couple of major law and accounting firms. But to fulfill that internal void I definitely would have been the lyric writer -- working with a composer -- to turn out great Broadway musicals. To this day my absolute favorite lyricist is Stephen Sondheim.

[rustyp]

Given my love of nature my wish was to be the officer in charge of identifying and removal of nuisance beaver from local environs.

[Taltarzac725]

I had wanted to be a law librarian but got kicked out. I had been at the annual law librarian convention in 1991 in New Orleans and had also been studying for the Minnesota bar in the evening. Had ordered room service and was in my underwear. Anyway, I went to leave the plate outside my door and the door shut on me. So I went down to the front desk in the hotel where most of the law librarian convention took place. Some of law librarians saw me and one joked "That is not all he has locked himself out of". This was true as I could not break the blacklist put on me. I had made a personal issue of mine professional seemed to be the line. My problem was practical stuff in libraries of all kinds for survivors/victims of crimes which I based on my personal experience dealing with the Michelle Mitchell 2-24-1976 murder that happened a few yards from the University of Nevada, Reno campus. The murder had a very large impact on co-eds at UNR as well as professors. Up until it was "solved" in 1979. 2-24 is also my birthday and I had received a small Memorial Scholarship in the name of Michelle Mitchell from the Mitchell family.

I got four degrees to do something from within the law librarianship profession but could not use them as I crossed some of the most powerful people in law librarianship.



I kept at this anyway as a hobby and told this story to writers, politicians, psychiatrists, social workers, public health professors, lawyers, librarians, victim/witness assistance providers, etc. And got nominations to 24 Marquis Who's Who publications while working from my parents' and/or aunt's or brothers' houses in various locations in CA, IL, and FL. And was listed in 14 of these Marquis Who's Who publications.



Told a lot of this to an interviewer/researcher at the University of California, San Francisco Health Sciences Campus in late 1992-1993 in a 17 week study on stress on the unemployed. And showed her some of the documents involved. I was trained by the U of MN Law School to document everything as much as possible. The interviewer/researcher at the UCSF did wait until I had finished the study to tell me that she thought I had a good cause. I was subject #613.





Movie stars, studios, and movie directors were also part of my plan to do something without a real employer. I thought I needed the most influential story tellers help with this. And I have exchanged messages of various kinds with a lot of movie stars and/or TV stars as well as writers.

I did sense a break in the blacklist at times from law librarians I continued to interview with to just before I moved to the Villages in 2005 and a Villages Daily Sun journalist, Gary Corsair, interviewed me in May of 2007 and wrote a piece about me that came out around Memorial Day of 2007. He did come across some e-mails I had sent the Snopes.com people that I had stupidly written them back around 2002. I also had just met Gary Corsair so I did not want him looking through my records and the like.

I never really had a career but did and do have quite a hobby. I had earned all the degrees and more needed for the career though and had helped prisoners with their cases while I was a student and the Student Director with Legal Assistance to Minnesota Prisoners attached to the University of Minnesota Law School.

I did not pass the MN Bar getting a 251 out of at least a 260 score but I sure wrote them and told them about the problems I had at the New Orleans' law library convention in 1991. This experience had put a lot of stress on me and I wanted to make sure it was documented. And I hoped that MN Bar would grant me those 9 points. They did not.

I had gone to the San Francisco Law Librarian convention in the Summer of 1992 and the feelings I got from the people there were even worse. They had circled the wagons. I was laughed at while going to job interviews in law libraries.

And this auto-biographical stuff would make a great movie and a book. The 1989 law librarian convention had been in Reno, Nevada a few weeks after I had graduated from the U of MN Law School in May of 1989 and all those memories had been dredged up by that trip.

[rustyp]

[QUOTE=Taltarzac725;1645426]I had wanted to be a law librarian but got kicked out. I had been at annual law librarian convention in 1991 in New Orleans and had also been studying for the Minnesota bar in the evening. Had ordered room service and was in my underwear. Anyway, I went to leave the plate outside my door and the door shut on me. So I went down to the front desk in the hotel where most of the law librarian convention took place. Some of law librarians saw me and one joked "That is not all he has locked himself out of". This was true as I could not break the blacklist put on me.



Did you realize it is a profession of briefs ?

[Taltarzac725]

[QUOTE=Taltarzac725;1645426]I had wanted to be a law librarian but got kicked out. I had been at annual law librarian convention in 1991 in New Orleans and had also been studying for the Minnesota bar in the evening. Had ordered room service and was in my underwear. Anyway, I went to leave the plate outside my door and the door shut on me. So I went down to the front desk in the hotel where most of the law librarian convention took place. Some of law librarians saw me and one joked "That is not all he has locked himself out of". This was true as I could not break the blacklist put on me.



Did you realize it is a profession of briefs ?

No. It is not. They often use hundreds of words where a few will come in as useful.

Supreme Court Briefs | OSG | Department of Justice (https://www.justice.gov/osg/supreme-court-briefs)

I did get briefs for law students while on the U of MN Law School Library reference desk. Some of these were extremely long. Facts and Case Summary - Miranda v. Arizona | United States Courts (https://www.uscourts.gov/educational-resources/educational-activities/facts-and-case-summary-miranda-v-arizona)

Where to Find Briefs of the Supreme Court of the U.S. (https://www.supremecourt.gov/meritsbriefs/briefsource.aspx)

Search - Supreme Court of the United States (https://www.supremecourt.gov/search.aspx?Search=miranda&type=Site)

[rustyp]

[QUOTE=rustyp;1645438]

No. It is not. They often use hundreds of words where a few will come in as useful.

I did get briefs for law students while on the U of MN Law School Library reference desk. Some of these were extremely long.

Underwear - briefs :pray:

[CFrance]

LOL - I wanted to play the piano but we could not afford one so my parents chose what they thought was the next best thing ... the accordion. Boy was I bad. Then in high school I started learning the violin. Boy was I bad. After my divorce from my first husband, I bought a piano and started taking lessons. Boy was I bad.

Conclusion: Don't quit your day job!


:clap2:

[Taltarzac725]

[QUOTE=Taltarzac725;1645439]

Underwear - briefs :pray:

Yes. Underwear are briefs are times. Except in Minnesota in the winters where they are often long Johns.

[Taltarzac725]

[QUOTE=rustyp;1645440]

Yes. Underwear are briefs are times. Except in Minnesota in the winters where they are often long Johns.

And I have tried to be quite brief about all this baggage of mine when in Jury Duty pools the six times I have been called. Three of these for Sumter County, FL. I have had to write some pithy e-mails to the Sumter County Clerk of Courts about my experiences with the legal system.

The Federal judge in Ocala in 2009 excused me because I would not go into any detail about much of anything. I was in the pool with two very attractive women sitting to each side of me. Some retired CIA manager was the Jury Foreman. And the case involved the Claremont Police Department.

[sallybowron]

I grew up wanting to teach. I did not get to go to college until I was older so I didn't teach until then. It would have been a great job if the kids didn't have parents, "not my little Jimmy", or "He's a boy what do you expect?" Umm, maybe what many of the other boys did...behave. Finally quit doing that and became a hospital chaplain. That job together with treating cancer patients for 29 years allowed me to retire knowing I had made a difference. All in all I may have hated some of it, I loved some of it also, but it got my children educated and into good careers! Now I can do whatever I want!!!

[Bucco]

I grew up wanting to teach. I did not get to go to college until I was older so I didn't teach until then. It would have been a great job if the kids didn't have parents, "not my little Jimmy", or "He's a boy what do you expect?" Umm, maybe what many of the other boys did...behave. Finally quit doing that and became a hospital chaplain. That job together with treating cancer patients for 29 years allowed me to retire knowing I had made a difference. All in all I may have hated some of it, I loved some of it also, but it got my children educated and into good careers! Now I can do whatever I want!!!

Bless you for what you did. That is exceptional and wonderful.

My wife spent over 30 years in the classroom with little ones, and I am very proud of her many accomplishments and lives molded as per letters she still gets from former students and parents.

WHAT YOU DID with your life...amazing...hospital chaplain and treating cancer patients takes lots of love, caring and empathy. You have been an impact in your life, much more than you realize.

[rexxfan]

I wouldn't change a thing. I thoroughly enjoyed my 40-or-so years in tech.
--
bc