Your wildest dreams, fantasies you would never consider in real life. And why? I’m just a curious bummer.
Do you mean fantasies that are, by definition, not capable of coming true, like having magical abilities or superpowers? Or things that, in abstract theory, could happen…but just ain’t gonna?
For instance, I daydream about going to law school. I could do it. I’m smart enough. I’m also way too old; I’d never be given a student loan. And, really, it isn’t realistic for me.
In the same way, it would be fun to go on an online dating service, find the perfect sweetums, and have a very happy romantic relationship. Except…I’m not the right kind of guy for that. Too much baggage.
Take all of my money and go to Las Vegas, and put it all down on the roulette wheel. Black. Double or nothing. People have actually done this!
Run for Congress. Okay, my district is sewn up. Okay, run for County Board of Supervisors. Why not? I can get backing… (No I can’t!)
Write a novel? (I’m on page 270!)
I mean the latter, things that could happen but just can’t and won’t happen cos of given circumstances.
Woah. A novel. At least, you’re making it happen.
Betting all of your money in Vegas sounds thrilling though. Lol
But why didn’t you go to law school when you had the chance? Do you even had a chance? Curious. 
I’m not sure exactly what you’re asking for, but hopefully you’ll find this interesting.
When I was 20 I dropped out of university. I had no idea what career to pursue and also had Aspberger’s Syndrome (undiagnosed.)
I wanted to be a chess champion, appear on TV and retire early so I could travel round the World.
Well by hard work (and luck 
), I managed it all.
I’ve won two British Chess titles, appeared on a Derren Brown TV special (he’s both very talented and polite), retired at 55 and been to Las Vegas 5 times.
Hopefully your dreams will come true too.
My GF once told me after a few glasses of wine that she’d like to watch me get busy with another woman.
As intriguing as that sounds, I ain’t going down that road*, too much emotional variables that could fuck up our relationship.
*In all honesty, I don’t think she would want to follow through with it either. I think she’s more comfortable with it staying in the fantasy realm. The wine just helped bring it to the surface.
Indeed:
http://www.famousgamblers.com/gamblers1.htm
Some folks think the Sean Connery case was a publicity stunt, though, for the Bond films. Party poopers.
Mostly because I am lazy and risk adverse.
Also, I have found over the past few decades that I like a quiet, comfortable life. I am now well established and well respected in my career, our daughters are both grown, and The Wife and I have found that we have years and years of shows to catch up with on Hulu. A scotch on the rocks with my dog at my feet fits my life much better than single-handedly sailing around the world.
I would desperately love to relocate to the UK, permanently.
It will never ever happen. The near-impossibility of getting a work permit being the first of many giant hurdles.
I would like to purchase old abandoned buildings and renovate them into homeless shelters.
Valerie Bertinelli or Sofia Vergara.
Or Ming-na.
Bill Hartston! I looked up this video and loved your remark about chess players being “bright, but not too bright.” In my experience, stronger players are also more likely to be religious and politically conservative. Is that true in yours as well?
Federal student loans are awarded solely on the basis of need, but subsidized federal loans aren’t available to graduate students anymore anyway. It doesn’t matter if you are likely to finish school, pass the bar, or whatever; if you are admitted, you can get an unsubsidized loan of (I think) $20K per year, which is more than enough to cover tuition at most public law schools.
I’d love to be the world’s best soccer goalkeeper or basketball 3-point shooter.
I’d love to be a movie director directing geopolitical military thrillers based off of things in real life (i.e., America’s war against ISIS.)
This would be odd, but I think it would be fascinating to be dictator of North Korea and use that power for good, not evil.
You want me to consider it now? This isn’t real life???
Actually I’m somewhat predisposed to seriously over-the-top grandiose fantasizing about technically possible outcomes. And their possibility, however remote, often plays a role in my choices and decisions, although mostly only if far less majestic results would also be somewhat satisfactory.
Ah no, that’s not me! Bill graduated from Cambridge University (equivalent to Yale or Harvard) in Maths. He autographed a chess book for me once, as well as beating me in the last round of the British Chess Championships.
As to your suggested experience, I’m personally a left-leaning atheist.
I try not to talk about either religion or politics, so couldn’t tell you about other top players. But I note that the UK National team competition, the 4NCL is held on Saturdays and Sundays and all the top players play in it - so they are certainly not at Church.
Time to join a wine bottle of the week club.
Well…that moves it into the realm of the “possible” anyway!
Back then, it didn’t appeal to me. Now…it kinda does! (I’m getting my “disputation” practice in here on SDMB! If I can frame a cogent argument here, then courtroom presentation ought to be…um… Vaguely similar?)
And Sky from “Agents of SHIELD.” And Alex AND Haley from “Modern Family.”
Or Debra Messing.
As a kid, I really wanted to be an astronaut. Around kindergarten, I realized that getting massively carsick even on a flat roads would probably not make me suited to dealing with high performance aircraft and zero gravity.
Still, if Star Wars-level technology ever became available, I’d be out there in a second, checking out every star, planet, moon and asteroid I could find. I honestly have much more interest in seeing things out there than I do other places on Earth. (Even with Earthly vacations - give me a choice to go see Yosemite a second time or New York for the first time, and I’ll go back to Yosemite in a second. Why would I want to see a city?) Give me the tech and the money and I might not come back to Earth at all.
I wish the dog would stop barking.