Owning my own bar on a sunny island with a few bungalows for rent on the beach…
Yup - that would be my own slice of heaven.
And damn sure I’m gonna go for it if regular life* hasn’t worked out in a few years 
*Wife, kids, dog, the lots - I’d be able to do regular stuff in the days for that.
My wife and I often talk about running a small inn up in the Rockeys…
I like what I do mostly, except for the current funding situation and the requirement to kil things (I’m postdoccing in a lab that researches spinal cord injury).
If money were no object, I’d probably keep my job because I’d feel guilty about quitting, and because I don’t dislike it. If money AND guilt were no object, I’d set up a pottery studio and do that all day.
Nature photography. Wildlife and scenery and such. That would make me sooooo happy, assuming I could make a decent living at it.
A few years back a tiny building near my house went on the market. It appeared to be a small house, (very small!) but had been converted for use as a cat hospital. I fantasized about buying it and making it into a infant clothing boutique.
I would have called it “Over the Moon” and it would have been stocked with heirloom christening gowns, frilly bonnets, tiny booties, and the sort of specialty frou-frou newborn clothes and accessories that only grandparents see fit to buy because they cost more than twice what I’d pay for an outfit for myself and the recipient only fits in them for fifteen minutes.
In this fantasy I was able to walk to work and have my small children hang out with me as necessary, so their at-home father could enjoy his dream of going back to work (we’ve all got dreams). I would sew and knit special custom garments while I wasn’t waiting on customers. I would sell custom knitwear designs for those who wanted to make their own. Oh, and I would be wealthy enough not to have to worry about turning a profit, so keeping generous hours and never getting to go on vacation and setting appropriate mark ups and dealing with out of season merchandise weren’t an issue. If I’m dreaming, I’d rather not let pesky reality constrain me.
When I was a birth junkie, if I hit the big lottery (not likely since I don’t play) I was going to quit my day job and become a doula. Or perhaps a childbirth educator.
And before that I was going to open a fruit market.
I have sort of a short attention span in my dream life. But any way you slice it, I wouldn’t be doing what I’m doing now, even though I like it just fine. I crave autonomy (and have precious little), but without the huge risk inherent in being self-employed.
I would love to be a middle manager in some nebulous quasi-technology/operations/finance strategy department in some huge corporate buerocracy. I’d like to have an indifferent, moody boss who alternately threatens to fire or promote me. I want to lead a team of ordinary and average people, most of which who are older than me who I sense view me with the strange combination of jealousy, respect and contempt one typically reserves for the new younger boss who you don’t think really knows what he is doing or deserves his position. I’d like to spend my days putting together thoughtfull PowerPoint presentations (or “decks” as we call them), mission statements, process flows procedural worksheets and other assorted TPS reports that no one reads or acts on. Even though I could do my entire job from home, it should be a “big deal” to do so because God forbid the Senior Executive Vice President of Whatever who is six levels above me might someday decide to randomly pick me out of his 2000 charges and say “hey…where’s this guy today?”
Ah well…one can dream
If I had the artistic talent and creativity, I’d love to design fabric.
I’d like to be a restaurant consultant to those swanky joints in the center of beautiful nature. If there were a 5-star restaurant in Yosemite that needed my advice, I’d go there. Swiss alps? Sure, I’m on my way. I’ll stay in a hotel for three months, do my thing, and go somewhere else.
Organic horticulturist. I love growing stuff. Anything related, like park rangering, would be pretty awesome too. I intend to go back to school (stupid useless English degree) for my BS in plant and soil science, so we’ll see how that one works out.
Writing. Inspire me, Og. I’ll sing praises and hosannas to you all day long, I swear.
Garment construction/fashion design. Making clothes is fun fun fun.
A vet. I wanted to be one, but my sixth grade math teacher told me I was too stupid to learn math, so I’d better not try to go into any field in the sciences. But I’m good with animals, and everyone is always bringing whatever orphaned/injured/pregnant animal to school for me to doctor. The highlight? One mom’s hysterics got me to leave school for half the day last spring to try to deliver a baby goat which had been stuck in the birth canal for several days. The first handful of decomposing organs and fur destoyed my skirt, but I loved every minute of trying to visualize…feet, legs, head and cleaning that mess out.
If I could afford it I’d be a stay at home mom. I’ve enjoyed the past four years at home with my daughter. I am not old fashioned or anything but I truly have no desire to hold any job outside the home. Until she was born I had no idea how good I was at all this domestic stuff!
10 years ago, my dream was to get my second degree black belt in my chosen Martial Art, move to Montana, and open a combination Dojang/monestary.
In theory, if I were to win a lotto, I could still do that, but I would have to get back in shape, and start all over again at the beginning on the whole martial arts thing.
Option 1 - Television news reader. You only have to be able to read with an appropriately sonorous voice. Half an hour’s work a day. Maybe a couple of voice overs. Yet you are a “personality” and get invited to all the good parties with the celebrities and the supermodels. Moyven glayven.
Option 2 - Australian State governor/governor-general. You get a great salary. You get to live in a fabulous mansion with servants. No political crap to speak of (except once in a zillion years) - state governors are not elected, so they have the benefit of all the conventions of deference to royalty without actually having to be born a Windsor. You make speeches that someone else writes for you. What could be better?
Tarot reader - online or over-the-phone. Kicked in with a side of counseling with a flexible schedule to still maintain a “stay-at-home-mom” attitude.
Is couch-comfort-tester available? I’d be happy if I could make enough money from music to survive. Generally I’m happiest doing manual labour. I like making stuff. Out of wood or metal or whatever. Yeah, not what an education is supposed to be for I know. But then again I studied what I liked without caring for what it might bring later. Manual labour let’s my mind work on it’s own without worrying about pesky work issues (for the most part).
If I never step foot into another office I’ll be pleased
Ever since I found out about its existence, I have wanted to work for the University of Mississippi’s Potency Monitoring Project.
You’d probably have some stiff competition.
I would refurbish old sailboats. Mostly Aldens and Swans, because they have such pretty lines. The shake out cruises would be long and leisurely.
Mythbuster would be cool too. And a little thatched bar on a beach certainly has it’s draw.
Photographer for the National Park Service.
Writer. I mean, I write now, and I’m happy. But it’s still basically “pin money.” I don’t want to retire to some great mansion. I don’t need my books to be nationwide, runaway, best sellers. I just want to make enough to pay my rent every month, make my car payment, and buy some groceries.