# if you could do \_anything\_ for a living **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [October 14, 1999, 8:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-do-_anything_-for-a-living/9711 "1999-10-14T08:21:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![cmkeller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmkeller/32/118_2.png) [@cmkeller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmkeller)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 1999, 2:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-do-_anything_-for-a-living/9711/21 "1999-10-14T14:45:00Z")
Professional baseball player. Second choice, TV/radio sports play-by-play guy. Anything that gets me near a baseball game. * * * Chaim Mattis Keller [ckeller@schicktech.com](mailto:ckeller@schicktech.com) “Sherlock Holmes once said that once you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the answer. I, however, do not like to eliminate the impossible. The impossible often has a kind of integrity to it that the merely improbable lacks.” – Douglas Adams’s Dirk Gently, Holistic Detective ---
**Author:** ![Eris](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/c57346/32.png) [@Eris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eris)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 1999, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-do-_anything_-for-a-living/9711/22 "1999-10-14T16:07:00Z")
How realistic does this have to be? I want to be a starship commander, just like Captain Kirk. If we’re limiting ourselves to jobs that actually exist, I’d have to say either captain of a coast guard vessel or captain of a heritage schooner. ---
**Author:** ![Boris\_B](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/fbc32d/32.png) [@Boris\_B](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boris_B)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 1999, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-do-_anything_-for-a-living/9711/23 "1999-10-14T16:26:00Z")
I’d like to design computer games. And if I can choose my own level of talent, well then they would win all of the awards for “Game Which Changed the Lives of the Most People”. ---
**Author:** ![UncleBeer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/977dab/32.png) [@UncleBeer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UncleBeer)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 1999, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-do-_anything_-for-a-living/9711/24 "1999-10-14T16:29:00Z")
Staff Photographer for the National Geographic. That would rock! * * * “The problem with the world is that everyone is a few drinks behind.” - _Humphrey Bogart_ ---
**Author:** ![BenDover](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/c77e96/32.png) [@BenDover](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BenDover)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 1999, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-do-_anything_-for-a-living/9711/25 "1999-10-14T16:31:00Z")
I wanna be Cecil Adams! (or the equivalent thereof) * * * Its not junk - its a collection! ---
**Author:** ![neuro-trash\_grrrl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/3ab097/32.png) [@neuro-trash\_grrrl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/neuro-trash_grrrl)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 1999, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-do-_anything_-for-a-living/9711/26 "1999-10-14T16:34:00Z")
Musician. Definitely. Barring that, stand-up comedy would be my second choice. * * * Modest? You bet I’m modest! I am the queen of modesty! ---
**Author:** ![AuraSeer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c2a13f/32.png) [@AuraSeer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AuraSeer)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 1999, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-do-_anything_-for-a-living/9711/27 "1999-10-14T18:11:00Z")
I’m a programmer and I like it. If I could change something, I’d probably choose to program the guts of video games, instead of the annoying little business programs that I have to deal with now. * * * Laugh hard; it’s a long way to the bank. ---
**Author:** ![Gr8Kat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gr8kat/32/18668_2.png) [@Gr8Kat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gr8Kat)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 1999, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-do-_anything_-for-a-living/9711/28 "1999-10-14T18:17:00Z")
Comic book penciller. Or almost as good, inker. The idea of some inker changing my pencils bothers me, but fixing up someone else’s pencils and putting my own touches on them sounds good 😉 Or I could do both, but it would take me months to complete a single issue because I’m too much of a perfectionist 🙂 Or comic book writer! Ah, the power to screw with people’s beloved characters! I’d take over the writing of the X-Men comics and say, “Everything that’s happened since Chris Clairmont left has been an overly long dream sequence,” a la “Dallas” and Bobby Ewing in the shower. HA! Take _ **THAT!!!** _ * * * “I hope life isn’t a big joke, because I don’t get it,” Jack Handy ---
**Author:** ![The\_Peyote\_Coyote](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/5f8ce5/32.png) [@The\_Peyote\_Coyote](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Peyote_Coyote)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 1999, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-do-_anything_-for-a-living/9711/29 "1999-10-14T22:07:00Z")
I want to own and run my own marijuana plantation. ---
**Author:** ![Sealemon88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c68b51/32.png) [@Sealemon88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sealemon88)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 1999, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-do-_anything_-for-a-living/9711/30 "1999-10-14T22:30:00Z")
I’d like to be a PC games playtester. Oh, OK, I’d test the console and arcade games too. * * * You say “cheesy” like that’s a **BAD** thing. ---
**Author:** ![Strainger](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/strainger/32/244_2.png) [@Strainger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Strainger)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 1999, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-do-_anything_-for-a-living/9711/31 "1999-10-14T22:39:00Z")
Gr8Kat, have you ever submitted your artwork? If not, then you should! My personal suggestion would be _Mad_ magazine :D! ---
**Author:** ![Sue\_Duhnym](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/91b2a8/32.png) [@Sue\_Duhnym](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sue_Duhnym)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 1999, 10:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-do-_anything_-for-a-living/9711/32 "1999-10-14T22:41:00Z")
A cartoonist. A ‘Calvin and Hobbes’ caliber cartoonist. ---
**Author:** ![Strainger](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/strainger/32/244_2.png) [@Strainger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Strainger)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 1999, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-do-_anything_-for-a-living/9711/33 "1999-10-14T22:43:00Z")
In response to the OP, I would like to be an aircraft structural engineer. Hopefully, I’ll be doing that very soon (military aircraft, specifically). ---
**Author:** ![Lucky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e9c0ed/32.png) [@Lucky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lucky)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 1999, 10:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-do-_anything_-for-a-living/9711/34 "1999-10-14T22:48:00Z")
Well, if there were no need to fear disease and violence, I’d be a hooker. Barring that, I’d like to be a Jane Goodall type–or any of the people you see on NG specials who are out working in the Third World. Well, OK, so I already do that, but the NG photographers aren’t coming to photograph me and the United Way isn’t dumping millions into my projects, so my dream hasn’t completely come true yet 🙂 * * * “I think it would be a great idea” Mohandas Ghandi’s answer when asked what he thought of Western civilization ---
**Author:** ![bantmof](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/96bed5/32.png) [@bantmof](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bantmof)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 1999, 10:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-do-_anything_-for-a-living/9711/35 "1999-10-14T22:52:00Z")
> [@](#): > > captain of a heritage schooner I can dig that. ## I don’t know beans about them but there’s something quite magestic about the old sailing ships. peas on earth ---
**Author:** ![Melatonin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b3f665/32.png) [@Melatonin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Melatonin)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 1999, 11:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-do-_anything_-for-a-living/9711/36 "1999-10-14T23:51:00Z")
I wanna be a junkie when I grow up. ---
**Author:** ![MandaJo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ac91a4/32.png) [@MandaJo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MandaJo)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 1999, 12:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-do-_anything_-for-a-living/9711/37 "1999-10-15T00:10:00Z")
A tenured professor at a small, exclusive libral arts school, complete with six month paid sabaticals to the dusty libraries of Europe every five to seven years . . . ---
**Author:** ![glee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b5a626/32.png) [@glee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/glee)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 1999, 12:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-do-_anything_-for-a-living/9711/38 "1999-10-15T00:16:00Z")
If Kellibelli is a fluffer, I’d like to be a porn star! (If that offends anyone, I’d like to withdraw it) ((If that pun offends anyone - oh never mind… ---
**Author:** ![system](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/original/2X/e/e489c3b7d8fce19c4b355dd4fc3f88cc39c34b87.png) [@system](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 1999, 12:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-do-_anything_-for-a-living/9711/39 "1999-10-15T00:35:00Z")
Librarian. Or, if I could draw, cartoonist. * * * Attention C#3!The inside of your musty head is a exercise wheel; in which two gerbils, Vanity and Credulity by name, tussle fruitlessly over the walnut that represents your banal & pointless existance. ---
**Author:** ![Max\_Torque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Max\_Torque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_Torque)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 1999, 1:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-do-_anything_-for-a-living/9711/40 "1999-10-15T01:32:00Z")
I missed out on my ideal job a few years back. I was just one qualification short. I caught it being advertised: computer support dude at Jim Henson’s Creature Shop in Burbank. If only I’d had some broadcast media experience… [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-do-_anything_-for-a-living/9711.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-could-do-_anything_-for-a-living/9711.md?page=3)