What would you rather be doing?

In My Humble Opinion (IMHO)
#1

What would be your dream job, you know, the one that the guidance counselors used to talk about where it’s not really work if you love what you do. I don’t mean something like becoming a Super Bowl MVP, or President unless you are already a talented athlete or active politician.

For me, I would love to teach inside a maximum security prison. I don’t know why, but hard core violent criminals have always interested me, and I would like to help them maintain their humanity which some people seem to forget they have.

That’s mine, what’s yours?

SSG Schwartz

#2

I have two major interests: Flying and filmmaking. Either one of those would be great, though I think I’d lean toward filmmaking because as a successful filmmaker I can afford a helicopter.

For flying, I’d like to do something meaningful. Teaching is great, but not very lucrative. (Actually I know a couple of guys who own an FBO and do quite well – but their employees just get wages.) Maybe medical evacuation.

Filmmaking tastes are eclectic. For me it’s the process. Horror films are fun, but I wouldn’t mind having a couple of serious dramas under my belt. My dream would be to do a drama based on Manfred von Richthofen.

And I wouldn’t mind being a geologist or oceanographer/marine biologist.

#3

It’s hard for me to pick…I like everything!

Writing, Filmmaking, Film Composing, Computer Animation, Jazz musician, Scientist, and Political Leader all come to mind. I think I would actually be capable at all of them…mostly because I am disciplined when I am motivated. Political leader would be the toughest though I think my school teaching experience would come in handy.

#4

I would love teaching math to a small class of students who struggle in the subject. I’ve tutored too many students who are totally lost during class and are at risk for being left behind while their peers build their mathematical foundations.

Luckily, I’m currently teaching pre-algebra to three delightful eighth graders who struggle in math. I am genuinely excited that they are getting loads of personal interaction with their teacher and that they are beginning to have hope for understanding math. I haven’t had a class period with them yet that feels like work. Now, if only that awesomeness lasted more than just 45 minutes of my day.

#5

I would love to manage a nonprofit organization that serves the mental health needs of Spanish-speaking immigrants. I would want to be a chief part of the planning and execution of the organization, and help develop and implement policy for the way things are run.

I have revealed this desire to several graduate schools. Their response is pending.

#6

I want to host my own children’s television show.

#7

Growing plants. CPs, orchids, water gardening.

#8

Major League baseball player.

#9

Me too. I’d like to be the real-life Buckaroo Banzai, only more-so.

#10

I always thought that the best job imaginable would be International Currency Trader. Start with some dollars, trade for yen, then a few Pounds, and trade back for more dollars than you started. In what other profession can you actually make money out of thin air?

But given the choice, I think I’d opt for National Geographic photographer. It would give me a head start on my lifelong goal of going everywhere.

#11

Filmmaker. I’m working on making an animated film right now. It’s taking longer than I thought.

#12

Good question. Tough answer.
I am sort of at a crossroads right now myself, and pondering this very issue (so of course, I was drawn to your thread…hardly a random sample)

I write, and have most of my life. I always used to fantasize about making a living at it.

I also paint, ditto most of my life and currently (last canvases I did recently were very different from most of my previous work, and I really love them…if pressed to characterize them, I would say Monet on acid-ish :slight_smile:

I could also get into filmmaking or acting…areas of long-time great fascination for me.

I am currently considering my options for going back to school and not sure what to focus my next degree/major on. (tho’ having the creditial in itself is a plus when it comes to job hunting, my dream is not to work in an office or other 9-5 job the rest of my life. I know, GASP!!!)

I worked with young children for the first 20 yrs of my working life and found great satisfaction in it. Have considered getting back into it in some form or another.

Excellent question. I am almost 43. When I will know what I want to be when I grow up?

#13

When I was in my 20s I traveled to Spain with a couple of friends. There was a guy who made his living by buying beer at the local shop and then re-selling it to people on the beach for about a 50% mark-up. The tourists, me included, were more than happy to cough up the extra pesetas for a cold beverage that I didn’t need to forage for myself. I’ve always wanted to be that guy. It wouldn’t pay for my kids’ education though.

I’m bored shitless at work lately. I mean really bored, and it’s noticeable. I need to do something else, but I don’t know what. I think teaching would be a good career path for me, I could teach high school math, college level electronics, or perhaps supply chain management or something in that field. But God I hate going into work lately.

Beer on the beach. Yep.

#14

I would like to be the bench coach for The New York Yankees. If not, a professional organizer or an interior decorator.

#15

Mesoamerican archaeology. When I took a beginner’s course in Pre-Columbian art, I often thought “Not pursuing this at the graduate level is a huge mistake, Self.”

I’m sure my chosen career path of criminal law will be interesting at least on occasion, anyways. Better than being the blueprint jockey at War Pigs Inc.

#16

I would give anything to be working again in the quartz crystal industry.

#17

Assuming I had enough put by to comfortably retire on, I’d like to own a winery .

#18

I’d love to work in a non-profit that set up digital film making workshops in developing countries.

Though my job right now (teaching English in China) is pretty sweet.

#19

The same thing I’m doing from now until the start of the winter academic quarter: watching porn and surfing the SDMB all day. The difference is, it would ideally be because I don’t need a job to support myself, while right now it’s because I’m too lazy to look for one and I’m staying with the 'rents.

Seriously, though, I would love to be a political leader, but I have too many skeletons in my closet.

I liked filmmaking, but I’m terrible at it. My taste in movies is far better than my actual skill in creating them–whether from behind the camera, in front of it, writing the script or editing. I’m not bad at editing, actually, but I find it boring. I can spot a truly great edit and just know that I don’t have the passion for that job that would lead me to come up with it.

I would love to teach history to high schoolers, too, but it’s just such a pain in the ass to take on a minor in Education Studies. Sigh. And I just don’t know enough history. I would probably make a great English teacher, but English classes just don’t challenge me. Luckily, a Linguistics degree is probably a decent inroad to an MA in English.

Really, I would love to teach an age-appropriate, scaled-down, easier version of Linguistics 101 to high school seniors. The feeling of defeating ignorance on a daily basis would just be awesome. I’ve tutored at my old high school and loved it. It almost never felt like work, despite the fact that I felt drained at the end of the day.

I would also like to be a writer, but my first round of rejection letters was disheartening and I just don’t feel I have the patience to get really good at it. And I know that true success comes with novel-writing, while my attention span just isn’t that long.

I could go for Padres bench coach, too.

On that note, I’d like to be a beer patron: be filthy stinkin’ rich, run a brewery, hire a couple of hardcore homebrew aficionados and let them play with a professional rig. Every time they said, “I wonder what <xyz> would taste like”, and I said “Well, why don’t you crank out a barrel or two and find out?”, I know they’d get that gleam in their eye that would just make my day. Plus, we’d hit on enough good ideas to pull in some decent cash flow, theoretically. Craft brewing in San Diego seems to be an easy field to grow in, especially since the big guys (Stone etc.) are not at all competitive and are willing to help the new guys get a leg up.

#20

I’d like to get paid to teach people how to wakeboard. I do it for free now, but it’s not a job.

I’m halfway decent at it, I’m pretty good at coaching in general, and I’m perfectly ok with driving around on a really nice boat all day.