Your dream job as a kid - what was it and why, and is it still?

[Doomsday]

As a young boy I would religiously read the Consumer Reports magazine my mom had a subscription for. That was my first dream job - test shit and rate it. But then one day after noticing that almost everything I ever saw had the same label somewhere on it, I asked my step dad, "What does it mean, UL Listed?" His answer was "that's a group of Jews that won't let you sell your stuff unless they approve. They double the cost of everything produced." No, you fuckin backwoods arkensaw hillbilly baboon bumpkin, that ain't what it is.

When I did finally find out what it is, Underwriters' Laboratories - that became my dream job - test things to failure and break shit. Get paid to wear shit out, to blow shit up and to see what happens when you light christmas trees on fire. That became my dream job and still is.

One of my buddies' dream job was to be in the military. To break things and kill people. I wanted to break things to save lives.

Another label I kept seeing on shit prompted another question to my step dad, "Who's Pat Pending?" He says, "That's a dyke who invented almost everything there is, she's richer than Moses."

Anyway, what's your dream job as a kid? Let's hear about it.

 

[yimyammer]

I wanted to be a chef but after working in restaurants and bars from age 14 through college, I realized that was too much work for too little money plus I hated having to work nights, weekends and holidays while everyone else was playing. So I got a degree in accounting and figured I'd find something else I wanted to do but knew the accounting degree would a huge asset regardless of what direction I went

Then I decided I wanted to remodel and build houses and I did. About 10 years in, I got the bug to be a pro poker player, so I finished a house I was building, bought a VW camper van and traveled the country fly fishing and playing poker. I was doing well until I arrived in Vegas where I had my ass handed to me for the next month and developed a horrible cough from all the smoke in the casino so I licked my bruises, sold my van and headed back to Dallas to build houses again until 2010 when I retired and started going to culinary school.

So I'm pursuing my 3rd dream job and in the process of building a food truck out of a 1957 Chevy van called "Black Betty" and converting a building I purchased into a commissary with a Tiny Diner, hopefully this time next year I'll be slinging "hash" out of both of them.

Let me introduce you to Back Betty, she's a keeper:

You can pursue and land 3 dream jobs when you don't have kids or a wife (but a great, easy going girlfriend who loves the random shit I get involved with) but I'm screwed when I get too old to take care of myself, c'est la vie

 

[Doomsday]

Let me introduce you to Back Betty, she's a keeper:

Dude, that's gonna be sweet! Locally there's a food trailer, built out of an Airstream camper. Really cool stuff these food truck doods are doing.

 

[cml750]

I wanted to be a sports writer for a newspaper when I was in high school. I ended up a chemist in the petrochemical industry then moved up to laboratory manager and eventually became the quality manager managing my sites ISO 9000 system.

 

[cml750]

I wanted to be a chef but after working in restaurants and bars from age 14 through college, I realized that was too much work for too little money plus I hated having to work nights, weekends and holidays while everyone else was playing. So I got a degree in accounting and figured I'd find something else I wanted to do but knew the accounting degree would a huge asset regardless of what direction I went

Then I decided I wanted to remodel and build houses and I did. About 10 years in, I got the bug to be a pro poker player, so I finished a house I was building, bought a VW camper van and traveled the country fly fishing and playing poker. I was doing well until I arrived in Vegas where I had my ass handed to me for the next month and developed a horrible cough from all the smoke in the casino so I licked my bruises, sold my van and headed back to Dallas to build houses again until 2010 when I retired and started going to culinary school.

So I'm pursuing my 3rd dream job and in the process of building a food truck out of a 1957 Chevy van called "Black Betty" and converting a building I purchased into a commissary with a Tiny Diner, hopefully this time next year I'll be slinging "hash" out of both of them.

Let me introduce you to Back Betty, she's a keeper:

You can pursue and land 3 dream jobs when you don't have kids or a wife (but a great, easy going girlfriend who loves the random shit I get involved with) but I'm screwed when I get too old to take care of myself, c'est la vie

My son lives in the Heights area of Houston where there were tons of flourishing restaurants (prior to Covid). In January I was telling him we need to find a place to purchase to open up a restaurant in the area. Then Covid hit so I am glad we did not jump into something like that because we likely would have lost our asses. A food truck placed in a good area would likely do great even in with a pandemic.

 

[Doomsday]

I wanted to be a sports writer for a newspaper when I was in high school

That's coincidental, I was sports editor for my HS paper then got a scholarship to college for Journalism, was sports editor then news editor of the college paper but then ooops oh yeah, found out there wasn't any money to be made in that. So I switched gears and got out there to make real money figuring I could always write when I'm an old man. No regrets at all, a friend who was also in college with me went on to work for the local paper and we would meet each year to compare w2s and he was a pauper, every year. That went on for about 20 years before work moved me up to the rust belt for awhile.

My college Journalism prof even told me, "you're not in journalism for the money, there's a higher cause involved" but for me, nah. Money talks bullshit walks.

 

[cml750]

The money is exactly why I found another career than journalism. In high school I considered the ultimate job would be to be a sports beat writer for one of my teams ( Cowboys, Rockets, or Astros) and get to go to all the games and then write about them. When high school was over I studied what a journalism career would pay and chose a different path. I do enjoy writing and would like to write a book one day although I do not know what I would write about. I have been kicking around an idea to write a book about losing weight , the importance of healthy living, and getting "steps" every day now that I have straightened out my life with a huge lifestyle change getting 17,000 steps per day 365 days per year.

 

[Doomsday]

I do enjoy writing and would like to write a book one day although I do not know what I would write about

We can only write about what we know about. That's key.