what did you want to be when you grew up?
 

When i was a kid i wanted to be a lot of things.

- At a very young age (6-7) i just wanted to be older ( in my twenties), drive a nice car, have a hot woman on my arm and be a wealthy businessman. ( i used to see things on TV that i thought i wanted to be)

by the time i was a teenager, i wanted to win the gold medal at the olympics in the marathon. (my prime sporting years)

- when i was in my late teens i wanted to be a bush ranger and work for the National Parks and Wildlife.

- i ended up in construction. wtf?!?!


so what did you want to be when you grew up?

i know one of my cousins wanted to be a jedi. he grew up watching sci-fi movies all the time though. poor kid. He was about my age, and i'd be telling myself "geez this kid is wacko..he doesnt even know that luke skywalker isnt real"

i guess people are influenced by their environment. if you're dads a banker you probably want to be a banker or something related to finance.


shoot away..id love to see what people wanted to be when they grew up

disclaimer: no offence meant to all you sci-fi fans :D

My dad was a trucker and well my mother was...erm...on welfare. But from the time I was in kindergarten I knew I wanted to go to college and be something cool.

I had several phases but a few that stuck out were:
Kindergarten - 2nd grade: paleontologist (yes, I knew what it was called)
3rd-5th: Detective
6-10th: Archeologist
11-JC: Forensics investigator

Then it was chemist, then chemical engineer (Tried this for awhile...NO WAY IN HELL. I do not have the brain of an engineer...I mean come on have you MET one! :p) Then back to chemist, dealing with hazardous materials in fact. Then finally food scientist. I think I have finally found my calling :hearts: But only time, and a job in industry, will tell.

Now, if only that company would call me back...

Right now my computer is pissing me off. That is my occupation. What did I want to be?
The last time it was an electrician on the moon. Well I am still waiting on that. Apparently the present Crusade in the Mideast is more important. An electrician in Alaska will have to do for the whole distance now. Too old for the moon now. now nuh nah now...

For as long as I can remember, all I wanted to be was something where I could be paid to find stuff out and think. I trained in Chemistry, and Chemical Research, and went into industry.

I've never had a job that didn't in some way fulfil my dream of finding out and thinking, although I have worked in hospitals, pharmaceuticals, printing, and now medical devices.

For a time I chased money, and for a time I found it. It didn't make me especially happy, but I now have enough that I no longer have to worry about roof over the family, or food on the table.

I guess, as I've got older, what I've really found is that I want a job where I'm not bored, and earn enough to never be broke.

when i was really young, i wanted to be a telephone lineman or a bulldozer operator; now i still don't know what i want to be when i grow up...

silly monomaniacal me..."artist/writer/teacher" as long as I can remember...and when that got a "get real" response from adults I would respond..."or just a philosopher"

sheesh...what a kidder

I hate this question, but for personal reasons I feel the need to respond.

I never truly wanted to be anything. Sure, when they asked me this question in kindergarten, I came up with uninspired answers such as fireman or policeman or something. But what does a five-year-old know about his place in the world?

I guess my answer to the question, then, is that I didn't want to be anything when I grew up. Maybe it's because I didn't want to grow up. Now that I think of it, I think I really do resent growing up.

When I graduated, I remember having the "what are you going to do next" conversation with my dad.

At that time, I said to him that I still had no idea what I wanted to be when I grew up. He told me that neither did he.

Growing up I remember the day I proclaimed in the kitchen to my parents that I was going to go to school at UCLA and become a doctor.

Since I was very very young, I wanted to be in the Coast Guard.

I found out I was medically disqualified in high school, and during high school I planned to go into Physical Therapy, then Occupational Therapy, then pre med.

After I found out I couldn't do the Coast Guard I got a bug to be a pilot.. medically disqualified for that one too, unfortunately.

So I did the 2 next best things - I volunteer for the USCG Auxiliary and I went to school for Human Factors in Aviation and Transportation.

Keiko O'Brien was my role model. Yes, I'm talking about the Botanist on the USS Enterprise-D, wife of Miles O'Brien and mother of two adorable children. I dreamed of tending plants in a greenhouse on the moon, making funky genetic hybrids suitable for the Martian atmosphere, and running a biology lab.

People continuously told me that me my dreams were unrealistic. I got sick of the flack so I told people I wanted to be a nurse, a translator, a diplomat, and a host of other mundane things. In high school, I was beaten down entirely and just told people that I wanted to be a mom. Now that I'm doing what I want, my friends from childhood shake their heads and say, "Only you could do this research."

I can honestly say now that I'm where I want to be. I'll never discourage kids from their heartfelt aspirations, no matter how outlandish - they need to know how close their "unrealistic" dreams might come to reality.

Back in the day I wanted to be a police officer/detective because a third cousin was a homicide detective for the state of Michigan. That quickly changed to forensic psychologist for the F.B.I after getting hooked on X-Files.

And today, I am an I.T. Tech, but I still want to be a detective or world traveler or a super ninja.

When I was very young, I wanted to be an artist. About 3rd grade, I decided I wanted to be an archaeologist. I still want to be an archaeologist, but I fear that will never happen. I'm currently studying medical lab technology, but I keep thinking about the fact that I've nearly finished a degree in anthropology, then decide it's unrealistic to pursue. Growing up sucks.

Married one :thumbsup:

I always wanted to be a teacher, actually. There were phases I went through where I'd think, "Oh, Sally Ride is cool, I'd like to be an astronaut" or "Writing is fun. I'd like to be a writer." But one of the games I used to play as a kid was "school"--I'd draft all the neighborhood kids into my little mock classroom and give them textbooks. I had a lot of textbooks (dad's a former principal, he got a lot of free samples). This leads me to believe I was in denial about my true calling for a long time, simply because I spent a lot of time around people who actually worked in schools, and knew how much work it was.

It took me teaching my 11th grade history class for extra credit to open my eyes. My history teacher wrote me an evaluation that said at the bottom, "YOU SHOULD TEACH!" When a truly masterful teacher, as he was, tells you you should teach, you listen.

The first time I recall my mother asking, "What do you want to be when you grow up?"
I didn't have a clear concept of what 'grow up' meant.
I imagined it to mean I could decide to be a dog or a cat or ...something.

"I want to be a wolf and live in the mountains." My 5 year old self answered.

Still fits.

When I was 6 - a sheepdog

When I was 11 - a profressional footballer (association football obviously)

When I was 15 - heavyweight champ

When I was 21 - a writer

When I am 32 - happy

Plan9

Rich.

Then I made money and decided happy is better.

For a short time I wanted to be a Physicist, but after a year of heavy study and watching all my peers wondering around mumbling to themselves and developing twitches, once again, I decided happy is better.



..

a ballet dancer.

For a long time, I wanted to be a horse trainer and ride in the Olympics.

Once that became less appealing, I didn't really have an answer. I have one now, at least: Physical Therapist. But overall, it really fits a generalized equation - I want to be able to use my aptitudes in a career that feels rewarding, pays enough to let me have my hobbies, and doesn't take over my life (so I have enough time to maintain my mental health).

Psychotherapist, actor, musician.

When I was young, I wanted to be an architect or a film director. In high school, I had a drafting teacher remove my love of architecture. At the same time, my love of media grew. Film, television and radio have been a part of my life since early high school. All of my career type jobs have been in film and television.

I was going to be an architect.... but wound up 18C and then went into software design.

Growing old is mandatory, growing up is optinal, I have decided that when I grow old I just want to be happy, I have also decided that I am going to quit trying to grow up, it's too much effort. When I was young I thought that when I grew up I wanted to be older, but I've given up on that idea.

Me? Just a gentleman spy.
http://www.wheels-near-u.co.uk/blog/...ery-db5-sm.jpg

NI knew you had to be 18 series.


When I was young, I wanted to be a fighter pilot.

Then in my teens, a Ranger or cop.

In college...a lawyer.

Now not sure Exactly what I'll end up being yet...

I always wanted to be a policeman or an EMT, someone that would help people.
In my highschool years I seriously considered becoming a chef due to a very nice and encouraging food service teacher.

Health problems right out of highschool prevented all three.

What does that even mean?

...

Oh, to be young and naive. I wanted to be an astronaut / fighter pilot when I was a kid. I was told that my shitty eyesight would prevent that (and would later learn I simply wasn't smart enough) so I gave up on that dream and decided I wanted to be a dog face, a grunt, a regular GI Joe.

I was so set on the USMC for a million years until I actually talked to a Marine recruiter who told me I wasn't smart enough to be in the Corps. Figuring he was full of shit and letting the opinion of one retard ruin my perception of the entire branch, I then went over to the Army side and was offered pretty much any job I wanted because I placed on the top of their "military smarts" test. I used this outstanding score, of course, to get pick a dumbass hero job that somebody that barely knows how to tie their boots can do. I could have had a great desk job that would have lead to a six figure civvie income.

I wanted to be a secret agent / g-man when I got out of the military and started up college but soon realized the Hollywood glamor related to those jobs is similar to the glamor they paint on jobs in the military: the reality is that the job is endless hours of boredom and brief moments of terror for little pay.

Out here still trying to find my niche. I've got "some experience" and "some education" but I'm still a know-nothing retard.

I've been thinking about going back to the military a lot lately for the challenge / stability / benefits / retirement.

A singer-dancer, an international spy, a writer and a social worker. This is all before I was 16 or so.

When I was small, I wanted to be either a doctor or pilot. I found out later that for the latter, you need excellent eyesight and spatial relations perception; and for the former, you need to know math.

I have none of those abilities, so in my teens and early twenties, I wanted to be a great novelist and leading actor.

I couldn't seem to finish any novels, and I don't have the looks for a leading actor.

So in my mid- and late twenties, I wanted to be a director and playwright. I did actually direct some plays and get a couple produced, but they were small, and I found I couldn't live on what I made (that being as close to nothing as is possible), and I was tired of crap food service jobs-- plus I was beginning to observe the sabbath again, and everyone in theater works on Friday nights and Saturdays.

I then thought about being a chef and owning a restaurant, because I love to cook, and I am told I am good at it. But I love living in LA, and have no interest in being someone's sous chef, line cook, and general whipping boy for a decade or so before getting to head chef. And to open my own restaurant in LA would be too expensive: I looked around, and I found out that LA restaurants have a first-year fail rate over over 70%, and startup costs require venture capital of around $2Mill minimum, so that was out.

I kicked around for a few years before finally deciding to go to rabbinical school, so that I could teach Torah for a living.

Ironically, I can't find a job in Jewish education for shit, but I am about a third of the way through a novel, which my wife (who has taught writing before) says is very good....

Even more ironically, the one thing I never wanted to be when I was a kid was a rabbi-- my dad is a rabbi, and it never appealed to me.

Just goes to show that you never know how things will work out.

As a very small child, a doctor - like every other kid.
In middle school and high school, I just wanted out of school. I had zero direction. And when I did have direction, I ignored it.
Since then, I've thought about an EMT or hospice nurse - but the one job I'd still love to do is become a mortician. However the closest school for mortuary science is so far from me.
So I'm settling as a glorified, usually at-home, secretary.

My first memory of wanting to be something when I grow up was from around 5 years old, to be an artist like my dad. Within a few years my interest shifted to being an astronomer, partly because my dad influenced my interest in science since he was also sort of an amateur scientist. As I got into high school it seemed to me that it would be tough getting a job as an astronomer so I shifted that interest to my list of being an amateur artist and astronomer for my own pleasure rather than to make a living, and started getting interested in being an architect or engineer...this was pretty much a simultaneous evaluation since both seemed very interesting to me. But eventually I gravitated toward engineering, graduated from high school and went to a college engineering degree program, got my BSME and now I'm a senior engineer thinking about retiring one day soon and spending my time painting and enjoying amateur astronony. Ever since I was a little kid I also loved to cook, partly because I always liked to eat all sorts of food. Quite often I helped my mom with cooking, but I never wanted to do it for a living.