Sunday, April 06, 2014

Unlikely Dream Jobs

I've been mentally making a list of these and I thought i'd better write them down before I forget.  Because you never know, one day maybe they won't be so unlikely.   Here they are:

1. Meteorologist.  Do I really want to go to weather school to become a meteorologist? No. Could I never EVER tire of talking about the weather with anyone who will listen?  Do I watch weather shows like tornado chasers and find myself intrigued by weather patterns and shifts? Yes and yes.   I love the weather. It's a part of me. It's a part of you. Weather is life.

2. Professional storyteller.  Wait a second, let me clarify. I don't tell very good stories. i leave out important details. I rush to the end. I think some parts and vocalize others. I guess I could try making them up but i don't think i'm so good at that. What i mean is, I want to read to people, as a profession.  Does this mean I like the sound of my own voice? Does this mean i should be an actor and lend my voice to audible books? I don't think so. I just like to read aloud and I like to be with the people I'm reading to.  I try really hard to say the words, read the story, the best way i can, in the way it was intended.  To not misinterpret the words or put the wrong emPHASis on the wrong sylLABle.  I'm not great at doing different voices, something I could work at and I do, sort of.  But I just love reading aloud.  What i envision is being a traveling book-reader for maybe people who can't do it for themselves.  Old people, blind people, sick people, kids. I'm thinking hospitals, assisted living centers, etc.

3. A tour guide of some kind. You take a tour and the tour guide has been doing this so many times and been surrounded by this information for perhaps a long time and they're friggin' experts. You have a question? They can answer it.  I want to be an expert on something!  You know?  Something interesting. Something historical, mostly. Yeah. Historical.  I feel like right now the closest thing I have is the Titanic. Blimey, I've never studied something so intensely.  I just watched probably my 6th or 7th documentary that pretty much blew my mind.  I have such a hard time retaining information so it's a good thing i've read and re-read every children's book ever written on the subject. Too bad I can't give tours on the Titanic, though.  I'd say that's a pretty unlikely dream job. So now what?

4. A crewmember on a starship for the Federation of Planets.  I say this is unlikely because I just can't close my heart off completely to this possibility. You just never know, alright?!  Lately I have re-fallen in love with Star Trek The Next Generation. I'll be honest, like a fool, I haven't seen it in a good long while. Far, far too long. I don't know why.  A friend and I were texting about something somewhat related, perhaps very loosely related, and I said something like "Oh man, I have been watching some NG and am LOVING IT."  She texted back, "I know, right? Who's your favorite character?"  And just as I started making my list (because of course I have one) she sent me hers, a ranking list of characters from New Girl.  Uhhhhh...  yeah.  Super nerd alert.  So i had to confess, and then offer up my list in both categories--mostly just to be amiable, because I don't really care about New Girl.  But if you want to know Next Generation:

1. Captain Picard or Data. It's a tie. Basically they're all who I really care about.
2. Worf, I guess. I feel like I could tease him relentlessly.
3. Lwaxana Troi, Deanna's mom. She's so racy! I love it.
4. Geordi? He's so cheeseball sometimes. He's super brilliant and engineering and then he's making cracks and I just don't know.
5. Ryker, i guess. He's kind of boring but nice and reliable. Sometimes he's fun, sorta.
6.Dr. Crusher?
7.
8.
9.
10. Wesley. He's so annoying! I even like the old doctor, Dr. Polaski  better than him, and she's totally mean.

There are so many I could include in my ranking so I just sort of gave up.  As I said, I only have eyes for Picard and Data.   Anyway, I can't believe how much I didn't know I missed NG.  It's like I'm 13 again, discovering it for the first time. The love is so intense. I literally have Star Trek dreams, wishing so badly I could be part of their world.  I talk about it at length with Sean, and it goes far beyond silly chit-chatting. I delve. I'm so happy to know I'm still the same person I was when I became who I am, (a 13-year old).  And it's brought up a very intriguing and difficult would-you-rather:

 Would I rather join starfleet as a crewmember on the USS Enterprise -OR- live in the Shire? They're such polar opposites. But I don't know! It's so hard.  Also, what would be my job in starfleet? Ok, this reminded me of one more side story. Just one more, I swear. Probably. 

When I was in the sixth grade, our class visited a space center for learning nearby. I don't even know why this place existed, nor why I never visited it again, but it was set up like a bridge on a starship, perhaps there were other rooms too,  and we were all given jobs based on what our teacher thought our strengths were.  I think we also got to choose our top 3 preferences.  I was fast at typing so I was assigned as the ship's recorder on the bridge.  I think there was also damage control, captain, #1, and others. My job was pretty lame, but it did put me right where the action was and I didn't have to get in the middle of it, just write down everything that was happening and observe, which does suit my personality. Though secretly I thought i would make an ok captain.  But it's fine, the person who held the job was just fine.  Anyway, the whole thing-- I loved it. I remember just loving it, and trying not to let that love show too much. And this was before my introduction to Star Trek. So a little foreshadowing of things to come, i suppose.

Since the combined cold + rainy weather has all but killed all of my will, the only thing that keeps me hanging on is watching the show. I don't want Julian to watch a lot of kid shows but we'll watch some NG.  Since he's happy to watch anything if he can get it, i got this great quote from him the other day:

Jen:  Want to watch some Star Trek?
Julian, super enthusiastically:  Oo yeah! I LOVE your Star Trek! I love it even though it's boring!

The best thing about this is I think "your star trek" means NG, and his star trek would be the original. It's ok. It's what he knew first. I get it.  And of course it's ours. It's special. personal. Sean's is the original also, for example. Which one is yours?

Well, I got way off track with this list but I'm on such a high having talked about Star Trek for so long, I think I'll just end it here.  I am always making additions to this list, though, of weird, unlikely dream jobs, so perhaps this should be a series?  We shall see....

But also, do you have any unlikely dream jobs?

4 comments:

Joel said...

Zookeeper
Butler (Seriously, I think it would be cool to live in a big house and keep everything running. I don't know why.)

)en said...

Do you have a man crush on Carson from Downton? Because Sean does. Or his nose. He calls him "the royal beak."

Amber Alvarez said...

Tour guide is good! I always wanted to be an old and respected Shakespearean actress, but that requires work now - and I have no desire to be a young struggling Shakespearean actress. Instead I just tape dialogue from Macbeth in my closet and run lines in the morning while I'm getting dressed. I figure this way if I am ever at the Globe in my 80s and the Lady Macbeth heaves over I can step in without a flinch.

Also, I've been thinking about becoming a docent, for the same reason as tour guide. I miss being an expert on the random. Plus, when you were done leading a tour you'd be done with your job. That sounds mega liberating.

P.S. I think you'd make a lovely Picard.

Ashley said...

A. I, too, would love to be a traveling book reader. That sounds fun and also benevolent. I love reading to Anna, although my voices are not amazing, but I try to differentiate them a little. We laughed a lot the other day when I accidentally read something Hermione said in Hagrid's gruff voice. Probably something about Ancient Runes with a slight brogue. Classic HP.

B. "Worf, I guess." I love that your number 2 answer is so blasé.

C. When MY class went to the Space Center, I was actually chosen to be the captain. I felt incredibly honored and special ... and by this time had probably seen some Next Generation with you so I knew to base my performance on the best captain there ever was. It was actually really cool because they put headphones on me and would tell me exactly what to say so I got to sound all official and like I knew exactly what I was doing. I remember asking the computer for several kinds of reports and then aliens eventually invaded the ship. But our mission was successful, whatever it was. The Space Center was awesome indeed.