i am still in high school, so i guess we’ll see how everything plays out, but i would like to do massage. or, hold a minimum wage job until i can retire (extremely early).

related to your dream post, my dream is to live in a converted bus on a couple acres with a good garden. thankfully, that can be done on the cheap.

good luck with your retirement, jacob.

I wanted to be a teacher ever since I started school. I taught my little brother to read when I was six and he was four. (He did already know the alphabet.)

I got certified and everything but couldn’t get a teaching job in history. So I got certified in math and still couldn’t get a job. Apparently I looked too young and tiny to be a good disciplinarian.

Getting desperate, I starting searching for a job I could actually get. Between fast food, retail, and clerical work, I thought clerical work sounded best. So I started with clerical work in an educational institution.

While there, I realized I don’t have the right social skills to guide hordes of students who don’t want to be there. I also realized I enjoyed working only 40-hour weeks and not worrying about lay-offs. So, I’ve moved up to a somewhat technical job which finally pays me as much as a starting teacher gets!

What I’d really like to do is work with others to design educational materials that a) teach something useful, b) teach something on the syllabus, c) are fun and d) are user-friendly for teachers. I can’t find someone to pay me to do this, but I imagine after I retire I’ll be able to volunteer at schools during work hours and find teachers who want to do this with me. (Or at least tell me what’s hard to teach and let me use their students for testing.)

“…no use just sitting around reading or thinking about stuff.”

As a philosophy major, I’m offended. 😛

As a small kid I wanted to be a garbarge man (really!). Because they got to ride on the back of a truck.

Later I had no idea what I wanted to be, so I studied something that let me keep my options open. I’ve had a number of extremely varied professions, taking advantage of the most interesting opportunities that I happened to stumble upon.

Much like Jacob, I was a Lego fanatic growing up. Mainly my brother and I loved to build stuff. We built everything out of Legos or whatever other toys were around. We once built a BMX track in the empty lot up the street. I think we spent more time up there digging and moving dirt (all by hand) than actually riding our bikes on it. Perhaps I should have went into the construction field.

I really didn’t have much direction in high school. I knew I would go to college because that’s what “you did”. I think 98% of my class went on to a 4 year school.

Once in college, I think making money was my motivation. I majored in “Pre-Medicine” which was a lot of science obviously. I loved science and math because they make sense to me. I like having a reason for things and an explanation. I was never a big reader or writer then so I thought that was a good fit. 2 years later and my first ever “D” in a class and I rethought my plans the summer after my sophomore year. I went back in the fall and changed majors to accounting. I’m now a CPA and really like my job most days. But I still have the desire to do more and different things – mostly outside – building stuff, farming, etc.

The nice thing is this career is very steady and always in demand. I could also choose to work part-time during tax season and take the rest of the year off if I chose – maybe someday.

Very interesting! I discovered physics in high school as well, though I wasn’t as into it as you (i didn’t start writing books on it!)

I had a nice and wise high school science teach who I admired greatly, and he told me almost exactly what you said: “You want to major in physics? Don’t. Major in engineering. Similar material, but you have more job choices.” And I majored in Electrical Engineering. How lucky was I that someone told the 18 year old me that? And that I listened!?

You can take EE the academic route, but it is harder (not impossible) to take physics a less academic route

@firefighter – You got me there. It doesn’t really fit in, that is to say, I could continuously transition into any of the above, but a boat is radically different, so I didn’t put it on the list. Maybe this spring/summer we’ll take some sailing lessons to see if it’s more than just an exciting notion.

I know I am adding to this thread a little late as I am working my way thru the site.

Jacob- I share your desire to learn. I am lucky that I ran into my career choice possibly by fate.

I was working my way thru college (architectual degree) as a carperter.I built log homes (that was assume too!!)…Anyway..

I went on a church retreat and met a man who was just retiring as a shop teacher. It was as if the light went on. I had always enjoyed learning about building stuff and helping others. So I changed majors and took lots of evening community college classes and informal apprentice opportunities (many- no pay) until today, 17 years later, I look forward to walking over to the school and teach kids how to build lots of cool stuff.

With your interest you may really enjoy a basic machining course at a community college and then work your way into a speciality apprenticeship in precision machining. It can be extremely satisfing and there is a ton to learn in this field.

@ Debbie M.- A local school would love to have your passion to work with small groups of students. Many times these positions start as volunteer and then turn into paid positions.