Progression of Dreams

[pen_grunt]

When I was little:

I wanted to be a gymnast, till I started having problems with my ears and figured out that a sense of balance was required for gymnastics.
I wanted to be a singer, till I figured out that I couldn't sing.
I wanted to be a vet, till my cat was shot, and we had to pick the wound everyday so it would heal from the inside out.
I wanted to be a baseball player, till I figured out that only boys could play professional baseball like I saw on TV. I then wanted to be a boy baseball player, but recognized the futility of that dream immediately.
I wanted to be a lawyer, till I figured out that there was more to it than just debate and arguments. (I was a really good debater, even as a 9 year old.)
I wanted to be the president, till I figured out that I really, really DIDN'T want to be the president.
I wanted to be a writer, till I passed 13, and figured that if I wasn't published by then, I never would be. (I had slightly unrealistic standards.)
I wanted to be a biologist, till I figured out how many math courses were required.
I wanted to be a criminal psychologist, till I learned the U didn't offer that major.
I wanted to be a psychologist, till I figured out that most psychologists (or at least psych students) were more in need of counseling than their prospective patients.
I wanted to be a teacher, till I figured out that I don't have enough patience for slower learners.

There may have been other stops along the way. I'm a little bemused that I'm doing what I am, considering I gave up on that dream at 13.

Comments

[tabby-of-doom.livejournal.com]

When I was four I wanted to be a nurse and an Avon lady, all at the same time.

I haven't known what I wanted to be when I grew up since.

[pen-grunt.livejournal.com]

It'd be a great combo. You can be a healer of the body and the spirit--bandage a wound, get new perfume. Awesome.

And I don't know anyone--including me--that has settled on what they want to be definitely. I mean, I'm pretty good right now, but what about when I grow up? I know this happens, but I think it's the anomaly.

[grenacia.livejournal.com]

What is your job, exactly? I know it makes you travel a lot and it sounds interesting, but I don't have a clear idea of what it is.

[pen-grunt.livejournal.com]

The short answer is: I'm a corporate writer.

It gets more...complex, I guess...from there and I always have trouble describing it completely. I'll go out of town to write scripting and dialog for live events, I'll write scripts for corporate videos, supervise production and creative on said videos, do "creative" for everything and I'll structure training and information in creative ways. I even wrote a business-genre book somewhere along there.
A smattering of everything, really.

[gwangi.livejournal.com]

I wanted to be a biologist, till I figured out how many math courses were required.

Rofls. This is hilarious because the vast majority of biologists go into the field because it's the science that requires the least amount of math. Those of us who care about the dynamics of things are very, very, very much in the minority.

So there's still time! Go back to school, and join us on the Light Side of The Force!

[pen-grunt.livejournal.com]

Yes, but CALCULUS. *eep*

I'm "good" at math, I just really don't like it. My brain CAN think that way, but it doesn't LIKE to do so.

That being said, I get super-psyched up about biology--I love genetics and neurology in particular.

[gwangi.livejournal.com]

Well, you don't actually need to remember any of the calculus after you get out, other than in a very general rate-through-time sort of way. And it's really not as hard as it seemed back in high school, I promise. You learn one way of looking at the world, and then can use it over and over again to solve all sorts of hilariously unpractical problems. Good times.

To do genetics, though, you would have to learn quite a bit of the sort of math that allows you to learn about discrete (that is, non-continuous) systems, since genetics is controlled by some surprisingly complicated math. And ironically, that math is inherently harder than calc, due to the discreteness. There are all sorts of useful things you can do to a continuous data set that you just can't do on a discrete one. Shame, that.

Of course, if you did go become a biologist, you'd have to give up your exciting life of travel and movies. And then toil away in a lab somewhere, and it won't have any windows, and you'll never be able to drink hard liquor again because it'll remind you of lab, and you'll never be sure whether you should chat up the cuties down the hall because they're always wearing gloves and so you can't see their ring fingers, and the pay sucks, and you have to put up with big geeks (like me) coming up to you and blabbering on about things like the potential unfalsificability of theoretical phylogenies, and all the rest.

....which doesn't mean I wouldn't personally tutor you, or anybody else, who wanted to get into the field. I strongly <3 what I do, to the point that I don't quite understand why anybody would ever do anything else.

Well, except for rock stars, fighter pilots, and astronauts. I'd give up biology for any of that.

[pen-grunt.livejournal.com]

Hmm...I might retire into it--I'm not ready to give up travel yet.

--The lab is not a detriment. I'm pasty-pale and should be kept out of sunlight at all times.
--You can ALWAYS chat up cuties. Heck, if they have a ring, the worst you can do is get nowhere and leave someone flattered.
--I like geeks enough, I think. Or at least I can do geek enough to speak the geek-language.

Alright, I've convinced myself. But I'm still not ready for math courses again.

[pointedthings.livejournal.com]

I was a biology major my freshman year. I switched because of the math...and the math involved in the required chemistry courses. We can't do math.

[pen-grunt.livejournal.com]

I know. We don't do math. Our brains don't work that way. I'm convinced it's genetic.

[llythefaerye.livejournal.com]

So . . . what's your dream now?

[pen-grunt.livejournal.com]

Now, I dream of sleep.

It seems so simple...and yet...

:D

[llythefaerye.livejournal.com]

Do what most people do; sleep at work!