![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
404.livejournal.com posting in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
talkpoliticsWhen I was nineish, my dad and I went to the local movie theater on a sleepy Saturday during the summer and saw a double feature of Indian Jones and the Last Crusade and Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home. Being the impressionable lad that any pre-teen would be, I instantly decided I wanted to be an archaeologist after watching the exploits of Indiana Jones. Little did I know that the main job of an archaeologist was NOT fighting Nazis and finding the Holy Grail on the side while being a university professor. Better to be Indiana Jones I suppose than to want to be Captain Kirk, I suppose. Though in retrospect I think I side much more with the Captain Sisko line of authoritative captains in the Star Trek universe, but that is another post for another community I would suspect.
I always wonder what motivates us to be who we are, and our career choice(s) say a lot about how we view ourself and what our motivations/agendas are, so I think it is an interesting way to at least create a thumbnail sketch of the image we portray outwards. When I was in fourth grade, my teacher gave us a listing of careers, complete with short descriptions, pay rates, etc. Why she did this, I have no clue. I don't think many children have any clue what they want to be in the future, but apparently I did; I wanted to be an architect, since that is what my father's career had been before I came about. I found it interesting to see how much I changed from one year, and one movie, the capriciousness of a young boy's imagination and how easily it is swayed from one idea to another without even a thought about it. Fast forward years later, and I picked neither Indian Jones nor the dashing Randian Howard Roark character of "The Fountainhead" fame: the closest thing to archaeology I ever got to was sitting in a historical archaeology class taught by a 4'5" Jewish lady who'd descend the whole class into Powerpoint Hell, not saving the Indian village by returning the sacred stone and rescuing the children from the evil Thuggees.
So, my dear![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
talk_politics, what inspired you to do what you do for a career/life?
I always wonder what motivates us to be who we are, and our career choice(s) say a lot about how we view ourself and what our motivations/agendas are, so I think it is an interesting way to at least create a thumbnail sketch of the image we portray outwards. When I was in fourth grade, my teacher gave us a listing of careers, complete with short descriptions, pay rates, etc. Why she did this, I have no clue. I don't think many children have any clue what they want to be in the future, but apparently I did; I wanted to be an architect, since that is what my father's career had been before I came about. I found it interesting to see how much I changed from one year, and one movie, the capriciousness of a young boy's imagination and how easily it is swayed from one idea to another without even a thought about it. Fast forward years later, and I picked neither Indian Jones nor the dashing Randian Howard Roark character of "The Fountainhead" fame: the closest thing to archaeology I ever got to was sitting in a historical archaeology class taught by a 4'5" Jewish lady who'd descend the whole class into Powerpoint Hell, not saving the Indian village by returning the sacred stone and rescuing the children from the evil Thuggees.
So, my dear
talk_politics, what inspired you to do what you do for a career/life?
(no subject)
Date: 17/6/12 21:50 (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 17/6/12 21:51 (UTC)#Firstworldproblems
(no subject)
Date: 17/6/12 21:58 (UTC)Hunger. : )
(no subject)
Date: 17/6/12 22:00 (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 18/6/12 03:11 (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 18/6/12 03:14 (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 17/6/12 22:21 (UTC)It was either this or horology.
(no subject)
Date: 18/6/12 00:44 (UTC)what inspired you to do what you do for a career/life
Date: 17/6/12 22:58 (UTC)I've never set out to do anything other than what came to me while I was out and looking. Sometimes I didn't even have to look for opportunity. I only had to decide if I wanted to act, or not.
If I had to wear a career label, it would be "human, making ongoing decisions on living life".
If one makes oneself over each day, one won't get bored with oneself.
#fartdust
(no subject)
Date: 18/6/12 00:31 (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 18/6/12 00:36 (UTC)Carl Sagan and Jack Horkeimer.
(no subject)
Date: 18/6/12 01:13 (UTC)Bly and The Hidden Persuaders
(no subject)
Date: 18/6/12 01:18 (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 18/6/12 02:24 (UTC)Sorta current (I sub/volunteer to tutor)/ future career: I like to teach; current situation: I like to eat, therefore I work.
(no subject)
Date: 18/6/12 02:27 (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 18/6/12 02:32 (UTC)I like telling stories, but sometimes I think it's just an excuse for them to tune out.
(no subject)
Date: 18/6/12 02:49 (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 18/6/12 03:01 (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 18/6/12 02:58 (UTC)I do what I do out of sheer laziness, intellectual laziness in that I never finished school, and physical laziness in that I hate work so much I figured out ways to do stuff faster so I wouldn't have to work as hard or as long. (I quit my "perfect job" as a letter carrier to go to work for my, then fiance, now wife's, dad; roofing.....42 years later I still have the same wife and still work for the same company (of course now I own half of it) ).
(no subject)
Date: 18/6/12 04:59 (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 19/6/12 01:32 (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 18/6/12 10:34 (UTC)Me too...
(no subject)
Date: 19/6/12 01:33 (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 18/6/12 04:58 (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 19/6/12 01:38 (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 18/6/12 05:32 (UTC)I read Moby Dick three times, most of Conrad, a bit of London, and (most of all) Sterling Hayden's Wanderer, so I spent the next 15 years as crew, mate and master on boats. (I hope that explains the usepic.)
I got married and sick of working odd hours, being away from home and mostly without a schedule, so now I drive far more mundane vehicles.
(There's one truism you can take to heart: The more glamorous a job, the less pay it offers the average person in the field. Pilots have to pay to get enough air time to go pro, and small plane work pays crap. Unless you're out of the military, flying jets goes to millionaires like Travolta and very senior pilots. Same with boats, though with less of an income gap. Trucks and buses? I work with guys who pull down 6 figures after only a few years on the job. The many, the humble, the very well paid.)
(no subject)
Date: 18/6/12 07:36 (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 18/6/12 09:45 (UTC)I originally took my first job in tax because I thought I'd want to go off to grad school for Econ. But I wanted to see business decisions on the ground and have my thesis ready to go before signing onto tens of thousands of dollars of debt. My first choice was the Bureau of Labor Statistics, but they hire about four people a year. I now have about four ideas on the back burner and an inability to justify the opportunity cost of grad school as I really like my work and it pays well. If/when the Streamlined Sales and Use Tax Initiative ever gets enough steam to gut my industry, it's a distinct possibility.
(no subject)
Date: 18/6/12 14:35 (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 18/6/12 15:34 (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 18/6/12 16:11 (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 18/6/12 17:42 (UTC)