Lacking talent and intelligence, though I believe I did have the inner drive, what work I did was…. well, I worked hard, not smart.

Thus, no success in the employment arena. A blue-collar working stiff whose wages never did match inflation and benefits? Bwa hah hah hah!!!!!! Living hand-to-mouth but I WAS freer than most folks.

Shunning wife and kids helped.

Finally…at age 43, I found a “real” job!!! Decent pay… not great but good for me. And, benefits!!!!!!!! My gawd!!! Health care, at a cheap cost, too. A pension plan!!!!! 401K!!!!! Stuff someone else always seemed to get but not folks such as I within the working poor socio-economic group.

Worked dilligently, my friend.

But, 14 months later…. my job along with 1,400 others disappeared, sent overseas.

Sigh……..

Tasted the “good life” for 14 months but am now back to the old routine. But, I am still freer than most folks.

There is a price to pay but we all die in the end so does it really matter?

Failing that look at the publication rates of the various journals, they have only been increasing.

I will grant you that job prospects in physics are decreasing, but that is because companies (Bell, IBM, HP, etc) which used to fund large pure physics research (which made important advances…see the transistor) no longer do because basic research does not make a quarterly profit and because the cold war is over and the government no long hirers large number of physicists to design bombs. US companies will learn their lesson when the next major advance that changes everything (see the laser) comes out of an Asian corporate lab.

In the mean time, if physics doesn’t work out, a physics phd gets you a quant job on wall street.

Disclaimer: I’m a physics grad student, and the statement that physicist’s have just been twiddling their thumbs and collecting salary for the last 50 years really bothers me.

I wanted to be a Florist, but then found I had to get up at 4am, pass. Then I wanted to be a Kindergarten teacher, but didn’t study hard enough in high school, thank goodness!

I’m in marketing now, and love it. Before that though I’d been a web geek (still am at heart) and worked in customer service roles for internet companies, none of which existed when I was a kid.

Ah, Sweet Sweet Financial Freedom.

Librarian for a number of years. I’ve worked in 3 libraries total and just applied for a job with another one. So I guess I’m doing that.

Then there’s all the little things I’d like to be like a writer, seamstress, writer, actress (ok, not often), really cool person, person who saves the world—I’m still not positive what I’m going to do, but I’m trying not to limit it to one thing for the rest of my life.

If my site were actually up right now, I’d like to today’s post about MYO full-time job. But My SQL is missing. :-p

Anyhow, when I was young I wanted to be an astronaut. This was just after the U.S. made its last moon missions, and the space race still seemed very real, at least to a boy. Soon after that, I discovered the joy of writing stories. From the fourth grade on, I’ve always wanted to write. For a long time, it seemed as if this might be just a pipe dream. Now it looks like a reality!

Although, when I was 14, I wanted to be a pension fund manager (I do something completely different). I don’t know whether to be ashamed, or proud.

I also worked as a mechanic on jet and cargo aircraft while in the military. I traveled to over 30 countries on 5 continents and generally had a lot of interesting experiences.

I guess I didn’t dream about doing all of that as a kid, but if my kid self could look at my future self and see the things I have done… he would think that I was a pretty cool dude! And I think that counts for something!

I’ve had various other fantasy jobs as well, such as teacher (which I think I would be good at), writer (which I am improving on through my blog, but nowhere near good enough to be a professional), and high level manager of something cool. I know, that last one is very specific!

Currently, I love alternative energy, and while my technical knowledge isn’t strong enough to design systems, I think it would be awesome to work in that industry. I’m not in the field now, but it is something I can work toward. Cool article.

I listened to my father and got a degree “that makes good money.” I can now firmly attest that there’s more to it than that.

My brother, on the other hand, recently quit being a teacher to become a fire fighter. That’s doing it right.