When I Grow Up

Since Fortune did not smile on me during this weekend's lottery drawing, I've turned my daydreaming elsewhere. I will continue to hold out hope for the "big win," but a girl's gotta have a backup plan, right?

After a week of "I hate my job" syndrome (I know I'm not the only one), I started thinking aboutall the careers I would love. What do I want to be when I grow up? I think it's a question weshould all keep in the back of our minds as we grow older, because that's all 'up' is, is older.
As a child I desperately wanted to be a ballerina, something I regret not becoming everytime I venture out to support the arts. I also wanted to be a veterinarian at some point. Otherthan that I never had any childhood dream job. Weird, right? My indecisive nature followed methrough high school and college. I declared an English major because it's what I'm good at, but it's a pretty useless degree to be honest. Nevertheless I perservered through a Master's degreein English. Hey, if you got a good thing going.

All in all, my bountiful college education provided me with no career guidance whatsoever. I love teaching part-time, but I'd rather do it full-time, and it's becoming more and more apparent that I will need to obtain my Ph.D. in order to make this a reality. Long story short, I came up with yet another list! These are careers in which I think I could succeed and have limitedbouts of the "syndrome."

1. write professionally (books or a weekly syndicated column in a newspaper)
2. shoe designer who brunches with Manolo and Jimmy and Brian
3. the head of a successful non-profit, probably in an effort to promote literacy
4. travel, and write about it
5. eat, and write about it
6. book reviewer (for the everyday reader, not the uptight book snobs who secretly love predictable thrillers with trashly love scenes)
7. housewife and avid volunteer

If anyone out there is hiring for any of these positions (number 7, I'm afraid, is dependent on my fiance. Maybe he should make a list?) I am available and can start immediately.