Your First Ambition And Your Education

Most of the children in my era had wanted to be a doctor but I had something different on my mind. I wanted to have a business, nothing in particular because I was just a kid that time. My idea is to be the boss and the decision maker of my business.

When I was in high school, I had no clear idea of what course to take. And when Industrial Engineering was brought up as topic during my senior year, I settled for that although I couldn't say I love the course. In fairness to my decision, the course is not too difficult and I had supportive classmates who became my close friends. So I graduated as an Industrial Engineer and got an apprenticeship work in a factory.

 

When I was in school I wanted to go to college and become a psyciahrist to help people with their problems. Once I found out how involved I would be in another person's life I decided that was not the right job for me. I get to involved at times, which is not good for the other person or me.

 

The far back I can remember is finding myself wanting to be a teacher, and anxious to start my school life. I was probably 3 or 4 years old then.

Later and throughout my whole student life, I wanted to be a writer or renowned journalist and liked to dream on reading my name in an encyclopedia or being nominated to win the Pulitzer prize.

However life took me through different way; after secondary school, my parents didn't allowed me to enroll in high school because there was then a leftist political movement that used to encourage high school students to participate in reactionary meetings and things like that.

My parents obviously didn't want me in jail or being injured in such manifestations, so got me studying typing and shorthand while the tile went down but, up to date, student movements remain the same and after completing my one-year typist formation, I got a recommendation letter from an honorable federal institution to get me attending college, skipping the high school requirement.

Again, my ambition was to study Philosophy and Literature or Journalism, but this was the time when there was war in Nicaragua and my parents didn't want to run the risk of having me making a career decision that would take me to a place like Nicaragua (or worst) as a war correspondent, nor they saw any future at all for a teacher, just in case I would still being thinking of this childhood dream.

No, I had other option in mind; make a career in the hospitality industry as I loved so much the idea of everything involved with traveling and tourism.

The funny fact here is that my career taught me the basics of marketing research and advertising that is actually the career I would like to pursue instead, but after graduating from college, mastering hotel, travel agency and restaurant management, I simply stepped out and went to work as a typist (composer machine operator) at an editorial house, anyway

 

Thank God for this thread! I did believe that I was a bit abnormal but now I see a pattern here and I just might fit in somewhere. Maybe, after all, I am normal or at least less abnormal.

I wanted to be a bio-chemist when I was a young teen. It sounded good and I was enthrawled by the idea of wearing a white smock and hovering over a table of chemicals complete with a compound microscope. A periodic table of elements on the wall with a blackboard complete with mathmatical scribbles that would delight even Ramanujan, on the opposite wall.
I was great at math, biology, chemistry and a few other "ologys" so off I went into the Army and became an Army Airborne Aircraft Electrician turned UH-1C helicopter door gunner in Vietnam.

Life was special after the Army for I was told I had to go to college to be a Aircraft Electrician in civilian life so, off to college I went (Seminary) and after 7 or 8 years got my Master of Divinity Degree, and then opened up 2 restaurants in New Orleans. (I did have mucho restaurant experience, and a bachelors in Food and Beverage management, but I would have to write a book in order to cover that history)

Now, I am retired, and working a part time job down the street to give us a little extra cash. The good news is, there is biology in the mix and I do get to wear a white smock, and I do look over a very large table and the wall has a picture on it but instead of the periodic table of elements it has a steer on it sectioned into "chuck, shoulder, sirloin, short loin ect."

I do wonder if there is a need for an Preacher/Teacher, Chef, aircraft electrician paratrooper who can use a miriad of firearms including, twin M-60s. I think I will try Craigslist. At my young age it might be time for a career move if there is such a listing.

 

I was keen on journalism, but losing both parents in my teens rather curtailed any personal ambitions and I ended up, purely by accident, in IT. At least I've finally got round to doing some proper writing (in the sense of the two books I've written rather than the drivel I contribute to this forum).

 

Always wanted to play my drums in a big band, like Glenn Miller, but then real life took over and got married real young and raised a great bunch of kids. No regrets whatsoever.

 

Yes! Looks like all of us have thought to be abnormal or have an abnormal life, but at this stage of our lives have found that we aren't at all, but life took us through different pathways we never thought of.

To all what I said above, I missed to comment that I was enrolled in a technical secondary, where choosing a side-career was mandatory and, among the available, I chose technical drawing.

While I never thought to devote a life to this career, I have always liked architecture-related facts, and this career became kind of hobby to me till date when, to my surprise, I'm living in an apartment that resembles in much those floor plans of the dreaming home I wanted to have.

So same way you actually wear a white smock, and have a home setting that resembles your early dreams, I'm sure some of us are now seeing our own materializing if not exactly as we thought, but closely

 

I always had a great love of reading and have always enjoyed writing, but I had no particular ambition as a child. Although I did not plan it, in my later years I became a book store manager and now I get paid to write content as a freelancer.

I started off doing office work because I was not allowed to continue my education and I had learned to type by the time I left high school.
I never much liked that sort of work until I got an admin job in the editorial department of a national magazine. I later worked for a global publisher but not in the office, I started working part-time in one of their shops, selling books. A few years later I was running a bookshop as full-time manager.

I returned to formal education in my late 40s but I did it out of interest rather than any ambition. Being a mature student allowed me to learn how to research and write academic papers, which led me on to factual freelance writing.

 

I set my goals pretty low. The only thing I knew that I wanted out of life was freedom. Mainly, freedom from my family.

 

Did I ever have some ambitions when I was in high school. As a youngster, I read and reread adventure books and stories. And when my parents weren't around, I read my dad's True, Cavalier and Argosy magazines. All through high school I had one goal in mind. Since my home town is on the banks of the mighty Mississippi River, it seemed only right that I graduate high school and then set out by rowboat down river to the gulf. My plans after reaching the gulf were to travel through Mexico and eventually into South America. I wanted to explore the Amazon.
I thought Spanish would be helpful and took one year high school Spanish. After struggling through that, I decided I would just learn it as I traveled.
Well, after graduation I went to work in a factory to earn money for a boat and gear. Somehow or other, girls interfered with my plans. Instead of a boat, I bought a car, eventually winding up with a wife and five kids. So much for my ambitions.

 

My experience with German class was similar. I came out of there knowing the chicken dance. So, if I ever go to Germany, as long as the chicken dance ill do the speaking for me, I'm set.

 

I am happy to delude myself that my French is passable, but whenever I go to France, I am disabused of that notion. I am unable to think in French, so I need to keep performing translations in my head. This is not conducive to good communication.

I have found it much easier to converse in French with people in places like Morocco and Tunisia because French is a second language for them, so unless they are very fluent, we get along very well.

 

I feel like that with sign language. If i see someone using it I can make out SOME of the words. I've started using it when I speak sometimes so that it feels more natural