Got this from Lorinda:

The career meme…

1. Go to Career Cruising, www.careercruising.com.
2. Put in Username: nycareers and Password: landmark.
3. Take their “Career Matchmaker” quiz.
4. Post the top twenty results.
5. Put the careers you have seriously considered in bold.
6. Italicize any that are part of your current job/career.
1. Fashion Designer
2. Cartoonist / Comic Illustrator (I would consider this one
   seriously if I could draw!)
3. Medical Illustrator
4. Industrial Designer
5. Website Designer
6. Interior Designer
7. Musical Instrument Builder and Repairer
8. Writer
9. Critic
10. Translator
11. Print Journalist
12. Upholsterer
13. Technical Writer
14. Furniture Finisher
15. Picture Framer
16. Market Research Analyst
17. Veterinary Technician
18. Artist
19. Graphic Designer
20. Computer Animator

What fascinates me about this quiz is that there were no questions that appeared to lead toward the home-based textile arts industry (spinning, weaving, dyeing, knitting, sewing, and so on...). This quiz is really focused on "getting a job", not finding a career, IMHO. *smile*

One of the few things my father got right was when he would say, "Pick what you would do on vacation. Make that your career and you'll never work again." That's true, for the most part. It won't be "work" all day, every day. It'll be something you enjoy and have a passion for. But the flip side is that all jobs have "bad stuff": paperwork for those who hate paperwork; time clocks for those who hate schedules; a crappy boss; an annoying co-worker. So, choosing to do what you are passionate about makes those annoying parts less so.

I tell my son, "It's not how much you make at your job that matters. It's how happy your job makes you." I don't care if he grows up to be a garbage man or a lawyer (well, maybe I'd mind the lawyer...). I don't care if he becomes a car mechanic or a doctor (similar tasks, different "patients"...and a mechanic sure doesn't have the malpractice insurance a doctor does!). I just want him to be the best he can be at whatever he chooses to be.

Meanwhile, here I am at thirty-seven, a "writer" who hasn't really been writing lately and isn't sure what she wants to be when she grows up. Have you seen those new Cingular-now-AT&T commercials where someone is sitting on a stool and the backgrounds keep changing 'cause they're in contact with people all over the world? Near the end, they say something like, "...'cause my place is ." That's me. That's my career wants: architectalpacamamaspinnnerweaverknitterhorticulturistcartoonistauthor.