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Riddle: The Dream Job

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Clarissa

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I know how much everybody likes my riddles, especially the ones that have to do with me. I like them, too, so here is one:

No matter how much we like our professions and our lives, many of us have a secret childish fantasy about a dream career we haven’t pursued for many objective reasons but still fantasize about. I know a very brilliant academic in her fifties who secretly thinks it would have been amazing to be a pilot or a flight attendant. Another academic still has fantasies of having his own ice-cream cart. Somebody imagines herself as a model or a movie star. Somebody else fantasizes of being an astronaut.

I also have such a secret fantasy for a profession for which I’m not qualified at any level. I avidly watch the reality TV shows where representatives of this profession appear and imagine myself as one of them. I think there is nothing more glamorous and fun than working in this field.

So here is Question 1: what is my fantasy profession?

And Question 2: do you have one?

40 responses to “Riddle: The Dream Job”

  1. Evelina Anville Avatar
    Evelina Anville

    Yours: I would guess maybe some type of detective? I know you like shows like CSI and detective novels. So that’s my guess for you.

    Me: Owning a little flower shop and being a florist. I love flowers and I love arranging them. One of these summers, I’m going to go to floral design school to get my certificate– just for fun. 🙂

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    1. Clarissa Avatar
      Clarissa

      “One of these summers, I’m going to go to floral design school to get my certificate– just for fun.”

      – This is a beautiful dream. Of course, it’s impossible for me because the flowers would all just wither and die within a day. 🙂

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  2. Crystallizing Chaos Avatar
    Crystallizing Chaos

    I’ve always wanted to be a writer. I’ve daydreamed about doing readings and book-signings. 😛

    These days I also want to be a celebrity chef.

    Like

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  3. Jonathan Mayhew Avatar
    Jonathan Mayhew

    Maybe a chef? Mine is jazz or salsa drummer / percussionist.

    Like

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    1. Clarissa Avatar
      Clarissa

      I cook very well. I can cook pretty much anything but pastry. But the dream career is one for which I have zero qualifications. 🙂

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  4. Jonathan Mayhew Avatar
    Jonathan Mayhew

    Fashion designer? I could see you doing that.

    Like

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  5. hkatz Avatar
    hkatz

    Is it something athletic? Like a dancer or ice-skater? (Or basketball or soccer player.)

    Like

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  6. Fie Upon This Quiet Life Avatar
    Fie Upon This Quiet Life

    Yours: Dancer?

    Mine: I have so many! If money were no object, I’d be a writer — hands down. (That is, novels, not scholarship. Or plays! I’d love to be a playwright!) If I could afford it, I’d probably go to law school. Back when I was young enough and had student loans to burn, I didn’t have the confidence to be a lawyer. Now, though, I think I would be an AWESOME lawyer. And then, my dream job when I was a kid was that I wanted to be the first woman president of the United States. Sadly, that’s still a possibility — to be the first. (I’d hoped we’d have had a woman president by now.) I think I’d be an excellent politician, actually. I may still do that at some point.

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  7. cliff arroyo Avatar
    cliff arroyo

    For Clarissa I’ll guess fashion designer (or model?)

    For me, they’re all from geeky kidhood. Secret agent, monster wrangler, ancient egyptian specialist, super hero….

    Most real life jobs are too much like work.

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  8. Victoria Avatar
    Victoria

    Criminal mastermind? just kidding
    I was also going to guess detective, but that’s out, right? So..female cop? Rock star? Opera singer? Something science related? Marine biologist? Poet? Novelist?
    My dream job is to do art for a living.

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    1. Jones Avatar
      Jones

      I’d love to be Doctor Doom …

      The Justice League shall fear my wrath. 🙂

      Lex Luthor is just a bit too incompetent for my tastes, after all.

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  9. xykademiqz Avatar
    xykademiqz

    Is your dream career Singing? (Do you follow The Voice or similar?)

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  10. xykademiqz Avatar
    xykademiqz

    Is your dream career singing? (The show would be The Voice or similar?)

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  11. Clarissa Avatar
    Clarissa

    OK, just to help everybody out: this job is not artistic or creative in any way. And the suggestions that a job that I say I’m unsuited for is dancing or modeling makes me feel fat. Just saying. 🙂 🙂

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    1. cliff arroyo Avatar
      cliff arroyo

      “makes me feel fat”

      Well, I was thinking more of….. coordination issues.

      Now I’m thinking maybe in the detective line. I could almost get into that, but I wouldn’t want the hours of interviewing innocent people, I’d prefer to be the lazy Miss Marple type who engages people in meandering conversations and quietly realizes the murderer is the one who miss-buttoned their jacket.

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      1. Clarissa Avatar
        Clarissa

        “Well, I was thinking more of….. coordination issues.”

        – Thank you, this is kind. 🙂

        But no, nothing to do with crime or the legal system.

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  12. Benoni Avatar
    Benoni

    Vampire hunter? 😛

    My dream job when I was young was punk musician. I’m pretty lucky Pussy Riot weren’t around back then or I’d probably be worshipping the ground they tread on. I still love punk but I’m a bit more self-aware now.

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    1. Clarissa Avatar
      Clarissa

      But Pussy Riot lack all talent. It isn’t even music what they do. Or am I mistaken?

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      1. Benoni Avatar
        Benoni

        I’ve never listened to anything they’ve done, but given the crap I used to listen to I can almost guarantee that it wouldn’t have mattered if they were the most talentless people in the world. 😛

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  13. Clarissa Avatar
    Clarissa

    OK, a small hint: on these reality TV show my favorite participant calls himself Mr. Wonderful. And he is from Montreal.

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    1. Benoni Avatar
      Benoni

      Oh, you mean Kevin O’Leary from Shark Tank? So a salesperson?

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      1. Clarissa Avatar
        Clarissa

        He’s not a salesperson. 🙂 🙂 He buys, not sells.

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      2. Benoni Avatar
        Benoni

        An investor, then? Sorry for getting it wrong, I’m only aware of Shark Tank from my mother’s obsession with it. 😛

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        1. Clarissa Avatar
          Clarissa

          There is a different word for the profession. Two words, rather.

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      3. Benoni Avatar
        Benoni

        Venture capitalist?

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        1. Clarissa Avatar
          Clarissa

          YES!!!!!!!!!!!! We have a winner!!!!!!!!!!! 🙂 🙂

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      4. Benoni Avatar
        Benoni

        I never thought I’d be thanking my mother for her reality show obsession… but well, here I am. 😛

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        1. Clarissa Avatar
          Clarissa

          Your mother is a smart lady. Especially since she raised a brilliant son.

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  14. el Avatar
    el

    Thought it was an opera singer, but you said “not artistic,” so don’t know.

    My dream job was going into the wild to study lives of animals in nature. Like this woman:

    “Dian Fossey (1932 – 1985) was an American zoologist who undertook an extensive study of gorilla groups over a period of 18 years. She studied them daily in the mountain forests of Rwanda. Her 1983 book, Gorillas in the Mist, combines her scientific study of the mountain gorilla at Karisoke Research Center with her own personal story.

    She was called one of the foremost primatologists in the world.”

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    1. Clarissa Avatar
      Clarissa

      Wow, I’m learning very unexpected things about people here.

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      1. el Avatar
        el

        But I don’t think I was serious, just liked fantasizing. Still love reading books about animals sometimes and watching “National Geographic”. Have you ever tried watching it? It’s very relaxing and beautiful.

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        1. Clarissa Avatar
          Clarissa

          I’m also not seriously hoping to become a venture capitalist, especially given how bad I’m with money. 🙂

          I’m really not into nature. It scares and bores me. I’m more of a cement jungle person. 🙂

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  15. ladyleahjane Avatar
    ladyleahjane

    Just for fun, I’ll guess that yours was writer for a Spanish-language telanova?
    Me personally: I want to have my own TV show on the Food Network where I travel around the world tasting and enjoying different food. Basically, I want to be Guy Fieri, only less loud and boisterous.

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    1. Clarissa Avatar
      Clarissa

      Guy Fieri is too overwhelming for me. I can’t even watch the show for more than 15 minutes. But the profession is amazing.

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      1. ladyleahjane Avatar
        ladyleahjane

        I miss Ron Ben-Israel. If you put him in that format (Since the Food Network unforgivably cancelled his show, Sweet Genius) he would be an absolute delight to watch compared to Guy Fieri.

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      2. Evelina Anville Avatar
        Evelina Anville

        Oh my Gosh. I completely agree. I love Ron Ben-Israel! I don’t even like sweets or desserts and I adored his show because he was such a delight to watch! I just appreciated what a good teacher he seemed to be. 🙂

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  16. anon Avatar
    anon

    My “fantasy” profession: lead singer in a rock band. It would absolutely never happen – I am way too much of an introvert and I am practically tone deaf, so I would be miserable and bad at it. Even in elementary school choir I figured out I sucked at singing because the teacher kept giving me the speaking solos… I took up the drums instead 😉 (And for those who pay attention to bands, a drummer who longs for a chance in the spotlight is a particularly well-known bad idea). Anyways, as totally impractical and unrealistic as it is, I continue to sing along to music in my car and fantasize about kicking ass at karaoke night… Oh well, it’s good fun to fantasize.

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  17. E (The Third Glance) Avatar
    E (The Third Glance)

    I always wanted to sail around the world on a sailboat and study dolphins and whales…

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  18. Lear Avatar
    Lear

    MRA Activist? 🙂

    I’d probably like to be a hr activist though I just don’t have the balls for something of that scale.

    Alternatively, I could go for the vanity sportsman of the year.

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    1. Clarissa Avatar
      Clarissa

      For obvious reasons, HR means human resources to me. So when I read the comment, I immediately got alarmed. An hr activist? These enemies of humanity have activists? The horror, the horror! And then I figured out what you actually meant.

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A conservative literary critic and college professor

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