what i want to be when i grow up

This morning, I attended a Career Planning workshop at Fleet and Family Support.  I love the fact that I can pretend that I'm still in college and go to stuff like this - I always loved the Career Center at UGA.  And when I get preggers, I can take a gabillion more classes offered there.  But for now, I'll stick to the career and financial management stuff.

At the beginning of the class, we were asked to draw a picture of us in our dream job.  Ummm...I still don't know what my "dream job" is--isn't that why I'm at this workshop?--but I do know some components of it, so here is my drawing:

There's the sun, and that's me (with smudged eyes because my pen got a little excited), and those squiggly things are grass blades representing The Great Outdoors, and there's some people over there of all different ages (the one on the right even looks vaguely like my father).  And I'm telling them all something fantastic, I'm sure, or perhaps I'm singing this song.  You can see my energy in my big open-mouth smile.

This picture is the reason that I will 1) never work in a cubicle environment again and 2) never be a classroom teacher, no matter how much my aunts (and bank examiner mother, strangely) try to push me into it.  I recently had given thought to maybe teaching Elementary Phys. Ed., but after all the assessments and whatnot in this class today, I just don't think I'm meant to educate.  At all.

My highest scores did come in for the Hospitality, Tourism, Recreation field.  Which was no surprise to me.  I think being a tour guide or docent is probably my dream "career."  Fun environment, interacting with people, no overly-air-conditioned cubicle trap, possible good hours even.  But how is that really different from teaching?  I had to ask myself today.  I think the difference here is that a) people you're instructing are there willingly (usually) and b) you're not responsible for whether they learn anything or just walk away and don't give you a tip.  I have no tolerance for brats.

I've had a lot of wonky jobs (and duties within jobs) in the past 10 years, from reading books onto tape to writing rejection letters to reviewing infomercials.  But the best job I ever had was a part-time summer gig supervising teens on a High Ropes Course at an adorable Catholic Life Teen camp in north Georgia called Covecrest.  I loved being outside, I loved watching the teens learn to trust and discern their own physical and mental capabilities, and I loved teaching and encouraging them.  I would love to work on a ropes course again (even though I'm scared of heights!--I spent almost all of my time on the ground at the camp), and it might be a more available job in Pensacola than a tour guide, but we'll see.  And, no, I'm not set on working with teens, so please don't ask me to lead your youth ministry.  (I'll save the rest of that rant for another post!)  Corporate team-building might be a viable option as well, but only time and the economy will tell.

Let me know if you have a job or know of one that you think would suit me!  I'm always open to suggestions since I can't really foresee myself doing this full-time housewifery business forever.