Thursday, May 17, 2012

What did you want to be when you grew up?

So a former student of Geelong Grammar is suing the school because they did not 'support her' enough in maths to get the mark she needed to do law at university. The only surprise about this is that somebody didn't think of it before now. Seriously, I wasn't supported enough in maths by the local high school to get a waitressing job. My general ineptitude at maths should not be brought into consideration here. Not at all. Where do I sign up for the class action?

Lots of people would like to do law at university. Lord knows why. Everyone I know who did it spent years and years working 50 million hours a week and wearing pantihose. Yes, many of them are now worth squillions... but at what cost?

Personally, I wanted to be an actress. I was ready. Starring roles in local theatre productions had prepared me for worldwide fame. And then BMX Bandits came out, and I realised that Nicole Kidman probably had the 'frizzy-haired redhead' roles sewn up for the foreseeable future.

I wuz robbed, I tell you.

Almost as badly as my blogging mate Kerri Sackville, whose early acting work can be seen here. Apparently she was up for Nicole's role in BMX Bandits. She only lost by a hair, methinks.

Perhaps Kerri would like to join my class action against the producers of BMX Bandits, who clearly did not 'support us' enough to get us the role?

The Builder always knew he wanted to be a builder. And a builder he became. I don't know too many people like him. For most there's a gap between what they wanted to be when they were growing up and where they ended up as adults.

So what about you? What did you want to be when you were growing up? And where did you end up?



30 comments:

  1. I wanted to be an astronaut. Really I just wanted to get out of Adelaide I think - so I guess landing in Melbourne achieved one of those two goals.
    I always wanted to be a mum - so a big tick for that one too.
    Unfortunately the serious side to that question was I was never once asked what *I* wanted to be - I was always told what I had to be. My father is still whining about my wasted opportunties because I defied him at the last minute.
    Kids are such ungrateful little shits aren't they ;-)

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    1. You did not 'support him' in his expectations Cate. Expect a law suit any minute now...

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  2. A Vet...that is all I wanted to be but I was advised to take general maths for the then intermediate and so could not, do any maths after....Now where is my solicitor?!!!!!!!

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  3. I wanted to be a teacher.
    I made my cousins/pets/anything that moved sit down and listen to my drivel as I banged a ruler about.
    Never considered any other possibility.
    I am a teacher.
    Dream fulfilled!!! (with a lot less ruler banging though!)

    Hubby is on his 11th profession now - and I wish I was kidding.

    At a seminar recently, the speaker was saying that the next generation of students will have at least four different career paths and retrain twice, on average.
    They'll spend four years in a workplace - maximum - and many will be doing jobs that haven't even been created yet.

    Try suing us then!!
    :-) x

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  4. A flight attendant, or "Julie", the Cruise Director on The Love Boat.

    I still don't know what I want to be when I grow up.... but I'm getting closer. I've been in my current job for 11 years though, so something's gotta be working out for me. Or maybe it's just because I have 2 kids, the first of which is almost 12 so the flexibility of floristry has been a good fit for all of us (did I mention the flower shop is 1/2 way between our house and the school?!). Anyway, I did want to be a Mum when I grew up, so I can tick that box. Now, back to that career......

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  5. No no no. I actually wanted to be Nicole Kidman. So I am suing my parents because a) they didn't make me redheaded, b) they didn't make me tall and skinny, and b) they gave me no acting talent. NOT ACCEPTABLE.
    Then again, my daughter wants to be a princess when she grows up so I'd better start saving now......

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  6. Sounds like the Sydney post HSC student who wants to sue the Board of Studies for not considering her 'disability' enough - I think she had a sore wrist from all the exam writing - when she only received a UAI of 99.7. Me? I'm just jealous of anyone who's managed to pump out a novel or been a back up singer for a rock band, but there's way to many to sue!

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  7. A vet. I wanted to be a vet. But then I turned 16 and it suddenly didn't seem glamorous enough. LA Law was on TV so I did law... DUD career option for me. Who do I sue?

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  8. I don't think I ever knew. A friend of mine knew he wanted to be a civil engineer from the time he was ten. Ten! I didn't even know what a civil engineer was when I was ten! I used to be jealous but sometimes I wonder if it's what he thought it would be.

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    Replies
    1. Please ask him and report back. I too am in awe that he knew what a CE was at 10.

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  9. I wanted to be a journalist and a teacher (and now do a kind of combination of these, so I guess I was on the right track). My school tried to make me sign up for medicine instead. I wish I'd gone along with it, I would've been a miserable doctor and then I could have sued my school for "supporting" me with their interests in mind instead of mine :-)

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    Replies
    1. You would also have been a rich miserable doctor. And would have had heaps of money to sue!

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    2. Ah yes there is that ... hmm so now I need to sue the school for not persuading me convincingly enough!

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  10. I was advised by my year 10 English teacher not to study advanced English - apparently i was a little challenged in the area. Instead I chose science, and lots of it...for many years. Until i switched to communications and did want i bloody wanted to do in the first place.
    I thought basking in the glow of my self righteousness was my just reward, but dammit, get my lawyer on the phone, i have far too much science knowledge wasting space in my head and someone's got to pay!

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    Replies
    1. I see this as a basis for Science Fiction which is SO hotrightnow. Am not sure your case will fly...

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  11. I wanted to be an actress. I did the whole Am Dram thing too - was in stage productions of The King and I and Wizard of Oz etc. But the whole actress with a wayward nose thing was sewn up by Meryl Streep. Who do I sue? I'm going to sue everyone!

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  12. I wanted to be a teacher or a librarian.
    I did the course to be a teacher and then changed my mind about it. I did become a librarian for about 5 years.
    Then I decided I wanted to be a social worker. So I became one.
    Now I am a counsellor specialising in sex therapy.

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  13. Growing up I had no real career plans, I knew I was just going to get married then stay home keeping house and having babies. In later years though I did think I'd like to have been.....well, read tomorrow's post and find out.

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  14. I didn't have a clue what I really wanted to be until I was 40!! So many years of "jobs, not careers" paid the bills. Something happened when I turned that magical age, and I just knew I wanted to be a jewellery designer.....so I jumped in, and now I have my lovely Zen Designs to be quite proud of.
    When my daughter was little, she wanted to be a princess or a tree, but at the ripe old age of 9, has now decided she will be an artist or a musician.

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  15. Soil don't her parents be the ones suing...Geelong Grammar fees for high school....they would easily have dropped 250k over six or seven years into the school for fees, lap tops, timber top, uniforms, ski trips, music lessons, rowing comps....all for a lousy maths teacher. Clearly this student did well in legal studies or self importance classes, maybe she should start paying her parents back some cash for failing them and not trying hard enough.

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  16. Soil?? Try Shouldn't her parents...

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  17. The world has gone mad. This is up there with fat people trying to sue confectionary companies.
    I could never decide on any one thing. I think this is grounds to sue my career guidance counsellor.

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  18. I wanted to be a pilot, but the career guidance counsellor told me nursing would suit me better... My physics teacher thought I was destined to fail so helped me on my way by telling me to drop that subject. Seems to me I too have grounds to sue!!

    Lucky for me I'm stubborn and I ended up a pilot anyway :-) Now I want to be a writer so perhaps I could sue my current employer for not encouraging my creativity?

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  19. Oh my god, BMX bandits... Best movie she was ever in I reckon!!! Seriously! As for suing your school for failing math- given that half the kids at our school were behind the shelter sheds smoking pot while the rest of us were in class, I doubt it would be a successfull case. But suing the bIg old' private school, I'm surprised it's not a regular occurance. It doesn't do much for the silver spoon cliche! This girl clearly wants her spoon gilded in gold and rubies!

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  20. I wanted to be an 'artist'. I can remember saying that when I was five but I have no idea what I thought it entailed at the time. I did say nurse once or twice but that got the chop pretty quickly. I desperately wanted to be on Young Talent Time, and then a Countdown dancer (on those specials they had like Xanadu), and oh yes, Solid Gold! One of my good friends Angelo was the main boy in BMX Bandits. He is so embarrassed but I love finding photos of him from that film:-) I keep telling him it's a classic!

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    1. OMG - Angelo D'Angelo is your friend???? I had the most humungous crush on him at school. Saw him in some school study production - David Williamson play maybe? = and he stole my heart, or at least my hormones. See, I totes should have had that role!

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  21. I wanted to be a back up dancer...I think I still do. I also loved working with little kids with disabilities...do I became a social worker. Now I just force my daughter to go to tap, jazz and hip hop so I can live vicariously through her...

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  22. I think the polite expression for my ten years of flailing is 'late bloomer'. I just couldn't find the right fit until I was about 26. I never had that one exclusive 'thing'. I don't envy those who went straight into their chosen career paths immediately after school though, as much as it was a messy career path, I learnt a lot along the way. I actually wrote about it today.

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  23. I wanted to be a doctor or a lawyer. Eventually I went the way of law because of the maths (where do I sue?) but after my first bachelors degree someone wisely advised me to work in an attorney's office before I went through the hassle of law school and it was wise. It made me realize that I hated it. I didn't want to be a lawyer. I wanted to teach and write. And so here we are.

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