Based on my last post, it probably sounds like I wanted to do everything when I grew up.
I didn't.
There were some careers that I always knew were out of my reach. Either that, or I figured it out in time.
1. Athlete. You guys, I have never been on an organized sports team. Never! Not even a little soccer team in kindergarten. Soccer was a boy game, and boys were gross, so I refused. Never even did cross country in high school. I enjoyed running and aerobics well enough, but I have no hand-eye coordination. (The strongest memory I have of PE in junior high is learning how to hit a birdie with a badminton racket. It took several class periods for me to figure it out, and my friend Meagan was by my side basically the whole time coaching me.) This one has never ever ever been on the radar.
2. Hairdresser. If my hair ever looks good it is an accident. It is surprisingly thick, so I had a lot of trouble finding the time to put it up or curl it. Thus, I never bothered to really learn how to do it. Luckily, that is what sisters are for.
3. Geologist. I think I liked the first two times I learned about different kinds of rocks. But then one time I was learning about rocks and in addition to the limestone and marble and whatnot, there was a rock called "gneiss." And something about that name turned me away from rocks and hot lava and tectonic plates forever. When I went on a biology field trip, it was actually a real struggle for me to enjoy the educational aspect because they wanted us to learn about all the different layers of the cliffs in Southern Utah. Even though Mr. Lit and Mr. McMillan were fabulous teachers, I just couldn't get into it. So to keep myself engaged and enthralled I wrote dopey poetry about the beauty surrounding us and the lonely clouds in the sky and the perils the cryptobionic soil faced in the margins of my workbook. Which was fine until we had to turn our workbooks in. Man, I'm still blushing about that.
4. On a similar note, I never wanted to be a paleontologist. I didn't like the music or plot from A Land Before Time and that just sort of made me not like dinosaurs in general. Plus, second graders got to go to some dinosaur place in Ogden and when I didn't go to second grade some people rubbed it in so I decided I never liked them anyway. Sat out in the car when my parents wanted us to go see the Dinosaur Park in Vernal. Refused to see Dinosaur in 2000 with my cousins. Avoided the dinosaur rooms as much as possible at the Smithsonian even just last March. Someday I will accept that I have a son and he might like dinosaurs, but I'm trying to delay it as long as possible.
5. For a short time, I think I wanted to be a politician, but when I couldn't keep my campaign promises as 1st grade class president I decided it wasn't for me. Well, I suppose I tried -- I promised everyone Tootsie Rolls and a picture I would draw for them. I got elected, and people made a list of the pictures they wanted me to draw. One of them was a yin-yang. I had no idea how to draw it, so I drew the peace sign and thought that was close enough. When I gave the index card with the "yin yang" on it to my classmate, his face fell and I knew I had messed up. Ever since then, I have been cautious in making promises or drawing pictures for money.
6. Oh, and I guess I never seriously considered being an artist either. And though I had my own craft company for a short while (Kyra Stuff, it was called, and I think I primarily made desktop backgrounds), my love of crafts ended in Young Women's once I realized I wasn't as neat as everyone else.
Although there are many other things I never considered, I either forgot them or am too embarrassed to admit them (dancer, I'm looking at you). (Basically, I wanted this list a lot shorter than my other list.)
Luckily, there are people who enjoy all of these things. So the world keeps on running the way it's supposed to.
I didn't.
There were some careers that I always knew were out of my reach. Either that, or I figured it out in time.
1. Athlete. You guys, I have never been on an organized sports team. Never! Not even a little soccer team in kindergarten. Soccer was a boy game, and boys were gross, so I refused. Never even did cross country in high school. I enjoyed running and aerobics well enough, but I have no hand-eye coordination. (The strongest memory I have of PE in junior high is learning how to hit a birdie with a badminton racket. It took several class periods for me to figure it out, and my friend Meagan was by my side basically the whole time coaching me.) This one has never ever ever been on the radar.
2. Hairdresser. If my hair ever looks good it is an accident. It is surprisingly thick, so I had a lot of trouble finding the time to put it up or curl it. Thus, I never bothered to really learn how to do it. Luckily, that is what sisters are for.
3. Geologist. I think I liked the first two times I learned about different kinds of rocks. But then one time I was learning about rocks and in addition to the limestone and marble and whatnot, there was a rock called "gneiss." And something about that name turned me away from rocks and hot lava and tectonic plates forever. When I went on a biology field trip, it was actually a real struggle for me to enjoy the educational aspect because they wanted us to learn about all the different layers of the cliffs in Southern Utah. Even though Mr. Lit and Mr. McMillan were fabulous teachers, I just couldn't get into it. So to keep myself engaged and enthralled I wrote dopey poetry about the beauty surrounding us and the lonely clouds in the sky and the perils the cryptobionic soil faced in the margins of my workbook. Which was fine until we had to turn our workbooks in. Man, I'm still blushing about that.
4. On a similar note, I never wanted to be a paleontologist. I didn't like the music or plot from A Land Before Time and that just sort of made me not like dinosaurs in general. Plus, second graders got to go to some dinosaur place in Ogden and when I didn't go to second grade some people rubbed it in so I decided I never liked them anyway. Sat out in the car when my parents wanted us to go see the Dinosaur Park in Vernal. Refused to see Dinosaur in 2000 with my cousins. Avoided the dinosaur rooms as much as possible at the Smithsonian even just last March. Someday I will accept that I have a son and he might like dinosaurs, but I'm trying to delay it as long as possible.
5. For a short time, I think I wanted to be a politician, but when I couldn't keep my campaign promises as 1st grade class president I decided it wasn't for me. Well, I suppose I tried -- I promised everyone Tootsie Rolls and a picture I would draw for them. I got elected, and people made a list of the pictures they wanted me to draw. One of them was a yin-yang. I had no idea how to draw it, so I drew the peace sign and thought that was close enough. When I gave the index card with the "yin yang" on it to my classmate, his face fell and I knew I had messed up. Ever since then, I have been cautious in making promises or drawing pictures for money.
6. Oh, and I guess I never seriously considered being an artist either. And though I had my own craft company for a short while (Kyra Stuff, it was called, and I think I primarily made desktop backgrounds), my love of crafts ended in Young Women's once I realized I wasn't as neat as everyone else.
Although there are many other things I never considered, I either forgot them or am too embarrassed to admit them (dancer, I'm looking at you). (Basically, I wanted this list a lot shorter than my other list.)
Luckily, there are people who enjoy all of these things. So the world keeps on running the way it's supposed to.
You didn't miss anything by not going to Dinosaur Park. One of the most boring field trips I have chaperoned. Okay, it may have something to do with the fact it was snowing in late April so all the time the kids were supposed to be playing outside wasn't all that fun. The boys I had probably toughed it out the longest. I've never been into dinosaurs either. And if my girls' hair ever looks good, it is because Emma or Nicole fixed it.
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