One of those post

A very long time ago, probably 8th grade, a woman came into my Home skills class. It was one of those classes where you learn how to sew, cook, clean and talk about what was appropriate and inappropriate. I didn't quite get it and thought it was really out dated. She was a career counselor and wanted to give us a preliminary heads up on reality..that we all couldn't be the President of the United States, a rock star, or a teenaged mutant ninja turtle (there was always that one kid in eigth grade, the same kid who had an imaginary dog). All the while, I was thinking in the back of my head, 'so this is how you are going to ruin my life, ms?'

We all took a little test and there was a long Q and A about what our answers resulted. There were questions on that ambigious five scale.
Do you like to build things?
1.Very much, 2. yes, 3. neutral, 4. no, 5. never.
I put down very much, but in reality I wanted to write in the margains : well, I don't like blocks, and I think leggos are very out dated, but give me an ultimate erector set and I could probaly build you a rock that rolls itself. But do I like it? ah, when there is nothing else to do, yes.

There were questions like:
Would you rather a) put out a fire or b) fix a car?
I'd write: c) start a huge road fire and then I'd take a big ass Humvee and drive through that shit with water cannons blazzing and my sergant yelling at me, "Quach, you got to give it more gas, son!" "Yes Sir" and I'd drive in figure eights until I puked!  (I was 13, and these are the things 13 year old boys dream of besides Christina Applegate).

I finished the test and my score pointed me in the direction of the Service Industry. I'd be a pretty good carpenter or your local school custodian (no offense, Mr. Malhoun).

She asked all of us, what did we like to do. The question went around the room. John said I like to play with my dog. She would reply, you should look into being a Veternarian. Suzie said she liked to dress her dolls. The career conselor said, you should look into fashion design. She came to me and asked - 'so what about you. What do you like doing?'  and hoping to throw her off and spite her, I said, 'I like to think.' And I did. I would sit and ponder over the nature of humanity or at least let my imagination off it's leash. Even at a young age, I had this strong inclination to just study humanity, what drives us, what makes us differant from animals, why are there so many religions, what is love, why hate, etc. She said, 'well, that's is unusual, but there are these things called think-tanks that sit down and try to solve the problems of big companies. You could try out that career track.' And when I was about to asked what was the trail for that career path, she quickly moved on to Timothy who smiled widely and said he knew what he wanted to be..a dentist.

I did learn a few things about myself that day. 1. Career counseling is not a job for me; 2. I should look into this thing called a think tank; and 3. I have a lot of interest and a lot of imagination.