Aces High Bulletin Board
General Forums => The O' Club => Topic started by: Nash on December 14, 2004, 08:34:27 PM
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Just to give the post some context of what I'm getting at:
I enrolled in university out of high school and lasted for 2 weeks then quit. I got a crap job and a crap girlfriend for a coupla years, then chucked it to head back to school. I lasted two months that time - then went back to crap jobs and crap girlfriends.
I went home one Sunday for family dinner, and Mom dumps a bag full of all these art supplies on the table. Weird stuff to me at the time. Pens... bottles of ink... paintbrushes etc. And she slaps down an application for art college and says I've got two months until the deadline... and that I have to come up with 12 pieces of art and write some essay.
Wish I coulda seen the look I gave her. WTF? I sucked at art.... never paid any attention to it, never took it in school. It was an absurd idea.
But... heh... for the next two months I came home from work and just started making stuff. Awful, horrible garbage. I can't remember what most of them were... but I remember trying to give them artistic sounding titles, because I thought that's what artists did. One was a portrait of this old woman, and I (lol) called it "Gin and Catatonic"... jesus...
k... I'll speed it up.....
I got accepted... and for the next 4 years I owned the joint. Then got accepted into the School of Visual Arts (a big deal) and spent another two there. Graduated, lived large in the Big Apple with clients like Chase Manhattan and Goldman Sachs.
Phew... So anyways... uhm.... Life is funny. Where it takes you. If I wasn't doing this, I don't have the faintest idea what I'd be doing.
So my questions to y'all.... (because I think it's interesting)....
Did you always want to do what you're doing now? Was it a straight line?
When you were younger, did you picture yourself doing something different than what you're doing now?
How did you wind up doing what you're doing?
Any regrets? Or conversely, thoughts of "Thank god!"
Do you like what you're doing now? Or wish you were doing something different?
Do you think your occupation matters, and that you matter to your occupation?
Or does none of it matter, and that wherever you wound up is (and was) never necessarily important, when compared to other aspects of life?
If so, is that an attitude you've taken on now but didn't subscribe to when you were younger? Or always held?
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When I graduated I worked construction, then went to college a couple of years after high school. Took 'Education' and lasted one semester.
Spent the next 10 years in crappy jobs and with the wife 8 months pregnant and less than a year into a mortgage I found myself unemployed.
Desperate and stressed out I walked into a 'water and sewer' contractor and was hired for 12 bucks an hour as a laborer. I was making 18 bucks an hour before my first paycheck and have been there ever since. I love many things about my job .. playing on tractors and backhoes, running a crew or just laboring in the ditch all have some form of satisfaction. The hours suck ... I have hit almost 100 hours in one week ... no I'm not kidding.
The job allows me to make enough to support the family and my wife works 2 shifts on weekends so we are actually able to raise our kids and not a babysitter.
I envy those who know early what they want to do for a living ... I am still looking. Maybe one day I can figure it out.......
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When I was in Kindergarten, I wanted to be a scientist.
Now I am (soon-to-be) a Junior at the University of Louisville, studying biology.
I also wanted to fly World War II airplanes since I was a very young boy. Aces High has let me do that.
I've always wanted to have a huge aquarium, several hundred or even thousands of gallons. I'm a scuba diver, so that dream has been fulfilled also.
All thats left is for me to move to a tropical island :)
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Originally posted by SunTracker
All thats left is for me to move to a tropical island :)
just let global warming take care of that...
as far as i can tell, im going to work my bellybutton off with some ****ty job till i turn 18, get on as labour crew at the road maintenance place my dad works, then im going to be a butler...
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I'm doing what I always wanted to do as a kid. Guess I got lucky.
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Originally posted by Raubvogel
I'm doing what I always wanted to do as a kid. Guess I got lucky.
Type on the BBS? Come on Raub... fill us in.
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Well I'm not dead, so I must be doing something right :)
I want to fly - pure and simple. In a few months I'll be plowing through hours in the air and grabbing a PPL.
In the mean time, I'm starting a full time job at tomorrow General Mitchell International (MKE) and getting a feel for the general operations at an international airport. At the same time, I'm studying at the University of Wisconsin for a degree in physics. I threw mechanical engineering out the window, on the grounds that I don't like paperwork (and it would add a full two semesters to double major). It's still up in the air, if I find the motivation, I'll do it. Once that's taken care of, I wouldn't mind having the government pay for my flight time... so I'll be looking into the service 2-3 years down the road.
Regrets? Too much damn time in Aces High :D I haven't blown it... yet :cool:
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I am perhaps the biggest underachiver of all time. my regrets are too many to list here.
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Originally posted by Nash
...So my questions to y'all.... (because I think it's interesting)....
Did you always want to do what you're doing now? Was it a straight line?
Nope and heres the way it went....High School to Navy (Fireman) , to Golf Pro , to Where I am now.
When you were younger, did you picture yourself doing something different than what you're doing now?
Oh Yeah. Fireman. Did it in the Navy. Took the Test when I got out and practically aced it. Unfortunately the ole Affirmative Action cost me.
How did you wind up doing what you're doing?
Got my job thru the Golf Business. I played quite a bit with the Director of where I work now. One day I told him I was tired of 70-80 hours a week for crap pay. He was playing with one of the managers (whom I knew as well) and told him to hire me the next week. SO , I walked off the course..Told my Boss at the time I quit and Left. Didnt know diddly about what I was doing , but just went with it. Now 14 years later here I am.
Any regrets? Or conversely, thoughts of "Thank god!"
Sometimes regrets and others thank god. Regrets mostly because I work nights and miss family things and all. Thanks god because I have a good boss , goood benefits and I'm making more money than I ever have. Not alot...but Enough.
Do you like what you're doing now? Or wish you were doing something different?
Fireman...or PGA Tour Pro. Had a shot one time...now I have to wait for the Senior Tour.
Do you think your occupation matters, and that you matter to your occupation?
Yep..Legislature don't function if this computer room goes. And Yes I matter because I have learned and I'm good at what I do.
Or does none of it matter, and that wherever you wound up is (and was) never necessarily important, when compared to other aspects of life?
Being the best husband and father , Son , Uncle , Brother , and GRANDFATHER I can be is all that really matters.
If so, is that an attitude you've taken on now but didn't subscribe to when you were younger? Or always held?
As I have gotten older I have changed. Now my parents are REALLLY smart. :lol
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You do not have to know where you are to be there.
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If I did not have to go to college and have a successful future, me and a friend wanted to walk the coast from New England to Chile to Alaska with nothing but backpacks.
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How long have you been a Buddhist, Lizking? How did you wind up becoming one. Do you have any regrets? Do you enjoy that life?
:)
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Went to the California Culinary Academy 4 years out of high school. Before that I travelled through a newly independant E. Europe and a previously free W. Europe.
After cooking in various joints throughout the country I went to university and graduated summa cum laude from a small liberal arts college with a major in history (thesis dealt with WWII, wont get into here but if your interested drop me a line)
Took the LSAT, was accepted to GW Law School graduated with honors. Appointed to a position with a federal district court judge in WY. Passed the CA bar. Looking for employment.
I would have rather been a rock star or professional gambler. And of course given the general BBS subject an aviator,
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interesting subject to come up. I've been wrestling with this one for a while now.
from the time I was 4 I wanted to do the marine biology thing. do the research boat thing. lots of diving, make some films that sort of thing.
I got my dive certs when I was 11. I took oceanography classes at the end of elementary school and in Jr high(went to good schools then, had lots of options).
then about a month or so before my 14th birthday my parents moved us to Missouri. quite a ways from the nearest ocean, most of the water was a nice dirt brown with snakes in it. the science & math classes available were about 3 years behind the schools I had gone to before. I didn't make 1 dive for the next 7 years.
since then it wasn't a matter of what I wanted to do so much as what would pay the bills. nothing really interested me, but I got married right out of school and had kids to feed. I did a lot of jobs from selling fish, working in the shipyards, to running the computers and finance division for an insurance brokerage.
I eventually ended up building and repairing boilers. it's interesting enough, challenging, and not much 'office-politics' crap to deal with. I'm good at it, excellent pension plan, the pay ain't bad and usually the job ends and they lay you off before you get sick of a project and quit. there are a lot worse ways to make a living and most guys in my family end up doing it anyway.
about a year and a half ago I was injured. aside from the neck damage (which makes it pretty much impossible to wear a welding hood again), I also received an inner-ear injury. it completely trashes my sense of balance, situational awareness, and ability to concentrate or focus my eyes for any length of time (all of these work together to turn my normal work environment into a death-trap). to top it all off I get seasick standing on dry ground and can only read very short bits at a time with a severely limited comprehension (went from reading 500-700 pages a week to less than 250 in recreational reading in the last 19 months).
so now at 38 years old I get to try and figure out what I want to do for the next 27 years (thats another bonus, had I been able to stay at my present job I would get full retirement at 58, now I get to work an extra 7).
I have no idea what to do now. plus my original plans for retirement are pretty much off the table (learn to sail, move to the islands and make some spare cash doing a 'rent a dive buddy' type thing.)
I'm supposed to see some vocational counselor this month, hope he has some ideas.
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Originally posted by Nash
Type on the BBS? Come on Raub... fill us in.
Ever since I was a little kid I always wanted to be around aviation, especially helicopters. Right out of high school I joined the Army and worked on helicopters for 5 years. Got out of the Army and worked crap jobs for 4 years before I realized that I had already figured out what I wanted to do with my life but was too stupid at the time to realize it. Went back into the Army, got my A+P license. Now I work as a contractor providing maintenance support to the National Guard. About to start a job instructing Army helicopter maintenance courses. It still amazes me sometimes when I see a helicopter torn down to an airframe, put back together, then taking off into the sky. Some people don't get it, but to me it's like a zen moment or something. I make decent money, will never be wealthy, but I thoroughly enjoy what I do and get satisfaction out of my job. That's enough for me.
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I would be someone else...probably a marine biologist.....
definitely a marine biologist
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Originally posted by Red Tail 444
I would be someone else...probably a marine biologist.....
definitely a marine biologist
If you were a marine biologist, maybe you could pull a golf ball out of a beached whale's blowhole and save it's life, impressing your girlfriend.
I was nominated, but not appointed to, the US Naval Academy. I've always wondered what I'd be doing now if I were able to take that road.
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Well, there's no such thing as reincarnation, so we don't have to think about who we might have been or who we were in some past life. We only pass this way once.
Les
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Since Nash started this thing I tend to think it's not genuine but all the same, I'll bite.
I had 2 goals from before High School. I wanted to fly and I wanted to go into Law Enforcement or Fire Fighting. After High School I busted my butt working my way through school to get a degree. I also joined ROTC at the urging of an Uncle who had been an Army Officer. (He had started out enlisted, was a B29 gunner then went back to school, did ROTC then made a career retiring as an LTC. in Cavalry branch.)
I finished school then had to make a decision. I was already at my Branch school and they were coming up on decision time to try for full active or go the Reserve route. I received a letter from the PD for my final pre hire physical so I decided to do Army part time and Police fulltime. I retired from the Army in 2000 as Armor LTC.
I learned to fly on my own then bought my own plane and had it until last summer. (Piper Comanche) I enjoyed flying and working on it. I retired from the PD after being disabled in a motorcycle collision on duty. I then went back to school and got a Masters in Education and taught school for 3 years. That wasn't much fun so I got a job as program director of a non profit education incentive program that involved aviation. That was a nice couple of years but it wasn't going to get any different or progress so I helped an aircraft mechanic who convinced me to get my A&P. Did that and got an Associates degree at the same time. After a year and half my wife retired so now we RV full time accross the country. I go where I want, do what I want when I want.
All in all I pretty much did what I wanted to do am proud of what I accomplished and have very few regrets about it.
Life is too short to not do interesting things. If you are happy doing what you do then enjoy it. If not, do something about it. The only one who can hold you back from what ever you might want to accomplish is the person in the mirror.
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When I was young, I thought I'd be a scientist, or somethin that had to do with math. Then I started taking things apart (which my parents did everything to stop), eventually in my teens i could put em back together......but, when I learned guitar, I knew I would be a musician, played in a good band, wrote some music, learned bass also.....Unfortunatly, that never paid the bills. So I went to work (of course after a few years of band parties & drinkin) for Hughes aircraft (now Boeing sattelite), and ended up taking machines apart & fixing them. Started at 6 bucks an hour as a lowly 'processor', am now a senior tech.
I think I wouldve still been in the music business(with my same $15 guitar)...in fact im startin to write again, and learnin piano; now that i can afford all those fancy guitars & sound processors & stuff I used to drool over ...
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My jobs in chronological order:
Farmhand
Gas Pump Jockey
Truck Driver
Heavy Equiptment Operator
U.S.Coast Guard
Traffic Reporter
Disc Jockey
Reporter
News Anchor
Program Director
Truck Owner/Operator
Bar DJ
Bar Manager
Liquor Store Owner
Liquor Chain Area Supervisor
Rancher
When I get bored, I move on to something new. I really regret getting out of broadcasting, but it was a great move financially. A few friends and I made an indecent amount of money with those trucks in a few years hauling hazmat when the "Superfund" industrial contamination clean-up's were going strong. It allowed me to do pretty much whatever I wanted to for the rest of my life.
Right now I enjoy getting back to my roots farming and ranching. I'm going thru a "Tom Good" phase trying to be self-sufficient. I just need Felicity Kendall (circa 1975) to complete my evil plan.
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Porn Actor
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Did you always want to do what you're doing now? Was it a straight line? (no)
When you were younger, did you picture yourself doing something different than what you're doing now? (yes)
How did you wind up doing what you're doing? (fell in love and wound up in the family business)
Any regrets? Or conversely, thoughts of "Thank god!" (no real regrets... had to make a choise)
Do you like what you're doing now? Or wish you were doing something different? (its ok, but I still wish i had done something else)
Do you think your occupation matters, and that you matter to your occupation? (yes and yes but not really to myself)
Or does none of it matter, and that wherever you wound up is (and was) never necessarily important, when compared to other aspects of life? (compared to other aspects...no)
If so, is that an attitude you've taken on now but didn't subscribe to when you were younger? Or always held? (fairly new attitude....status and money mattered to me when I was younger, now i just need enough for my family and _abit_ more)
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(http://www.peternorth.com/images/topimg.jpg)
Nuff said...
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After much consideration, I have decided that if I weren't who I am, I would like to be a lesbian golfer.
Get all the p***y I want, and hit from the red tees.
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I wanted to be Rockstar. I am still working on my version of the "cucaracha" ... some of you have had the pleasure to hear me sing it on proxy channel. If not... ask my squaddies.
Meanwhile, I do enjoy what I do a lot, building web apps is like lego... you start off with a blank page, and end up with lots of little toys. :)
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Nash..
Thats funny , my ma is retired now and is painting full time. I'm taking lessons with her this winter, I like the art stuff, hope my path turns out as well as yours. Did you ever join the Cdn. art ass.?
Skersk...
I've been drivin heavy machines for years. Have many pals who did stints in Alberta in machines. I was wonderin, if I wanted a stint up in the Ft McMurry area, is there an agency doin the hiring up there? and is it still booming?
Jeezy...
Wassup buddy? Long time no see, . Glad to see you graduated buddy!!
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I have seen people who get a job and stay with it for 30 years or more and then retire from it with very little change except in status or income. like boxboy up to manager of the same supermarket and maybe change from one branch to another..
most of us try a lot of different things tho. I believe that everyone should take at least one shot at running their own business tho. I have had a lot of trades and been a contractor several times. Mostly tho I used construction as a way to make a lot of money in a short time so that I could spend the rest of the time running wild. I sometimes wishn that I had been more serious and not got so far behind the curve but.... no real regrets... had a great time and still caught up enough to retire soon if I'm not too worried about a high standard of living.
lazs
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If I wasn't a pilot...
I was very interested in oceanographic research before I discovered airplanes and I discovered computers just a few years later, so I'd have either been a poor ratty looking ocean research guy with a beard and a nice coat of blubber, a computer programmer, or some sort of aero/computer dude in the aerospace industry.
I also thought about joining the Navy but Navy ROTC didn't want me, go figure.
When I grow up, I want to be a surfer.
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sounds like a Zen koan to me :)
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Originally posted by airbumba
Nash..
Skersk...
I was wonderin, if I wanted a stint up in the Ft McMurry area, is there an agency doin the hiring up there? and is it still booming?
It's still booming up there. Trades are what is needed most from what I have heard. Try the list of contacts here (http://www.suncor.com/default.aspx?ID=7) - I'm sure one of these will work
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I'd be Superman, or a pirate.
-SW
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Nash, please give your mother a big hug. Its amazing what potential she saw in you, isn't it? Not to take anything away from your talent, which is considerable, but she saw it and gave you the push you needed. What a great thing she did for you - you should remind her that you know it.
I wanted to be a professional athlete, but my coaches told me I lacked three things: strength, stamina, and coordination.
Lots of interesting stories here. Capt Apathy, I wish you the best. I recently ended a twenty year career in IT with the same company, and I'm searching for direction myself. I think I'm pretty much done with IT in a large company setting, and I'd like to spend the second half of my working life doing something really different. Habadasher, maybe?
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A lifer Air Force guy. Almost joined in 1979, went to take my physical and ended up smoking a joint on the trip down to the physical facility. Changed my mind before I arrived, and 7 days later I came west to hire in with Boeing.
1981, after I was laid off from Boeing, I again went to the recruiting office but my G/F at the time begged me not to join. I ended up bartending and paying for my college that way.
Had I joined the service, I wouldn't have the wonderful children, wife and life I have today, however I feel a certain emptiness in my life having not served..
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Originally posted by skernsk
It's still booming up there. Trades are what is needed most from what I have heard. Try the list of contacts here (http://www.suncor.com/default.aspx?ID=7) - I'm sure one of these will work
Thanks Skernsk, btw, what dept in Alberta is responsible for inter provincial journeyman cards?
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If I weren't me I'd be somebody else, doin somethin different, prolly.:lol
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Originally posted by Wolfala
(http://www.peternorth.com/images/topimg.jpg)
Nuff said...
Beutiful...LOL...:aok :aok :rofl :rofl
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"They" kept telling me that I was going to be a Lawyer some day. I gave them the finger and joined the Navy.
When I got out "they" told me that I was going to be a lawyer. I gave them the finger and got a degree in IR.
"They" told me to go to law school. I gave them the finger, and started studying for the GRE.
So anyhow, now I'm in law school, and I seem to have run out of fingers, while everyone else laughs at me lol.
I'm not sure why I fought it so hard all my life. I guess I was just being contrary to everyone else who just expected me to become a Lawyer.
The only other things I could see myself doing are staying in the Navy for 30 years, or Getting my PhD and becoming an IR Professor. But those are two choices that I specifically didn't make, so I'm pretty comfortable where I am.
-Sik
PS: "They" are my friends and family, and pretty much anyone who knew/knows me.
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I never quit being amazed at the amount of truly quality people who post here. When I first posted here years ago I thought everybody was a schlep like me, and granted, there's a few schleps, but the vast majority of people here are more impressive than the vast majority of people I deal with every day.
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hmmm guess maybe I'd be a piercing so I could see what Nash's inerds look like :rofl
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Originally posted by Airhead
I never quit being amazed at the amount of truly quality people who post here. When I first posted here years ago I thought everybody was a schlep like me, and granted, there's a few schleps, but the vast majority of people here are more impressive than the vast majority of people I deal with every day.
you were better when you were a bungie jumpin champion :)
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I'd be on of those hot little half naked Japanese College girl/ Mecha pilots with a giant robot with a ninja sword and a particle beam cannon. Then I would open a can of whoop bellybutton on NK and Kim Jong Il for threatening my peaceful homeland. Unless of course NK has tentacle monsters:eek:
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Wolfala...why are you so jealous of Kieran?
Nash...Gin and Catatonic...LOL That's brilliant. Shows how much I know about art though I guess.
Anyway...me?
Regrets, I've had a few;
But then again, too few to mention.
I did what I had to do
And saw it through without exemption.
I planned each charted course;
Each careful step along the byway,
But more, much more than this,
I did it my way.
Yes, there were times, I'm sure you knew
When I bit off more than I could chew.
But through it all, when there was doubt,
I ate it up and spit it out.
I faced it all and I stood tall;
And did it my way.
I've loved, I've laughed and cried.
I've had my fill; my share of losing.
And now, as tears subside,
I find it all so amusing.
To think I did all that;
And may I say - not in a shy way,
"No, oh no not me,
I did it my way".
For what is a man, what has he got?
If not himself, then he has naught.
To say the things he truly feels;
And not the words of one who kneels.
The record shows I took the blows -
And did it my way
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Originally posted by Saintaw
I wanted to be Rockstar. I am still working on my version of the "cucaracha" ... some of you have had the pleasure to hear me sing it on proxy channel. If not... ask my squaddies.
Just for your information Rockstar often die young and violently.
Especially the one "singing" on squad channel :p
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I always wanted to be a catholic preist.
But I was born a jew.
J/K Always wated to be a race car driver.
But here is a list of jobs I have had
Farmhand
Prodution line worker at Marmon motors
Motorcycle mechanic
Motorcycle service manager
Car salesman
Emergency medical tech
Retiered.
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Don't forget, sniper.
-SW
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Originally posted by Eagler
you were better when you were a bungie jumpin champion :)
Yeah, I had more fun then too, but the Doctor said I had a choice- live another 10 years drinking like a fish, or live another thirty years sober. I did the math and now I drink alternate weeks, figure that'll give me twenty more years.
That's enough.
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Started in a Gas Station @ age 12...
worked there and a speed shop through High School Built StockCars/Dragsters
Left Misery and Worked on a power Plant as a Boilermaker in sewer city Iowa
(should have stayed with that)
Dad talked me into working for his buddy who was in the telephone contract business.
Traveled border to border coast to coast as a contract Splicer/Installer/lineman 16 years
Sheetrock Mechanic during contract dry spells in Dallas/Ft Worth area 7 years
Hired on with a local Phone Company as a Cable Maintenance Splicer
Construction Supervisor
Central Office Supervisor
Service Supervisor
Project Manager Circuit to Packet Conversion (first class 5 switch in the world ever cut to packet technology May 20th 2003)
Field Operations Manager National Staff
The job I thought I would be doing?....Bill Gates Boss...as a youngin i was always dreaming up and building electronic things...like a device that detected the db gain of a commercial when it came on TV blaring and stepped it down to a normal level.
Or how I could pipe sunlight into my basement room which had no windows....(used aluminum flex duct)
Spending hours writing programs on the ole "64" just to say naw no one would pay for that and wipe it out so I could start on my vision of transmitting sound through waves of light.(never quite got there on that one)....tons of stuff I see today it's like "humm thought of that one in "69"...just never had the money to do anything with them....I still have some prototypes of things just way too expensive to patent....Do have a couple of pat. pendings but thats it.......So I just have to survive the latest aquisition and spin off of the company I work for and make it 8 more years then I see myself building custom "rides"
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Well at first I wasnt sure what I wanted to be. I was running with the wrong crowd in South Central LA. I always wanted to be a Sheriff, but a severe *** whipping I took from them when I was 15 changed my mind. I also wanted to be an aircraft mechanic. So after a couple of years of trouble and violence I decided the military was the best route to get me out of LA. I signed up to the Marines to be an aircraft mechanic and ofcourse they put me in computer ops, go figure. I still work in computer ops to this day and still wish to be an aircraft mechanic. Never did I believe I would still be dealing with the military after 14 years.
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Originally posted by Ripsnort
Had I joined the service, I wouldn't have the wonderful children, wife and life I have today, however I feel a certain emptiness in my life having not served..
There's always the National Guard. Just 1 weekend a month and 2 weeks a year. I hear they are hiring.;)
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I was probably 4 years old when my Dad, the XO of an F-86D squadron at McGuire AFB came ripping down mainstreet of the little town we lived in off base in an F-86 and did a vertical pull and roll.
See, in those halcyon days a Major's family had one old car and Mom had it for shopping that day so this was Dad's way of telling her that he was about done for the day and that we should head to the base and pick him up.
Knew I was going to be an Air Force pilot from that day on, I think.
Did all the things I thought were going to be necessary to get the job and I got a 4 year AFROTC scholarship out of high school.
In college, for fun, I went pre-med because I liked science stuff and I'd always figured my second choice job would be as a vet because I always just loved working with dogs.
In college, the "professor of aerospace studies" found out I was pre-med and tried to make me give up my "1P" (pilot training") rating and send me off to med school. He had the horsepower and the contract had the old "needs of the AF clause" and he could have pulled it off.
But my buddy the supply Sarge clued me in and told me to change my major if I wanted to fly. So I did and I went to UPT.
Loved the AF, loved my job. Hated working under Carter's Defense Department. Had Maintenance Colonel convince me as Aircraft Commander to commit fraud once in a fuel for airplane parts swap with a major airline in order to get necessary parts for our airplane so we could keep flying missions as directed by NSA. They never caught us.
That event made me decide I was done working for Carter. I actually thought he was going to win the election vs Reagan, so I put in my papers. Ha! Reagan won! Had I stayed in, I'd have most likely been a high ranking guy in the RC squadron during Desert Storm. That's about my only regret as far as the AF part goes.
Went to Delta; it was a good job. The lifestyle reads way better than it lives, but it's hard to get folks to believe that. Regrets there are that I spent way too many nights away from home. My kids grew up with a part time Dad and I missed an awful, awful lot of birthdays, holidays, sports events, etc. The luck of the hiring wheel made my class "junior" for a long, long time, so we flew the crap schedules seemingly forever. I had an opportunity to be a training department weenie early on that I turned down. Should have taken it; I'd have been home almost all the time just teaching sims. Probably could have got into the Management Pilot cycle too... but flying a desk still is a major turn off.
I did what I wanted to do though and I'm happy with that.
I'd probably have been just as happy or happier as a Vet though... and could have bought a good airplane. My vet buddies are doing awfully good. ;)
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Not Jealous - hell the dude is my hero.
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I never really planned anything and so haven't accomplised anything career wise. I'm in debt for going to college and taking computer programing (which I found I dispised) and ended up working in the IT industry, (which I have no love for).
I woke up shortly after turning thirty to a wonderful wife and beautiful girl and no long term way support them, buy a house etc. Certainly no prospects of carpets in the garage. ;) So I signed up with the military. I've done my medical, aptitude tests, interviews etc. The recruiters say that I should apply for the subsidised education program (cause the notices that i r teh jeanius!!), and I hope to be selected for one of my trades in the spring.
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Study real hard and go Navy. I heard they need someone to steer the oldest of the two canoes. The old guy just retired.
Good luck! ;)
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HS graduate..1977...USMC 2 weeks later...wound up going through boot camp twice(That was a bonus), because I never told them about the Disorderly Conduct arrest when I was 17.....Had a great time in the USMC actually traveled all over the world before the age of 21...Got out...worked security at a Nuclear power plant [That's the reason for the green skin tone]became a police officer and been one for almost 20 years loving every minute of it.. even went to college since....It's great , I drive a motorcycle and pretty much do what I want to do...
Regrets..1...When I was being discharged from the Marines some LA movie producer asked about twenty of us if we wanted to join a stunt man school in LA...5 or 6 of the guys took their offer and have been in some of the biggest grossing flicks in the last 20 years.. So yeah that I regret...Life goes on
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I just have to say, great thread! I always knew aviation attracted a certain crowd, and this proves it. What a great diverse group we are, and my hat goes off to all the folk that have taken the time to post a 'snip-it' of their lives here.
I wonder how many people read your stories, never posted a reply, but took inspiration from it.
Well done lads, great positive reading, .
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I went to a junior college right out of high school, as the small town I grew up in didn't have a university. I majored in criminal justice, held a 4.0 and was on track for the polkice academy whn i decided to take an EMT basic class, figured it would never hurt to know that stuff as a cop. I got a job at the local ambulance that summer and 12 years later was still at the company only as a paramedic/ field supervisor. I saw first hand what the general public thinks of cops and decided i didn't want to be one.
In high school I was on track to go to the air force academy to be a pilot, wanted to fly f-16's so bad I could taste it. Eye sight went bad my senior year and they dumped me.
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Oh gee, life story time....
I was abandoned as an infant next to a pond in Golden Gate Park and was raised by ducks. I was a good swimmer, and as often or not when some tourist threw a piece of popcorn in the water I would get to it first, but being unable to fly I was unable to accompany my adoptive parents and siblings South for the winter, so it was a lonely life.
I grew older, and larger, and when I was fifteen years old a strike replacement worker hired to clean the ponds noticed I wasn't a duck at all, but a human being. Still, to this day, I say God Bless the Unions- had they not gone on strike I'd still be swimming around in that pond, begging for popcorn today.
The sociologists worked miracles and, except for my habit of building nests out of twigs and weeds, I was "normal," whatever that means, by the age of 21.
I then took advantage of being able to speak both English and Waterfowl and entered into business- the Goose Down business. I'd helped out countless tired, hungry ducks and geese in the midst of migration back in the Old Days before I was rescued, so I started swapping goose food for their down and feathers. It wotked out great, too- made me millions of dollars, and tons of waterfowl friends.
The yachts, the limos, the supermodels are all OK, but, still, I wonder.... What if I had really been a duck? What if I could REALLY fly?
I could have been the leader of a great flock.
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Airhead,
That story brought a tear to me eye. You are the winner in my book!
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What would you be if you weren't who you are?
Aura.
(Bravo, Airhead, you get an A for Fowlest Fable!)
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Ooooh look - an interesting thread in the O'Club! I've enjoyed reading these stories, so decided to give something back to the thread by adding my own, especially after reading oboe's
Originally posted by oboe
I recently ended a twenty year career in IT with the same company, and I'm searching for direction myself. I think I'm pretty much done with IT in a large company setting, and I'd like to spend the second half of my working life doing something really different. Habadasher, maybe?
There are a lot of military types in here. to them, but shortly before they cut the umbilical cord the day I was born, I knew I was not military material. Like many teenage boys, I flirted with the idea of being an airline pilot, but most have them had come up through the military route. That, coupled with the careers officer telling me that a pilot career was OK - provided I could withstand the 3000-1 competition was enough to put me off. Besides, any job wearing a uniform did not appeal.
I was still at school studying for GCE 'A' level in various uninteresting subjects, such as pure and applied maths. I hated it. I wanted to do Chemistry, and a language - but in those days you had to do related subjects. That has all now changed.
I did not want to go to university. In those days, the extra curricular activities seemed to be drug taking, wearing silly outfits, and protesting against the Viet Nam war - student sit-ins, singing wanky political protest songs, and all that crap - not for me.
Couldn't face another year of school, so dropped out and got a job as trainee in data processing, as IT was then known. Piss poor wages, boring job - left home and hit the Smoke (that's slang for London) and got another piss poor job, quit after a few months and landed on my feet at a Town Hall as a "local government officer". I was actually a computer programmer, and this job introduced me to the programming language then in vogue - COBOL. Went as far as I could go in this job, but after 2 years, reverse ageism kicked in (I was still only 20) and I dropped out, and spent that incredibly hot summer of 1976 with a friend, selling clothes in old people's homes - lol. Back to reality - got another programming job, but on a fixed salary. Inflation eroded it faster than pay rises could keep up.
So I bit the bullet and went freelance. It was great! - doubled my income overnight, and for two years managed to escape income tax. Got pissed a lot, as IT was quite a boozy scene in Britain. My contracts lasted 3-6 months typically, and each time I got a new one, the weekly rate was renegotiated, so I kept up with inflation (which had been 25%). Needed to make the jump to IBM mainframes, and got work in the USA for a few years. Came back in 1982 to find that the IT world was at my feet. Enjoyed a very lucrative career, bought first house, got married, lived well. In 1986 gave up programming to do database admin - even better paid, but fewer DBA jobs than analyst/programming jobs. Had contracts with companies like Xerox, British Aerospace, Phillips Petroleum, IBM; nice cars, foreign holidays, learned to fly, owned shares in 4 aircraft (not all at the same time!) - heady days indeed.
1995 - all change. Separated, moved out, got divorced, started over. Poorer but better! Continued the IT thing - even worked in the USA again in 1997, but the gravy train days seemed to be drawing to a close. Now it was all "change control", "accountability", and the "blame culture". IT had gone from being a walk in the park to being part of the rat race. Had several duff contracts which pissed me off. Y2K provided me with steady work for year, but then there was a collapse. And then came the government's package of new tax measures known as IR35. That was the other two haystacks which broke the camel's back as far as I was concerned. Oh well, my IT career had lasted 29 years before I packed it in.
Hoping that oboe might give me a few tips on haberdashery!
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Originally posted by Airhead
Oh gee, life story time....
I was abandoned as an infant next to a pond in Golden Gate Park and was raised by ducks. I was a good swimmer, and as often or not when some tourist threw a piece of popcorn in the water I would get to it first, but being unable to fly I was unable to accompany my adoptive parents and siblings South for the winter, so it was a lonely life.
I grew older, and larger, and when I was fifteen years old a strike replacement worker hired to clean the ponds noticed I wasn't a duck at all, but a human being. Still, to this day, I say God Bless the Unions- had they not gone on strike I'd still be swimming around in that pond, begging for popcorn today.
The sociologists worked miracles and, except for my habit of building nests out of twigs and weeds, I was "normal," whatever that means, by the age of 21.
I then took advantage of being able to speak both English and Waterfowl and entered into business- the Goose Down business. I'd helped out countless tired, hungry ducks and geese in the midst of migration back in the Old Days before I was rescued, so I started swapping goose food for their down and feathers. It wotked out great, too- made me millions of dollars, and tons of waterfowl friends.
The yachts, the limos, the supermodels are all OK, but, still, I wonder.... What if I had really been a duck? What if I could REALLY fly?
I could have been the leader of a great flock.
(http://www.3movie.com/poster/FlyAwayHome1-0.jpg)
Can you get me Anna Paquin's phone number?
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Your question is flawed Nash. What you do is not who you are.
That is assuming that you are talking about occupation and not literally being something other than one's self.
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Originally posted by Nash
Did you always want to do what you're doing now? Was it a straight line?
When you were younger, did you picture yourself doing something different than what you're doing now?
When i were younger i wanted to be a ritch man :)
I didnt think much about work, but i liked computers. I were thinking about about being some sort of trader.
But i studied only computers, electronic and programming
Today im woring around networking.
Originally posted by Nash
How did you wind up doing what you're doing?
I found that networking is interesting stuff when i were working at the university instead of serving in army.
Originally posted by Nash
Any regrets? Or conversely, thoughts of "Thank god!"
God ??? ummm well... i knew that best guys who are working around networking and security have sallary 5x bigger that avg. salary, so i stolen some e-learning materials and went for it by learning 6 hours a day. For year or so.
Originally posted by Nash
Do you like what you're doing now? Or wish you were doing something different?
I like it, but i need to change it a little bit from time to time. Like change products that i use or technology.
Originally posted by Nash
Do you think your occupation matters, and that you matter to your occupation?
Absolutly... i must like my job, coz i usualy work hard.
Originally posted by Nash
Or does none of it matter, and that wherever you wound up is (and was) never necessarily important, when compared to other aspects of life?
If so, is that an attitude you've taken on now but didn't subscribe to when you were younger? Or always held?
Since my childhood my parents always tell me, that i should do, study things that i like.
and now.... i have same job for almost 2years and im thinking about some more drastic change. Like shift from networking to security and consultations or soooo... :]
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Originally posted by Toad
Study real hard and go Navy. I heard they need someone to steer the oldest of the two canoes. The old guy just retired.
;)
Good luck! ;) [/B]
Thanks.
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Original post deleted by botched edit so here goes again.
Originally posted by Nash
..
Did you always want to do what you're doing now? Was it a straight line?
No and no. This was my nightmare scenario.
When you were younger, did you yourself doing something different than what you're doing now?
Yes, I expected and believed I'd be a military pilot. Probably the equivalent of a Major by now. Failing that I was going to be an airline pilot.
How did you wind up doing what you're doing?
They offered me a job and I was desperate having been out of work for seven months.
Any regrets? Or conversely, thoughts of "Thank god!"
Regrets every day. It was a foul up from start to finish.
Do you like what you're doing now? Or wish you were doing something different?
I hate my job and I do wish I was doing something different. But I have difficulty getting a better job because of my age and experience.
Do you think your occupation matters, and that you matter to your occupation?
No it doesn't matter and I'm totally expendable as has been proved many times.
Or does none of it matter, and that wherever you wound up is (and was) never necessarily important, when compared to other aspects of life?
It does matter and until recently it had a disastrous effect on other aspects of my life. A few years ago I calculated my net worth including a car as about 300 pounds Irish which was about $500. Pathetic. That has changed now slightly for the better. But I'm one month's pay away from a crisis.
If so, is that an attitude you've taken on now but didn't subscribe to when you were younger? Or always held?
When I was younger I was more of an idealist now I know better.
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cpxxx - we need to talk - over several pints of Guinness. ;)
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Originally posted by airbumba
Thanks Skernsk, btw, what dept in Alberta is responsible for inter provincial journeyman cards?
Fire me and e-mail airbumba .. skernsk@shaw.ca (easier that way)
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Hmmm...well, my story is just as unusual as everyone else's: I graduated high school, hit college and discovered intense alcohol worship. College lasted about a year and a half, then the dean threw me out for having one of the lowest GPAs in the history of the college. I moved back to Georgia, failed the vision portion of my Naval entrance exam and bounced from one crappy job to the next for next few years. Got married and had to get a real job. A friend got me involved in real estate appraisal. Good money but no job satisfaction. Did that for five years and ended up in school to become an LPN. Graduated and went into psych ursing for three years. Left that and did Renal/oncology for a yearn ad a half. Got divorced and went to Hospice nursing. Got married again and went back to medical/surgiacl nursing for the next few years. Finally graduated with an associates of science: nursing and sat for my RN boards. Passed in 45 minutes and the minimum 75 questions. Went to ICU and hated it intensely.Transferred to hospice as a case manager and love it dearly.
That being said, I still want to be Batman...
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If I wasn't who I am now I would be a bra.
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Originally posted by beet1e
cpxxx - we need to talk - over several pints of Guinness. ;)
To make it worse I'm in work now on the night shift.
More like double Vodkas with Smirnoff ice chasers:eek:
.
But I'm an optimist. It could all turn around tomorrow. What really cheers me up though is a great flight like the one I flew on Wednesday. Good for the soul.
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BluSamRN, after 12 years in medicine I can see why you like hospice. I have watched a lot of people die and actualy some of my best experiences in EMS have come from those times. Sounds wierd to those outside medicine, but trust me...
Oh ya, forgot to mention that first wife in my story, married at 18, divorced at 22. Remaried at 27, never been happier.