When I grow up, what will I be?

2 July 2021, Somewhere in the Metaverse - UplandDood (@Just1Dood)

A song to start

There is an old song that starts like this...

When I was just a little girl

I asked my mother, what will I be

Childhood should be a wonderful time. Aside from studying and helping with some household chores, it is mostly carefree life. Depending on age group, in the morning after waking up - play. In the afternoon after lunch - play. For those in schooling age, some of these times are taken up by the school.

Regardless, our goal is clear - it is where we play like there's no tomorrow, being constantly reminded, usually by our mothers that it is time to come home for dinner.

If you are like me, despite the carefree years, we long to grow up. We at the point where adulthood is so far away it almost seems to take an eternity to reach. We look forward to the time where we no longer have to study, where we have independence. A time where we can finally take the full owner of decisions relating to "When, What, Where, and quite possibly, Who". This desire to fast-forward our lives is more than likely driven by our vivid imaginations and our dreams.

Dreams

During those years of being confined in classrooms, it is common for us to stare out the windows of our classroom and daydream about the world outside. Anything is better than the four walls of the classroom. Daydreaming is our favorite subject with escapism coming in a close second. We escape into a world where we can be anybody. We dream about what we can become.

One day, we can become a superstar. We dream about performing concerts in sold-out, filled to capacity stadiums. We dreamed about being chauffeured around in limousines. We dream about signing autographs and winning Grammy Awards.

The next day, we could be dreaming about being a spacefarer. We dreamed about commandeering a large spaceship. We dream about boldly going where no man has gone before. We dream about meeting and communicating with aliens. Maybe secure rights to mine at their planets (😉 😉)

Some of these dreams are more realistic and more achievable than others but regardless, it doesn't stop us from dreaming.

Your Dream

I'm sure if you are an adult with a normal childhood, you would have thought about what you would want to become when you grew up.

It could range from wanting to be a teacher, a doctor, a lawyer, a firefighter, a police officer, a writer, a scientist to being a politician!

Speaking of politicians, I just had to share this joke someone sent me not so long ago.

Four surgeons were sitting around on lunch break, discussing what kinds of people they like to operate on.
The first surgeon said, "I like operating on librarians. When you open them up everything is in alphabetical order".
The second surgeon said, "I like operating on accountants. When you open them up everything is in numbered and organized".
The third surgeon said, "I like operating on electricians. When you open them up everything is color-coded".
The fourth surgeon said, "I like operating on politicians best. They are the easiest".
The other three surgeons looked at each other in disbelief. One of them asked why.
The fourth surgeon replied, "Because they are heartless, gutless, spineless, and their ass and head are interchangeable".

Anyway, back to your dreams. Despite the bad joke above, all the professions above are fair game and could be what we aim to be. Yes, even if it's being a politician. God knows we all need good politicians.

Some of us achieve our dreams, some of us are still aiming to reach them. Nothing can stop us from dreaming and given enough determination and commitment, no one can stop us from reaching it.

My Dream

I have a normal childhood. Growing up we played all kinds of games and in many cases invented our own games. But like you, I grew up daydreaming. I dreamt of reaching the stars. Whenever I gazed up at the night sky, seeing the vast ocean of stars makes me think about exploring them.

I also dreamt about being an inventor. I want to invent lightsabers. I want to invent giant robots. I want to not only invent and build but also pilot giant robots. Back then, I had no idea they were called Transformers. I was more inspired by Gundams. I just called them Giant Robots or Mechs.

Power of Dreams

You may laugh at my giant robot dream but it was so powerful that when I went to university, I had decided to study robotics to achieve my dream. Mind you, I'm not talking about the kinds that help factories build stuff. Those are just arms swinging about in a factory line. Arms weren't enough for me. I wanted the whole thing! Not just arms but legs, torsos, and heads, where I can pilot from. I want the kinds that you now see in Hollywood. Yep, the kinds you see in Pacific Rims. Please, not the sissy Iron Man type. I wanted the Giant Robots kind.

Unfortunately, the university I went to didn't have a Robotics Curriculum. Look, you have to understand that my imagination was way ahead of my time. Computers were just picking up traction then. But I wasn't going to give up that easily. So, I thought why not combine Mechanical Engineering and Computer Science. That should get me close to my Robotics goal.

But as luck would have it, I couldn't get past the toughest class I'd ever taken in my entire life - Thermodynamics. It was so tough that at the beginning of the semester, in the first class, the professor started by pointing to all of us seated in the auditorium. I think there were probably no less than 200 of us there. He said confidently, "half of you here WILL NOT pass my class. You may as well change your course now." I was stubborn as a mule and refused to budge even though I've heard horror stories. Well, as they say, the rest is history. I became part of the professor's statistics and added to his confidence.

I recalled vividly one of the assignments we were asked to do in class was to write a program to locate oil wells. I did complete my assignment. However, there was a problem...my program excelled at identifying not oil wells but random spots on the ocean. Suits me well, I wasn’t planning on finding oil wells after graduating anyway. I further justified it by thinking, if I had a Mech (aka Giant Robot), I wouldn't too hung up about the pressure of the hydraulics or the heatsinks that were taught in Thermodynamics. If the heatsinks on my Mech were to explode, it would be due to fighting Godzilla. Not how much I know how to tinker with the pressure gauges.

I Woke Up from my Dream

Sad to say, I didn't succeed in completing my 'Robotics' degree. I ended up with a Finance degree. Yeah, I switched to the School of Business. I thought, if I couldn't build one, I could sell them. What a joke. I didn't even choose the correct track in order to do that. I should have chosen Marketing instead of Finance.

Thank God the Dream Didn't Turn out to be a Nightmare

Looking back, I have no regret for going through the path that I did above. Life is a learning experience. I learned plenty during those years. I'm confident enough to look back and laugh at it. If you asked me "would I do it all over again?" I'm sure, you'd have guessed the answer. "Hell, no!" What? Were you expecting, "yes, I'll do it all over again"? That only happens in movies and fairy tales.

Final thoughts

Truth be told. I truly have no regrets about going through those years. In fact, I had the best times of my life during those years.

What I will say is this - no matter where your dream takes you, and no matter whether you achieved them or not, one thing is certain. You would have gained valuable experience and you will need to decide if that experience will define who you will be.

Thank you for reading and sharing my experience. Do share your dreams and experience in the comment section below. What are your dreams?

Stay safe and see you in the next article.

Sources:

Header: Unsplash.com - Idzard Schiphof

Image 1: Unsplash.com (cropped) - Ann Fossa

Image 2: Unsplash.com - Peter Fogden

Image 3 Unsplash.com (cropped) -Erik Mclean

Thank you again for dropping by. Have fun with English. Remember to share your experience in the comment section.

Do drop by to say hi at my following addresses. I promise I'll be at home :)

NoiseCash: UplandDood

Twitter: UplandDood

Publish0x: UplandDood (link takes you to site. You'll have to search for UplandDood to find me)