Early Career Aspirations: Daydreams, sort of

I

imp

Senior Member
Did you as a young person , maybe before adulthood, think about the most appealing, fun-filled things you might want to be doing life-long? And maybe, just maybe, someone might PAY you to do them?

At about 12 or so, I came across an old magazine having an article about a man named Kenneth Strickfaden. I'll never forget his name, but the article, which I actually found this evening, thanks to the internet, brought back, instantly, the memory of it's content, especially the pictures! Here's the whole article, from Popular Mechanics Magazine, Sept. 1949!

As I studied and delved into the strange workings of high-voltage apparatus, this man began to represent a God-like image to this kid. As a high-school sophomore, I actually built a rotary high-voltage switch much like the one Strickfaden designed, pictured on the middle page. The General Science class, of which I was not a member, having been stuck into "college-prep" Physics, presented a science show. I allowed my best friend, Ron, who had General Science, to enter the damned thing. He took 2nd. place!

But, as things turned out, no such career involving building things weird and un-worldly transpired. Nonetheless, the hobby interests persisted throughout my lifetime, sort of culminating in 2003 when my High School Trigonometry class (I taught that year) built with my coaching, a million-volt Tesla coil. I'm itching to start gathering parts lately for an even bigger one...............my wife asserts that I am nuts...........:eek:nthego:

imp





 

Cool stuff, Imp - certainly would have been am interesting career.

Me, I always wanted to change my name to Loretta and get into musical theater.

No, seriously, I also got a bug (probably also from Pop. Mech.) when I was 7 years old or so ...

1972_02_gamewarden.png

I could see myself tromping through the woods, helping little birds with broken wings and arresting big, gruff violators.

And I would sing ... sing ...sing ...

Oh, I'm a game warden and I'm okay
I sleep all night and I work all day ...

Alas, science began to exert a stronger pull on me and I traded in my hiking boots and popgun for a home-made lab bench and a cheap microscope.
 

NancyNGA said:
You mean like this, Imp?


Sorry, I couldn't resist.:)
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Nan, I have revered those scenes all my life! Seen them over and over, whenever possible! I thank you for being unable to resist! Name of the game! Now, I watched very closely, but could not confirm this, in this particular flick, but in several, the hunch-backed "helper", "Igor", was none other than Charles Bronson, in his youth! Bet few know that one! imp
 
fureverywhere said:
Toadly lost kids
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Hey! We were aspiring to become tomorrow's mad scientists! At least, I was! These mental aberrations, in my case, helped me cope with the 2nd. degree burns on my face at 14, and reconcile the burgeoning impetus of former "friends" at school calling me "Frankenstein". It hurt like hell. The "purple plum" appearance in late-8th. grade gradually disappeared, but the stigma remained.

I HAD to go on to be able to make, build, display sh!t to prove to the malicious kids that my accident had not been due to my own fallibility. I was always the shortest in class, lowest in social structure (kidwise), so proved my "worthiness" by running fastest, hitting and throwing farthest, just being a little powerhouse for the others to contend with.

In 8th. grade, I was spellbound by a girl in class; she wore those tight skirts that emphasized,.........all new and un-preparedfor feelings..... she shunned me upon return from healing. Entering puberty is rough enough under usual circumstances, if yer not the most popular, prettiest, sexiest, biggest......let alone with disfigurement.

So, did I go on to become the new "bomber", or retaliator of societal disgrace? N o.

I became pretty damned normal, after all. Just a little "far-out" is all. imp
 
Like Phil I also wanted to become a game warden, then a heavy equipment operator and then a cop but never did any one of the three......maybe in my next life.
 
When I was just a young lad of 11, my dad taught me how to play the fiddle. After maybe 2 or 3 years playing with my dad, who played several instruments and his brother, (my uncle), I thought seriously about going to Nashville after graduation and trying to hook up with one of the popular singers or groups at that time. (I thought that I was really good.) Of course, college and Vietnam came along and my interests did change. My dad was sent to Ft. Carson in Colorado for 6 months and my mom took my sister and I out for a visit. We flew on an airplane and the stewardess (that's what they were called at that time) asked me if I wanted to visit the cockpit. After I sat in the Captain's seat, that's all it took. I knew at that very moment that I was going to be a pilot and after that I shaped my studies and interest to do just that. Isn't it funny how sometimes the least little thing can make the biggest difference in our life?
 
I grew up in Hershey, PA, which is the location for the Pennsylvania State Police Academy. From about the age of ten and we would drive by the Academy, I would tell my mom and dad that I would be going there someday and I did make it happen, although I also had aspirations of being a long haul trucker. Talk about opposites. I just thought it would be really cool to be driving those big rigs across country. I decided that I was going to go all out to be a State Policeman and if that didn't work out, I'd be a truck driver.
 
911, don't know if you get this channel or not but on PCN there's a daily morning profile of various PA businesses. They did the Academy a few weeks ago ... quite interesting.
 
SifuPhil said:
911, don't know if you get this channel or not but on PCN there's a daily morning profile of various PA businesses. They did the Academy a few weeks ago ... quite interesting.
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Oh, dang! I missed it. Maybe I can catch it on YouTube or on their website. I will check. Thanks for the note. (I still teach out there occasionally.)
 
911 said:
...... I decided that I was going to go all out to be a State Policeman and if that didn't work out, I'd be a truck driver.
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Quite an opposing pair of career aspirations, but then, both relate to highways and lots of driving!

Have you ever regretted making the choice you did? imp
 
imp said:
Quite an opposing pair of career aspirations, but then, both relate to highways and lots of driving!

Have you ever regretted making the choice you did? imp
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Heck no. While I was going through the Academy, I never knew or was aware of how much law a policeman had to know, especially state laws. I studied Criminal Justice and earned my A.D. At the time that I had applied, CJ was a pre-requisite, but in CJ, the student is not taught laws. I also never realized how much continuing education, training and attending seminars was going to be involved, but none of which would have mattered. I desperately wanted to be a State Trooper.
 

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