I would have continued with my mobile dog grooming business. If I had stuck it out a little longer I wouldn’t have to work at all now. I could just stay home and make appointments for other people to do the work. The overhead is very low, and the money is very good.

An architect. And I will go back and become one.

I’ve always loved architecture, buildings, structures, homes from around the world… sigh sigh.

I would get a PhD in gifted education

Y’all are going to think I’m crazy, but I’d like to be something like a hunter-gatherer. Most people don’t think of that as a profession or job, I’m sure, but if you think of a job as what you do to “bring home the bacon,” well, there are none that do that more directly.

There’s something about the idea of directly affecting my own survival by the work of my hands that makes absolute sense to me. I know how to do some of it, but if I already had the “the talent, finances, education, support,” all I would need is a world in which this is a viable “profession” again.

Failing that, I’d be something like a homesteader, a pioneer, or a friend of the Amish (without the religious dogma). However, since none of these are really do-able anymore, I guess I’ve fallen back on an actual job, more’s the pity.

I’m currently modeling my life, hopefully I’ll be able to sculpt it into something worthwhile and successful. As for what that will be, I don’t know yet.

I would be a chanteuse(with a PhD in history).

football player, because you can make alot of money and not work all of the best of your life.

I would like to be a mathematician working on systems theory. I like math but did not have the talent or self-discipline required to make it a profession.

A musician. Nothing makes me happier than music.

My neighbor is going back and learning to build dry stack retaining walls. He’s wanted to do that for the last 5 years.

i am going to think about this question and answer it later on. it would have to be a profession that makes decent money, is not reliant on the economy (for example, it would be lovely to do interior design, but in bad times, people are not spending money on this as much), not injury prone (saw someone put they’d like to be a football player -great and lucrative, but i bet in their old age they’re suffering from injuries from a lifetime of beating up their bodies). i’ll be pondering today…....

I’ve often thought I’d be good at owning a coffee shop, or small restaurant.

I wanted to have a business selling the stuff I make, too, until I realized that making the stuff is less of what I’d be spending my time on, with more of my time devoted to selling it. I’d rather just make stuff.

Architect, again.

I’d like to be a successful Philanthropist.

Laureth: Back in the late 60’s and 70’s there was a movement back to self sufficiency. I think it is possible to live on a piece of land, grow your own food, make your own clothing and tools and have enough surplus to get what you need but can’t make. After all people did it for 10s of thousands of years. The problem is the time and energy it takes to live that way. It would be a 24/7 occupation and you still would have to give up all modern conveniences.

The problem that we have today that they didn’t have for tens of thousands of years is property taxes. :)

As far as giving up modern conveniences, I already have never used a cellphone, don’t own a wii, don’t watch TV, and have never put a DVD into a player myself. (It would be hard to give up the Internet, though.) On the other hand, with modern conveniences come modern curses, like this extra fat that a lot of us could get rid of by leaner eating and more work, a detached feeling of living away from community (yet we interact with Flutherites instead of our neighbors), diabetes, and flavorless grocery store food.

However, to have a fully laden root cellar, to be able to see the stars at night away from the city lights, and to put in an honest day’s work instead of faking it in a cubicle – those seem like a good way to live.

@laureth: “The problem that we have today that they didn’t have for tens of thousands of years is property taxes. :)”

You can always find a location with minimal property taxes.

Even minimal taxes must be paid with cash money. They probably don’t want apples or goat milk in exchange.

Id like to be a successful marine biologist. Traveling around the world diving all the different reefs. Sounds like a pretty good life IMO.

I would definitely choose to be a commercial airline pilot. This is something that I always wanted to do when I was growing up but life had a different plan for me back then. If I could factor in all the details in your question, this is where I would be headed – flying school.

I want to write a really good book. Something that can relate to the humanity in everyone, is witty and interesting and educational and sentimental and timeless. It’s something I really do feel that I have inside me…I just can’t seem to find my subject yet.

I’ve spent my life around books and libraries, which was something I really wanted to do with my life. But I think most people can be happy and successful at more than one thing. In my next life, I’m going to be a veterinarian.

Writer, writer, writer.

Chef, open a small restaurant somewhere beautiful then watch it grow as people hear the reputation of the place. No 9–5 job, no boss on my back, just me doing what i love. Now that would be nice.

Well, I can’t ‘do it all over again’ since I haven’t done anything yet. But!

I’d like to be a paleoanthropologist or an astrophysicist. :D I’m currently on the paleoanthro path but… I might be straying towards the stars. Who knows?

Maybe a fortune-teller/palm reader in a park. An itinerant one. I’d wear goofy clothes and have a crystal ball on a table, and draw people in by saying “You have a LOT going on in your life! Why don’t you sit and talk about it?”

Ten minutes later, they’d walk away 20 bucks lighter, and tell their friends how insightful I was, on and on until even I believed it, became immensely rich, had my own tv show, became hooked on prescription drugs, and eventually found dead on the loo.

<contented sigh>

I considered saying “writer” or “photographer” but I’m already okay at those things and I’m happy enough keeping them as hobbies. More than anything else in the world, I’d like to be a successful gender therapist.

i guess i should answer. i’d like to own a club…featuring alternative music. also a tat parlor and art gallery combination, like Paul Booth does in NY.

Please don’t laugh. Philosopher/musician/guru living in a community with other creative types, and teaching those who wanted to come live with us for a while.

@daloon – there’s nothing to laugh at in your answer that I can see. I think your choices are good ones, in my opinion.

@bluefreedom – Nonthing to laugh at in my desires; plenty to laugh at in thinking I have any chance of getting there. I mean, don’t you laugh at people who say they want to be a guru? I sure do. Gurus are not something you become just because you want to be. There is no course to take. No certificate to earn. It’s something other people turn you into, when they want to learn about life from you.

@daloon – I still think it is admirable that you have those desires and if you choose to pursue them, I wish you all the luck in the world.

I’d love to be ridiculously talented and be both a successful fashion designer and dancer (modern).
Right now though, I’d settle for just being struck by a little inspiration and be able to get on top of my work-load…

Dancer.
I want to do it. I should do it. I may do it.
I’m not sure I’d be happy, though. It’s such a competitive industry.

Workshop leader. I’d travel around the world in service of a company I believe in, leading a seminar that transforms people’s lives. The groups would be fairly large, and I’d be well-respected and widely admired.

@Daloon, I so relate to your saying “please don’t laugh.” This feels vulnerable for me to share here – this dream is so dear to me. I imagine others might have a little nervousness about sharing their dreams as well.

Great question, great answers everyone!

I’m on my way to becoming what I’d want to be.

Why isn’t everyone else?

What Jvgr said. But with less bumps along the way.

@gos some of us are too old/tired/complacent to begin anew.

And I bet some of us have internal obstacles that we don’t understand or know how to work with.

For many of us, if we knew how, we would.

@trust tis true. very true.

@GoS – I’m on my way too, but just because I have made a few tv commercials doesn’t mean that I’ve got any movie production credits…

Sometimes, llfe gets in the way.

i would like to run a local historical society. i’d be immersed in history, make the hours of the place, hire, decorate, do fundraisers (or have some staff do). second alternative would be to work at a state or federal historic site.

it would be exciting to say i’d like to be a rockstar, or something more wild, but those professions have their downsides, like people ripping you off, and being in public spotlight. interior designer would be nice, but it’s a competitive field. chef or baker ditto. i could do crafts all day, but i have to be inspired to do crafts to where i am satisified with my work.

i thought about this yesterday as i drove through connecticut through all these nice old historic towns.

@gos – I think that was addressed in the original query…

How about this. As the question is stated, I will choose, President of the United States.

Success means success for the country, the people in it. Jobs. healthcare. Economy. Foreign policy.

Their you go.

@bri,
I think you are answering te wrong question. I think you answered this

Photographer

Why? Hummm. Good question… Let me think & maybe I’ll get back to you,
but I know that I just feel really alive while in the zone, i.e., anytime my eyes
are at work scanning my environment and my index finger is on the trigger
ready to capture the moment. Sharing those images is another aspect I enjoy.

Nice work, Jerry! I especially like “Man in Red Beret”. Thanks for sharing.

I would have liked to be a stewardess, just so that I could travel for free. I think it pays well, too. However, in the 70’s, they had strict physical guidelines, and I was too short! I think you had to be at least 5’5”, and I was 5’3”. What a rip-off. Also you needed a second language. I can habla a little espanol, but not enough.

You better call yourself a “Flight Atendant.” They hate being called “stewardess.”

Oh, in the 70’s they were called stewardesses, so sorry about that. I would have been so happy to be a flight attendant, that they could call me a stewardess if they wanted to. Ha-ha.

My brother dated a “flight attendant” who snapped at me when I referred to her ans a stewardess. She said, “Stewardess means ‘keeper of the pigs’, go ahead and call me a stewardess if you’re a pig.”

What is the word for uptight b*tch?

I hate that.

I CAN’T STAND THAT!!!!!!

Why the rudeness.

How many words have multiple meanings? Every word we use was derived from something for crying out loud. Did she really think you were calling her a keeper of pigs?

Every since then I have been careful, that’s for sure! It was in the late 1970’s and “Coffee Tea or Me” was a best seller. Stewardess’ were seen as “loose women.” I think changing the title to Flight Attendant was part of trying to break the stereo type.

can some people be so insecure with who they are that they are worried about being defined by a single meaning or the reputation of a position?

Thanks Augustlan =)

Judi and Bri, that flight attendant wasn’t even right. “Stewardess” is the feminine of “steward”, which means a person that takes care of something, be it an animal, a person, a house, an estate or whatever.

Lurve to you Skaggfacemutt which is from the latin Skaggfacemutti for “the smart one”

Ha-ha! That’s a good one.

It never occurred to me that stewardess derived from steward, although it seems obvious now. I love the word steward, as in mankind should act as a good steward of nature.

games,there cool.

Fortunately for me, I don’t need to do this all over again. I am living a dream. I get to make good money playing poker for a living. Yeah, it’s got its ups and downs, but nothing can quite compare to getting paid way too much to play a game!

person who knows everything about the 90’s

Crazy physicist or mathematician… has to be Crazy though!

cardsinner,first of all thats just for a hobo,second of all i would be a wrestler pro, my age is to low but when i become 1 i will be called the animal but im not 1 i would be all predators and my opponent will be beaten,bitten and of course eaten,also he will be my prey and orton right now if i was there i would jump out,eat orton,and help triple h defeat ted and cole

I would be a dancer, like the ones that tour with the singer and that dance on stage.. OR.. would be a Doctor, I’ve always loved it.

I’d be a helicopter pilot. I’ve got a horrible fear of heights, but I’d love to fly a “Blackhawk” or a “Huey”... a man can dream.