What did you want to be when you grew up?

Well from the age of 8-25 I always wanted to be a famous singer. To see my name in big lights and travel the world as a successful singer. No I'm not happy doing what I do now because I still want to sing professionally. I'm still thinking of persuing my dream in the music industry I have a few connections in Vegas and in California.

My first dream was to be an archaeologist. I am so happy with what I am doing now, and wonder how I would have fared in archaeology because I am not a roughing-it type, perhaps I would have been different if I had pursued that dream. I ended up abandoning the idea when I learned (then true) that Jews weren't allowed into Egypt, I didn't know how I could be an archaeologist without seeing the sphinx, etc.

More power to you. Go for it!

Sounds like you may have made the right choice. Being happy is what it's all about in the end.

When I started elementary school in the mid-1960s, many of the attitudes still said that women could be teachers or nurses, and that was it. I discovered music in 4th grade, and at that point thought that I would probably spend my life doing it... but my father was Navy and we spent time overseas, so it was hard to keep up with the lessons and practice necessary to do it.

Not to worry, though... eighth grade I had a science teacher who introduced me to taxonomy, and I fell in love on the spot. I have no explanation. I mean, really... taxonomy? I fell so hard that I still remember the breakdown of kingdom, phylum, class, order, family, genus, species.

Then in a biology class, I was introduced to Mendelian genetics, and my journey to the dark side was complete. I went to college for a biology major, and then to graduate school for biochemistry, and I've been involved in science ever since. Now I'm doing cell culture development in industry, and yes, I really do love it. I took a small detour into quality assurance inside my company and discovered that I'm not one for a desk job - so I headed back into the lab and that's where I plan to stay.

Now, about that music thing... about twelve years ago I started singing with my church choir and rediscovered why I loved music in the first place. So for the past ten years I've been singing with a major chorus in Milwaukee and taking voice lessons. This year found me singing jazz standards in a local bar... thank heavens for inebriated audiences.

If you're lucky, you get to do what you love. I have been CRAZY lucky.

I can't claim to understand what you do, but more power to you for enjoying it.

I always thought that I would be a school teacher when I grew up. However, when I was 17 I became pregnant and got married instead of going on to college. I am able to teach today, but not as a, school teacher. I do a lot of training with my current job, and I teach Sunday School and provide Sunday School teacher training. I've also taught scrapbooking classes. I don't really like my job (although the training is my favorite part), but I don't think I would want to be a school teacher in today's environnent. If money, age, health, etc. weren't an issue, I would like to go to college to become an engineer.