Here’s Rob’s list:<\/p>\n
1. NME journalist, 1976-1979<\/b>
\nGet to meet the Clash, Sex Pistols, Chrissie Hynde, Danny Baker etc. Get loads of free records – good ones too. Go on to host my own quiz show or something.<\/p>\n
2. Producer, Atlantic Records, 1964-1971 (approx)<\/b>
\nGet to meet Aretha, Wilson Pickett, Solomon Burke etc. Get loads of free records (probably) – good ones too. Make piles of money.<\/p>\n
3. Any kind of musician (apart from classical or rap)<\/b>
\nSpeaks for itself. But I’d have settled just for being one of the Memphis Horns – I’m not asking to be Hendrix or Jagger or Otis Redding.<\/p>\n
4. Film director<\/b>
\nAgain, any kind, although preferably not German or silent.<\/p>\n
5. Architect<\/b>
\nA surprise entry at number 5, I know, but I used to be quite good at technical drawing at school.<\/p>\n
It has traditionally been very difficult for me to mentally divorce my desire for personal fulfillment in my work from my more material needs for money and my disinclination to spend 6 years on a PhD. But in the spirit of Rob Fleming, here is my current all-time, no holds barred, top five dream jobs. (list subject to change without notice) <\/p>\n
1. Professor<\/b>
\nI like the idea of lecturing to eagerly attentive students and having summers off work. Conferences and travel for “research” purposes sounds like a pretty sweet deal, too. Main obstacle to this being my lack of a doctorate. Teaching at a college or private secondary institution might be acceptable as well, but again, no teaching degree. <\/p>\n
2. Writer<\/b>
\nFiction, preferably Giller and Booker prize winning adult contemporary fiction. I would also be extremely happy to produce popular mystery, fantasy, romance or children’s books. The promotional tours; the quiet, sedentary, reclusive work periods; the immortality in print. Yum. Downsides: years of obscurity, poverty, and near-certain alcoholism as a result of excessive self-reflection. Also, actually sitting down to write is a bit of a bugger. <\/p>\n
3. Cantankerous bookstore owner<\/b>
\nUsed or new, with wooden aisles full of mystery novels, bought cheap and sold dear, books to the ceiling and in inaccessible places, sliding ladder on a brass rail attached to the bookshelves a must, spiral iron staircase a bonus. Downside: the business aspect. I hate doing taxes, accounting, etc. and the reality of shoplifters depresses me.<\/p>\n
4. Comic book artist<\/b>
\nIt’s a niche market, I know, and hard to make any kind of living in. But how cool would it be for me to make another strike for women in this predominantly male industry by winning a Xeric award and self publishing my weird little book about the history of safety or chemistry or mermaids and then have it become a cult hit and get mobbed while trying to go incognito at cons. Bonus: might also lead to meeting Simon Pegg in person one day.<\/p>\n
5. Audio book recorder<\/b> All this woolgathering aside, I am seriously evaluating where I want to be, personally and professionally, in the next 2 to 5 years. Wedding bells and baby making don’t seem to be on the books, so it’s time to buckle down and get serious about work. Plus, career advancement means I might be able to afford a visit to Stephen and Skye in Japan and be able to go to Peru next year without having to live in a box and eat pasta every day for the foreseeable future. <\/p>\n There is a job posting at Cabinet Office<\/a> right now that really intrigues me, but I have to decide in the next day or two if I’m going to apply. I think I will, but I have certain trepidations about the disruption of the delicate work\/life balance that we all struggle to maintain being tipped deeply towards the “work” end of the scales, involving weekends and evenings camped out at the office, dreaming of checking e-mail while I am asleep, etc. <\/p>\n If nothing else, having applied for a part-time Master of Information Studies program at U of T in the fall (librarian studies) is a way of keeping my options open. I’ll know in a few weeks if I get in or not.<\/p>\n It’s typical in an interview situation for the interviewer to question why you want the job, and where you would eventually see yourself ending up in the business, as a natural gauge of your motivation and ambition. But in an interview I went to last week, my interviewer phrased that question as “what do you […]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1449","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-consciousness"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pipesdreams.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1449"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pipesdreams.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pipesdreams.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pipesdreams.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pipesdreams.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1449"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.pipesdreams.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1449\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pipesdreams.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1449"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pipesdreams.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1449"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pipesdreams.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1449"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nHaving my voice and storytelling ability preserved for all eternity and getting paid for doing it. Narcissism is a problem for me, yes, but I also really enjoy reading out loud. Fortunately, I have a recreational outlet for this desire through LibriVox<\/a>, where I am currently recording Jane Austen’s Persuasion<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"