What I want to do, and know about, when I grow up

[jedusor]

Besides as a career, I mean. These are things I'm interested in and would like to gain a rudimentary knowledge of, or acquire basic skills in, at some point during my life. Some of them will have to wait until I have the time and money to commit to them; others are a matter of reading a few Wikipedia articles. If you have any advice about any of them, or recommendations of resources, I'd be glad to hear them.

Skills:

Motorcycle operation and repair. I can ride a motorcycle, but I obviously haven't practiced much, and I want to learn a LOT more about what's actually going on under my butt when I'm doing it and how to fix it when it goes wrong. I'm going to buy one sometime, and being a responsible motorcycle owner means knowing how to take care of the bike.
Massage. I give a good backrub, from what I hear, but I'd like to take some classes and get licensed.
EMT training. I want to take an EMT class. I spent a ten-hour shift in an ambulance for an honors project a couple years ago, and I really enjoyed it. Clark offers classes; I'd have taken it this semester if I'd known how little homework I would have.
Programming. The HTML I use for LJ is about everything I know right now.
Go. I started getting back into it a few months ago and it sort of tapered off. At this point, the best thing for me would be to play tutoring games with someone better than me on a regular basis.
Glassblowing. I went to a marble festival thing in Kansas City and watched someone blowing glass, and was immediately drawn to it. I want to be able to do that.
Gardening. I want to cook with produce I grew myself. I actually might grow some basil or tomatoes on a windowsill or something this summer.
Gymnastics. I can lean backwards into a backbend, and stand up again from it most of the time. I can't, and would like to be able to, do the splits, cartwheels, and handstands.
Martial arts. I loved my karate class at Penn Valley. I always came out of it feeling confident that if somebody jumped me at the bus stop (which they might have done, it being Midtown) I'd be able to kick their ass. I miss that feeling.
Juggling. I can't do much of anything besides three-ball cascade, which is pretty dumb considering I've been around jugglers and going to juggling festivals as long as I can remember.
Metalworking. I've known a couple of blacksmiths, and I want to try that. I also took a silversmithing class once and made a ring for myself, and that was fun, although there wasn't nearly enough fire involved.

Languages:

French. I want very badly to go to France and immerse myself in the language until I'm fluent. In the meantime, my LJ is set to French, and I have a few books and some music in French to keep me from completely losing what I have.
Japanese. I never got much further than the Hiragana alphabet, but I'd like to learn more.
Sign language. I took one semester when I was twelve. I've still got the alphabet, but not much more.
Arabic. I know nothing, zip, nada. But it looks cool and I want to speak it.

Subjects:

Computers. I use them all the time, and I know embarrassingly little about how they work.
Linguistics. I'm not completely ignorant here, but I'd like to know more.
General world history. I don't feel like I have a good overall grasp of how humanity got to where we currently are.
Twentieth-century Latin American political history. I don't know much about this at all, but what I do know fascinates me.
Canada. It's right there. I want to be more aware of it, both in a historical sense and in current-events terms.
Geography. I need to take more Sporcle quizzes.
Physics. I have some knowledge of physics from other subjects, but I've never taken a class in it. I'm going to this fall--I'll need it to study neuroscience.
Astronomy. Clark offers classes, but my schedule for senior year is packed with requirements.
Ice hockey. Eventually I'd like to be able to play as well, but for now, I just want to know more about it, both the nuts and bolts of the game and as a cultural phenomenon, teams and players and so forth.
Herpetology. Snakes rock.

Comments

[elgecko.livejournal.com]

General world history. - You won.
Twentieth-century Latin American political history. - We won.

=)

[jedusor.livejournal.com]

*grin*

*ruffle*

[hahathor.livejournal.com]

What? No entrepreneur?

Speaking of which, I met my first-ever boyfriend for drinks last night, and while we were catching up, he pulled out his Crackberry & ordered 4 copies of the Calendar. Hope you've still got a few copies.

[jedusor.livejournal.com]

Sure do. I wondered where that order had sprung from. :P

[imagines.livejournal.com]

I always came out of it feeling confident that if somebody jumped me at the bus stop (which they might have done, it being Midtown) I'd be able to kick their ass.

That's the feeling I want. My mom doesn't have a problem with me taking karate, but she was really confused and said something like, "Isn't karate the one that can kill people? Why don't you take one of those martial arts that focuses only on defense?" ...because I want the confidence of knowing I can kick someone's ass, that's why. I'm certainly not going to KILL anyone. o_O I know how to light a match and set things on fire, so clearly I am an arsonist! *facepalm*

I think I need to make a list like this. It would stop me focusing so hard on "oh shit I have to pick one career, and one career ONLY!"

[jedusor.livejournal.com]

Sifu does focus on defense, and makes it very clear that you are not allowed to use the skills he teaches you to be a jerk to people. He just ensures that if you find yourself in a tight spot, you can get out of it, and litter a few bodies on the way if necessary, and look fucking badass while you're doing it. :P

(This one day we learned how to get someone else on the ground if they're standing and you've already hit the deck. Half an hour of Rambo-wriggling, crawling up someone's leg and slamming your shoulder against their knee, and then taking your turn to be floored. That day was full of badassery and also bruises.)

I think picking a career is not so much a matter of finding something you love as it is finding something that you enjoy and will continue to enjoy after you've been doing it for thirty years. There will be spare time for things like the items on this list. (Of course a career can also be a thing that you really wanna do but can't do as a hobby. Like neuroscience research, for instance. :P)

This list is closely linked to my thoughts on self-esteem versus self-efficacy. I considered writing about that in the entry, but decided not to. I'll e-mail you about it if you want.

[hosterman.livejournal.com]

I love your list!

I think picking a career is not so much a matter of finding something you love as it is finding something that you enjoy and will continue to enjoy after you've been doing it for thirty years.

This makes a lot of sense to me. Sometimes it is hard to figure out what that might be. But I think it's good to think about it in those terms.

[justme8800.livejournal.com]

Languages: Hey! I know a little bit about those. I have a few resources for Japanese you can use, if you like, though you'll have to wait until I get back. If you want free Japanese lessons, I can help you there too, at least for the basic stuff. As for Arabic, I know you're probably not gonna jump on this connection, but Denis's father is fluent. I think his job involves translation or teaching or something.

Computers: Have you ever built one? Or, at least, taken one apart to replace a bad component or install a new disk drive or something? That's an interesting way to figure out the basics, at least. (I mean a simple desktop computer... don't up and take a screwdriver to your Macbook, unless you've got someone with you who knows what they're doing.)

Linguistics: I'd reference you to the person I always go to with questions about this, but I doubt there's anything she knows that you don't.

General world history: Wikipedia is great for this kinda stuff. By the way, did you know that the vikings beat Lance Armstrong to the moon by almost a thousand years?

Astronomy: I'm sure you know this, but Jeanette was an astronomer before she had kids.

~Cordell

[jedusor.livejournal.com]

With languages, things like books and online lessons don't help me much past the alphabet. I'd like to learn from you, though, if we're ever in the same area. (Which looks kind of unlikely--you're going to UC Davis for two years and then you're off back to Japan, right?)

I have not taken apart a computer. I do still have my old Dell laptop, but I'm told it's fine apart from the motherboard, so I'm reluctant to dissect it.

I'm sure the Vikings will beat Lance Armstrong to the moon, since as far as I know, Lance Armstrong has never been to the moon. Nor has Louis Armstrong or Billie Joe Armstrong. :P

Veronica and Avery probably know more about astronomy than I do. :(

[justme8800.livejournal.com]

Uh... yeah, but you do realize just how freaking big the Japanese "alphabet" is, don't you? Still, point taken, I'll see what I can do.

Aside from being famous for going to the moon, playing jazz, and cycling, I also understand that Stretch Armstrong invented FM radio. Possibly before the vikings did.

~Cordell

[ertchin.livejournal.com]

I will be a person you can practice your French, Japanese, and sign language on in 20 years. Mark that down.

[jedusor.livejournal.com]

*pencils you in*

[mamagotcha.livejournal.com]

<3

[crouchback.livejournal.com]

It's probably good to keep a wide range of options. At your age, I was determined to be a physicist, and it darn near led me to disaster when my maths just weren't up to it.

There are actually a lot of options for language classes where you are. In addition to the usual "go to a university and take a class" route, there are various other options. For French, the Alliance Française Chapter in Boston (http://www.afboston.org/) has classes: they are a bit pricey for a college student's budget, but way cheaper than most college courses. The Harvard Extension school has Japanese classes (http://www.extension.harvard.edu/2008-09/courses/japa.jsp), although those are a bit pricey.

Interest in Canada is a very good thing-all too many of us Americans are utter ignoramuses about the country. If you've got the time, Robertson Davies' various novels and essays are probably a good introduction, even though he comes from a certain perspective which probably doesn't represent modern Canada too well. (Start with Fifth Business (http://www.amazon.com/Business-Deptford-Trilogy-Robertson-Davies/dp/0140167943), then finish the other two books in the Deptford Trilogy. After that, go for Murther and Walking Spirits (http://www.amazon.com/Murther-Walking-Spirits-Robertson-Davies/dp/0140168842/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1238330395&sr=1-1), followed by the Cunning Man (http://www.amazon.com/Cunning-Man-Robertson-Davies/dp/0140248307/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1238330470&sr=1-1): those are the two books of the unfinished Toronto Trilogy. Davies wrote two other trilogies, but the second is a reworking of the plot of the first, and with the exception of What's Bred in the Bone (http://www.amazon.com/Whats-Bred-Bone-Robertson-Davies/dp/0140117938/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1238330568&sr=1-1), they aren't up to the quality Davies usually showed. What's Bred in the Bone, though, can be read on its own, and is a very interesting look at Canada's transformation from a rural country to a modern, urban one.