career opportunities

Last night I was going through some boxes to see what I could get rid of. I do this sometimes, and it's almost always a chore that turns into hours of fun, kind of like a scavenger hunt. This time was no different. Of the more interesting things I found were a few old drawings, envelopes full of cut up words and images saved for collages, and old journal pages. Oh, the world of a teenage girl!! It wasn't all that long ago, so you might think it's easy to remember what I thought in those days. But it gets me every time, for one reason or another. I found my old list of "what i want to be", as well as a page with personal life goals, obstacles to getting there, and ideas for overcoming the obstacles. Very thorough! - did I mention that I amused myself while growing up an only child? Well yeah, there you have it.

Right after finding that, I came across an envelope with old documents from high school. Letters, a National Honor Society membership card (now those were some crazy times! er...wait I'm thinking of High School Bowl), and my results from the PLAN test that we took in 10th grade. This was a standardized test made by the same people who do the ACT. From what I can tell, it's just another career aptitude survey and academic yardstick to freak the kids out. I did quite well, since I was lucky to be a good test-taker, but what takes the cake is the "Job Possibilities" results. (I'd like to scan it and put it on here, but till then I'll just share this.)

Your Job Possibilities. In the chart to the right, Career Areas are grouped by Career Clusters (major types of work). Career Areas in line with your interests are shaded. To explore your job possibilities, follow the steps above the chart.

Doesn't that sound like fun? So much for natural curiosity. Then there is a "World-of-Work Map" that resembles a sliced pizza pie, with little dots scattered in the different slices according to what I'd be most likely to enjoy. Working with Data, Things, Ideas, or People? Not surprisingly, my dots are all over among the sections. Interestingly though, many of the dots are clustered in the "Things" section - which is not an area I've pursued much in college. There are lables for the dots, such as "Medical Specialties & Technologies", "Agriculture & Natural Resources", "Construction & Maintenance" and "Industrial Equipment Operation & Repair". When I read it, however, all I could hear was Sally Struthers' voice. Which probably helped steer me away from those areas. I also scored high in "Applied Arts (Visual)" and "Creative/Performing Arts". I definitely remember asking everyone what "applied" arts were, and how they were different from arts in general. The test suggested floral designers, commercial artists, architects and landscape architects. No one could tell me much more, so I figured plain old "arts" was good enough for me.

Tangent: This test was more helpful than that given by the military around the same time, which told me I'd make a great "combat specialist". How a stoned 16 year old pacifist shows potential as a combat specialist I still do not know. Maybe it was my emerging punk anti-establishmentism? I do know I failed the coding portion, because I was in no mood to decode encrypted 5-digit numbers or whatever it asked us to do. It was first hour, and I would have rather been, uh, enhancing the illustrations in my american history textbook.

But now the real treat of the scavenger hunt emerged! I found a survey, a photocopied fill-in worksheet, with all sorts of questions about myself. Not dated, but judging by my handwriting it appeared to be from junior high. Sure enough, it was a survey from 8th grade - that our teacher Mrs. Corcoran kept for us until graduation. {Comments bracketed in italics}

NAME: Rachel
AGE: 12
NUMBER IN FAMILY: 3
DO YOU LIKE???
MUSIC? yes
WHAT KIND? pop, rap, dance, polka, TLC, coolio {you know me and my coolio! he's my boy!}
SPORTS? yes
WHICH ONES? swimming, skating, volleyball, coccer {yes, with a "c"}
IN WHICH SPORTS DO YOU PARTICIPATE? figure skating, volleyball, tennis {so, i 'participated' in tennis, but didn't include it in the first question?}
MOVIES? yes Jim Carrey, comedy, horror!
TV? no SCHOOL? yes
TO READ? yes (fun)
STUDY? no {bullshit!}
DANCE? yes, it's fun fast and slow {well alright. let's be absolutely clear about this!}
SWIM? yes HUNT? no (?) FISH yes, smelt
PLAY POOL? yes ANIMALS? Y dog, cat, bunny
SMALL SHILDREN? yes
ARE YOU A NERVOUS PERSON? yes
SENSITIVE? yes and no
WHAT IS THE SUBJECT YOU LIKE THE MOST? art, band, health {health???}
WHO IS THE PERSON YOU LIKE THE MOST? my mom & dad, (step) ken, grandma
WHAT KIND OF PEOPLE DO YOU ENJOY BEING WITH? partiers, sensitive. {this makes sense to me, but...surveys shmerveys}
DO YOU PLAY A MUSICAL INSTRUMENT? yes
WHAT IS YOUR BEST QUALITY? humor, my hair, good friend {hair huh? i guess she didn't specify what kind of quality. my hair was pretty nice...}
WHAT IS YOUR WORST QUALITY? HABIT? sort of shy, picking my nails
WHAT DO YOU LIKE TO TALK ABOUT? boys, family troubles, singing {wow. hopefully only with close friends?}

FINISH THESE SENTENCES, PLEASE:
I WISH I COULD be a great musician/singer
THE BEST PART OF BEING ALIVE IS making yourself and others happy
I DO NOT LIKE TO be criticized
I AM HAPPIESET WHEN i'm with a good friend (cousin)
I WANT TO BE a singer, successful (beautiful)
IT MAKES ME SAD WHEN a family member dies
I LOVE life, friends, guys, music, dancing
THE WORST PART OF BEING ALIVE IS hate, war
WHAT I WOULD LIKE TO CHANGE ABOUT OUR WORLD IS make it more peaceful & have a woman pres. {i think i threw that last part in there because it just came to me and i was like fuck yeah! i never cared for it to be me, but i knew then that shit's gotta change}

WHAT I WOULD LIKE TO CHANGE ABOUT MYSELF IS my shy attitude,

...And that's how it's left. Some answers embarass me, others make me want to cry because they're so simple and honest. A couple I may have self-censored because I thought she would read them. I wonder if she ever did? But how cool that I got specific on these, because it's a trip reading them today at 22. I wonder if that's why she gave us this survey, so we could have an experience like this. She was an amazing and strange woman... Well, judging by these answers I wasn't so usual myself.