I never answered that question with "I want to work in a dead-end, part-time fast food job for minimum wage."
I don't think any kid would, to be honest. Kids always aspire to something grand - astronaut, ballerina, fireman.
I wanted to be a veterinarian. Or an actress. (Allow me a slight digression here - why is it "actress"? There's no such thing as a "doctoress" or a "teacheress." But yet you have actor and actress, author and authoress, waiter and waitress. Why are some professions sexist and others aren't? And don't give me that "political correctness" garbage. I'll tell what I think about that in another post.)
In order to become a vet, I would have had to have years of schooling in animal health, math and science. I always loved science, and animals. Math? Well, to quote Jimmy Buffett: "Math suks." [sic] I've never gotten along with math. In geometry in high school when we had to do proofs my teacher told me I had "warped logic." I got the right answer, but my proof had more turns in it than Lombard Street.
Plus there was the whole having to put someone else's pet down. I just couldn't bear the thought of doing that. I know that sometimes it's the only humane solution, but I'd be bawling right along with the owner. Heck, I can't even watch those Humane Society commercials without choking up! (Especially when they feature Sarah McLachlan's "Angel.")
As for acting...let's just say the old realtor's mantra is also true for the world of show biz: "Location, location, location." Sure, big stars have come from Wisconsin (Willem Defoe, Orson Welles, Don Ameche, Tony Shalhoub, Mark "The Incredible Hulk from Joss Whedon's upcoming epic The Avengers" Ruffalo) but they've always gone somewhere to "get discovered."
Acting is not a guaranteed income. Neither is my other dream, which is being a writer. You can't just walk out your door one day, get discovered, and start raking in the big bucks. (Although that's what happened to David Boreanaz, who was walking his dog and was spotted by an agent.) Pick any actor, or writer, and read their bio, and you'll notice a certain consistency - years and years of schooling and failures before they "made the big time."
Hollywood loves the "nobody from nowhere who became a big somebody" story. In reality, though, all of us nobodies work the menial, depressing, go-nowhere jobs to make ends meet. Many of us struggle just to pay our bills, buy food and gas (And STOP HIKING THE GAS PRICES YA JERKAZOIDS!) - we put our dreams "on hold" for "someday"...which never comes. And then one day, years down the line, some little voice in the back of our minds pipes up and says "Hey, remember when?"
And we'll let that little dream out into the light for a while, play with it, think of "what could have been"...and then tuck it back somewhere dark and close the door of reality on it for good.
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