Frazz by Jef Mallett for June 15, 2021

After a few fire fights in Vietnam I lost all concept of “future”.

I noticed over the years that the things I love the most, pay the least. Oh, well, I am hobby happy at least.

That grownup had his mind blown-if his kids haven’t done it already(by picking up their toys, eating teriyaki chicken without gagging, or reading the newspaper without giggling).

Heh, heh. In my last job interview, I was asked where I saw myself in five years. I replied “FINALLY retired!” — note that this was an “interview” in name only: Most of the “interviewers” already knew me and my skill set, so the question was kind of a goof.

PS: It took only one day less than a full year to achieve that status.

Perhaps Caulfield could adopt a Socratic lifestyle and just wander around asking people unexpected questions? We don’t have quite enough uncertainty in our lives, do we?

Not completely sure how I ended up being what I was, though I ended up liking it immensely. Think it was a combination of reading my Dad’s college books and talking to my Mom’s youngest brother (now deceased).

I don’t remember having any idea what I wanted to be when I was Caulfield’s age. I don’t even remember wanting to be older, much less grown-up at that point. My ultimate career wasn’t even invented until a few year later, but I do remember being fascinated by airplanes and flying. I started doing that, and what would lead to my eventual profession, at about the same time (early teens). I’m still doing both nearly sixty years later.

“There are old pilots, and there are bold pilots. There are no old, bold pilots” – Ernest K. Gann.

In many ways, I’m more than I ever thought I’d be and less than I ever wanted to be, but I have no regrets about either.

One problem with being in education was that I wanted to prepare my students for good solid futures, but some of the employment they entered wasn’t even thought of when I had them. Although I suppose the basics are the basics for most things.

I like Caulfield’s colour scheme today. I wonder if his mother picks out his clothes in the morning?

I wanted to be a doctor as a kid. I became a doctor. It’s not the most exciting story but I’m having fun.

As an IT professional born growing up in the 60’s and 70’s, I did not know my profession existed when I was a kid. (And it kind of did not really.)

But the best answer is “A good person who my friends will have been glad to have known.”

Caulfield is right. It’s a question we don’t ask ourselves often enough in early years. It usually comes after we reach a certain age, when we tend to spend time trying to sum up where we are and why. But we rarely reach a specific explanation. In the final conclusion, we try to see it as that we did what we did when we needed to it. We did it to the best of our abilities at the time. If we were thougthful, we caused no one harm, and we helped where we could. What more is there?

When I was six or seven, someone asked me that question. I had just read Roy Chapman Andrews’ All About Dinosaurs, so I said I wanted to be a paleontologist, and to be helpful I explained the etymology of the word.

I don’t think that adult ever pictured that conversation in her future, either.

RE: Your handlebar thingamabob. When I bought my first Apple desktop computer, I purchased, along with it, an iPod Nano, the VERY FIRST Nano with the stainless steel backing. Sadly, the battery has since gone dead and when I took it to the Apple store in the local mall for a possible replacement, the “help” staff who was probably about the same age as my youngest (early 30s), looked at it, looked at me and said, “Dude, what is THIS?” When I told him, he said, “Wow, I’ve never seen one of these.” After discussing my Nano’s future following the failure to get ANY sort of power indicator, they offered me a trade up to the latest iPod, which is now about the same size of my iPhone 11. When asked if there was anyway I could get my 700-plus tunes rolled over into the new toy, he said, “Sorry, no,” and I pretty much said the same thing to him. I am hoping, someday, to return my relic to Apple headquarters so I can get it recharged …. or sell it for a lot of money to an antique dealer!!BTW, Jef, what did YOU want to be when you grew up? I had my sights set on Navy SEAL until I discovered I might have to jump out of a helicopter from about 50 feet into freezing water.

At his age – I wanted to be a test pilot for military aircraft. I wanted to fly fighter planes without having to shoot anyone. As it turned out – I’m miles from that. However, in wanting to do that it did get me to think about a career and whether I wanted to go to college or military or both so, even though I didn’t end up there I think it ended up being valuable to think and dream about as a kid.

I had a plan “A” sometime around Caulfield’s apparent age, blocked by a draft board physician. Devolved/Evolved through the alphabet to around plan “k” or so in retirement (note lower-case k). Echo the comment by Tigrisan, and too few regrets to mention.

When I was Caulfield’s age I answered that question with “an adult”

My answer: Sort of. I figured on being a writer. I do write a lot, but I’m not a published novelist. The job I did take involves doing something I liked to do even in elementary school: proofreading.

You have to be pretty old to think that there’s only ever gonna be one answer to that question. Most of today’s young people will be many things during their adulthoods.

Had no idea at Caulfield’s age. Turned out I spent many rewarding hours conversing with children of his age while teaching elementary school.

I prefer to hear high school graduates goals, lot’s of them are really clue less. The really sad ones do not have any dreams or ambitions

That’s quite the confrontation.

When I was Caulfield’s age I wanted to be a scientist. Got a BS in Biochemistry, divided a couple years between biomedical lab research and minimum wage jobs, and realized that my place in science was in distribution rather than production. Got an MS in Library Science and have been a medical librarian for 33 years.

If I could start over again I’d be an architect. The designer part that is, not the engineering part. The only fly in the ointment would be having to consider clients’ budgets.

“You make plans, then life happens”

Just say “taller.”