Whenever we have family members celebrating their birthdays, we come together to the house of our grandparents to have lunch or dinner, chat, celebrate, etc. While the list of activities changes from year to year, the last thing we do before we say goodbye and return to our respective homes is sing the “Happy Birthday” song, cut the cake and eat it.
I remember too well that when I was little, I have always have wanted to get the flowers on top or the icing in the cake for myself. I would dip in my pointing finger and surrender to happiness whilst enjoying the sweetness of the icing.
Through the years though, I find myself liking the substance of the cake more than the mere icing. This is where I’ll relate this to these representations:
Icing = Online World
Substance = Real World
It seems like only yesterday when I joined Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and other social networking sites…and started blogging. Fast forward to now, I have over a thousand friends and followers in FB and TW and hundreds in the rest. Yet I don’t feel quite enough. I get swept up in the icings of my life, which are composed of beautiful images and their promises of perfection then almost forget all I have learned from my real-world experiences.
For sure, it’s not only me who thinks this way. Many people tell their stories more online than they do in real life, hence barely expressing themselves in actuality.
Like a real IT geek, I seem to prefer the online world rather than the real world—and I know this should not be the case. I feel like my life can be something more when I get to deal with real-life people do real-life events. But how can I correct this when I stay about 11 hours at work facing the computer and use my laptop again at home to work on my other projects and business-related tasks that I need to finish?
To save myself from sticking with the online community too much and give it a break, I envision to live a life having a different career.
My 5 Dream Alternative Careers
1. School Disciplinarian
Through Kindergarten to high school to the present times , I look up to Mr. Yu, Uno High School‘s disciplinarian, for being able to take a great deal of time and effort in monitoring everybody’s behavior in school. I’m proud to say that I have graduated from this prestigious high school not only learning from all the lessons taught in class but also embracing the discipline and values Mr. Yu has shared and administered. Like him, I want to be able to stay in an environment I love, be an inspiration, earn people’s respect and mingle with them sans being online. 🙂
2. Theater Arts Dancer
Dancing and working out are two of my most favorite activities. They are much more than a sport, as they require the right amount of talent, confidence, and patience for the craft. Being accepted as a member of a professional theater arts group would be a dream come-true for me. Be it performing ballet, jazz, swing, hip hop, break-dance, pointe, or modern, I can be out of the computer doing my own sharp and graceful moves throughout the day.
3. Celebrity Hairdresser
It’s funny that I used to be that girl who hated makeup and doing hairstyles other than the usual bun, ponytail, simple braid and curls. But when I started watching YouTube videos last year inspired by the Singaporeans who love makeup and dressing up, I became so fascinated with the things we can do beautify and improve how people look. I wanted to try all sorts of colors, textures, lashes and shapes to people’s faces and make them look amazing.
So I thought that with flexible hours, becoming a celebrity hairdresser at the center of the beauty industry is a career I think is fun and rewarding. It’s one recession-proof job that can touch the lives of endless number of people. I can meet celebrities, attend events with them for free, work with a fashion or movie set and even go traveling around the world for projects. On slow days, I can always have lots of gossip to keep myself busy! Nyahaha 😛
4. Pastry Chef
Being a pastry chef requires much persistence and patience in the kitchen, I know. Even if I’m not into baking, I do love eating baked goodies and pastries, and I think I can be good at making them myself when I subscribe to commitment. I thought smelling the aroma of food from starters or appetizers, snacks to desserts every day and living completely tech-free would be good. I could also make people happy, feeding them sweets to brighten up their mood anytime.
5. Dubber
I’m not gifted with a good singing voice but I can totally use different voices to dub characters on TV, radio, music videos and other shows. The good thing about being a dubber is that I don’t have to memorize scripts as I won’t be the actor facing the camera. Additionally, I don’t have to use my brain cells to create my lines as they will just be given to me. I don’t have to work hard on my looks to please audiences either, as I stay only at the back projecting for voice-overs. Yet I can be an instant star when people find out that I’m the voice behind a popular cartoon character or main cast of a non-Filipino television series.
Wrap Up
While these fantasies sound great to me, I believe or make myself believe and so people do believe as well that I’m good at what I do now. And so I cannot escape from being what I have presently become. I love my job(s) and if ever I would go for those five figures above, I can just mess up in a hundred ways and I can go broke.
But what if I succeed? 😆
If you have read until this far, I thank you for your time and ask you to also think about the alternative careers you dream about. And before you leave this page, contemplate on this note: “Until you live out the things that you profess to believe, they are only so many things in your head.” Hopefully, we can then break out from tasting only the “icing in the cake.”
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