An astronaut. A veterinarian. A pro sports player.
These are things you hear so often as career aspirations when you're in first grade. Little by little, as time goes on, those primary dreams fade.
But even as adulthood comes and takes us by surprise, most of us know exactly what we would rather be doing at any given instance. It might not be our career now, but it could be one day.
Or else not, but it's still nice to think about it.
Redditor akotosinato asked:
"What is your dream job?"
Here were some of those answers.
PhD In Mad Science
"Mad scientist. I wanna engineer tissues for things like organ transplantation and improved cancer treatment. Giant robot can come later, but I married an ME, so that's on track."
"I'm applying for my PhD. Wish me luck, I'm terrified."-Jeru1226
The Dream Had A Price Tag
"I spent nearly two years working as a scientific diver in the Great Barrier Reef. Projects ranged from coral diversity expeditions, remote sensing and crown of thorns control."
"The people I worked with her amazing and I got paid to 'live the dream.'"
"But the big things were the time I spent away from home, the pay isn't as good as people think (welcome to the environmental industry) and after awhile it takes a toll on your body. It was some of the best times of my professional career but it does come at a cost."-newagesaltyseadog
Liminality
"Not knowing it is absolutely fine. You don't have to know. It can make you want to experiment more and gain more experience and go through different life adventurers that you would have missed out on, had you chosen a specific path."
"If you're OK with what you have, I think you're doing awesome! Keep it up."-Fahi12
Can you see yourself holding down any of these jobs?
Mama Coffee
"My dream job would be a coffee house with lots of nice books around that people can read, but I can't stand coffee and I'm terrible at reading, so it's a pretty silly dream job. There's just something about the aesthetic of it all that appeals to me."-The_Blip
"Sounds like you'd be selling the coffee and books instead of drinking and reading, so that doesn't sound very silly to me at all."-EnthusiasticWaffles
Sexy Librarian Or Just Librarian
"Being a librarian or a bookstore employee, assisting with research, and writing articles."-brkh47
"I'm a corporate librarian! I think a lot of people see it as selling your soul but the money is great, the jobs are stable, and I work with really cool materials and advise on campus museum walks :)"-mmphotos25
Ohhh *Pit Crew*
"I wanna be an F1 Engineer!"
"So far, I'm on my way to the goal by nearly finishing my degree in mechanical engineering and now I'm applying to graduate schemes at McLaren, Williams and some smaller supplier teams!"
I"'ve spent 6 years preparing for this sh*t so it better be worth it dammit!"-cannedrex2406
How Would You Dress For This Job
"Wandering hobo that parents tell their kids to avoid but they don't listen and so he guides them in saving their town from an ancient evil with awesome king fu lessons and occasionally wise yet comedic banter."
"He also can fly with his beard like ice king."-GodDamnRight-
Do you see any jobs on this list that you wish you knew about before growing up and making another choice?
Hey AI, Why?
"As a CS nerd who thoroughly enjoys playing chess, Chess.com had this job opening that looked like sooo much fun."
"Essentially, we have algorithms/models that are absolutely incredible at playing chess - world champion grand master chess players have been broadly considered inferior to the best computers since ~2006."
"The thing is these models 'learn' (improve their likelihood of winning) in such a way that, even though they make the correct decisions, they have no way of conveying (or perhaps we have no way of properly comprehending) the reason for a given decision."
"Sure, we can generally study their behavior and make inferences but those still come down to educated guesses."
"Anyways, Chess.com wanted to pay someone to mess around with their opponent AI and research ways of explaining a given decision it made. I don't have the Ph.D. that job would require but damn if it doesn't sound fun :)"-ArriePotter
I Do Not Dream Of Labor
"To be more specific for me, being financially free. It doesn't mean I wake up without a purpose. It means I don't have to keep working a job that pays well that I'm no longer interested in doing."
"I get to do things like helping people out, improving my community, etc. Like figuring out a new lease on life instead of planning to work everyday for the next 30 years just so I can retire semi comfortably."-terdferguson
The Ultimate Hangout
"Running a combo of a winery, brewery and coffeeshop at a beautiful location with easy hiking trails and fire pits outside, plus a built in movie theater with laying around room and a room for playing board games, pool, skiball, some arcade games, etc."
"Also dogs are allowed and encouraged. There'd be snacks sold and some vendors could have trucks outside."-Elliejq88
So, our dreams haven't quite left us yet, even if the world (and life in general) has truly done its best to mess us up.
Dreams always prevail.
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People Explain Which Strange Features They'd Love To Build Into Their Dream House
It's quite common for children to discuss their dream houses. They conjure fantastic images of all-powerful gadgets, rooms dedicated to desserts, and houses high in the clouds or down at ocean's bottom.
And yet, adults seem to equally prone to dreaming. But their imagined palaces illustrate a clear change in priorities since those earlier years.
A recent Reddit thread asked people to describe their ideal household features and designs.
The resulting list was a wide-ranging list of pragmatic solutions to problems as well as plenty of absurd investments in comfort and leisure.
Butterflies_Books asked, "If you had enough money to build your dream house, what's a strange room/feature you'd include?"
Greenrooms. Greenrooms Everywhere.Â
"I really want one of those natural bathrooms, that looks like you just walked into a jungle, everything is stone and steam and plants and sounds of a water fall."
"Or one of those open stair cases where the back wall is completely glass and there's a leafy garden under the stairs."
"Basically just a tropical oasis for plants."
Middle Earth SnacksÂ
"I want a hobbit pantry."
"Earthy, timber-stone decor that is climate controlled to be a perfect storage area for wheels of cheese, sausage links and beer."
-- Shangiskhan
Goal-Setting ImageryÂ
"It's not that strange, but I think an irrationally large number of decisions in my life have been motivated by the desire to eventually have a study with high ceilings and floor to ceiling bookshelves so I can have one of those ladder things that sits against the shelf and have it be justified."
"I would add an octopus tank but I think they live like two years tops and having to bury a pet biennelly seems depressing."
-- Nrussg
Controlled FallingÂ
"a trap door at the entrance that drops you into the ball pit." -- perfruit_mix
"When I was remodeling my kitchen years ago, I realized my bedroom closet was directly above one of the kitchen pantries. I wanted to build a fireman's pole in my closet so that after changing I could just slide down the pole and then walk out of the kitchen pantry, like, ta-da!"
"I thought it was brilliant. My wife did not. Didn't happen." -- fletchlivz
The ComfiestÂ
"A bed room. A room that is just a giant bed second or third story of the house surrounded by windows with a glass ceiling/skylights." -- 4RichNot2BPoor
"Have a balcony overlooking the bed room to jump onto the bed from" -- randomly_generated87
"Once google maps satellite images start becoming more detailed people are going to see you doing your kinky sh** through your ceiling." -- PuggerHugger123
Outside InsideÂ
"A cylindrical atrium at the center, that goes from natural rock and water features at the bottom, with spiral staircases and steps around the outside that lead to a glass roomed sun deck with a hut that overlooks the entire thing."
For the Invading Ships, Of CourseÂ
"I'd definitely install an observatory on top of a spire." -- Tardigrade7point0
"This is 100% what I'd do. My house would be located far away, in a dark sky region. Have all of the lights in the house be smart lights, so I can turn them all off with a single click." -- OSUfan88
"This is my plan. I'm going to custom-build an enormous telescope for it" -- TaskerTunnelSnake
Bring 'Em Back!
"A moat. No one has a moat anymore. Do you not want to talk to people? Pull up the draw bridge!!!! And in the winter you have your own personal skating rink!!" -- Hardlynotpoor
"100% would turn into a lazy river in the summer" -- Magicallypeanut
"Except standing water makes for excellent mosquito breeding grounds. I want a moat, but I also don't want to pay for it in blood." -- ShadyLibidine
Preparing for Cleanup
"Professional kitchen. Hoods, stainless steel everything, floors on a 1° slant and one whole wall is a drain, the works." -- easyroscoe
"A friend of mine has something similar to this, except the whole room slants toward the island where the drain is located in the tiled toe kick."
"He can soak his floor and mop everything into the drain, hit a button to have whatever was in there chewed up via some sort of mulcher. If you didn't know it was there, it just looks like a nice kitchen with some professional appliances." -- not_charles_grodin
PB & J Otter, Anyone?
"Slides. Slides all over the house to get you from any room down to the living room or den." -- hausomad
"We got a VRBO once with a slide. Which the kids loved until we noticed the connections between slide segments were ripping the seats of their pants."
"Worst. Meltdown. Ever." -- jcrewjr
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We can all agree sleep is great, right? It goes third, chocolate cake. Second, watching your child succeed at anything. First, sleep. So when something wakes you up from a deep slumber it can ruin the rest of your day. When that 'something' turns out to be terrifying, well, that can ruin your life.
Reddit user, u/Hoostolf, wanted people to dig deep into their thoughts and share:
What is the worst/scariest thing that has woken you up?
Growing up, my favorite cartoon was ThunderCats. Oddly, the ThunderCats are also the subject of my oldest recurring nightmare. My friends and family all know about the nightmare, it comes up quite often because they think it's so ridiculous. If you're into dream interpretation, grab your popcorn. Here we go.
The dream starts at a simple picnic in the park with my family. I'm sitting at a table across from my mother and happily snacking away. Then I notice something a little strange about her. My mom's eyes are normally an almost-alien shade of pale green, but they start to look yellow and she's just staring at me a little strangely.
Dreams can play out like reflections of our reality. Sometimes, they're bringing out deep desires in our subconscious. Other times they play out the most outlandish connections and images we can see. So, when our dreams lead us down a dark and bizarre path we never really get over, it's important to analyze it. You need to see what it's trying to tell you.
Reddit user, u/MossCoss, wanted to hear about the peskiest sleep thoughts when they asked: