Top 5 Dream Jobs

The following may actually become real job prospects if I don’t get into law school ...

Honorable Mention: Personal Gift Shopper - I am really freaking good at buying presents for people and I often feel like this amazing skill is seriously underutilized. The reason this gets honorable mention though is that while I like the idea of shopping for a living, I would rather be buying things for people I actually know and like rather than do someone else’s grunt work.



5) Trophy Wife - While trophy wife was your honorable mention occupation, this one actually makes my list. I think the fact that “trophy wife” isn’t considered a “real” job is just a testament to the reality of how under-appreciated women’s work truly is. Keeping a house is tough work! But soap box standing aside, yes, I am perfectly okay with marrying some billionaire and getting to do all the other things I couldn’t do if I had to bring in a salary—bake, nonprofit work, write Top 5 Lists. Also, I would get to run around in cute aprons all day.


4) Photographer - Not a wedding photographer, but a legitimate have-your-stuff-on-display-at-SFMOMA photographer. Photography is one of the few artistic endeavors that actually makes sense to me and is consequently my favorite artistic medium—most other art just seems either unnecessarily ornate or hopelessly inaccessible. It would be really neat to be able to create something for a living rather than be merely an appreciator of things.


3) Belly Dancer - Being a belly dance for a living would be awesome because it would mean that I was actually good enough to make money doing it—which is simply not the case right now. Add on the benefits of not having to muddle through a 9 to 5 every day, and performing doesn’t seem like such a bad gig. It would also be neat to have my own dance studio and teach people things. However, I do have reservations about a profession that is completely dependent on one's physical appearance—let’s face it, you could be the most talented dancer in the world, but if you’re fug you don’t have a chance. So there’s a whole host of different anxieties and pressures attached to being a performer, which is why this is the dream jobs list and not the list of things I could actually do.

2) Used Book Store/Coffee House Proprietress - Used book stores are some of my favorite places and there just aren’t enough of them. This job would bring together two of my great loves—books and coffee—and also let me be my own boss. It would be like the whole Barnes and Noble + Starbucks set up, but smaller and without being enslaved to corporate America. Emeryville is in serious need of a used book store, so this might not be such a pipe dream after all ...



1) Pastry Chef a.k.a. Baker - While I get that people need to eat and what not, cooking has always seemed like the most frivolous profession possible. So if I really didn’t care about making a difference in the world or fighting global warming and the depletion of natural resources, I would be a baker. I absolutely love to bake and if I could do it all the time AND be able to sleep at night, I would totally do it. But alas, I feel like I need to accomplish something meaningful first.