What do you do?

[billc393]

Business Analytics

 

[nh23]

I have a couple of good friends in Vancouver who have done this for years and years. No, not an easy job, they've told me lots about it.

Me?

Professional nomad. Seriously? I am a Jill of all trades. I still don't know what I want to be when I grow up. I do whatever moves me in the moment and this gave my parents no end of grief from the day I quit university onward. (Sorry Dad!)

My longest and most important career to date was as a professional stunt performer. I did that for over a decade. I walked away six years ago for a variety of reasons but mostly because I have itchy travel feet and wanted to see the world.

Four years ago, I decided to pursue writing as a career. I am published but a long way from achieving the goals I've set for myself. I think I'll be at this one for a long time to come, working at whatever I can, in the meantime, to pay the bills.

But really, my resume reads like the yellow pages.

Stunt person! Wow! I bet that's really hard on the body. What takes you to the current place you're in? I know you said you only had a few months left, so I wasn't sure if it was for work, or a missionary thing.

 

[nh23]

Business Analytics

How does the current state of our economy affect that line of work?

 

[Keroin]

Stunt person! Wow! I bet that's really hard on the body. What takes you to the current place you're in? I know you said you only had a few months left, so I wasn't sure if it was for work, or a missionary thing.

Sorry, part in bold made me smile. (I don't believe in any gods).

Yes, I am forty with the body of an eighty year old. LOL. Actually, I fare pretty well despite all the damage.

I came here because I had an opportunity to have a house here for a few years - I've always dreamed of living in the South Pacific. My contract expires in three months, as does my visa. In retrospect, two years was too long but I'm a water baby so having the most beautiful lagoon in my front yard kind of hypnotized me. I can write from anywhere in the world and I make a *small* amount in royalties, which is enough to feed my travel habit. I have, however, put in some time with a couple of environmental groups here and I've also worked with the tourism board, since I feel it's important to make a contribution to the place you live.

Great mangoes here. No complaints about that.

Added: There is a special place in my heart for nurses. Heroes to me.

 

[nh23]

Sorry, part in bold made me smile. (I don't believe in any gods).

Yes, I am forty with the body of an eighty year old. LOL. Actually, I fare pretty well despite all the damage.

I came here because I had an opportunity to have a house here for a few years - I've always dreamed of living in the South Pacific. My contract expires in three months, as does my visa. In retrospect, two years was too long but I'm a water baby so having the most beautiful lagoon in my front yard kind of hypnotized me. I can write from anywhere in the world and I make a *small* amount in royalties that is enough to feed my travel habit. I do, however, have put in some time with a couple of environmental groups here and I've also worked with the tourism board, since I feel it's important to make a contribution to the place you live.

Great mangoes here. No complaints about that.

It's great that you're able to do that. LOL missionary thing, sorry. I have a dream of someday living on the ocean. Don't know if I'll ever accomplish it, but it's nice to have something to look forward to.

 

[nh23]

Added: There is a special place in my heart for nurses. Heroes to me.

 

[CutieMouse]

I play with undergarments for a living.

For a while I dealt in vintage lingerie and clothing (1890 - 1965), but resources became too scarce to build the business; now I do modern stuff (I spend about 40 hours a week in dressing rooms selling high end pieces) and collect vintage lingerie as a hobby.

Every time I think I've figured out what I want to be when I grow up, something changes and I end up searching for a new grownup thing to be... but it will somehow involve artishness. (I made up a word.)

 

[rbijon]

I play with undergarments for a living.

For a while I dealt in vintage lingerie and clothing (1890 - 1965), but resources became too scarce to build the business; now I do modern stuff (I spend about 40 hours a week in dressing rooms selling high end pieces) and collect vintage lingerie as a hobby.

Every time I think I've figured out what I want to be when I grow up, something changes and I end up searching for a new grownup thing to be... but it will somehow involve artishness. (I made up a word.)

Great times, You "uplift" the economy!

 

[Kajira Callista]

I play with undergarments for a living.

For a while I dealt in vintage lingerie and clothing (1890 - 1965), but resources became too scarce to build the business; now I do modern stuff (I spend about 40 hours a week in dressing rooms selling high end pieces) and collect vintage lingerie as a hobby.

Every time I think I've figured out what I want to be when I grow up, something changes and I end up searching for a new grownup thing to be... but it will somehow involve artishness. (I made up a word.)

It's a nice word...Should be a real one.

 

[nh23]

I play with undergarments for a living.

For a while I dealt in vintage lingerie and clothing (1890 - 1965), but resources became too scarce to build the business; now I do modern stuff (I spend about 40 hours a week in dressing rooms selling high end pieces) and collect vintage lingerie as a hobby.

Every time I think I've figured out what I want to be when I grow up, something changes and I end up searching for a new grownup thing to be... but it will somehow involve artishness. (I made up a word.)

I think that's great. Now would you be the person to ask if someone was looking for hard to fit lingerie? I'm a J cup and I have a terrible time in that dept. I'm only 38 around so that makes it harder. I drool over corsets but have never seen one that would come close to fitting.

 

[CutieMouse]

I think that's great. Now would you be the person to ask if someone was looking for hard to fit lingerie? I'm a J cup and I have a terrible time in that dept. I'm only 38 around so that makes it harder. I drool over corsets but have never seen one that would come close to fitting.

I won't clog up the thread with boring fitting questions, but feel free to PM me if you have any.

As for the corset - you could always go for an underbust in a basic color (like black satin or brocade), then get a cute matching set. (that one goes up to a double H, which depending on cut may fit a J cup)

I love lingerie... every woman deserves a drop dead gorgeous matching set; it's a very powerful thing to feel sexy and desirable - even if no one else knows why.

 

[nh23]

I won't clog up the thread with boring fitting questions, but feel free to PM me if you have any.

As for the corset - you could always go for an underbust in a basic color (like black satin or brocade), then get a cute matching set. (that one goes up to a double H, which depending on cut may fit a J cup)

I love lingerie... every woman deserves a drop dead gorgeous matching set; it's a very powerful thing to feel sexy and desirable - even if no one else knows why.

Oh, that's beautiful! I'll have to do some measuring and see if it'll work. Thank you!

 

[Sir_Winston54]

Do you ever get to do really exciting cases?

Most of them are boring as hell, nothing like you see on TV courtroom dramas. Some of them are interesting, but I really can't think of any that I've ever done that I would call "exciting." I've done murder, manslaughter, DUIs, and just about every other felony in the books, and probably half or more of the misdemeanors in the books, over the past seven years, lots of DV cases - some of them make me laugh like a loon - juvenile criminal/delinquency... but the worst cases I've done have all been in the same area: juvenile dependency/termination of parental rights.

The worst, I think, was the child who lost both feet (one to the ankle, one to the knee), one hand halfway to the elbow, and all the fingers (but not the thumb - they said he apparently clenched his thumb inside his fingers) of the other hand, and was scalded so badly over 75% of his (remaining) body that the best burn/plastic surgeon in Florida said that in his conservative estimate, the child would require surgeries - at least three or four every year - until he was at least 20 years old. He was 3 1/2 at the time. He was also severely brain damaged *and* severely emotionally disturbed because of the scalding, which his mother claimed happened when he pulled a pot of boiling water over on himself.

Trained investigators and doctors testified that there was no way that pulling even a five-gallon pot of boiling water over on himself could have done that much damage, that the child had to have been HELD mostly immersed in boiling water for well over a minute, more likely two to three minutes; that that was the only thing that could explain the fact that he had NO BURNS above a line approximately one inch below the top of his shoulders. Brandy (ex#3) and I both worked on that one - it was over 3000 pages, and we often had to get up and leave our computers for a while because we simply couldn't listen any more. When we came back, we invariably would work on another case or two for a while before we could go back to that one.

No... my cases are sometimes: boring (often, actually), routine, funny (often), sad, and annoying (particularly long trials when the State has tons and tons of evidence and witnesses, and the Defense only has the defendant saying, "I didn't do it," and the lawyers just can NOT convince them to take a plea bargain). And some of them are downright painful to work. Fortunately, cases like that don't come along too often, because I wouldn't be able to handle them more than once every few years.

Like Keroin, my actual resumé would read like an abbreviated section of the Yellow Pages. A sampling...

• Newspaper delivery boy
• Vegetable slicer/dishwasher in a hamburger joint
• Apprentice meat cutter
• Navy radioman
• Meat cutter in an Armour smoked ham factory
• Gas station manager in the Everglades (the only station w/in 35 miles - I got lots of business!)
• Waiter/busboy at the only restaurant in the Everglades
• Salesman/stocker at an Army/Navy surplus store
• Security guard (mobile, stationary, and concerts)
• Apprentice self-defense instructor (for a short while... got my butt kicked too many times by the guys teaching me to teach the students!)
• Taxi driver
• Taxi dispatcher
• Office worker in a company producing cross-reference (reverse) directories
• Mailing list sales manager in above ^^ company
• Manager of the parking concession at Tampa International Airport
• Secretary/word processing instructor/manager at a Honeywell plant - as a temp worker!
• Teacher (plus newspaper sponsor, TV production teacher/sponsor, Quill & Scroll sponsor, asst. school business manager, tennis head coach, soccer asst. coach, and general pita to the administration )
• Billing specialist/manager at a telco
• Legal transcriptionist, and
• a few others that didn't last long enough to bother remembering and listing

I guess I've packed a lot of experiences in my almost-60 years... had a lot of different jobs, most of which I enjoyed (at least for a while), learned a lot of things, forgotten a lot of things, and accumulated a vast storehouse of trivia in my poor mushy grey matter. Overall... it's been a pretty good life, and I expect it to continue to be pretty good for a number of years yet to go.

 

[Bi_Kitty]

At the moment, I'm STILL waiting to hear something back from the Social Security office on whether or not I got the job that supposedly starts in 3 weeks that I interviewed for last month. (Damn government.) Other than that, I'm still an undergrad business student who loves taking pictures.

 

[bridgeburner]

High school teacher.

But that's only in the last year. Before that I worked for nearly 7 years in accounting in the adult entertainment industry. I've done (in no particular order) database administration for a telecom reseller, worked as an office manager, executive assistant, bank teller, tele-surveyor, data entry clerk, waitress, pre-school teacher, actress, theatrical director, acting teacher, fast food server, cashier, help desk, corporate trainer, purchasing agent, house-sitter.....umm, there's probably more but I can't think of them.

 

[graceanne]

stay at home mom

I've been a waitress, a office slave (answering phones, filing stuff, cleaning, data entry, etc), nanny, care giver, CNA, house keeper, and day care provider. I've also done extensive volunteer work. Once, when I was looking for work, and DHS was helping me they suggested I have two resume's because I've done so much.

I'm also going to school to be a Journalist. I might, possibly, double major in English, we'll see.

 

[Sir_Winston54]

.... I'm also going to school to be a Journalist. I might, possibly, double major in English, we'll see.

As a former journalism (print and broadcast) teacher (high school students), I'd suggest that even if you don't do the double major, taking a few extra courses in composition, etc., would be helpful to you as a journalist, even if you go broadcast journalism. The better broadcast journalists do as much of their own writing as they're allowed to...

 

[graceanne]

As a former journalism (print and broadcast) teacher (high school students), I'd suggest that even if you don't do the double major, taking a few extra courses in composition, etc., would be helpful to you as a journalist, even if you go broadcast journalism. The better broadcast journalists do as much of their own writing as they're allowed to...

I'm not going into broadcast journalism. I'm not pretty enough, I get monotone when I know people are listening to my voice, and I'm NOT photogenic at all.

Honestly, I'd love to work freelance for a parenting site/magazine or something like that.

The reason I was thinking double majoring is (a) it's only an extra year to do both and (b) I hope it'll make me more hireable.

 

[Etoile]

I love this thread!

Professionally, I'm a sign language interpreter. I went back to school for my bachelor's in 2007, so I only work a few months out of the year, desperately trying to scrape together enough money to not have to work during the semester! It would be a fabulously well-paying job if I did it full time; as it is, I make just enough to survive and pay tuition. Not really socking away any savings right now.

Prior to my hearing loss, which was in 2006, I worked in all kinds of different settings. Medical, educational, government, retail, any place that needed an interpreter. Since that happened, though, I've been restricted to working in video relay only. It's partly a convenience issue - the center is on campus, so I'm there all year, and I can pick up hours during the semester if I want - but it's also partly due to my hearing loss. I wear hearing aids, but an interpreter needs to be able to hear in any situation, and I can't always guarantee that. If the acoustics are good, if the room is quiet, etc. then I'm fine. If not, I can't do the job. With VRS, though, I wear a binaural headset and my hearing aids and everything is straight into my ears, so there's no concern about being able to hear. I've done a couple of leather community jobs since 2006 because that's my community, and I've done one hospital job because it was for the boss of the VRS center and he wanted people he trusted. (A hospital room for an extended stay patient is usually pretty quiet.)

So yeah, I'm a hard of hearing person interpreting for deaf and hearing people. That's me!

 

[Sir_Winston54]

I love this thread!

Professionally, I'm a sign language interpreter. I went back to school for my bachelor's in 2007, so I only work a few months out of the year, desperately trying to scrape together enough money to not have to work during the semester! It would be a fabulously well-paying job if I did it full time; as it is, I make just enough to survive and pay tuition. Not really socking away any savings right now.

Prior to my hearing loss, which was in 2006, I worked in all kinds of different settings. Medical, educational, government, retail, any place that needed an interpreter. Since that happened, though, I've been restricted to working in video relay only. It's partly a convenience issue - the center is on campus, so I'm there all year, and I can pick up hours during the semester if I want - but it's also partly due to my hearing loss. I wear hearing aids, but an interpreter needs to be able to hear in any situation, and I can't always guarantee that. If the acoustics are good, if the room is quiet, etc. then I'm fine. If not, I can't do the job. With VRS, though, I wear a binaural headset and my hearing aids and everything is straight into my ears, so there's no concern about being able to hear. I've done a couple of leather community jobs since 2006 because that's my community, and I've done one hospital job because it was for the boss of the VRS center and he wanted people he trusted. (A hospital room for an extended stay patient is usually pretty quiet.)

So yeah, I'm a hard of hearing person interpreting for deaf and hearing people. That's me!

I love that you've turned what for many would be a devastating loss into something that's so positive for yourself - and others. You're one of those folks that would, in another thread that's goin' on now, be one of my picks for role model.

 

[VelvetDarkness]

I used to be a nurse (RGN, A/E and then Renal) but left due to a number of reasons, some of them my own health issues. I could always go back but I'd need some re-training as I've been out of the loop.

Now I co-own a mobile vegan cafe (soon to become a chain!) that is currently off on the summer festival circuit. My role in the company used to be more hands on but now I handle the accounting, marketing and the logistics of sending my baby 1967 Routemaster double-deck bus all over the UK. After the summer we'll be back in central London and by then we should have another 2 buses converted and ready to roll.

 

[ShyVixen]

I used to be a nurse (RGN, A/E and then Renal) but left due to a number of reasons, some of them my own health issues.

Me too. I trained as a nurse and technically still have RGN status, but it's almost 10 years ago.

I'm a reference librarian and author (yes, I get paid to write!). I love my job

 

[MisterSir]

Absolutely nowt. Nobody seems to want to give me a job.

 

[VelvetDarkness]

Me too. I trained as a nurse and technically still have RGN status, but it's almost 10 years ago.

I'm a reference librarian and author (yes, I get paid to write!). I love my job

I wrote a book... kinda. It was a very rough draft composed in the witching hours of various night duties to keep me from falling asleep. I thought it had potential but nobody wanted it.

Le sigh.

 

[Bandit58]

As most of you probably know by now, I am Sir's full time carer, for which the Australian Government pays me a pension/benefit. I'm probably saving them thousands of dollars more than what they pay me though

Sir is having haemodialysis at home which is also saving the Government a mint, although the machine and all the medical supplies are given to us free of charge. I am chief machine setter upper, cannulator, and blood test taker, on top of everything else.

In the past though I have been a receptionist/typist (in the days when we had typewriters not computers ), farmer/bookkeeper (for over 20 years), volunteer school librarian and I am also a qualified teacher aide, which is how I picked up that Sir is dyslexic