A 12-Year-Old's Take On The Existing Job Options
Preteen Henry J. waxes poetic on his future dream jobs.
By Henry J
Illustration by Saehan Parc
Published
Give The People What They Want is a monthly column on the happenings of a preteen, written by 12-year-old Henry J.
Jobs. It’s what keeps humanity running. Over the years, I've considered numerous jobs, and I'm going to go through them right now.
When I was 5-6 Years old, I watched a show called Octonauts, and I loved it. It made me want to become a Marine Biologist. I remember specifically asking my dad to print out various sea creatures so I could look and study them. I would watch fishing shows all the time, like River Monsters and Chasing Monsters. In every episode the host of Chasing Monsters, Cyril, would always freak out when he was trying to catch a fish. There would always be a massive storm coming, and he had to catch the fish before the storm came or the fish would hide away? I don’t know, it was really funny because they dramatized a simple day of fishing on a lake, and turned it into an action sequence. I guess when I was little i just had a passion for fish and the ocean.
Other than that, I don’t really remember anything else; the rest is a blurry slate, so onto the next Job.
Acting. I loved movies when I was little, and I still do. I would watch movies like Indiana Jones and Star Wars. My favorite actor is Harrison Ford, he's just so cool. I always get excited when he beats up Nazis in Indiana Jones, and blasts Stormtroopers in Star Wars. Horror movies are also a favorite, Friday The 13th and Nightmare On Elm Street, which makes me realize how some movies get worse in quality as more were being made (i.e., The S* Show that was the 4th Indiana Jones _movie, which goes unnamed, and the countless _Friday the 13th sequels).
Comedy is another one of my favorite movie themes. I remember watching The Pink Panther at school with my friends. Our French teacher would turn it on for us to watch all the time instead of teaching. It was kind of a reward if we did good in class, I guess. TV shows on Nickelodeon and Hulu, Richie Rich and The Thundermans were my favorites, along with this British show called the IT Crowd that my grandma introduced to me.
I had a few theories about acting when I was little, such as, when someone dies in a movie, they actually die. I used to think actors were so devoted to their job they would sacrifice themselves to the directors so people could watch good movies, lol. Also, I always thought the actors had to do all of the scenes in one go, and if they failed they got fired. I found out all of this was false when my dad briefly explained to me how movies are made. I figured acting is just not really for me.
Now, onto most recent times. I’m being serious here. A year or two ago I wanted to own a Weed Store, after playing a mobile game on my phone where you own a weed store. I don’t know why, but I always thought being high was like sleeping. Now, of course, I've never been high before, it’s illegal for people my age and in some states, but I always assumed if you're high all your senses shut down. I really like sleeping so that sounded like a good thing (for grownups of course, my parents would never let me do that). Another thing that compelled me to own a weed store was the show South Park. One of the main characters lives on a weed farm with his family, it was like a Vineyard but for weed, so a Weedyard? I don’t know; but the farm had everything, like a Weed Tasting Room, a weed production room, and a Weed Farm tour. I live in California, where Marijuana is legal, but at the end of the day, I figured, in the wise words of Mr. Mackey. “Drugs are bad, mmk?” I don’t want to get Lung Cancer when I'm older.
Alright, I don’t want to outstretch this article too long, but I’ll name some honorable mentions of jobs I wanted.
Youtube/Content Creator: like any other kid that has access to the internet.
Video Game Designer: I would always doodle video game ideas in my sketchpad. One of my most favorites is a game called “Artiboy” where you play as a Bipedal, Sentient Artichoke, and need to defeat the evil invasion of Radishes (I hated radishes and still do) and defend the land of Artichokia.
Executive, aka CEO: I came up with this when I was at my Grandma’s house and came up with the name “Fishy Feret Incorporated”, what did the company do? Sell Seafood.
So, now, what do I want to be when I'm older as of right now? Well, my honest answer is, I don’t know. Most of the kids in my class say things like “Astronaut” and “President”, but I don’t know. I always think to myself, should I choose a path in life? Or will I end up working at a Yoshinoya in downtown Compton, living off of loans from sleazy companies and microwave fish tacos for the rest of my life. Writing could be an option, but for right now, I'm just Henry. Not Henry the Movie star, or Henry the US President, just Henry. Plus, I’m only in 7th grade, sheesh people!
