h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Sometimes it's hard to think back to when I was a kid and remember what it was I dreamed about being. I know I always wanted to be like my dad for one. I probably went through the standard proclamations at some point or other. At one point at the age of four I even decided that I was going to be a vegatarian, until my parents pointed out that meant I would have to eat vegatables.

One of the things my dad had done was join the Navy, which I have also done. I went a different route than him, in that I went to a little bit of college first then joined. I am also, oddly enough, a part time fireman right now. It's a very dangerous job and not one I wish to continue for very long. Thankfully I've never had to fight a fire and hopefully never will.

Even though I'm more on my dad's path of life, I can actually tell that I'm going to turn out more like my mother. She's always been one for serving her fellow human beings and treating others with kindness. Not that my dad's a mean person, he just doesn't see it as his responsibility to help everyone. He believes in helping those that one comes across in life, but doesn't so much actively seek them out.

One of the dreams I've had since high school has been to be a teacher. I remember around graduation, everyone was still under the influence of awe from their teachers and everyone seemed to want to be a teacher. At my school the most popular subject to want to teach was history, so I decided to go against the grain and picked a foreign language. I even came up with some supremely convincing reason for why this was a better choice and how much it was going to suck teaching history. I also realized that if I wanted to teach history in my own idealic way that it would require a lot of work, cause a lot of controversy and probably get me fired. If I taught a foreign language, people wouldn't be able to understand half of it and so most likely just leave it alone.

Even though I've always had well thought out goals, paths to attain them and solid reasons for wanting them, I've never been able to follow any of them. It's taken a number of years to realize why and to decide to do something about the problem that I have but unfortunately the problem is something of a self-defeating one. Procrastination.

The old me would be disappointed, but very understanding and not at all surprised that this problem still existed. He would of course devise a wonderful plan of action for overcoming this problem and completely fail to do any of it.