Ireland

Ireland

Monday, July 19, 2010

A Gentleman is...

You know how when you were little and you used to dream about what you would be when you grew up?
Sometimes the dream changed monthly, remember?
There's a good chance your list of potential career choices matches mine.

Here are some examples of the more obvious ones kids dream about.
Policeman, astronaut, baseball player, doctor, Nanofabrication Process Engineer, Fireman.

I know a guy who chose the popular Nanofabrication Process Engineer.
When I was younger I was torn between that and astrophysics.
Instead I chose Merchant Seaman because, well, because my Dad said your going to be a merchant seaman.
I said ok.

Anyway, Dave is 24 years old and 2 months removed from Frat parties and all nighter's.
He now spends his days developing processes to create nanowires that someday could be used in solar cells to trap sunlight for producing more electricity..bla bla....bla bla....bla bla.

He spends his free time running marathons.

Now he's just pissing me off.

On a unrelated subject, I was reading "The Killer Angels" last night. It's a Historical Novel about the battle of Gettysburg during the Civil War. It's really good if you have any interest in such things.
I have a habit of writing notes in the back of some books, if I feel I have just read anything noteworthy. That may not be a good thing because it might devalue the book when it goes to auction someday as a "book previously read by the famous Nanofabrication Process Engineer Mark Finucane."
Hey, a guy can dream can't he?
The note I wrote last night was, "Page 130, Freemantle said to Longstreet,
A true gentleman has no vices, but he allows you your own."

I found that differs in content quite a bit to Lana Turner's quote,
"A gentleman is simply a patient wolf."

Oi lSpill Update:
I have no news, we are still at the dock.

8 comments:

beth said...

lol....
both of those quotes are ummm, pretty much....like the BEST !

Keda said...

when i was little i wanted to be a mermaid, which i later found out might be a slight problem (although I believed real hard up until I was 16 that if I could just be in the water, that became the sea later on, on the day of my birth, which became the time of my birth, at full moon, which became no moon... i had to try out all the options before i could be sure though).

i settled on marine biology after all that effort. my dad was not a 'you will be' person, more like a 'you can't be' person and he said 'you can't be a marine biologist'. something to do with money, i think. i never really got it. he did the same with almost everything i wanted to be and eventually i did not get matric exemption which meant i could go to university anyway.

life's funny. when you are so little, you trust these people and you think they have a power over you when they say no or yes...

Sueann said...

My dream was to be a Rock Star! I know..not too novel..but hey..my dream. I never told anyone about it. But I practiced all the time. All my dad said to me was to get a job...secretary would do. Sigh!
So I did the secretary route...hated it. And though I can sing...Rock Star status eluded me.
Oh well...the dream was fun
Hugs
SueAnn

nacherluver said...

Gentleman... tee hee! That's soooo old fashioned! When my teenager looks at me for advice, I simply say, "Dude! You can be anything you want to be!". Well... not exactly.
But in all seriousness, although there are challenges to being uber young and thinking about a future in this day and age, it's wonderful and amazing how much freedom there is to be what you want! I still haven't decided what I want to be when I grow up. Hmmmm...

dcpeg said...

I so wish I could say something clever like wanting to be a sound technician, but that would be lying. Like so many girls of my generation, it was the choice of nurse or teacher. Uggg!! Loved your story, however.

I would suggest you keep a small notebook next to you when reading books to jot down your comments and keeper quotes. But then again, I'm one of those people who can't bear to write in books, so do your thang, Mark!

Unknown said...

i wanted to be a photographer for national geographic. but i'm a photographer for the otts, instead...so at least i stuck with the wildlife aspect, eh?

oh - and my hubby is one of those engineer types - for father's day, we got him a t-shirt that says, "nanotechnology is huge" in teeny tiny letters.

well. i thought it was funny...

(can't BELIEVE you're still sitting at the docks...i may have to fly down there and open up a can o' whoop-ass on those people...)

clairedulalune said...

Hi Mark, when i was a kid i wanted to be......a nun. (Ha! If they could see me now!) I did, I was serious about the whole thing even visiting the nuns on a saturday until one day i turned on the TV (to watch songs of praise of course) and Baywatch came on. I never looked back! The poor nuns missed my home made rose perfume made fromm rose petals and weeds i always brought with me! They were very gracious! Hope all is well Mark!

clairedulalune said...

Hi Mark, when i was a kid i wanted to be......a nun. (Ha! If they could see me now!) I did, I was serious about the whole thing even visiting the nuns on a saturday until one day i turned on the TV (to watch songs of praise of course) and Baywatch came on. I never looked back! The poor nuns missed my home made rose perfume made fromm rose petals and weeds i always brought with me! They were very gracious! Hope all is well Mark!