Garbage collector, astronaut, and what I'm doing now. That's pretty much it.
Believe it or not I had someone at one of the Rotary meetings I've been making presentation to comment on that "Word on the Street" profile of me that came out a few years ago. In all honesty, I had kind of forgotten about it. And when I did remember it it seemed like it came out a lifetime ago.
But apparently one person remembered it better than I.
Anyway, in that profile I came out of the closet as a lifelong space nerd, something that's no surprise to those of you who read these yet an apparent shock to some people. And because of that the person who brought up the interview wanted to know if I ever wanted to become an astronaut. After I got done laughing and saying “duh” to myself 28 and a half times, I started to to think. And as we all know, that can be a dangerous thing.
Did you know I only wanted to be three things in my life? It's true, which means I'm either the luckiest person on the face of the Earth or I really need to work on getting a little ambition into my life. I'll let you decide which it is.
According to my parents, when I was a real little kid I wanted to be a garbage collector. I was apparently transfixed by both the trucks that they used and the noise those trucks made. My mom, especially, says I would wait and look out the window in the morning when the garbage truck was scheduled to come, and then be all happy when they stopped and collected the trash. For the first five or six years of my life that's all I ever wanted to be.
Then I discovered space.
I probably spent, oh, the next decade or so wondering if I could become an astronaut...which, if I have to admit, is probably still a dream of mine. I know it probably won't happen, but if anyone has an extra quarter million bucks lying around and wants to buy me a ticket for one of Virgin Galactic or Blue Origin's suborbital flights, I wouldn't complain.
Really, I wouldn't.
What made me realize that I probably would never become an astronaut? Well, to be totally honest, it was math. Even today, when mission specialists and non-pilot astronauts abound, you still need to be smart. You need to be good at certain things like physics or biology or (ugh) math. You need to have a skill set that makes it worthwhile to send you up into orbit. And I don't have that sort of skill set.
Unless, you know, they need someone to be really sarcastic on the International Space Station for a few weeks. Then I might be at the head of the line.
So that brings us to the final of three things I wanted to be when I was growing up. I loved the media. When I was a kid I would take a radio at night and listen to clear channel AM stations throughout the country. I would be fascinated by TV shows, and how they're put together. And when I realized that my one true skill set in life—not math, not athletics, not being able to put a car together while blindfolded—was being able to get up in front of a microphone or a camera and perform, I was set.
And all these years later, I haven't had to pick out a fourth career choice.
Everything I'm doing now—radio, TV, history—all comes from that one skill set. It comes from me talking and me performing. And considering that I was a really shy kid, it's kind of astounding, when you come to think of it. I would've put good money on a bet that the 9-year old me would not have grown up to do what the adult me does. And there's not one point at which I can pinpoint the change from shy kid to “Jim Koski, Media Wh*re”; it just kind of happened over a couple of years, and before I knew it I could talk without thinking and work a crowd (perhaps my one REAL skill) like a pro.
Who knew?
So there you go. Yes, I DID want to become an astronaut. I just wasn't smart enough, just like I probably wasn't mechanically inclined enough to become a master garbage collector, either. It's a good thing that performing requires neither brains or muscle. That way, I'll (hopefully) never have to make that fourth career choice!
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