I mean in the long term (not "If I wasn't wasting time on the internet, I'd be doing my work). If you weren't training to be a scientist/linguist/historian and so forth, what else could you imagine yourself doing?

I'd probably try to do something involving writing and language - maybe write textbooks or something.

I'd love to turn my jewellery making hobby into a career so would probably try to do something with that

business... i'll have a number of shops by now. i'd be working towards a mortgage.

i had the "PA to CEO" type of jobs before quitting in benefit of my PhD. i found it can be very interesting and varied. but when i pictured myself doing it for the next 5 or so years, i got frustrated...

suppose i could see myself in international HR management.

I'd like to be a carpenter and make really beautiful things from wood. But my B in GCSE woodwork was as far as I got with that idea!

A vet specialising in birds

Just thinking, when I was little I always wanted to be an author and I still plan on that happening, when I have time......

oh H, yes, I would maybe do that too. considering JKR it can be quite lucrative, too! i wrote my first story when i was 4 - always loved writing - although i find it frustrating not to be able to write with the same ease in english as i did in german.

i could also see myself "dropping out" - living on a partially self-sustaining farm somewhere warm, with a bunch of friends and kids, prioritising the things that really matter in life

OOh I'd love to live on a farm too and keep chickens and goats but I reckon I would miss being in town after a bit!

I would by a rundown Georgian vicarage in a rural setting, grow veg and raise chickens (for eggs, only). There would be a small community in the house, we would sleep on matresses and exchange/barter for things.

The joining fee would be pooling your books together to make a community library. The community could use them - and if pushed write online essays and theses for other people

Sounds idyllic. I think of myself as more of a suburbanite, though.

I would come and visit for a weekend if that's OK

sounds like we need to get together and get two places. one in a rural setting - juno and others can come for weekends. another place located in a more urban area - H and anyone else who misses the city can go there when they feel like it. since the rural people will be spending weekends in the city, and the urban people will be spending weekends in the countryside, it should never get to stuffed

the bunch of us with all our weird specialist knowledge should get along just fine, and we could spend our time writing children's books and gardening, or earning lots of money in the city if we want to - maybe then jojo would join us too

indeed, jojo could run the businesses of selling Ju's jewellery and katq's woodwork, and perhaps also do the marketing bits for H's bird vet shop.

hah! i have it all planned out. when do we get started?

I would eventaully get a job in admin which goes no where as there are 29 applicants for each grad jobs.

Well, if it paid well, I'd quite like to be a crane driver, not for construction but demolition where you swing the large ball into derelict buildings. Talk about job satisfaction!