So you think you can dance?

my swearing-in ceremony takes place tomorrow at the virginia supreme court. basically, i can now practice law in all virginia courts. i can't help but think if the field of law is the path i should continue to take.

looking back, i initially wanted to become a solid gold dancer. as i got older, my taste evolved. next, i wanted to become an actress. a soap opera actress to be exact. see i wasn't allowed to have boyfriends. in my mind, the only person i would ever kiss in my lifetime would be my future husband, so i was desperate for a loophole. and as far as i was concerned a soap-opera actress was the way to go. i knew part of my job description would entail kissing a see of men and to get it just right would take many many takes. sorry mom, you see it's just a part of my job. well, needless to say, that dream was quickly laid to rest.

you'll never guess who my idol was in elementary school. barbara walters. i wanted to be a journalist/news broadcaster. i watched 20/20 as a 6th grader religiously until my parents crushed my hopes again when they informed me that i would have to "sleep my way to the top." this was incredible news to a 12 year old. i was left with the gross impression of ms. walters as a slut, whoring herself out to get to where she was.

my parents were still trying to steer me in the direction of becoming a doctor. see every persian parent drills the following acceptable professions in their child's brain from a very young age - doctor, lawyer, engineer, and dentist. god forbid you should want to become an artist or musician. if you are a doctor, you have probably made your iranian parent's life. they can brag to all their friends and take huge pride (and credit) for their child's success. it is like a broken record in my mind, "taraneh - you shood be a doctor because a doctor is needed everyvere. all countries need doctor. you never know vhere you end up. and you can buy vhatever you vant, vhenever you vant." (iranian parents are unable to pronounce the letter w and "th" so washington is pronounced vashangtone and the is pronounced da) i would have loved to become a doctor. i love the sight of blood. no really. i can't seem to get enough of alex's stories of the patients he sees in the ER - their symptoms, diagnoses. but alas, i didn't love chemistry. i didn't love physics and all of the other science courses. so that meant dentistry was out too.

all of the engineers i knew were geeky men who wore really nerdy glasses. so that was immediately crossed off the list. and so i was left with the field of law. and i loved to argue with my parents and did win the occasional fight (which usually meant a curfew extension or permission to attend a high school party). i went to college - discovered mock trial in my senior year and was hooked. i love love love cross-examining witnesses. it's really my forte. my husband never stands a chance with me. i was good at it. i got awards and shit too. so i figured i'd go to law school. but not before i fulfilled my one important wish of backpacking through europe. i put off law school for a year and worked like a dog in a corporate law firm and saved up money to make this trip happen. i even passed up going to the univ. of michigan law school (a top 10 law school that offered me admission to start in the summer, but not the fall. assholes). nothing was going to keep me from spain.

i went to law school and really enjoyed my classes. i did a clerkship upon graduation and moved to philly for 3 years. when i returned to maryland, i got a job as a prosecutor, which i absolutely loved. i would be perfectly happy doing the same thing in virginia, but the job market is shit. so i'm sitting here thinking about my past answers to "what do you wanna be when you grow up" and trying to figure out if any can become a reality. solid gold no longer exists. the view isn't hiring and i can't get that image of barbara walters on her knees out of my head.

anyway, i'm seriously considering going back to school to become a high school english teacher. i loved being a TA in law school. it was truly rewarding. i know the pay is shit, but i can see myself really enjoying it. and how awesome would it be to have summers off with the kids? be home on columbus day and all the other random holidays? we shall see what happens.

here is another list of possible occupations for my girls given their current interests:

Anais:

• make-up artist - she has ruined 2 of my cherry chapsticks thus far with her continuous applications
• shoe model - she loves to wear high-heels around the house and give us all a headache in the process
• hair stylist - she loves to brush (and yank) my hair (and ears).
• telephone operator - girlfriend loves to talk on mommy's cellphone
• nanny - she is so maternal and lovingly pushes her baby around in baby stroller a few hours a day

Dina:

• chef - she loves to cook with her dad
• acrobat - the girl is a monkey-bar addict
• ice-cream store owner - this is her current response to what do you want to be when you grow up
• mathematician - my 5 year old can add and she hasn't even started kindergarten!
• stylist - she has a unique fashion sense and very strong opinions about clothes to the point that i can no longer pick them out for her.