What will make you feel like this?

It’s sad but true, but when it comes to jobs there is often a big disparity between what will make us rich and what will make us happy. Just ask all those recent grads making six figures at their finance jobs; I can guarantee most of them are not all smiles after 90-hour work weeks.

The problem (especially in this economy) is that people are more concerned with the ching ching than those warm fuzzies they get when they’re doing something they love. I totally get it; money is a great thing and I know from experience how crappy life is when you’re makin’ nothing. (I swear, I was about 2 quarters away from being homeless on the streets of NY at my first post-college job!) But what about your happiness? Does that count for anything?

This week I asked my writers – many of whom will be off looking for real jobs in the near future – to take a break from the bustle of their lives and think a little bit about their futures.

If happiness were the nationals currency, what job would make you rich?

Makes you think, doesn’t it?
What’s your answer? And how different is it from the path you’re actually on? Let us know in the comments!

Carly – Grinnell: Children’s book author. I’m close to getting there!!!!!

Norah – Drake University: Working for an organization for young women – something like Girl Scouts or Girls Inc.

Brittany – University of Saint Thomas: If happiness were my dollar bill, I would be a horse trainer. If I could spend countless hours with horses AND be getting paid via happy vibes, my life would be complete. I wouldn’t complain being a fashion designer either; if only I could sew a button on my own jacket….

Zahra – Northwestern University: Being a professional book reader (not editor, reader) or salsa dancer.

Jasmin – University of Missouri: I’ve always wanted to be an astronaut.

Alex – Lakehead University: Traveling! Going all over the world, staying in beautiful hotels and villas, eating the most decadent foods and seeing all the wonderful sights. I love traveling but it’s just so darn expensive!

Katie – Michigan State University: Fashion designer, hands-down. A close second is exactly what I studied for: photography.

Lauren – University of Michigan: Telling jokes on stage. But only if people don’t heckle me.

Jessica – FIT: Dancing would make me a billionaire

Noa – CU Boulder: Beer pong coach?

Elizabeth – UC Berkeley: A food critic.  Who wouldn’t want to eat for a living?

Ricki – University of Michigan: Celebrity party planner

Sarabeth – University of Texas: If I were a writer for SNL, I’d be Oprah rich.

Jessica – Delaware: A kindergarten teacher. I absolutely love kids, and I don’t think teachers get paid enough for what they do!

Cristina – Michigan State University: Somewhere between being a make-up artist, the editor of Nylon Magazine, a DJ (like Leigh Lezark), and the girl who moans in rap songs. Possibly all four at once.

Amy – University of Iowa: Trampoline Tester (One that tests how fun they are, not how safe; I just want to jump, not get hurt!)

Samantha – UC Santa Barbara: My summer job as a team leader at Camp Galileo working with an amazing staff and to-be kindergarteners.

Emmy- Loyola University Chicago: If there are any jobs where you just read all day, I would be so rich from doing them!

Charlsie – Hollins University: If I could write freelance and make cupcakes on the side, I would be rolling in the dough!

Hannah – Assumption College: Definitely a personal trainer, Jillian Michaels’ style.

Kelly – University of Iowa: Daydreaming about drinking sangria on the beach with my cute Spanish teacher. If only.

Sara C – Fordham: I’d be a pro runner, or someone who trains runners. Unfortunately in the real world, those jobs usually go to people who can run 4 minute miles, or used to be able to in their prime. But if I could live off happiness alone, I’d run all the time!

Brithny – Duke: Any kind of job that would make me famous. Currently in the process of pitching my own reality TV show to MTV: Shanghai Shore.

The Pregnant Man – Thomas Beattie became the sensation of the world in April when he appeared on Oprah to defend his choice to have a child as a transgendered man. Sticking up for your beliefs? Awesome, and definitely commendable. Eventually turning into a fame slut and marketing out your second pregnancy? Not cool. Now pregnant with his second child, Beattie has already cemented a book deal on his experience and been interviewed a second time as a ‘Barbara Walters Exclusive.’ One child is a miracle. A second one immediately afterwards is a marketing scheme.

Batsh** Insane Celebrities Across The Media - Britney, Lindsey, and others: we’re talking to you. 2008 was the year of the mental millionaire, with the world playing a captive audience to the tragic, bizarre, and sometimes just eerie behavior of celebrities. We watched Britney Spears struggle to put her life back together after divorce, Lindsey Lohan battling various addictions, and Scarlett Johansson crossing the borderline into stalker-ish about Barack Obama. Here’s the real scoop: an estimated 57.7 million adults are suffering from a diagnosable mental illness in the United States alone. What makes these celebrities any different from these people who are suffering in private besides their income and the paparazzi that shadow them? Watching people suffer is definitely a trend that shouldn’t cross over into ’09.

“Reality” Dating Shows - Now that Flavor Flav has finally hung up his clock and gone off the air, there are about thirty shows taking his place, and they’re spreading like cockroaches. Tila Tequila, the ‘Ikki Twins,’ and others are taking over Vh1 and MTV mercilessly, swamping our televisions with drunken fights (actually funny to watch), and pointless drama. Who makes their boyfriends/girlfriends eat nasty pig parts and do bizarre things in the name of love? These loveless actors do. Some dating shows range from the creepy (Date My Mom) to the outright postmortem (The Bachelor), but either way, they all need to go.

Political Ignorance/Apathy – In the year of the historical election, political action was awesome and political apathy was absolutely the anti-cool. The worst of the worse were the nonpartisans who were both apathetic and uneducated about the election. Their “why should I bother to vote” statements were both inhibiting to the democratic tradition and simply irritating. Guaranteed to piss off people who were voting, the ‘Not Voting’ demographic drew on fallacies and the platforms that they didn’t really understand to prove why they weren’t going to vote. The election was basically a two horse race, but there were still other entries available as an alternate, so not voting at all was just not cool.

Guys in Girl Jeans – It’s creepy. It’s weird. It’s a guy shopping in the same section as you in PacSun. As you put down the pair of sunglasses you were looking at and openly stare, you realize he’s not just shopping for a shirt to give to his girlfriend. He’s holding three pairs of jeans in his hand, and there’s no girlfriend in sight. As you watch, he takes the jeans and starts walking to the dressing rooms. You are not witnessing a confused shopper. You’re witnessing the Girl Jean Phenomenon, a plague of 2008 pop culture, and a trend that needs to die on December 31st. Guys wearing our jeans is not cool or edgy. It’s just lame and, now, overplayed.

Saturday Night Live – Is it still going? It’s been in the process of becoming painfully unfunny in the years since Will Ferrell left, and now with the exit of Amy Poehler, we just need to euthanize it. A classic sketch show that began in 1975 with genuinely funny people, SNL has run over six hundred episodes of pure comedic bliss continuously for thirty-three years. As with all great series, though, the time has come to put SNL out of its misery before it becomes the kind of joke it used to make.

Churning Out Tween Pop Stars By The Dozen – If child enslavement was defined as being manufactured on a kids’ show and being shoved on the masses, Disney and Nickelodeon would be doing massive amounts of time in jail. The list of sugary sweet music artists includes, but definitely is not limited to The Jonas Brothers, Hannah Montana, Demi What’s-Her-Name, That Miranda Kid, and a host of others, few if any of whom have actual talent. But you wouldn’t know, because should you approach any method of media that is playing a song by them, you’ll be deafened instantly and hopelessly by the cacophony of shrieking that erupts. The Original Disney Channel Star, Hilary Duff, unfortunately started it all when she split from Disney in 2004 to pursue a solo career (which caused a big fuss, if I remember right). She was an original, at least for the Disney Channel. These cookie cutter kids? About as generic as it gets.

Agree or disagree? Think something else should have made the list? Voice your opinions below, and tell us what you think about the worst pop culture in 2008!