Arg

My UMN grad school application wants to know: what are my immediate and long-term occupational goals in relation to my major field (being specific about my particular areas of interest)? As with most applications for most things, I never know how blunt to be. Do I really have to stretch the word "teach" into a respectable and impressive essay? I also find it a teensy bit silly to differentiate between my immediate and long-term occupational goals, since, in my head, even my most immediate occupational goals should come after (or at least toward the end of) my educational goals, and it's going to take some time to get to those. Maybe I should write a nice essay about the semantics of temporal perception instead....
The guy in the picture (sorry it's blurry) probably has the right answer. He works the intersection near my house. As far as I can tell, his occupation is Stop Light Fire Juggler; his immediate occupational goals appear to be Do Not Catch Fire and Do Not Get Run Over; his long term occupational goals are Beer and Dog Food, if he can collect enough spare change from bored rush-hour drivers to afford it. And maybe, really long term, to work a busier intersection someday.
But I guess if my goals were that simple, I'd have already finished the essay.