As I was clicking on Yahoo Games to avoid my homework, there was a link to find jobs in the video game industry. Yeah, right! Isn’t that sort of like aspiring to be a beer taster in a brewery?

Confucius said: “Find a job you enjoy and you’ll never work a day in your life.”

Dream jobs do exist. So after a particularly bad day at work, I checked the MSSU employment Web site in hopes of finding a dream job on campus.

There were only a few positions posted, none of which I was qualified for, and most specifically, a part-time position for nude models in the art department. Although the listing called for all body types, the only qualification I could actually perform is, “Must be able to … sit or recline without moving for at least 30 minutes at a time.” Please, no offense intended to the models or our fine art department. Being an artist is a dream job.

Then I checked the Joplin Globe and among the small number of jobs listed, none met my definition of dream job. Certainly everyone’s definition of “dream job” is different.

The Wall Street Journal reported the best and worst jobs in the United States. Criteria were environment, income, employment outlook, physical demands and stress. Mathematician was top on the list, lumberjack was on the bottom, but from the “worst” list, I thought nuclear decontamination tech also sounded pretty bad.

On the flip side, there are multiple Web sites that list dream jobs. Some are one-of-a-kind jobs, like the man whose sense of smell was so good he turned it into a lucrative career in the fragrance industry. The dream job lists at least provide inspiration.

Some economists are predicting it may be another year before the job market starts to recover. I can’t compete with all the unemployed people with master’s degrees fighting over minimum wage jobs right now anyway, so I will use this time while I’m still in college to apply for dream jobs such as BMW test driver, travel writer, movie critic, or back-up singer for The Grateful Dead, and hope my resume never finds its way to the MSSU Art Department.