Dream a little dream

I was never a dreamer. I had no clue what I wanted to be when I grew up. I was one of those freaks who loved school, who did well in all subjects. History was awesome, I loved Biology, loved Chemistry, English was my favourite. I even loved P.E.

This did not help me one bit in making a decision about my future. My decision to study Biology at university was a bit of an eeny meeny miny mo kind of effort. That and the fact that there didn't seem to be many job prospects for a BA English graduate.

My point is that I was not a dreamer. Except for this one dream I had between the ages of 10 and 11 years.

I dreamt of being a cartoonist. But not just any cartoonist. I wanted to draw Garfield. I was crazy about Garfield, and I wanted to go and work for Jim Davis in America, drawing Garfield all day long.

For two years I drew Garfield obsessively. I covered pages and pages with Garfield, copied at first, and then my own creations. I drew birthday and Christmas cards covered in Garfield. In any spare time we had at school I drew Garfield. When we had to write or talk about our ambitions, that is what I talked or wrote about. And if not Garfield, then Disney. The idea of drawing something like Aladdin blew my mind.

I don't know how that dream eventually died. My shaky artistic skills may have had something to do with it. I also remember life becoming all complicated at that time, and me developing some kind of eating disorder.

Somewhere along the line I lost that dream, and I never had such a directed one again. I wish I still had some of my old Garfield drawings, but they were all lost in the various moves that my family members have undergone.


For old times sake, here is my feeble attempt at drawing Garfield. My attempts at the age of 10 were far more impressive, believe me:




So what were your childhood dreams? And can you draw Garfield better than me? Huh? Huh? Post your attempts at drawing Garfield, if you wanna.