I’m not one of those people who only befriends folks with similar jobs and interests.  I actually have a variety of friends in a variety of different industries.  It sometimes surprises me how different their careers are from mine.

Take my friend Laura, for example.  She and I went to college together, and while I don’t think she considers herself a feminist (I do), I also know that she’s no dummy when it comes to standing up for women’s rights.  Yet here she is, working in one of the most conservative industries: She works for an oil and gas company, and makes pretty decent money at it, too — especially considering she’s only a couple of years out of college.

Laura and I are still really good friends, yet at the same time, her career choice demonstrates the differences in our lives.  I’m becoming quite interested in environmental and animal rights issues, so to me, oil companies are one of many enemies.

A couple of my old "party friends," from the years I spent working between high school and college, are now working in the health industry.  While I was graduating college and gaining experience as a professional writer, they all completed training and became established health care professionals.  I guess there are quite a few schools around that offer health care training: Gibbs degree programs include a health care admin degree, for example.

Another good friend of mine is Eve, who is a graphic designer.  In some ways, she’s a little more like me, because her chosen career is creative.  I actually have a lot of respect for graphic designers — I work with them periodically, in my job as an Internet copywriter.  I know there are lots of good graphic design programs for those who are interested.  And if you like design, but not necessarily on paper, there are also some Sacramento interior design programs to choose from.

Before I sign off, here’s a little tidbit for anyone who is interested: a video graphic design portfolio.  This guy has apparently done some graphic design work for Starbucks, so he must be pretty good!