If I could go back in time and prepare for a different career…. I’d want to work for the CIA. I know, I know – that just sounds stupid.

But bear with me here.

I have some compelling evidence that – at the very least – my studies and training exercises would have kept my interest.

Last night, I was blindly looking at the thousands of books stacked throughout my apartment and noticed a pattern:

• 1/4 are spy thrillers
• 1/4 are world history and civilization
• 1/4 are languages
• and the rest are a random mix of biographies, literature, science, and reference books.

Okay. Not quite sure if I could succeed undercover with what I’ve learned through books, but there is no denying an interest in the field of international intrigue.

Then I looked over my VHS/DVD collection. No one would ever accuse me of liking chick flicks. I’d say 75% of what I own are spy thriller-action/adventures like:

• ALIAS
• The Avengers collection
• The James Bond collection
• The Hunt for Red October
• Clear and Present Danger
• Bourne Identity
• Bourne Supremacy
• Cloak and Dagger
• Enigma
• MacGyver
• Machurian Candidate
• MI-5
• Mission Impossible
• Mission Impossible II
• The Net
• The Recruit
• The Saint
• Sneakers
• Spy Game
• Thomas Crowne Affair
• Undercover Blues

Now I do realize (I really do) that having an intense interest in espionage as entertainment, like ALIAS, is completely different from dealing with the reality of day-to-day spy work.

But – if I could go back – whenever some pesky adult would ask, “So what do you want to be when you grow up?” instead of answering “Lois Lane,” I would reply, “a spy.”

And instead of dropping Chinese, I would have worked harder to learn it…. and Russian and Arabic – and maybe supplemented my bazillion writing and political science courses with some computer-tech-surveillance-stuff.

Instead of dropping track once I hit college, I’d make an attempt to improve my endurance and running times. Oh – and most important – instead of aerobics, I’d find the nearest martial arts studio and sign up for Krav Maga and Kali.

Then who knows…. instead of being a communications specialist who travels on the side, I could have been an international spy leading a life of intrigue and world-saving adventures.

It could have happened.

So what did YOU want to be when you grew up? And are you there yet?