…in the forests of the night. What immortal eye can frame thy fearful symmetry?” I have had this poem stuck in my head ALL DAY. It’s been like a mantra, a mantra that means nothing…and yet everything. It’s a very interesting piece. For those of you who share my love of the Mentalist, you recognize this snippet as something that Red John (you know, the guy that killed Patrick Jane’s family because he dissed him on TV?) whispered into Patrick’s ear while he was tied up. Which brings me to my topic;

I think I want to be a detective.

I mean sure, it’ll be gory at times, I might have to excuse myself for a breather a time or two, but hey, it certainly is not a boring job (for the most part. I’m not ignorant of all the paperwork involved!). Plus, I’ll go to bed practically every night with the knowledge that I’m making a difference in the world, something that most people can’t admit to.

It’s hard to decide what college to go to for this, though, and what courses to take. I know what you’re thinking. “Take criminal justice, for crying out loud! That’s what you need to be a detective anyways!” Not so, my internet friends. You see, there are different TYPES of detectives who specialize in different things.

There’s forensics, which, let me tell you, is a VERY interesting field. I was going to take that for my senior year, but my brain just took a vacation while I was filling out the class choice form and I just completely forgot; apparently I opted for newspaper instead (is it nerdy that I wish we could take more courses in a year than the same old drab block schedule allows?). Apparently, though, it’s overrated. Sure, the judge and jury place a lot of credence on the results from a forensics lab, but we’re not as high tech as we like to think. At least, that’s what I’ve heard. Still, it would be really fun.

Then there’s my favorite; criminal profiling. This is like that TV show Criminal Minds, where the detective people try to get into the mind of the criminal by examining his behaviors based on the crime and his past to judge his next move. Now, you’re probably thinking that I just want to be a detective because of all the TV shows I watch that glamorize the profession. Maybe you’re right; or maybe I just don’t want to be bored.

Then there’s the profession which any self-respecting detective and cop hates; the lawyer.

That’s the other side of the coin there. But I’m thinking that I don’t want to be just any lawyer; I want to deal with international law. That’d be very interesting, AND it involves world traveling! But then I wouldn’t get to investigate anything. So you see, I’d have to choose.

Any thoughts?