I can wiggle my ears, raise my left eyebrow independently of my right (but not the other way around), and do that clover thing with my tongue. (Three leaves, not five.)
Also I have an acute sense of smell. If I walk around the neighbourhood at dinner hour I can identify what’s on the menu in many of my neighbours’ houses.
This is sometimes a nice thing and sometimes … not so much.
This is supposed to be about things that have limited usefulness. Obviously, if you have super powers, those are useful.
Maybe you should start a thread called “What super powers do you have?” so that you can form a colony with other super-humans dedicated to learning how to channel and direct their powers, for the good of mankind.
Like Arien, I don’t drink very much and therefore I urinate infrequently (and can also hold it for pretty long if I want/need to). When my company moved into this building I think it was a week before I saw the inside of the ladies’ room. I’ve never had to leave my seat at the movies, orchestra, or theatre to use the bathroom. I can go out with friends, have a little dinner and a couple of beers, and never go to the restroom. Etc., etc. I guess it’s useful, but I wind up a little impatient sometimes with people who seem to always need the bathroom (like my mother).
I’m another one with “Name That Tune” abilities, and like Freudian_Slip I can also tell if a song is not in the original key. That actually does come in handy for me sometimes, because I’m a singer and can tell if the band has started a song in the “wrong” key.
Along those lines I’m also very good at distinguishing between alternate versions of songs, and I notice minor changes to television commercials. I’m very good at recognizing voices, too, especially famous ones.
I can crack the knuckle on my right big toe over and over and over.
I can hear the high pitch whine of a television or monitor, even if it’s muted or not receiving any signal, from anywhere in a house. I’ll walk into a house and know instantly whether a television is on. I’ve surprised people by telling them that they left their computer monitor on in the back room, and I’ve never been wrong.
I can “sleep” with my eyes open. My eyes lose all focus and my thoughts slow waaaay down, but I can just sit somewhere, eyes open and staring at nothing, for hours upon hours. My ears fill up with this sort of white noise (?) and I can’t hear much anymore. It’s obvious if someone talks to me that something isn’t normal, but on the outside I look awake, if slightly dazed and motionless. It has no practical application other than sleeping in meetings, and god help you if you get called on to speak because waking up from it can be just as hard as normal sleeping.
And I’m aware of pain while highly tolerant to it. That’s neat, we’re like Wonder Twin powers activate. Can you hear your toe cracking through leather shoes? I can, but it’s muffled and quiet.
Me too! the cracking comes in handy too after all that reading, I stand up crack all my various 2000 parts and settle back down with the book.
I can crack my hips though
I can read a book and watch a movie at the same time as well. (and understand both)
I can crack my hips too, and my shoulders. It’s disgusting, but feels wonderful.
I can almost always provide the perfect TV sitcom punchline in any conversation. I have to force myself not to do it and just talk to people As one of my best ever program directors (when I was a DJ, and there weren’t many good ones) said to me, “Everything doesn’t have to be funny.”
I have a tremendous ability to remember useless information. People ask me how to spell words and read me crossword clues, but nobody wants to play trivia games with me.
I can move the last section of either thumb nearly 180 degrees. Useless, and it may have contributed to my tendinitis.
I seem to move quietly, and because I’m tall, I startle people just by walking up to them.
It seems easy and simple to me, but when I fold up a beer can with my fingers, some people are amazed. It’s not macho, it’s only origami. My wife can do it.
I can take my ear, fold it over and tuck it inside my “ear hole”. And then make it pop out at will. Everyday I scan the classified ads for business looking for a man with my talents. One day, it’s gonna make me very, very rich. In the meantime, it’s always good for making my daughter screamand run out of the room shouting “gross, gross, gross!”
I learned, from playing countless shooter games and from shooting air rifles and arrows, that I’d probably make a pretty good sniper. I think I got it from my mom. She doesn’t do it anymore, but my dad told me that when she was my age she was so proficient with a crossbow that their buddies at the shooting range called her Annie Oakley.
For all of you that can go a long time without eating…
I can eat an awful lot. Very fast. junky, greasy stuff. Often.
And I don’t gain weight, cholesterol or gut problems from it. I’m already in my mid-forties, so I assume this bad habit is going to catch up with me soon, and I’ll be in deep doo-doo.