I’m not talking about something like Super strength or flying or something like that, something minor that only you really notice.
Say, like the ability to make any cat pay attention to you, or to read dry, longwinded stuff while sitting next to the speakers at a heavy metal concert, put bricks to sleep, or maybe the ability to hold your breath for ten minutes?
So whats your minor, nearly useless “Superpower”?
I sometimes get the feeling that I can sense things a split second before they happen, and that I can wake up before my alarm goes off (I mean a split second before)
But I know it’s a delay effect in my brain and that I don’t actually have time-shifted sensory perception.
I also have very good reactions. I played mostly in Goal (footy) and in defence as a teen.
I was a preeeety good defender if I do say so myself. I caused a coworker to say ‘nice reactions!’ when I caught a falling cup once.
Nothing special, but it’s something to feel good about.
I have the ability to tune out bad music and not even be aware it’s playing.
Typical conversation:
Other: did you like that song?
Me: What song?
Them: The one that was just playing on the radio/
Me: I don’t know, I didn’t listen to it.
Also, I don’t startle easily.
Once, a friend snuck up behind me and screamed. The thought “wouldn’t it be funny if I didn’t react for a few seconds,” raced thorugh my head. I waited and then pretended to be scared.
Odinoneeye you reminded me of an anecdote…
Me and two friends (they were brothers) were watching a film.
About half way through friend #1 says “Doesn’t that car alarm bother you?”
At that very instant we (me and friend #2) heard what our subconscious told us was there all the time.
“Well now it is. We didn’t hear it until you opened your gob!”
I wish I could have drowned out the crappy techno-music that was pounding through my wall this morning from next door. One of the worst sounds on earth is loud music filtered by walls.
SWMBO has Car Karma.
Everywhere we go when she is driving, just as she pulls up, someone pulls out of a choice parking spot right in front of us. Once or twice, it’s just coincidence. But she and I have been together for twelve years now and I’ve only seen it NOT happen once or twice. Spooky.
If I could just get her to buy some lottery tickets…
I have the uncanny power to put in just the exact amount of paper in a Xerox machine or printer that I’m going to need for a job. I can’t do this all the time and I can’t do it on purpose but I have done this, oh maybe 3 or 4 dozen times in my life, enough times that I used to think to myself - “This is unreal! This can’t be happening!”
I used to work in a printing shop and had to run Xerox machines all the time. I could somehow gauge the amount I needed without thinking about it. Makes me feel like Rainman.
Two more powers - I can directly influence the flightpath of seaguls. And I can bend rain.
I can sleep under just about any circumstances-noise, light, heat, fire in the apartment building next door. I even fell asleep at two different raves when I was in college.
The only thing that makes me unable to sleep is being too cold. If I’m too cold, it ain’t gonna happen.
I can talk and have my lips move so that it looks like I’m being dubbed, like in a Godzilla movie. I’ve seen a couple comedians try to do this, and I’m WAY better than they are at it.
I promise to use my power only for good.
mlerose wanna trade your superpower for one of mine?
I can also wake up just before my alarm.
I also have really, really good hearing.
Oh, and I can read Himself’s mind. (Himself being my husband.)
Two more I just remembered: I have bad recall, and very good short-range sight. Better than most people I know.
Nah, where I live now it doesn’t rain very often, so bending rain wouldn’t come in all that handy.
I’ll let you know if I change my mind, though.
I think I have the wierd ability to predict stuff on TV. I’ll be thinking about a movie or an episode of a TV show for no particular reason, and withen a few days, it will be on TV(I don’t check what is on TV days in advance). It’s happened enough that I’ve noticed it, anyway.
When I ride Public transit, if there’s one empty seat on the bus, there’s a good chance it’ll be the one next to me(I don’t have poor personal hygeine, I’m not hideously ugly and I don’t walk around carrying big bloody knives).
When I was a child, I discovered that if I cupped my hands and scooped up a honeybee, the bee would buzz around a little, then become lethargic and docile. Once I opened my hands and exposed the bee to fresh air, he would fly away unharmed. I guess my body odor is a bee-soporific.
I haven’t done this in decades, so I don’t know whether it still works. Can’t think of any use for this less-than-super power. Nobody seems to be hiring bee stupifiers.
Mine’s actually kinda useful, but it’s definitely minor. I almost always know who’s calling the minute the phone rings. Even if I’m not expecting a call at all. We don’t have caller ID. It unnerve’s Suburban Plankton to no end. He’s getting used to it though.
It generally goes something like, “Oh, I’ll get it, it’s my mom (or sis, or whoever it actually is)” or “I don’t know who it is, can you get it?” (in this case it’s nearly always a telemarketer). Sometimes it’s “Hey, it’s my sister and I don’t want to talk, can you get it?” It even unnerves me sometimes.
The ability to go completely unnoticed by everyone else in the room.
Now if only I could turn it off…
Add me to the “wake up moments before the alarm” group.
A few not-exactly-usless ones, both involving driving:
I get the hell out of the way before the accident occurs. More than once, I’ve been sitting at a red light when I just knew I’d better move. Tossed it in reverse and backed out of the way seconds before someone came careening around the corner, taking up the spot I was just in.
I don’t get stopped by the cops. No matter what. Years ago I got popped all the time, but not in the past dozen years or so. I can’t count the number of times I’ve blown past a speed trap going 20-30 mph over the limit, but I apparently have some sort of “do not pull over” aura. <shrug>
Damn, I really hope I didn’t just jinx myself.
That’s my other one. The only time it doesn’t work is on the bus, and only the extant where noone will sit in the seat next to me.