So what's YOUR superpower?

[alr]

Today's blog entry was really inspiring and got me thinking. I'm not sure exactly what my superpower would be. I have a few maybes though:

I'm pretty near impossible to embarrass!

Badass mothering!

Eye of the hurricane superpower - I can be calm in the middle of absolute chaos. Every time I think I have maxed this one out, life gets more hectic, but I have survived losing half of my digestive tract to an autoimmune, homelessness after leaving an abusive marriage, homeschooling a special needs kid and getting her from being nonverbal at three to reading at high school level at ten without overlooking her brother (who also entered public school way above grade level when I had to go back to work), poverty, E-Coli (not joking - by the time I went to the ER I was in septic shock) a bad sprain and a back injury just in the past six months, and 8 moves in less than 15 years, without losing a sense of hopefulness!

Maybe that last one should be called the Candide superpower?

I know a lot of you all have some interesting superpowers so toot your own horns! Let's get ourselves all smug and confident and ready for the next challenge (and for developing new ones)!

alr

[CokeCanNinja]

My super power? Being effing AWESOME!!!!!!!

[Alethea]

ALR, it's hard enough keeping your feet when life is stable. Being able to dance on quicksand is one HECK of a superpower.

CC (we have 2 ninjas so I don't want to get confused!), being awesome is a pretty sweet superpower. That'll cover all your bases. : P

I am very privilaged to have 3 superpowers.

1. I like people. Especially you people. You seriously make me happy when you rock, and I want to help you when you have a tough time. I will try my hardest to keep you going, and I will try my best to inspire you with my actions.

2. Enthusiasm. Boy howdy!

3. This is weird and random, but I kid you not. In 3 years, I have ridden transit daily, and I have bought a bus ticket only once. The rest of the time, I flash my library card, or just smile and just walk on the bus or train. The 1 time, the ONLY time, I have ever felt compelled to buy a ticket, I was checked by transit cops 2 stops later.

My honest to god real superpower is the ability to ride public transit for free.

[CokeCanNinja]

ALR, it's hard enough keeping your feet when life is stable. Being able to dance on quicksand is one HECK of a superpower.

CC (we have 2 ninjas so I don't want to get confused!), being awesome is a pretty sweet superpower. That'll cover all your bases. : P

I am very privilaged to have 3 superpowers.

1. I like people. Especially you people. You seriously make me happy when you rock, and I want to help you when you have a tough time. I will try my hardest to keep you going, and I will try my best to inspire you with my actions.

2. Enthusiasm. Boy howdy!

3. This is weird and random, but I kid you not. In 3 years, I have ridden transit daily, and I have bought a bus ticket only once. The rest of the time, I flash my library card, or just smile and just walk on the bus or train. The 1 time, the ONLY time, I have ever felt compelled to buy a ticket, I was checked by transit cops 2 stops later.

My honest to god real superpower is the ability to ride public transit for free.

I don't like most people. Only a select few. I also thing I have some sort of future insight with a hint of telekinesis. I can also visualize 3-D and 2-D space really well. Because of my combination of super powers I'm near unbeatable at Tic-Tac-Toe. I find it so easy, I invented a form of Tic-Tac-Toe that is 3-D. It's like three normal Tic-Tac-Toe boards stacked up to make a 3x3x3 cube. You can get three in a row up through the layers, from opposite corners going through the middle, etc. It's really fun and I'm the only one with the skills to handle it. I'm also good at using science to prove my point.

[zielperson]

I like this idea, so here are mine.

1. Invisibility

People will look through me at times. My wife and I call this my "cloak of invisibility". Donning it, I once demonstrated it for my friends by walking through a cantina, went through the checkout the wrong way (coming from the dining area), calmly filled a glass of milk and walked out through the checkout again without being stopped or questioned.

My wife has been asked for the money when I ordered at a fast food joint (and still stood there, looking at the cashier), etc..

Sometimes even machines look through me (automatic doors not opening).

Can be frustrating.

2. Calmness at hard times "Eye of the hurricane"

First manifested as "Academic Zen" - a zenlike state in any school or university tests, it now manifests in times of trouble.

Handy.

3. Aura of the Circuit

Like alot of people in IT, I repair soft- and hardware by simply being in the vicinity.

Nice to have, can be fickle, though.

::zielperson::

[Neon]

1. Speed Reading

Ok, so it's not super cool, but it's true -- I read faster (and comprehend it) than anyone else I've ever met. BrainAge can't keep up with me.

2. Duck and Weave

It may be due to my height (5'1" on a great day), but I've always been able to get through any crowd, any time, without so much as a bump.

3. Sonic Boom

I'm loud when I want to be. Getting someone's attention in a roaring bar is not a problem for me, but it might be for the poor person standing next to me.

In the interest of fairness, I have a hindrance...

1. Black Thumb

I cannot, for the life of me, keep plants alive. I even kill cacti.

[kahn265]

(Missed this the first time)

My superpowers:

1. Hero

As in, CMM level 1 Hero. However, like many superpowers, it is as much of a curse as it is a blessing. I decided that there was really only ONE thing I could apply this quality to without it killing me - getting fit! Yes, I decided to "hero" my way to fitness by doing everything that I shouldn't do in Software Development. It's been working, but at least I'm not self-destructive in the process.

2. Limited sense of embarrassment

As in, I choose to not get embarrassed. I will be the first one up in Karaoke, Joke-telling on stage, and general making a fool of myself.

3. Full Frontal Nerdity!

It took me a while to realize this was a superpower and not "kryptonite". Yes, I can quote Star Wars and Monty Python, I play Dungeons and Dragons, Weird Al is my favorite living musician, I love my tech...Heck, just listen to the Weird Al Song "White and Nerdy" and you'll get about 75% of who I am. Just to be clear, I LOVE being a nerd! This is a super power for 2 reasons.

1. Because I say it is a superpower!

2. See #1

[Cacophony]

Cool idea. Let's see....

Major Power: Big Dog - People and animals alike toe the line, usually without me having to say a single word. It's a look, it's a subtle shift in body stance, and all of a sudden grown men are 5 year olds with their hand caught in the cookie jar and most animals are staring casually at something other than me just in case I take it as a form of donimance challenge. I handle feral cats as a volunteer groomer for the local humane shelter and I used to bar waitress. I did more bouncing than the bouncers, most nights.

Minor Power: Multi-Tasking - I do six things at once and they usually all get done not only on time but well. I can effortlessly switch gears and back again between tasks without losing my place along the list or wasting time regrouping. The down side is if I don't have six things running at once I tend to skip gears because there's too much dead space and I'm not sure what to put in it.

Minor Power: Verbal Bare Knuckles - I LOVE a good verbal debate or game of verbal tag. I almost never lose, mainly because I seem to be able to attack a topic from more angles than my "opponent" can cover. When they seem to be winning on a set point I flip the perspective around and beat them senseless with their own argument.

[CokeCanNinja]

Oh, here are some more I forgot to add, till other people reminded me. I have the invisibly thing like Zielperson said, just not as good. But I can still walk into a room without people noticing me and sometimes people look at me and don't notice me. It's probably cause I'm quiet and don't make a show of myself most of the time.

I have a bit of Neon's duck-n-weave, but it's mostly that I can see gaps in crowds that other people don't notice.

I also have the "Big Dog" power that Cacophony mentioned. It's not really my body language but a thing I can do with my eyes. I've done it to a mirror and not been able to see a difference, but I can feel it and people have told me it scares them. I call it my "Death-stare" or "Predator-Vision". It works on dogs too, but cats ignore it.

[Altair]

My superpower is my sheer AWESOMENESS. I am very strong and can run great distances, and am pretty much better than everyone at everything.

Also, my humbleness.

[Oogiem]

1. Super Sheep Midwife - I can extract lambs alive almost no matter the problem. I have only lost 1 lamb that was alive when I started. I have had 2 cases where I could not deal with a dead lamb, both required internal dissection of the lamb by a vet to extract the pieces out. I did do one emergency C-Section, killed the ewe and then cut the lamb out, but the lamb was deformed. No vet could come for hours so it was a gamble that there might have been a live twin behind the dead lamb. The ewe was too old to try to save. Hardest thing I've ever done!

2. Good Practical Animal Geneticist. I instinctively understand what I will get when I breed 2 animals together and I can hold to a vision for decades as I work there.

On the down side I too have a black thumb and other than pastures I can't keep a garden alive or most houseplants.

[werwolf]

Automatic Father Translation

My dad's a 'unique' guy. (Think William Shatner spliced with Christopher Walken.) He tends to speak in his own language and I'm the only person who knows what he's talking about.

Sample conversation-

Dad: You know the movie with that guy?

Me: What guy?

Dad: The guy, the one where he does stuff.

Me: George Clooney?

Dad: Yeah. Does he eat the tsunami?

Me: You mean tzatziki? I don't know.

Dad: Because he lives there.

Me: He lives in Italy. Tzatziki is Greek. But he could eat it if he wanted to.

Dad: I like that stuff.

I don't know if this is a superpower I should be proud of, but it does given me a headache sometimes. Dad, however, thinks it's great.

The Joy of Planning

Man do I love to plan things. Weddings, parties, holidays, gatherings... all of it. I used to do it professionally as well. In times of personal stress I derive great comfort from the distraction of planning imaginary events just to get my mind off whatever's stressing me out. My friends love travelling with me because all they have to do is show up and they know everything will already be taken care of. Some people use the phrase 'control freak' like it's a bad thing. I do not.

Reaching

A.K.A. Seeing over people's heads. I'm really tall (6'). So old ladies always ask me to get things off shelves at the grocery store. I was also the only person able to decorate my old office for Christmas because I was the only one who could reach the ceiling. I am always the one responsible for spotting people in crowds, so it's a good thing my vision hasn't gone yet. I really enjoy being so tall. The only downside is that when I wear heels I look like Godzilla attacking Tokyo.

[alr]

Automatic Father Translation

My dad's a 'unique' guy. (Think William Shatner spliced with Christopher Walken.) He tends to speak in his own language and I'm the only person who knows what he's talking about.

Sample conversation-

Dad: You know the movie with that guy?

Me: What guy?

Dad: The guy, the one where he does stuff.

Me: George Clooney?

Dad: Yeah. Does he eat the tsunami?

Me: You mean tzatziki? I don't know.

Dad: Because he lives there.

Me: He lives in Italy. Tzatziki is Greek. But he could eat it if he wanted to.

Dad: I like that stuff.

I don't know if this is a superpower I should be proud of, but it does given me a headache sometimes. Dad, however, thinks it's great.

Clearly, sense of humor is another of your superpowers! I love the description of your dad.