Tuesday, December 02, 2008

What's your super power?

In California this summer, my brother-in-law Kyle was wearing a shirt that said, "What's your super power?" When I asked Kyle what his super power was, he said that if he could choose he'd probably go with telekinesis. I said, "Yeah, if you were telekinetic, you could do the dishes without getting out of bed!" and Barb said, "That would be awesome!" (I must admit I didn't come up with the idea on my own--there's an Anne McCaffrey book in which a character does the dishes from bed.)

I have a couple of my own modest but enviable super powers. I'm really good at solving sliding puzzles--the ones with the tiles that you move around to make a picture, or whatever. I can also do the kind that wrap around a cylinder. (But not the kind that turn in three directions, like Rubik's cubes. Can't do those.)

When I was on my mission in Korea, we were having lunch at a little place in Gwang Yang, and the owner's kids and their friends were running in and out. One boy had a puzzle of this type, a cylinder with colored sliding tiles around it. The colors were all mixed up. At one point he put the puzzle down on a table near us and went to do something else, so I picked it up and solved it. A few minutes later he came back and picked it up, and said, "!!!!!" I don't think he ever figured out that I did it. Ha.

I'm also good at untangling things. And I roll a mean ball of yarn.

As for things I can't do--I've discovered that I'm not good at logo design. And I have a really hard time with those pump-top shampoo bottles. I'm always pleasantly surprised when I do manage to get one open. It's embarrassing.

What's your super power?

10 comments:

Mimi said...

My wished for superpower would be the nose wrinkle clean up that Samantha did in Bewitched. Either that or teleporting.

Um, I don't know what I'm particuarly good at - probably remembering dates and those types of things.

Heather T. said...

My superpower is proofreading, I think. And teaching, sometimes. =) I'm really bad at a whole lot of things, to my chagrin...

Lara Neves said...

I'm not really sure.

I used to have an awesome memory...could remember people and places and dates and never needed a planner. Now, I've lost that super power.

Carin said...

If I could have one it would mind control cause I am a total control freak LOL!

I am guess the super power I do have is the find a word puzzles I can do those super fast the words just sorta pop out at me, I didn't realise until I was in high school that everyone couldn't do this. I am not sure what good this super power does me except to give me something to do while waiting at Dr's offices.

Dean and Ida said...

I am one of those jack of all trades, master of none kind of people... but i do have one super power these days... I make milk!! ;-)

Anonymous said...

My super power is magical kisses that make my kidlinks all better. Oh wait, I think all moms can do that.

I can make laundry mountains and multiply dust bunnies like crazy.

Last year at work we all gave each other grammatical superhero names. I was Super-Lative.

Anonymous said...

I can tell what grit sandpaper is just by feeling it! (well I used to)

cami said...

Well, I do make a mean latte, does that count?

And a totally useless, but sometimes fun to shock people with: I almost always know who is calling when the phone rings. It would be much more useful to know lottery numbers, or stock prices, or something, but *no*, my only odd psychic gift is knowing which solicitor is calling!

Anonymous said...

My superpower is the memorization of vast amounts of tedious historical &/or scientific minutiae. And, peripherally, the relaying of it to uninterested audiences.

Amy Sorensen said...

OK...I am totally giggling at some of the super powers. The magical super power I want the most is the ability to time travel. That would be awesome. Although...doing dishes from bed isn't a bad one, either.

Like you, my real-life super power is untangling things. It's very satisfying to me to follow all the knots and get them out. Another is reading more than three or four books at once and keeping their plotlines straight.

Oh, and. I learned tonight that I also have file management super powers. At least compared to my SIL, who has four years worth of photos just dumped into ONE gynormous directory. I showed her my well-organized photo directories and she very nearly bowed.

I don't think I'll ever let on how simple it is! ;)