Do you have a "small superpower"?

AdmundfortGeographer · Sep 18, 2011

My wife, a fellow fan of sci-fi and fantasy, mentioned to me at yet again another occurrence of something remarkable and yet normal that happens around me. She remarked, "that's what some call your 'small superpower'".

We laughed at it.

But that got me thinking, who else out there can identify a "small superpower" of their own. For ideas, things like:

- the traffic lights just seem to time themselves for your arrival most of the time.
- find missing collectibles for your own hobby in garage sales you just decide to stop at.
- rolling that vital 20, in the open, more often than odds would account for, just when it is needed.
- catching the knocked off condiment dispensers, in mid fall, avoiding the messy spill.
- mesmerizing infants with your stare, rarely inducing giggles or cries, just mesmerizing them.

My own small superpower? According to my wife, finding amazing parking spots near the entrances when people are with me in the car. By myself, it seems average. But when I have passengers, it's like the parting of the Red Sea.

Do you have a small superpower?

Relique du Madde · Sep 18, 2011

No, I have a large one.

Relique du Madde · Sep 18, 2011

But in all honesty.. I have no clue.. I have been told that little kids and animal seem to like me.. but I haven't really noticed if I have any real ability that I would consider to be a minor superpower/ability.

Kzach · Sep 18, 2011

I do, but nobody ever believes me when I mention it. It's always branded as 'internet bragging'.

My 'small' superpower is knowing exactly what to do in a fight. I've been in many dangerous situations, several of which where my life was on the line, and in the instant that it mattered, I knew *exactly* what to do, how to do it, and being able to see each step as if everything is in slow motion and I just move and it happens.

I've taken down people bigger than me (and I'm 6'2"), people with knives, multiple attackers and black belts. Yet in sparring or points matches, I get my ass kicked. It's only when it's a real and dangerous situation that some sort of switch flips and I become "Super Ninja Awesome."

*shrug* believe me, don't believe me. It's never failed me yet so that's all that really matters to me.

jonesy · Sep 18, 2011

I have a really fast metabolism. People who don't know me keep telling me I shouldn't eat so much. But I don't seem to gain any weight from it, and I've been lithe all my life. But if that's a superpower, it's really lame.

I've also been in a lot of situations which could have turned real ugly, but somehow I've always managed to talk through them. Drunk people and the really dangerous looking people always think I'm their best friend. I have no idea why.

Dioltach · Sep 18, 2011

When I still followed current music, I used to be able to predict which songs on an album would be released as singles. (My predictive abilities are nothing compared with my sister's, though: I've seen her get up and walk to the phone before it starts ringing!)

Dannyalcatraz · Sep 18, 2011

I can sing along with songs I've never heard before. Not all songs, and not all perfectly, but close enough that people who don't know I've never heard the song ask me to tell them more about it. Which I can't.

Sometimes, I can't even recall the lyrics after I've sung them.

The main limiting factors: it has to be a genre of music I listen to and it HAS to be in English. And even if it ISN'T in English, I can often hum along.

Asmo · Sep 18, 2011

A classic!

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IWJJBwKhvp4]Heroes--Zeroes Trailer1 DON'T MISS EPISODES 1 thru 4! - YouTube[/ame]

Fast Learner · Sep 18, 2011

I had a buddy who had an extremely minor but shockingly effective superpower: if we were standing outside somewhere (in the city, mind you), you could at any time say, "Don, where's a penny?" Without fail -- and I mean utterly without fail, despite having made the request more than 200 times -- he could think for about a half a second and then take no more than 5 steps and point to a penny on the ground. It was no trick, he wasn't chucking pennies, and he could do it 4 or 5 consecutive times before saying that there weren't any more.

It was truly bizarre, and incredibly minor, but never failed to amuse.

Cor Azer · Sep 18, 2011

I have the ability to tick off my wife at the most inopportune times.

But maybe that's actually the ability of whichever show I'm watching on TV at the moment.

Also, I can always find fallen Lego bricks. Can't always reach them, but I always seem to find them.