I think everyone has a quirky talent that nobody else in their group shares - a secret super power. It may be useful but is more likely to be odd like always getting the biggest slice of cake or finding coins on the street or flagging taxis in ten seconds.
This isn’t a new idea, of course. Justine Larbalestier calls secret super powers “fairies” in her book, How to Ditch Your Fairy, and her heroine has a parking fairy - she unfailingly finds parking spots even though she doesn’t drive.
My secret super power seems to be Seeing Bugs. Not in a tripped out, itchy, Philip K Dick way, but in a “Hey, here’s a ladybug! Oooh, look at the green beetle. Ack, a mosquito!” way. I can scan across a room and find the bugs. I see them on sidewalks, in bushes, & on trees. I have no idea what use this is but there you go.
Tod has Four Leaf Clover Detection powers. He can glance at a bed of clover, bend down and pluck a lucky one. It’s quite amazing. He says he can smell them. Tod is lucky in lots of situations, so maybe the clovers are a side effect or a manifestation of his general luckiness.
What is your Secret Super Power? A randomly selected commenter will win a (slightly used) copy of How to Ditch Your Fairy. I’ll make the random selection on Wednesday, July 8th.
Posted by kuri at July 02, 2009 11:47 AMI have a knack for finding things that people are looking for. They come up to me and ask “have you seen….?” and for some quirky reason, I have an answer immediately, with almost no thought involved, even more quirkyful, what they are looking for is the place i suggest.
Very interesting superpowers for us all, indeed!
Posted by: Momma Kitty on July 3, 2009 05:30 AMI love this little aspect of our lives. There was a movie out once about superheroes with somewhat insipid talents. The bowler, the shoveler and the invisible man (who was only invisible without clothes, and if no one was watching him)
Me, I see the number 715. At least once a day. Usually its the time. Not 714, nor 716, but 715. My dad started noticing this, as it is his birthday, but I really see it all over. House numbers, licsence plates, tally at the grocery store, everything. Its really wild.
Posted by: josh Capistrant on July 3, 2009 02:00 PMInteresing. I was planning to write about secret super powers a while ago but never got around to it. There is even a song about it which I will find and post the link to when i get a chance…
My super power is being able to spot atmospheric optical phenomena (and satellites too, which are unrelated but sort of in the same genre). I suspect I look up at the sky more than most people, and until I looked recently, I had no idea I had so many photos of the sky. I really need to learn more about the night sky tho, and I’m saving for one of those sky scouts.
Posted by: j-ster on July 3, 2009 05:36 PMIt would be fun to put together a comic book of these characters. Bug Spotter, 4-Leaf, 715, SkyScout. What hijinx they could have!
My superpower is knowing how strangers feel. It makes for a lot of emotional noise at the grocery store.
Congratulations to Momma Kitty who was randomly selected to receive the prize! Maybe her secret super power is “luck with random number generators”
Posted by: Kristen on July 9, 2009 08:21 AMJust got the book today… looks deliciously interesting!
Much love.
Posted by: Momma Kitty on July 17, 2009 11:20 AM