I Have Superhero Powers
Fun, Stupid things I do October 24th, 2007You wouldn’t know it to look at me, but I possess two amazing superpowers. First, for as long as I can remember, I’ve had bionic hearing. Even before Lindsey Wagner (pictured left) acquired hers. You know, the Bionic Woman, now world-famous spokeswoman for Sleep Number Beds. (I bet she never saw that coming.) My husband, Dave likes to call my special ability "dog hearing." Woof.
I don’t know of any other superhuman entity who can hear as well as I can. Someone should wire me up to a machine and study me. I would find it extremely gratifying to be listed as a freak in a medical journal. It may be the only way I ever get published.
Listen up. Here’s how my ears work.
I can tell if a television is on in the next room, even if it’s muted.
I can hear the ever-so-slight noise a VCR makes when it records a program, so much so that I made Dave go with me to Circuit City to buy not one, not two, but three different VCRs until I found one that taped quietly enough. The man is a saint.
Once while working alongside a technician in the computer repair shop where I work, I repeatedly asked "What’s that noise? I hear a noise." The technician kept looking around trying to find its source and he had a lot of trouble since he couldn’t hear it himself. After flipping random switches and turning assorted knobs, he found the machine that was causing the noise and turned it off. I breathed a sigh of relief. He looked at me, cocked his head slightly and then splashed holy water on me because he thought I was the anti-Christ.
I hear my DVR machine recording. A DVR is able to freeze-frame and play back live broadcasts because it’s always taping the current channel. I hear it doing its job, but nobody else can.
I once had a very unusual problem in my car where when I made hard turns, I could hear fluid sloshing around in the dashboard innards. I’ve had four people in my car at various times when this noise made itself known. Nobody but me could hear it. They asked if I was on medication.
I now know better than to ask people "Do you hear that noise?" because the answer will always be "What noise?" I haven’t figured out how I can put my special powers to good use. I know the Bionic Woman would always pull her hair back and point her souped up ear toward bad guys who were up to no good. Then she’d save the day because she overheard secret information and then used it against them. Yeah, I wanna do that. But I don’t know how to work that into my non-espionage life.
My other superpower is one that I have not perfected yet, though it has served me well when it’s worked. I can mentally cancel meetings I don’t want to attend. I do not always want to skip meetings, so I only pull this skill out when I really need it. My record stands at 8 out of 12 meetings successfully killed. And, yes, I’m keeping track.
Before you ask me if I can help you get out of meetings, don’t bother. The talent is non-transferable. I’ve tried, but it only works when I’m the one who doesn’t want to go. It’s a shame, because imagine the money I could make if I could stop one of the world’s biggest time-wasters on behalf of others. I’d be a millionaire.
Sure, there are other superhero women out there with special abilities, but can they hear inaudible sounds without bionic help and cancel meetings at will? I’m certain there is a place where these skills would come in handy.
If you can figure out how I can put these two talents together to save the world or something, drop me a line. I’ll get back to you if I’m not in a meeting. I’d like to hear about it.
Stumble it!
October 25th, 2007 at 3:45 am
I’m always SO excited when a meeting gets canceled, but I’ve never considered the fact that I may have willed it to happen in the first place. Kudos to you for your most impressive cancellation record! I’ll have to start keeping track myself.
I think I would have supersonic hearing myself – if I didn’t have tinitis from all my years of playing in rock bands. Although I can hear a 4hz feedback several seconds before anyone else, so that’s something.
October 25th, 2007 at 9:44 am
Jeff — Congrats! Maybe you have an untapped skill. In my experience, it helps if you start trying to put a whammy on the meeting the night before. It’s something about the time and effort that goes into it. It can’t just be a passing thought, or a “wish.” Now get out there and start canceling!
October 25th, 2007 at 11:08 am
Neat! I wish I could cancel school on will. Then there’d hardly be any school…
Maybe it’s like that show ‘Heroes’. There’s a new generation! You think I have a power? I am related to you!
October 25th, 2007 at 11:11 am
Regan — It’s possible you got the gene for canceling things. Try it for school. Just don’t tell any of your friends, or they’ll be after you every day to do your magic. Remember, always use your powers for good.
October 25th, 2007 at 12:18 pm
Oh I LOVE it when a meeting is cancelled. Usually I leave my office anyway and go waste time somewhere with a coffee. It’s just like a meeting, only more productive.
October 25th, 2007 at 12:54 pm
Maureen — It’s like the feeling you get when you find long-forgotten money in a coat pocket. It’s a gift 🙂
October 25th, 2007 at 1:38 pm
Kind of a combination of you and Jeff. A lifetime of music has given me an uncanny appreciation for harmony – which I tend not to notice because that is how the world should be.
But throw in the tiniest taste of dissonance/noise (be it animal, mineral or vegetable) and it just eats away at me. The world is temporarily broken. I want to fix it. Anything. Just make it stop.
October 25th, 2007 at 3:58 pm
OMG!
It’s just like Regan said, you are totally a “Hero”!
There actually was a minor character on that show who had superhuman hearing powers, but before we could learn more about her, the bad guy sliced off the top of her head and ate her brain to absorb her powers.
Hmmmm.
Maybe you don’t want to advertise this power?
October 25th, 2007 at 4:43 pm
Can you cancel any meeting? I mean, is it a thing where you have to be able to envision the meeting leader or have a piece of clothing or a pencil belonging to the leader? If not, if it’s just any meeting, I should think that if you charged a nominal $25 and put up an ad on craigslist you could be retired by next Tuesday. Go for it. I only have to meet with myself, though since that doesn’t always go too well, I might call on you in the future.
October 25th, 2007 at 4:49 pm
@ Mike — I have lots of issues with noises. I’m unable to filter a lot of stuff out (whistles, squeaks, hissing, whatever). I’m irritated by the slightest noise that a lot of others either can’t hear, or they are able to dismiss. It’s very loud in my head.
J.D. — Now I’m terrified. This “absorbing of powers” isn’t fair. People who have powers should be allowed to keep them!
October 25th, 2007 at 4:56 pm
@ Frogster — It is not necessary to have any personal effects of the meeting leader. The meeting leader is uninvolved. It is a simple matter of channeling all of your negative thoughts about meetings toward the goal of getting that call or email that says “Our meeting is canceled/postponed.” You have to see it in your mind’s eye. You have to believe you have the power to do it. “If you think it, they will cancel.”
Good luck. The power is within you.
October 25th, 2007 at 7:41 pm
Wow. As the owner of a Wonder Nose, myself, I don’t envy you your super-hearing powers. Sometimes, it would be nice to smell and hear like the little people, I think. On the other hand, I wonder if I can put that meeting cancellation thing to work myself, on, say, PTO meetings. That would be nice.
October 25th, 2007 at 8:49 pm
Ok, after what you all have been saying about noises, I can’t help but comment here again to say that this has been very cathartic for me. I used to think I was a freak because the sound of (the older) PC fans in our office stresses me out and I feel like I want to go over and unplug them sometimes. I’m even bothered by the office NEXT DOOR because I can hear their modem dialing through the walls!
Can we start a support group please?
October 25th, 2007 at 9:22 pm
Kathy, I think I have the ability to mute all noises that could wake my daughter! I hear the garbage truck at 3AM and I wil it to be silent! And it stops beeping. I do the same with our dog! I can sense Sadie about to bark and i tell her not to. She looks at me like I am strangling her. My husband has even stopped saying dumb things out loud! I have the power of, “The Mom!”
October 25th, 2007 at 9:34 pm
@ MadMad — Yes, sometimes the superpower can be a curse. Try to cancel your PTO meetings. You never know. You may have more going for you than just a Wonder Nose.
@ Jeff — I should write another post about just the noises that bother me. There are plenty. I sympathize with you, I really do. The graphics card on my home PC drives me insane, as it has its own dedicated fan (it’s a graphics card meant for gamers and requires its own cooling — stupid move it was to buy it). Years ago, I had a computer that had a high-pitched noise that bothered no one but me. It was so bad and I complained so much, they just bought me a new one.
@ AD — The Power of Mom beats all other superpowers. You have “The Look” and that’s all you need to silence everyone!
October 26th, 2007 at 1:50 am
Kathy, send me a note when you write it – I’ll co-write it with you. And as an added bonus, I’ll even throw in Smells that paralyze me for free.
October 27th, 2007 at 6:26 pm
I used to have a wide gap between my two front teeth. As a child, I had the ability to squeeze water through my gap to make the longest water stream seen by human eyes!
I would compete with other kids and family members, but no one could beat me! If it was liquid and was not poison, it could be sprayed. Water, milk, soda, nothing was out of the question!
My power is now gone, thanks to my dentist who encouraged me to pay him money to have the gap removed.
Too bad,where once I was able to put out kitchen appliance fires, I can barely muster a stream to put out a small candle.
October 27th, 2007 at 6:41 pm
@ Ann — Oh, how we miss your Great Tooth Gap. That multi-directional spray you could get going is the stuff of legend. You must still long for the day. I know I do 🙁
November 4th, 2007 at 2:01 am
Interestingly enough, I seem to be able to hear things that no one else can also. You speak as if the noises you hear are of the high pitched variety. The ones that I hear are usually very low noises. Really deep bass noises.
I can hear the bass tones coming from a car next to me when sitting at a red light even though no one else can make them out. I can even tap the beat on the steering wheel.
There are a lot of coal mines in this area, and I hear a lot of blasting going on. No one else can hear it, but I swear… every time they set of a charge, I can hear..almost feel that deep rumbling noise.
November 4th, 2007 at 2:05 am
@ Bucky — Yes, definitely it’s a high-pitch thing. It’s interesting that yours is of the low-pitch variety. I have no idea what that says about our ears, but just remember, it makes you special in a weird kind of way.
Your support group membership card is in the mail.
November 16th, 2007 at 9:50 pm
I willed my beloved fall in love with me. It took every ounce of my extra-ordinary abilities but here we are.
I can also replace items in any room with exact replicas down to sticking feline dander provided no one is looking. Believe me, you have no idea how handy that comes.
My two best powers though are being able to tell when some one is lying. I can sniff out a lie when no one else can.
and I too have extraordinary hearing. It’s a curse really as it makes me a remarkably light sleeper.
My mother’s is a heightened sense of smell. It’s freakish it’s so sensitive, but explains the paucity of pregnancies.
November 16th, 2007 at 10:06 pm
Jon — You have a suitcase full of special skills! The hyper-sensitivity to hearing is really unfortunate, as you well know.
November 21st, 2007 at 12:01 am
I can hear the TV too if its muted. You are not alone…. and the DVR too.
November 21st, 2007 at 12:18 am
Margaret — Right now, I’m in front of the TV with the DVR making its noise. Driving me nuts. I guess I should be lucky it’s not louder! I don’t know what I’d do then.
December 12th, 2007 at 3:23 pm
[…] week I wrote about my superhero powers, which include the ability to hear sounds that no one else can […]
January 8th, 2008 at 8:41 pm
Wow – you really do have good hearing, don’t you? You could probably put your talent to good use. I have good hearing, but not quite that.. good 😛
January 9th, 2008 at 5:41 am
Julia — It’s a blessing and a curse. I haven’t figured out how I can save the world with my powers, though.
March 7th, 2008 at 1:51 am
Ok, I feel a little better about my dog hearing. But it annoys me more than I enjoy it, really. I even downloaded that high-pitched ringtone that supposedly only teenagers can hear. Yeah, I can hear it. It’s loud to me and very annoying. I deleted it after just 2 calls. lol
Corrina’s last blog post..Wordless Wednesday
March 7th, 2008 at 6:31 am
Corrina — I’ve heard of the ringtone thing. I’m certain I could hear it. My keen hearing helps me now and then. On Wednesday I could hear a slight noise from our gas heater that my husband couldn’t hear until he was right on top of it. Turns out the motor was failing. We caught it before it got any worse.
September 23rd, 2008 at 4:20 am
I love your blog and your stories.Since the first time I have read your posts,I spent almost an hour here perday.I read them one by one and now I find that you are not only a humoristic lady, but also a super power lady…Terrific
September 23rd, 2008 at 5:34 am
Bags deal — Thanks! Glad you’re getting all caught up. And now you can say you know a super hero!
September 24th, 2008 at 6:56 am
Hello~my dear super hero.I come here again for more~Hehe
Handbag for life’s last blog post..The main fashion stream of 2008 Fall-Letter bags
December 15th, 2008 at 8:14 pm
My brother and I can both hear the TV when it’s muted…(the high pitch buzz)
December 15th, 2008 at 8:19 pm
Lol — Ah! Do you see it as a blessing or a curse? As far as I know I’m the only one in my family who can do it. Sounds like you might have excellent hearing in your family.
December 15th, 2008 at 11:29 pm
I hate to rain on your parade but
A: I have that same listening ability and in my experience it is just that most people have so well tuned their brains that the white noise is useless that, even though they hear it, their brain doesn’t bother to tell them that they are hearing it. You may try asking young children if they also hear the noise (they haven’t yet programmed their brains not to bother with the noise) if you need proof.
and
B: Not to be mean, but believing that you have the ability to mentally control the people and events around you can be a sign of psychosis…
December 16th, 2008 at 5:08 am
Pyx — Thanks for the comment (and the crazy, maniacal laugh). I needed that.
March 24th, 2009 at 10:53 pm
Hey Kathy, I wanted to let you know that I Hear the same things, since I was a little kid
Today, 17 years old as i write this I hear that the TV in the Living Room is on right now, even though it is muted, that buzzing noise … I had always thought that only I had that ability for Quite some time, I even asked people my age, if they heard the same noises, and well… they said they did not.
eh, for awhile I even thought it was because the family dog tried to adopt me as her own, as my mother had told me some time before the vet decided to euthanize her… well that brings back that traumatic experience…
I had also been extra sensitive to scraping noises, where everyone else did not mind as much. i have gotten more used to it though.
it is also probably the reason that i don’t like to go to large party’s or group functions unless i’m really interested in going for a specific reason
I think that if Pyx’s comment is true true, then i don’t hear these noises enough to program my brain yet.
although i still hear that TV noise just as loudly as i remember from who knows how long ago..
March 28th, 2009 at 4:37 pm
Cameron Vega — Welcome to the “What’s that Noise I Hear?” Club. One of the scraping noises I hate (that others don’t even register) is pieces of cardboard rubbing against each other. Also styrofoam. Makes my teeth hurt! Thanks for sharing in your hell. You are not alone.
April 22nd, 2010 at 11:45 am
My power is super hearing. I remember one day when I was sitting by myself eating lunch, and I heard chord structure in the white noise of the various appliances. Nothing was loud, but I definitely heard harmony. I do hear that sometimes when I think about it. I also used to be able to smell anything off. I would get a whiff of something and get nauseated by it. Usually it was nothing more than artificial, chemically derived scents. Yuck! I can also taste preservatives in food. I guess this kind of makes up for my crappy eyesight! 😉