Last week I stumbled across the Man of Steel Glyph Creator. I love web pages like this. I have my own coat of arms for Game of Thrones (and one for each of the voices in my head) and a set of pokemon cards featuring my characters. I’ve also fiddled with other heraldry and branded creations, these are simply the most recent.
This is my Kryptonian identity. I am Kelly, of the House of Nu. Not sure if that means I can fly or not. Leap buildings in a single bound, stop bullets…and so on.
You don’t have to be a comic book fan to want a super power. All of us, at some point or other, have wished for a talent or an ability that would either make our lives easier or set us apart. We strive for these things through education and practice. Many of us choose professions and arts based on what we excel at and some of us achieve greatness.
Super powers can be small things as well. Extraordinary luck or a knack. Cats have a super power–they always land on their feet. My husband has a super power–he knows where I hide the chocolate. Always. Even when I move it.
What is my super power? I have a few. I’m an escape artist. I have a knack for extracting myself from difficult and potentially harmful situations. I also have an extremely well defined sense of order. I see life as a game of Tetris, which requires forward thinking and contemplating several moves at once. Tasks that take the longest get started first, particularly if they don’t require oversight. Small tasks are fit in between. I am the one who packs the car when we travel. I make it all fit. I prefer to bag my own groceries. My pantry shelves are a work of organisational art. My garden, while apparently chaotic, follows a pattern.
I have an extremely keen sense of smell. I can smell things other people question the existence of, such as microbes in the fabric of my couch. I know they’re living there. My husband will believe me when they sprout legs and migrate to his den via his clothing. Open the fridge and I can tell you what’s in there and what has been there too long. I can do that from two rooms away. I can tell when someone in the neighbourhood is grilling–before the sausages start to sizzle.
Smells can keep me up at night, if they’re strong enough.
Not much of a super power, is it? Seems more annoying. Could be extraordinarily handy, though. Imagine the FBI calling me to identify the lingering cooking odours at a crime scene. The ingredients could be clues to solving the crime. Maybe that particular variety of pepper is only available in another state (hence the involvement of the FBI rather than local law enforcement).
Before I invent a new discipline (Forensic Olfaction?) I’ll admit that none of the above are really super powers. None of those talents are particularly special. I’ve met others with a keen sense of smell and my organisation skills are not that amazing. I don’t have a spice rack that looks like this:
I’d like to be able to do something really cool though. Something “super”. For a long time, I thought being able to turn invisible would be a pretty neat power. I could sneak into places. Thing is, as I grew up I realized there weren’t really any places I needed to sneak in to. I can go where I please, within reason.
I don’t want to be super strong. Kicking arse and taking names Batman-style would be an accomplishment, but once you start down the vigilante path, it’s hard to hop off. Besides, he didn’t wake up suddenly strong one day. A bat didn’t bite him on the neck and imbue him with muscles and intelligence. Bruce Wayne achieved his super powers the old fashioned way. Blood, sweat and tears.
X-ray vision would be interesting, but I don’t know that I really need to see everyone’s underpants and/or internal organs. Being able to breathe through gills and swim like a fish seems fairly useless as I live in the mountains. (I just amused myself with a brief fantasy of my daughter finding me practicing this skill in the creek out back. It’s not a very deep creek.)
I do not like the idea of being able to change my body structure. No tails, no fur, no gills, scales or claws. I like being human, even if being so is rather limiting.
So what is my super power? I would like to fly. I don’t quite know how it would work, just that soaring through the air would be pretty awesome. I’d use my power for good, of course. I would sniff out disorganisation and other people’s improperly hidden chocolate. I would always land on my feet.
What would you choose?
Kelly Jensen 
I’ve had many, many dreams about flying. I didn’t realize until just a few years ago, though, that all of my flying dreams happen pretty close to the ground. Even in my sleep, I’m scared of heights.
Even still, I think I’d take flying, too. It’s the ultimate freedom.
The ability to inject witty one-liners into any given conversation at any time. That, and being able to pull off any outfit.
(Though I was the only one who’d created a Krytonian glyph :’] )