Super Powers

I have a super power. Some of you may know that already about me. Some might be thinking… “You just have one?” (P.S. I like these people) Others might be saying to themselves, “Um, no. There’s no way that you have EVEN one.” (P.S. again – These people can stop reading right now because their unbelieving, cynical view of life will taint my enthusiasm. Erego…chaucito!) But, no matter what the critics of the super power secret world may say, I am shedding off my “normalcy” disguise and shouting to the world “I HAVE A SUPER POWER!”

Why might I be doing this now? Well, it’s quite simple really. I was watching “Heroes” the other night. This is a show about people born with not-so-normal nor common gifts, as a result of genetic mutation. Call it the weekly X-men serial drama, if you will. Just no Hugh Jackman or Bobby (Crying shame, if you ask me). They’ve included the normal powers – telepathy, flying, spontaneous self-healing, telekinesis, time freezing, etc. Still nothing to do with fire manipulation. I’ll wait for that. Anyway, the point is that I was watching episode 3 of the new season. Claire, the self-healing cheerleader, is in hiding with her adoptive family – and for obvious reasons. Scary people hunt you down when you are special and make life not worth living. So, being the teenager that she is, she’s in high school, laying low, pretending to not be special. Apparently it’s kind of hard for her, because she does some not-so-smart things that draw the attention of the friendly neighborhood flying stalker and bio lab partner, West. West gets on her case, eventually bringing her to tears, in which she declares, YES, WEST. I’M DIFFERENT. Then, he tells her to stop talking, picks her up, and they fly off into the clouds a la Lois and Clark. I have to ask myself, wouldn’t she need a warmer jacket than a light-weight hoodie to go gallivanting around the clouds? Just a reality check to remind me that TV is NOT reality.

So, what does this have to do with the price of beans in Chile? Not much. But, it does have much to do with my desire to reveal my super power to the world. To be able to say, YES, WORLD. I’M DIFFERENT! AND THIS IS WHY!

I…..Am…..The…..Human….Barometer.

No, X-men fanatics. I’m not Storm. My eyes don’t go all transparent when I’m ticked off, nor is my hair a freakish shade of blonde. Thank heavens. That would clash horribly with my skin tone. But, I do have this supernatural ability to predict weather patterns and changes. Now how many of you can do that without looking at the newspaper or weather.com? Not many, I would wager. And I think this is a power that grows in strength, because I did not have this power before my year and a half stint in Argentina, and it’s only become more powerful since my return. I now can predict when it will rain or snow, or if it is already raining or snowing, how long it will last, give or take a few hours. Pretty spiffy, eh?

Actually, being a super hero Human Barometer has its drawbacks. So let this be a warning to all you supernatural-power-seeking kids: with great power, comes many great and not-so-pleasant side effects. I present Evidence 1: Rogue’s hair streaking white. Evidence 2: Clark living a life of lies and secrecy. Evidence 3: Bruce’s mansion burning down. Evidence 4: Peter having to save Mary-Jane YET AGAIN from peril and the audience having to live through it. All point to the sad universal truth that super powers are not what they are cracked up to be. My own side-effect from being the Human Barometer is that I get nasty migraines that last for days…not so fun, let me tell you.

But, I don’t like dwelling on the negative. So I just revel in the fact that I have a super power. Which leads me to my question, blogging world – if you could choose your own super power, what would it be? Why? And most importantly, what name would you give yourself? I’m thinking Human Barometer is a little wordy. Suggestions?