Poll: If you could have one magical power, what would it be?

Time travel is kicking at 2 to 1 with flight. Ha ha! ;) Much more interesting to go to the future (or past) than fly over the present. But it would be cool. Therefore, can't you just go to the future where they have super quiet jet packs? Not to mention efficient interstellar travel. That will kick. I think about this too much...

finally we get to the nitty-gritty!

okay... this was a tough one. both invisibility and mind reading have their draws for me... and both, i admit are most useful in my sort of secret agent/revolutionary fantasies, and perhaps would be less useful in real life. the invisibility is invaluable for anything that requires sneaking around, but i think would be difficult to make as useful as it could be, since i am pretty clumsy and would likely make noise. the mind reading is most exciting if it extends to real mental telepathy... really being able to communicate with others through thought. but that would require other people to have that power as well, so i'm not sure it is all it is cracked up to be.

but flight... flight is something i have always dreamed of... literally really. flying is a staple in all my dreams- i've never been unable to fly in a dream- and it is something i've longed for in real life as long as i can remember. i even have a vivid memory of floating down my grandparents' staircase as a child. this was obviously a dream, but it seemed so real that i have never quite gotten over the unfairness of it not being so.

so flight. i voted flight.

m

I'd love to be able to press a button or say a word and be able to be halfway around the world in a second. I'd be able to see whoever I wanted whenever I wanted...I could go see concerts in the USA on a school night and be back in time to finish my homework...I could go to Thailand for some Thai take-out!

Dude. Teleportation. all the way.

That's a good one. Anyone who's ever been in a long-distance relationship can relate to that. Or anyone who's spent the day in flight, going anywhere.

.oO Would you like to swing on a star? Oo. What was the name of that show, anyways?

I was always highly jealous of the girl who could freeze time just by putting the tips of her index fingers together... it seemed like the most useful of all her abilities. Mmmm magic of television. ;)

I agree this is the best poll, and I am voting with my daughter with much the same thought, though I regret to say I've never been able to fly in dreams. She gets that trait from her father. And I don't even have to fly high all the time....just the moving above the ground like Zenna Henderson characters could be enough for day to day stuff.

Out of this World. :) I thought I was the only person who remembered that show. Cheese factor high, but I loved it.

And it's sad when I later recognize her on 7th Heaven or in Tampax commercials. :)

-AK

It was a tough decision but I went for the mind-reading. I thought of time travel but I know I'd mess something up and make myself cease to exist or something. Though maybe that'd be good.

Anyway I think I'd like mind reading because a lot of what drives me crazy is not being able to read people and know what they're thinking about me/other things and being unsure of the situation. I think I'd be a lot less shy and terrified if I knew what people were thinking.

Also there's always the possibility that I could find some way to use it to make myself rich and be able to relax and live off my ill-gotten goods!

-AK :)

amen!! i actually voted for mind-reading, in spite of buffy's experiences on "earshot," because i think it's the only way i'll ever be able to make my boss happy and keep my job. but teleportation is truly my dream power.

I am agast, these super choices are not very super at all! they would call me SUPER MARSHMALLOW GIRL!!! and I would harness the power of the marshmallow and in so doing save all human kind! fear the power of the marshmallow ebil doers!

(I just thought that I'd also say that [because I don't want to step on any toes, and because mollie is great] that contrary to my earlier post I thought this was a great poll... I was just being silly.)

Hell yeah.. teleportation would rock :) I wished for that so many times while I was going to school in Thunder Bay (an hour and a half *flight* from Toronto, plus another 3 hrs of driving time) - airports are a pain in the a$$ ;)

...as explained in my stand-up act.

In the Biblical story of Sampson and Delilah, Sampson never cuts his hair (a promise his mom made...) and has super-human strength. The enemy du jour convinces his wife Delilah to cut if off, and he looses all his power (echoes of castration issues, no?).

In MY story of Delilah and Sampson, it's Delilah whose hair gives her power. She's ...

Super Pit-Hair Woman!

Able to save kittens from trees, lasso the bad guys before they get away, swing like tarzan through the trees! It's when Sampson forces her to shave that things go downhill.

(Houston, we have a problem!)

(I've only done stand-up once.)

See, this is the hardest poll yet for me.....

I've always debated this myself..... and I can never choose between the ability to read minds and the ability to stop time. Those are the two that have always been competing in my mind for the top spot.

However, Stacey's thought of teleportation, well, that just added a WHOLE new level of debate.... sheesh.

I continue, as I always have, to lean towards reading minds.... I've always said that if I could ask one thing, it would be for every person I know to tell me EXACTLY what they think of me. Problem is, noone ever does it... everyone always holds something back.

So, bottom line is..... I'm gonna have to do some more thinking about this before I click one of them thar radio buttons.

I'm definitely a teleportation man myself.

Sit down.

I agree with teleportation. This way I could go many places in the blink of an eye, and my far-away friends would be as close as the next room.

TELEPORTATION BABY! How can this not be on there?

ya know, i gotta remember to read the posts before posting my own *blush*

dog-in-heat-man?! I think that was my ex-boyfriend.

Jedi Mind Trick!!! That is the best power to have. the ability to make someone do whatever, say whatever, etc, what better way for a perv to get someone into bed? Or a bank robber to not rob someone , but have them give the money or whatever the user sees fit?

I didn't choose it either, obviously, but I find it really interesting that there is a choice on this poll that absolutely nobody has gone for. very very interesting.

I suppose super-strength is too normal... something that can almost be achieved in real life with obsessive weight-lifting and whatnot. There are so many Buffy fans here, though (including me), I'm surprised that nobody wanted that kind of power.

m

maybe it's because super-strength is a kind of power that would be giving. the other powers we can all use for self indulgence (I voted for flight) and, without some kind of invulnerability suit, we'd all be dead meat in a fight.
SO my conclusion is that we don't really want to be busy super heroes always in demand and always on the job - we just want a little dose of magic that would make life oh so exciting

Well, for me Super Strength is the one power that doesn't really let me do anything I overly want to.
Actually, if it wasn't something you could turn on and off, it would probably be more of a bad thing than a good.

(bonus points to whomever can think of the movie I'm thinking of as I say that)

*whip*

Okay.... I've come to a decision... and chose... "something else"... not because I'm indecisive... but because I didn't think any really touched on any kind of real versitility.

If I had the ability to control time.... not just time travel, but have some level of control, that would be my choice. I've often wished, while sitting in my car..... going somewhere.... that I could just fast forward, like on a tv show.... they get into the car, there's some music... they're there.

then also, there is the aspect of being able to freeze or slow time..... there have been many times where I wished I could make time slow down to a crawl... or stop altogether.... Call me a hopeless romantic, but... there have been many a time when I wished I could make time come to a halt, and never ever leave the moment I'm in with the person that I love.

But moving on to pure logic.... the ability to stop or control time also negates any need for many of the other options listed.

1. Invisibility: What need would you have to be invisible when you could just pause the scene, do what you wanted to do, then restart?

2. Flight: Hmmm... this one is tougher.... but having flown a small plane, the only real reason I could see to want to fly is to be able to get somewhere fast. And, really, the suggestion of teleportation as a special power really accomplishes that better. I can fly as much as I'd like to in my dreams, without the actual risks one might face.

3. Mind reading: Aye, there's the rub. This is what I've always said I wanted... and, really, I still do. I wish I could know everything that anyone has ever thought of me. Yes, I realize the possible outcome.. yes I realize it might be terrible.. and yes I still want it.

4. Super Strength: well.... this doesn't do much reallly.. *shrugs*... what's the point? machines we build can be stronger than us... and more reliable. But, if you could stop time you could eliminate any possible danger to loved ones..... then restart... etc.

5. Time Travel: again, in and of itself, it's not what I would want...... however, with more control... more detail, etc..... it can be of interest.

And, of course, #6 brings us to my current typing.

As such, I shall have to choose the ability to control time as my one magical power.... after much debate.

Sorry for the lengthy diatribe. :)

I. Like. Squirrels!

Umm... how.. nice for you.......

Well, it was a tough choice between super strength and flight. In the end, flight won out. And flight can be used for all sorts of help-y stuffs, like saving children from windows of burning buildings and getting things down from high shelves and whatnot.

But when it comes to strength, it's just something I'd rather achieve on my own. I wanna be as strong as Buffy without supernatural intervention.

And I miss flying.

oh yes... and all the other choices seem to be things that could be potentially very very harmful.

*grrrrr* (actually, that was my stomach - I'm hungry)

Okay, I used to agree with this one. But then I got thinking...... What if you had mind-reading abilities, and had the power to decide whose mind you read, and the power to turn it off and on (the mind-reading abilities.) You would have the power to know all of those awful things that people think, and I do think that a lot of awful thoughts go on. BUT... you would also learn peoples' insecurities and self-criticism. You would have insights into *why* people thought those awful thoughts. You would have the first ability to truly understand, to truly empathize with others. That would be revolutionary. It would be a burden, but it would be so amazing. I might go for that.