Once Upon a Time ... Shelle Klein Houser 2/17 '15

Please tell me, in the comments, if you had one power/ability from a myth or fairytale, which one would you want?  No answer is too silly or too out there, go.  

Also, ask your kids/friends/partners. 

Archer's school called at 5:00 AM today to say that they would not be in session. This morning was a blur of shoveling and careful driving and this stomach ache that should not be happening because I took my probiotic and didn't eat any dairy ... crap.  I got a soy chai latte at Starbucks.  Or should I say a "soy" chai latte.  Poisoned by the mermaid ... ain't that a fairytale?

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2/17 '15 35 Comments
I'm pretty big on the flyin' too. Although one of my recurring dreams, especially in childhood but still every so very once in a while, is about being able to fly... and wondering why nobody else notices... and eventually losing control and zipping off into the sky.
Thomas Boutell
I have a very similar one. It's that I can fly and I've been able to fly all along, I just kept forgetting. I never lose control, but I do lose momentum, and have to regain it.
Lindsay Harris Friel
Yes! And flying is really easy, and it seems obvious, and why isn't everybody flying?
Thomas Boutell
Tell you what, tonight I'll meet you guys on the third cloud from the left.
Thomas Boutell
Be right there. Usually I get a running jump on the surface of a swimming pool to start.

Holy crap. Next summer party theme needs to be Recurring Dreams.
Lindsay Harris Friel
I have this same sense of "I've always been able to fly..." in my flying dreams. The difference in mine? I'm not able to control it. I am always indoors and I keep bumping into things like door frames which get in my way. Best way to describe it is the way that Ralph Hinkley flew in the Greatest American Hero (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0081871/)
Matt Lichtenwalner
Hahaha ... I loved that show.
Shelle Klein Houser
You and me both.
Matt Lichtenwalner
Adored that show. Can still sing the theme song.
Thomas Boutell
Believe it or not...

(Now I'm earwormed. I blame you Tom.)
Matt Lichtenwalner
When I was little, one time I sang "Believe it or not Iiiii'm eatin' my snot" and my mom whapped me.

It was totally worth it. That whole exchange still cracks me up.
Jill "xtingu" Knapp
I had forgotten that little gem. Of course, as I read your comment, I could hear the tonal shifts in your voice re-telling the story.

What? Is that weird?
Matt Lichtenwalner
(Also, I had that song on 45. Was sung by Joe Scabury, if memory serves.)
Jill "xtingu" Knapp
Nooo!!! I was singing it in the shower this morning after reading these comments. Still earwormed. I blame all of you! ALL OF YOU!!!
Shelle Klein Houser
I loved that show so much that when I was ten, I repeatedly wrote letters begging them to hire me as a writer, and I sent them a spec script.
Handwritten, of course.
Lindsay Harris Friel
As one does.
Matt Lichtenwalner
Mine is pretty boring. I'd love to be able to fly.
Jill "xtingu" Knapp
Not boring. Flight is always my first choice ... then I get thinkier and say, "Self, if we could shapeshift into birds, we could fly AND we could mate in free fall with another eagle AND we could run as fast as a cheetah and, and ..."
Shelle Klein Houser
Lucky.

But that pretty much is my power...
Brett Heller
Grow legs? (Jk) . . . Spinning straw into gold comes to mind. Those 7 league boots would also be interesting. . . . What myth does yak killing telekinesis again ? Cause that I want to read up on.
Ursula Sadiq
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FL4HSiGvk68

There ya go.

Ignore the lame video, it's completely lacking in homoerotic subtext.
Thomas Boutell
I'm not sure because I think all powers would have a down side. I'd have to think about it.
Beth Adele
Aha ... if you think of down sides, tell me that too, because down sides make a good story. Not down sides happening to you specifically, that would suck, I mean just in the 'what if' sense.
Shelle Klein Houser
At the moment, I'm a little drunk and watching infomercials but when I do think of some I'll let you know. (I did think some when I originally posted but, alcohol has given me the dumb so I'm drawing a blank.)
Beth Adele
Shapeshifting? Maybe.

Healing Factor? That would be good.

My answer has always been Telekinesis. It would (in my theoretical version also give me the power of flight by moving myself or my clothes with my mind)
Matt Lichtenwalner
How 'bout the power to kill a yak from 200 yards away?
WITH MIND BULLETS?
That's telekinesis, Matt.
Jill "xtingu" Knapp
How about the power of flight? That do anything for you?
Matt Lichtenwalner
How about the power... to move you?

BOWNOWNUUUUU
Thomas Boutell
I love you people with every molecule of my being.
Jill "xtingu" Knapp
"Tactile telekinesis"? :)

Healing factor is very in theme for you. I think you already do shapeshift, you just don't tell anyone you're doing it.

Shapeshifting has the added bonus of flight and healing factor, depending on what you shift into ... like those reptiles that can regrow limbs.
Shelle Klein Houser
True!

Shapeshift? I don't currently do. I DO have an animal related super power though - animal empathy.

In truth, we all have it - some of us just use it more than others.
Matt Lichtenwalner
Got to use my animal empathy today. Made a new friend. I call him Kitsune, but that's not his name.
Matt Lichtenwalner
FWIW: I've seriously thought that I would trade my voice (ie., can't speak, scream, sing, etc), for being able to play music really really well.
Lindsay Harris Friel
A magic mirror that would show me objective reality, so I don't overthink.
Lindsay Harris Friel
This assumes objective reality ... is there such a thing? Or is all "reality" shifted and molded by perceptions a la Heisenberg's uncertainty principle?
Shelle Klein Houser