Do you have a weird talent?

[Suzette]

Do you have a weird, non-commercially viable, talent?

For some reason I have an ability to recognize celebrity faces from many eras. I can even recognize the person as a child, or with plastic surgery, stage make up and other ways that can mask identity.

The funny thing is, I am not really a big movie fan. I do like them but I have no interest in production details or anything beyond a nice story. And I don't collect celebrity memorabilia. I can connect an actor from seeing them on a t.v. show once, to a movie years later.

I have to be careful because when I am watching movies with my husband he will say "oh, that's so and so" and I will tell him who it really is. Sometimes I pretend I don't know when I really do. Of course identity can be confirmed via the internet but who wants to be around a know it all like that?

Anyway, that is not a talent one can exploit for profit. It is more of a party trick and I don't do parties. I would really rather be able to draw or be a math wiz.

What kind of weird things can you do?

 

[lunarious]

 

[Misty Avich]

I can eat almost any meal with a fork only and no knife. It's because my right hand is usually occupied with my phone or laptop mouse while eating.

 

[Shevek]

I can't think of a special talent that would never come in handy on the job, but neither one that would usually keep me employed. I once mixed paint for a perfect match from memory. I can feel the end of very thin tape on a roll. With a mental model, I can get the same general results as stress and strain analysis of a CAD drawing. I'm very quick at knowing if a proposed device will work, or if the designer has their energy sums wrong. I can see the evolutionary function of many human mysteries. Even if I've heard a word mis-used for decades, I never forget it is a crack in the foundation of everything it tries to support.

 

[Suzette]

I can eat almost any meal with a fork only and no knife. It's because my right hand is usually occupied with my phone or laptop mouse while eating.

You have my admiration! I just bought utensil sets to keep in the car for when we travel. Fast food places never have proper utensils and I need my knife and fork!

 

[Suzette]

I can't think of a special talent that would never come in handy on the job, but neither one that would usually keep me employed. I once mixed paint for a perfect match from memory. I can feel the end of very thin tape on a roll. With a mental model, I can get the same general results as stress and strain analysis of a CAD drawing. I'm very quick at knowing if a proposed device will work, or if the designer has their energy sums wrong. I can see the evolutionary function of many human mysteries. Even if I've heard a word mis-used for decades, I never forget it is a crack in the foundation of everything it tries to support.

When I worked at a jewelery store we sold silver chain by the gram. I got really good at "guestimating" weight and would guess the correct weight within 2/10th of a gram.
I am not quite as acurrate these days but I can still guess the weight of an egg with less than a gram variance. More party tricks.

I am quite impressed with your engineering "ESP"!

 

[Jumpinbare]

Losing my cell phone within seconds after using it without even getting out of my chair, even though it is necessarily within arm's reach.

 

[Tired]

I can accidentally upset anyone, anywhere, at any time and make them angry with me. Just try me.

I am trying, but it seems to not work. Do I need to try harder?

 

[TBRS1]

My hands are very, very smart and seem to be able to learn any intricate task I give them, from tools to art supplies.

Unfortunately, my brain is utterly incapable of using this skill for anything other than the entertainment value of learning to do a new thing.

 

[Nitro]

I can read a book or a newspaper upside down nearly as fast as upright.

 

[Suzette]

My hands are very, very smart and seem to be able to learn any intricate task I give them, from tools to art supplies.

Unfortunately, my brain is utterly incapable of using this skill for anything other than the entertainment value of learning to do a new thing.

You know, a lot of people have "special interests" but I seem to flit from one thing to another and have learned to do, literally hudreds of tasks and arts.

But you are wrong that the skill you have is usless except for entertainment, you are just not called upon to use your skill in a practical way.

I think you and I may be quite a bit a like. Try to imagine how your skill fills gaps in others knowledge.

I think my husband fell in love with me when I said "stick with me and I can keep you dressed (including shoes), clean and fed if the world should end."

See, my skills aren't useful right NOW, but if the world should end, we will be alright! hahaha

 

[TBRS1]

...
But you are wrong that the skill you have is usless except for entertainment, you are just not called upon to use your skill in a practical way.

I think you and I may be quite a bit a like. Try to imagine how your skill fills gaps in others knowledge.

I think my husband fell in love with me when I said "stick with me and I can keep you dressed (including shoes), clean and fed if the world should end."

See, my skills aren't useful right NOW, but if the world should end, we will be alright! hahaha

it's not that I think they're useless - I love and would be bored to tears without them. And it's not that I can't use them for practical purposes - I spent a couple years selling hand forged jewelry.

What is is that eventually, my brain says "OK, we learned all that. Now wht do you want to do?" And if I don't start learning some new skill, my brain will drive me nuts.

If you're like that, you know it's very fun, but generally not useful. The world doesn't end very often.

But, yup, useful during an apocalypse. I can forge iron and make gunpowder out of horse pee.

 

[Suzette]

. I can forge iron and make gunpowder out of horse pee.

You really are my kind of people! I can make ink out of Iron and oak galls and soap with wood ash. "We don't save the world every day, but when we do we maintain 18th century standards!"

 

[plushy]

I don't think I do really. Mostly adverse OCD issues.

 

[Yeshuasdaughter]

When I'm outdoors, my eyes scan the ground and rather than seeing weeds, my mind instantly catalogues plants into food, medicine, or toxic.

For instance: "dock- edible, and medicinal for liver and endocrine detox. foxglove- toxic, synthesized into heart medicine, but in its natural form, it will stop your heart. kinnickinnick- also known as uva ursi or bearberry- medicinal for the urinary tract, bile ducts, source of vitamin c. Edible, but not pleasant to eat". And other things like that.

I don't do it at will, it's sort of subconscious. And it's constant, like a little encyclopedia, a running commentary within my mind of food and medicine, everywhere.

 

[FilterFreq]

I can pick up on voice actors and guess who they are with a crazy amount of accuracy. But at the same time, I'm usually terrible at understanding what people are saying in media, so closed captioning is a godsend.

 

[Jumpinbare]

 

[Aspychata]

Numbers, l have strangeness around numbers, to long to explain. I ttoo can lose something l had in my hand a minute ago, and completely think it disappeared of thr face of the earth. l have the ability to deliver a sentence with all seriousness, and everyone starts laughing, which l just accept.