What's your superpower?

[rolanni]

So, yesterday I was sitting in my office, entering stuff into a database. Because entering stuff into databases is so Very Exciting, I had popped Springsteen's Seeger Sessions into Mac's CD player and was happily singing along as I typed.

About half-way through "She Blowed Away" I looked up to find a faculty member standing in my doorway, watching me with a...peculiar...expression on his face. I turned down the music and asked if I could help me.

"No," he said, "I'd just like -- are you typing the lyrics as you sing them?"

I pointed out that since I was typing the details of job applications into a database, the lyrics of "She Blowed Away" would hardly inform the search committee.

"Right. So...bear with me... you're entering data into a search database, and at the same time you're singing the words to a song that has nothing to do with the data, and you're not getting mixed up."

I agreed that this was the case, and added that I can also hold a conversation while I'm typing from copy.

"I've been doing this a long time," I told him.

"I...see. Well. Good morning!" And off he went.

It was an odd enough exchange that I mentioned it to Steve, who knows very well that I can type (not write, mind you -- type) and talk at the same time, over dinner. He tells me that this ability is unusual, though it seems to me that I've known other typists who can talk on the phone, for instance, and type a letter from copy simultaneously.

And, so a poll!


[Poll #1270349]

Comments

[onyxhawke.livejournal.com]

I don't write fiction but i know i can do non fiction while singing, and watching sports, but if i start talking i start typing what i'm saying.

If i just talk and type i'm fine, its those two plus any number 3 that throws me off track.

[ldyavalon.livejournal.com]

I can, but only if I have learnt the song by heart and am sick of hearing it. I can do it in two different languages too, I can type in English and sing in Spainish or viceversa (though not as well).

Erm, I don't know if this is weird/creepy/strange, but my best friend looked at me as if I were an alien when I told her, but I can control my libido, like turn it on, off or set it to pause. I have to concentrate to do it, and it's not as if I can use it for much, but there it is:P

[keristor.livejournal.com]

As I tried to say in the box, I read in paragraphs at a time, randomly rather than linearly. I do the same when searching for keywords (in a manual, for instance), which means that I tend to find them quickly. (The downside is that it depends on no errors, which also means that I find lexical, syntactic and semantic errors as well because they throw me out of block reading mode and I have to go back to find out what was wrong, I'm effectively always in proofreading mode.)

Re. doing several things at once, I can if they are unrelated. Singing and writing/typing are both word/symbol related, so they get confused. The same often with singing and playing an instrument, I tend to sing the part I'm playing if it is a monophonic line (like bass guitar or a melodic line rathe than chords). I can drive and sing at the same time, though, because they use different aspects of thought.

[readinggeek451]

I, too, can drive and sing at the same time. I can also sew and sing.

[paw3pals.livejournal.com]

I have a similar ability - errors jump out at me. Was very helpful in discerning data entry and formatting errors and anomalies.

[jhetley.livejournal.com]

I know directions, even to places I haven't been -- sorta, "If I take this road, I'll get there."

[drammar.livejournal.com]

Read and watch TV, and give near letter-perfect recall up to about a half hour out -- after that, it's just the broad strokes.

[katmoonshaker.livejournal.com]

Let's see... I've been looked at weird for singing the songs everyone else was singing without music when I didn't know the song and/or doing harmony to same. I also do the type and talk/sing and have the tv on with no problem. People think I'm strange for reading while watching tv. And I'm also known for finding things on the internet when doing the exact same search as at least two other people using the same search engine with the same search parameters within five minutes of each other. (But Kat, I just tried that, nothing comes up!)

I also have synaesthesia if I want to, which weirds people out. I read at least a sentence at a time, which gives me a natural reading speed of 560 wpm, making people accuse me of having taken a speed reading course. I don't know why but even though I can't spell worth a darn, spelling errors jar my mind and I always notice them.

As for multi-tasking... it's considered normal in my family.

EDIT: Someone further down mentioned reading while walking. This is one that has definately gotten me the stares etc but that I take so much for granted (as does my mother, daughter etc) that I didn't even think about it. I used to have people try to trip me up in school when I did it in the halls and freak when I just walked around them. ::shrug:: Which brings me to another thing... why can't everyone put a baby on their hip, read the book in their hand, talk on a phone, and cook dinner at the same time??

[orlacarey.livejournal.com]

I used to have a significant other that I would freak out by typing while looking at him and/or talking to him. Since we were taking part in a chat room at the time I was often typing what he dictated. The fun part was that I often edited what he was saying while I was typing it.

[kristine-smith.livejournal.com]

I pointed out that since I was typing the details of job applications into a database, the lyrics of "She Blowed Away" would hardly inform the search committee.

I wish I worked with you.

Multi-tasking

[psw456.livejournal.com]

I can LISTEN to music or watch TV and type at the same time. If I start to talk or sing, I start typing what I'm verbalizing.... I also read/listen/watch at the same time - drives my husband crazy. Of course, if the book is riveting enough, they I tune out the sound/picture completely.

I'd love to be able to read by the paragraph! I do read phrases at a glance....

[pbray.livejournal.com]

I used to freak out coworkers by being able to turn my head and have conversations with them while still composing an email. It wasn't just that I'm a fast touch typist, but the multi-tasking disturbed them.

Now, of course, there are so few people left in this building that I seldom get to show off that superpower.

typing while singing

[(Anonymous)]

Can't sing, won't dance, and some days, like today, it seems that I cannot type. Usually, I am able to type while holding a conversation, in person or via the telephone

[ariaflame.livejournal.com]

I tend to be able to multitask with typing and stuff, though if I'm thinking too hard about something rather than just have it in automatic then it might creep into my typing. I also tend to read by the sentence and sometimes paragraph rather than by the word.

I've been known also, in some chat areas on the net to answer questions before they've been asked, but I usually put that down to experience and seeing where a conversation is going, but it does tend to give the other person a jolt. (It tends also to function on TV scripts, I don't get surprised by too many twists, at least not ones that aren't deus ex machina.)

[herefox.livejournal.com]

I can sing while typing, reading, knitting or doing any number of things but I can't talk while typing without screwing things up...I've always thought that was weird. But then again half of the time I've either got music stuck in my head or I'm singing under my breath anyway.

It used to weird out a couple of my friends that I can remember, word perfect, comments and sometimes their schedules without meaning to...sometimes better than they can!

[readinggeek451]

I can read while simultaneously contributing to a conversation around me.

[cailleuch.livejournal.com]

Walking or driving I always know what direction I am going. Sort of built in compass. Not perfect but good enough.

[missingvolume.livejournal.com]

I have noticed recently that if I set the alarm clock to get up earlier than usual I will wake up 1-10 minutes before it goes off. It doesn't matter if it is a short nap or sleeping most of the night. Not sure where I picked up this new ability.

[trolleypup.livejournal.com]

When I worked at an answering service, I could read a book while answering phones and taking message...I would have zero recall of the calls or messages though afterward.

[estara.livejournal.com]

I can type and sing but not type and have a conversation, I'll lose track of what I'm typing then.

I used to be able to read a book and watch TV at the same time and not lose my place in either, but that was when I was a teenager and is no longer true.

[(Anonymous)]

Haven't tried typing and singing, but I generally hum under my breath while typing or writing memos.

I can read and watch TV, too. When I was young, I often read while walking, read under my desk in class while listening to teachers, and mixed reading with just about every other possible activity. I tried reading and bicycling (about age 15), but stopped after bumping into a parked car... Like others in the comments, I am sometimes accused of skimming text or taking speed reading courses - "you can't have already read that..."

The one odd thing I've found is that drawing or doing something else that engages my eyes and hands makes me a better listener (lectures, meetings, etc.). My attention is more fully engaged and I retain more of what I hear. I just have to find ways to hide it to avoid being discourteous to the speaker.

B. O'Brien

[drammar.livejournal.com]

As a trainer and public speaker, I bring "table toys" to classes with me -- usually little plastic slinkies -- and give them to people. Many people retain information more easily if their hands and brains are engaged on "other activities." It's just a different learning style called kinesthetic learning, and about 25% of all the people in world learn best that way. Now if we could just convince teachers to take that into consideration in a traditional classroom.

(Sorry, now exiting soap box area.)

I sing a song of Gerald Ford

[bookmobiler.livejournal.com]

While I can walk and chew gum at the same time singing is definitely out. I've been a member of a theater group that specializes in musicals for nearly 30 years, but they wont let me sing. Some nonsense about being off key :(
I can read in extremely noisy environments with out being distracted but that's a side effect of being a reading addict, the eldest of 7 children and rather deaf. But people are always asking me how I can do that.

[romsfuulynn.livejournal.com]

I can type from copy or do data entry because it goes directly from the paper to my eyes to my fingers without ever passing through the language part of my brain.

[romsfuulynn.livejournal.com]

Just to follow up on that comment a little - that's how I was taught to type from copy.

Another piece of it is that I don't do a lot of back and forth from the copy to the screen. Mostly my eyes stay on the copy/input not the product.

If I do try to think about it I'm like the caterpillar who started trying to think about how he walked.

[jennifer-dunne.livejournal.com]

I can type from copy and sing/talk/whatever. I can type requiring some thought and processing and sing provided it's a song I've heard often enough that no thought is required to sing. (So I can do two things at once, as long as I only need to think about one of them.)

I am capable of reading and..., everything from walking down the street, to fixing dinner, to brushing my teeth and blow-drying my hair. (Although a really GOOD book will cause me to end up with my hair all pointing one way, because I'll stall out in the middle of the process and forget the hair dryer.)

I also have the ability to go completely and totally deaf while reading, so that people shouting next to me will not just be ignored, but not even noticed. (My entire family was trained early on that if I was reading, unless I answered you, I hadn't heard whatever you told me.)

Those are fairly normal abilities, at least for readers. The ones I'd put down as weird or pecular would be having a laugh that is a sustained frequency capable of setting off resonance effects (the most awesome example being when I set off the metal scaffolding around a building, and the whole building started to hum), and being able to say things that then immediately come true.

[jennifer-dunne.livejournal.com]

Oh, and people have looked at me oddly for touch-typing with my hands on the keyboard pullout tray UNDERNEATH the desk, rather than pulled out. But really, how else is one supposed to type with a cat?

[readinggeek451]

how else is one supposed to type with a cat?

Most people type with their fingers. ;)

Most people type with their fingers. ;)

[bookmobiler.livejournal.com]

Only in a purr-fect world!

[liveavatar.livejournal.com]

I'm with the people who can do data entry, especially rote data entry, and sing at the same time. In fact, rote data entry has been a good way to do creative brainstorming; it seems to occupy the judging left brain while letting the right brain run free.

The closest I come to a special ability is that I can balance things on top of my head pretty well (the top of my head is surprisingly flat). Sometimes I use my head as a third hand to carry flat, stable items for short distances.

When I discovered this in elementary school I would routinely walk home from school while reading and balancing the rest of my schoolbooks on my head.

[tapetum.livejournal.com]

Having read down other people's comments, I have had several things jarred loose (no good memory tricks in here!).

I read and walk everywhere - up stairs, down stairs, weave through crowds, never a problem. I can sing while doing anything else (except reading), and read while doing anything else (except singing).

I can knit anything but complicated patterns without looking at what I'm doing. This tends to elicit commentary when I'm conversing with someone and my hands just keep going.

I'm a super-fast reader. I, too, tend to read by the whole paragraph once I get going. I got thrown out of an "increase your reading speed" class in middle-school because I was going faster than the speed reading machine could - which puts me at over 900 words/minute. One of the side effects of starting to write seriously was that I now read anything I like twice - once at my normal pace for enjoyment, and once slower (though still faster than anybody in my family can read), looking for what I liked and why I liked it.

[adina-atl.livejournal.com]

I can read and walk at the same time, even over uneven ground. I used to read while walking home from school, and my father was once horrified to see me walking right at a trench in the sidewalk. Until I stepped over it without pausing either in walking or the book.

[ariaflame.livejournal.com]

Yup. Can do that too, it's amazing how much peripheral vision we process. I once moved to avoid someone that moved into my way several times before I looked up and recognised a friend.

Haven't hit anything since I was 8 or so. (I do tend not to do it in car parks if I can help it though as peripheral vision isn't so great for sudden large things moving at you)

[sraun]

To expand - I do over the phone computer support. I'm told that my ability to keep my temper and provide help under extreme provocation is phenomenal. The person on the other end can be computer-phobic, idiotic, furious, whatever - I'm able to be cool and calm to them.

I think I've hung up on one person in 10+ years - he was cursing me. I told him that, as a fellow employee of the same company, I did not have to listen to him curse me out. He didn't stop. I hung up on him, and then went and told my boss about it. We had prior permission to hang up on someone in that circumstance - I was just letting him know I had invoked said permission.

[klingonguy.livejournal.com]

My super power (that I didn't realize for years was a super power) is that I can lay hands upon small appliances (e.g., clock radios) and restore them to proper functioning in most instances. This came in very handy when I was working my way through my undergrad years at the photo department of a Sav-On drug store in Burbank, California.

On the other hand, until I've met and interacted with someone a good half dozen times, all human beings look pretty much alike to me. I didn't realize this was the case for years either. As a kid, when I went to my weekly Hebrew School class, I wondered why there was a different teacher and different class of students every time. Huh. Weird way to run a school, but not my problem. Or... was it?

[andpuff.livejournal.com]

I can type/copy and talk for short conversations but if it goes on for too long, one or the other suffers. I've never actually had music on while I'm typing so I don't know if I can sing and type.

I do know I can't read and walk. A friend used to read while walking to do the store's morning banking but when I tried it I nearly gave myself a cracked rib on a parking meter. The less said about intersections the better...

[(Anonymous)]

I can read things that are upside down, sideways, mirror image, or any combination of the three.

L Mabrey

[sandykidd.livejournal.com]

As I said in the little box above, I am ambidextrous in my hands and feet. I used to throw knives, but these days I just like freaking people out at the office bu penning two different notes (by hand, not feet) at the same time.

My son has inherited the foot dexterity, though he is a strong southpaw with hand and foot.

[moon-happy.livejournal.com]

I can untie knots, even those in silk thread. This used to be useful, but now we all use scissors and throw away string or rope or thread that is bothersome. Did you care to know that I can carry on a conversation while untying knots? My best secret power is that I can plot while weeding. It does get difficult to explain. Him: "I thought you were going to write this morning." Me: "I am."