Weekly chat post!

[smeddley]

Here's your weekly "learn something interesting about your fellow inkstains members" post - which only works if you post something interesting about yourself in the comments! So, people out there, any unusual talents you have? Anything odd about yourself you want to share?

All of my oddities are quite boring, though I can write backwards and I did once bellydance in a giant bunny costume (it was Halloween, and there was a theme, it made sense at the time!).

Your writing challenge for this week (should you want one) is to write about a character with an unusual ability. Could be supernatural (I once had a character who could smell the future), could just be the ability to always shift perfectly from first to second gear (hey, it's morning, I haven't had my coffee, I'm not thinking on all brain cells here!).

Comments

[pipisafoat]

Ooh! I have recently learned that I am "pathologically flexible"! Which is to say, I have waaaay more range of motion in nearly all my joints* than is normal and/or strictly healthy. (Which explains a lot.)
eta: probably related, my tongue is sort of ridiculously long. I can touch the underside of my chin or the tip of my nose very easily. And yes, I can open my jaw bizarrely wide, as well. Fits well with my love for eating? That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

*joints where mobility is limited by ligaments, that is. not things like the elbow that are limited by bones. also that my hamstrings are not overly flexible, so maybe people would say that doesn't count either, but in directions not limited by the hamstrings, my hips are still overly flexible! and excepting my thumbs, which are oddly limited. "to make up for all my other joints," I like to say.


Please to be expounding on this "smell the future" thought, smedds!

[smeddley]

I was really confused when I googled it and found it on a friend's journal, but then I remembered she'd been having a "guest post" thingee (I certainly didn't think it had been good or inspiring enough for her to repost...). Amazing that it was three years ago and I remembered it, though. Seems... much more recent than that. O.o

It is here, though, if you're really curious. :)

The tongue thing sounds awesome! Weird, but awesome. Physically I used to say I was not at all flexible, but I can bend myself almost in half sideways. So... maybe I'm more flexible than I think?

[clare_dragonfly]

Oh man, I am kind of jealous! I mean, not of the part where it isn't healthy, obviously. I've never been very flexible at all, especially my hips, which are just screwed up in general. I've never even been able to touch my toes, even during/after many years of ballet and then yoga.

I don't think I have any interesting talents o.o But I bet most of you don't know that my hair is really long! Past my butt currently!

[ex_pippin880]

oh yeah hypermobiles represent oh god sprained my wrist high fiving need a lie down oh god subluxated my rib while sleeping again

[pipisafoat]

I hate the rib thing worst of all oh god and it happens constantly and sometimes it just won't go back and then it hurts to breathe all day long and and and

and also you make me laugh :D

[ex_pippin880]

half the time I... don't notice when my rib goes out? I... yeah. once I did, it was over Christmas so my chiro was away. and then I got used to the pain, you know, so I forgot until my usual appointment came up, which was like three weeks later. but most of the time I don't know it's out until my chiro goes 'um what have you been doing'

worst thing for me is my knees can (a) go backwards and (b) lock backwards so if I stand still for too long or accidentally do it while sleeping then pain for fucken days, it's great

do you get the fancy bruises too? that's kinda fun. sort of. :p

[beginswithk]

That's really interesting, pip!

I don't think I have any odd talents, unless you count being able to roll my tongue. When I was younger I could spell and write my name backwards... but that's not really a skill is it?

[alexseanchai]

I spent a couple months in third grade doing all my math homework in base five until my teacher conned first fourth- and fifth-grade teachers into taking me in for the math part of the day, then a sixth-grade teacher into letting me take a math book home for Christmas break, then a prealgebra teacher at the junior high into letting me into his first-period class.

This would be more impressive had I kept it up. Unfortunately, that summer we moved. Mississippi schools suck, y'all. Biloxi's supposed to be the best district in the state, and if that's the best, I pity the schoolkids in the rest of the state. I skipped fourth grade, and if it hadn't been all arranged before the move it wouldn't have happened. My fifth-grade teacher couldn't talk any algebra teachers into taking me on. Then we switched from public to Catholic schools, and the junior-senior Catholic high principal wouldn't let me at an algebra book. And then I moved up to the junior-senior high, and the prealgebra teacher was "oh, there must be something she can learn." Not from you, lady, you weren't teaching algebra. I finally got to algebra in eighth grade, along with all the other eighth graders. I do not think my parents were terribly surprised when my career ambitions changed from math and science to things that involve words and fast typing.

[ex_pippin880]

no matter how much head hair or eyebrow hair I lose I still have a lot of it

it's

creepy

I had a character who could perfectly fold paper 100% of the time. this never ever came up in stories, but it made me happy

had an idea for a character who sees futures that don't happen. it's a fairly useless skill, e.g. if he dreams that you die by a redhead stabbing you through the chest, that won't happen -- but it could be a blonde, or through your guts, or by blunt force trauma.