In Continuum.

As a child, my fascination with superheroes can be likened to my enthusiasm to seeing my German Shepherd run around and chase its own tail in the front lawn. Somehow, the whole interest of having superpowers and saving the world was never part of my ambitions. The only superhero that came close to being my ultimate idol was probably the giant robot called Voltron, and I was a fan of both the animal version as well as the vehicular one. Even then, saving the world was up to the task of a few individuals, and never just one person trying to do everything in the world. Superman is super, but then it just makes him rather unbelievable, and I was perhaps too rational a child for my own good, back then. Anyway, though my interest in saving the world was never to strong, I had the habit of having superpowers unlike the ones we read about in comic books or see in cartoons. I've always wanted the power to talk to animals when I was younger, to know what the hell my dog was trying to do when it followed me around with his nose up between my butt cheeks. Seriously, that'd be a cool power to possess, in my opinion.

Sitting in the middle of Carl's Jr. that other day after watching Juno, the bunch of us were talking about superpowers after I told the rest that MJ is, in secret, not human. MJ has the strange superhuman ability to not exercise for months, and then do ten pull-ups without breaking a sweat. That is not to mention scaling three different difficulty levels from 6A to 6C at rock-climbing, despite being the first time at it. Nobody should forget his powers to swallow large amount of food and still maintain the same weight for some unknown reasons that a lot of women might feel envious about. Anyway, since our topic revolved around superpowers, we started talking about the kind of powers we'd like to have, if we were to be living in the world of the X-Men, or maybe Heroes if possible. I don't suppose I'd want a power that is very, well, powerful though. I don't suppose I'd want superpowers that are responsible to save the world though. I mean, teleportation is nice, invisibility would be cool, the ability to fly would be awesome. But like Peter Parker's uncle said to him just before he got mugged, with great powers come great responsibilities. I hate responsibilities, and I certainly hate the idea of having a cliche name, fighting crimes in a cliche costume, trying to prevent a cliche villain from ruling the world who happens to be wearing a cliche costume as well. 

So around the table, we started talking about the kind of pointless superpowers we'd imagine ourselves to have. Naz claims that he can levitate birds, and I don't suppose useless powers can be more useless than that. Fx wants to have the ability of turning the world into cartoon for some reason, with or without our consent. As the rest of us didn't want to be part of her cartoon, she became the villain in our "World of Lame Powers". MJ's ability would be to remain forever as a normal guy, and my powers would be to listen to other people's iPods through my own on the buses and the trains. But here's the thing, MJ's power is the key to rescuing mankind, because it neutralizes Fx's abilities to turn the world into cartoon. Being turned into cartoon would oppose to his powers as being a normal guy, which is why it'd deflect any attempts by Fx to rule the world. He cannot be murdered either, because murder is an unnatural death, which also makes him 'abnormal' in the process - not possible. Take that, Fx! Or should I say, Captain Hobo? 

I've always wanted the ability to know what somebody else on the train is listening to on their MP3 players. I suppose, it is the easiest way to get to know somebody without actually speaking with that person, which may turn out to have many adverse effects. You know how the type of music you enjoy is also related to the kind of person that you are, and it is always interesting to know what someone else enjoys in his or her life, even if the paths are only going to cross for the duration of the journey for the most part. Then there is also the ability to read lips, though that really isn't a superpower in the most conventional sense. I mean, there are already people out there who can read lips very well, and I just feel that it is a pretty awesome talent to have. By knowing how to read lips, you cross a lot of physical barriers such as distance and loudness. You can converse with somebody through a thick pane of glass, isn't that awesome? 

Right now, though, I'd like to have the power to endure. To endure everything thrown upon me from life and live through it, I think that's the kind of superpower that everybody needs, though not everyone of us can claim that we have. Endurance is such a vital aspect of survival in the society that we live in, you just have to bite down on life and bash your head through the wall if you want to be a step further than everybody else. Nobody said that you need to be number one in everything you do, but then society never said that you can be number two either. It is this hard-headed, fast-forwarded, post-modern way of thinking that I am the most uncomfortable of. So, endurance, probably what I need right now. Perhaps I should come up with my own professional title, like Mr. Endurance or something like that, though it does sound strangely like a brand of rechargeable batteries. Forget Superman, Mr. Endurance is in town to save the world - well, at least my own.