The return of Friday open threads: useful talents

[dolorosa_12]

For quite a while, I hosted regular Friday open threads here on Dreamwidth. Every Friday, I'd pose a question — generally something fairly light and undemanding — and people would post their responses in the comments. In 2021 I was completely wiped out for large portions of the year, and so I let this fall dormant. Now, however, I'm feeling full of energy and purpose, so I've decided to revive these weekly posts — especially since one of my intentions this year is to boost discussion and community on Dreamwidth.


To start things off, today's question is: what is a talent you have that is useful or helpful in a way that cannot be monetised? In other words, something which benefits you or other people, but could never be tied to a job, or monetary payment of any kind — something whose use is solely in making life easier in some non-monetary way.

My answer is a weird one, but it's a talent I seem to have had for all of my adult life and indeed much of my childhood as well: I am really, really good at getting a seat on public transport (or any other context where seating is not ticketed and assigned). If it's a crowded train with a queue of people, I'm pretty much guaranteed to find one of a limited number of seats before they run out, if there are lots of options, I always get to my preferred seat in time, and if I'm travelling with other people, I always manage to get two seats together, four seats together, or the required number of seats close by one another. I also use this same talent in ensuring that my hand luggage is stored above my seat on planes (rather than having to put it elsewhere because other passengers have filled up the available space near me), and in making sure that I am at the front of any queue when getting out of planes rather than being stuck behind slow people who take ages to get out of their seats. I don't think this is down to luck, and I'm not a pushy person (I don't barge to the front of queues, although I do run along train platforms next to arriving trains to ensure I'm going to end up right next to the doors when they open) — I think it's a combination of being really quick and really observant of my surroundings. Obviously, of course, I immediately give up seats to those who need them more if this is required.

As I say, it's a weird and inconsequential talent, it cannot be monetised in any way, and its sole use is in making my life somewhat easier and more pleasant.

What about all of you?

Comments

[gingicat]

I can often smell bread mold before it is visible. (It smells like unwashed potatoes.)

[cadenzamuse]

Along the same line, I can taste when milk is starting to go bad a couple days before anyone else does.

[dolorosa_12]

Oh wow, that's amazing!

[dolorosa_12]

That's an extremely useful talent, and I find it very impressive!

[futurism]

This seems so so useful, completely avoiding the letdown of trying to make a sandwich or toast only to discover the bread is done for.

[oracne]

I at good at finding and sticking to my musical pitch amid very close or unusual harmonies. It's very handy as a choral singer.

[dolorosa_12]

I find that extremely impressive — and indeed it must very very useful for choral singing.

[oracne]

I can't claim credit - I've always had a good ear, even before I started an instrument in middle school, so I think there's a genetic component.

[eglantiere]

i can sweet-talk moms and grandmas. friends, acquaintances, parents of kids i'm minding? if i put some grease in it, they WILL love me and remember me fondly :D

[dolorosa_12]

I find this talent absolutely delightful!

[raven]

I throw very good parties! Not particularly huge or elaborate but people always have a good time and occasionally make new friends/fall in love. :)

[dolorosa_12]

Oh wow, what a wonderful talent to have! Your parties sound like a lot of fun — and, on occasion, life-changing!

[vriddy]

Oh, that's lovely!! Getting a seat is very important to me as I don't do too well standing, maybe I should try to become more observant!

I seem to have a knack to get people enthusiastic about the same thing I'm currently into. It's fun when it means I can get a few people excited about an obscure show long enough for us to get through it together!! Sometimes it backfires a bit, like I got at least five people to join goodreads and then most of them stopped using after one or two books but enjoy my "newsletter" when goodreads sends them updates, which makes me self-conscious about some of my reading choices, haha.

[dolorosa_12]

That's a useful talent to have in fandom, since it gives you a go-to set of people with whom to be enthusiastic, but I can definitely see why it would be awkward. Having people subject a Goodreads feed to that level of scrutiny would understandably make a person self-conscious.

[laurenthemself]

I've developed the ability to say very loudly 'I'm disabled, can anyone help me out with a seat?' on crowded public transport without necessarily glaring at the people who are using the disabled seats to store their shopping.

[dolorosa_12]

I can see why that would be useful, but I'm sorry that it's necessary.

[silveredeye]

I have a pretty good memory for keywords in chats: I can often figure out what keyword to search to find a specific discussion that happened months ago (even if the discussion is about someone jokingly thinking about potato farming as a career choice and the only keyword that brings it up is "knee" of all things).

[dolorosa_12]

Okay, that is legitimately amazing!

[topaz119]

I can open a fridge or pantry, stare at the contents blankly for a minute or two and then pull together a meal (up to 4 courses) from random bits and pieces that doesn’t feel like leftovers even if some of the produce is past its prime. It comes in very handy when it’s the last night in a vacation rental & there’s no rhyme or reason to what’s come before

[dolorosa_12]

That is an extremely useful skill to have! You must never have any food waste.

[senmut]

My weird talent I inherited from my dad somehow. Like you and the transit thing... I have UNCANNY luck with getting close spots to park, if I wish to be close. (I tend to park in the boonies if alone, but with others, will try for the door aisles).

[dolorosa_12]

It looks as if you and lyr are talent twins!

[lyr]

In a related super power, I have a mysterious ability to always get a parking space near the door, no matter how busy a place is.

[dolorosa_12]

It looks as if you and senmut are talent twins!

[hamsterwoman]

Hee, your finding-a-seat superpower reminded me of How to Ditch Your Fairy, where everyone gets a bit of minor good luck, and the protagonist's is always being able to find a parking space.

My random knack is recalling specific details that there is no reason for me to have memorized, from "Your cousin's kid's name is X" (a thing I've had to recall for my husband when I've met the person in question exactly once, two decades ago, alongside a large group of other people I was meeting for the first time) to "We received that quote around April 2013 and it was for like seventeen thousand dollars" (which is often useful at work).

[dolorosa_12]

Ah, Justine Larbalestier. I used to read all her books, and then I fell out of the habit. How to Ditch Your Fairy looks fun.

I think I have a similar memory talent, although unfortunately mine tends only to relate to long-term memory, and my short-term memory for details is dreadful unless I've physically written the information down. Yours sounds much more useful.

[hamsterwoman]

How to Ditch Your Fairy was slighter than her other books, but fun (Liar is my favorite of hers, followed by the co-authored Team Human, but writing this comment made me realize I have no idea what she's been up to since then...)

and my short-term memory for details is dreadful unless I've physically written the information down.

I do also try to write down short-term stuff a lot -- I think just seeing it in a visual format helps, and I'm pretty sure that the act of writing it does too. And now that you mention it, I think the weird recall knack for me is also for longer-term stuff -- or at least when I notice it, it's always something long term.

[mific]

I'm pretty good at being cheerful, and I'm very grateful for it.

[dolorosa_12]

That is an extremely useful talent to have!

[futurism]

In the world we live in and how we humans are as a whole, this is a genuinely wonderful talent to have.

[futurism]

I am great at eyeballing rice and other ingredients portions when cooking, and it's impossible to explain my logic since I literally just go with what looks and feels right to me.

[dolorosa_12]

Oh wow, I'm very envious of this talent!

[falena]

Oh wow! Your Friday open threads are back. That is so great! Totally made my day. I'm now looking forward to next Friday. You've got the best ideas for these threads and your journal friends always come up with interesting things to say.

As for this question, mmm...I'm not sure it qualifies as weird but I'm very good at finding specific things to compliment other people on. I love being able to put a smile on someone's face that way.

[dolorosa_12]

I'm glad you're happy they're returning. I just didn't have the energy last year to consistently come up with topics, and I don't like to start things I'm not going to be able to follow through with, so I thought it better to give the open threads a rest for a while. But it's wonderful that they're still something people appreciate — I find them a lot of fun to host.

I'm very good at finding specific things to compliment other people on. I love being able to put a smile on someone's face that way.

This is such a lovely talent, and I can confirm that you've given me these kinds of compliments over the years we've known each other, and they do make me smile!

[chestnut_pod]

What a perfect mini-superpower.

I can perfectly eyeball vinaigrette levels so that my salad dressings always emulsify. I feel like a wizard every time.

[dolorosa_12]

Now I find yours to be an extremely useful mini-superpower — what a fantastic talent to have!

[montfelisky]

I can nap anywhere. When I used to go to raves as a teenager who didn't take drugs, I would have a power nap in the bathroom or on the stairs up to the next level while my friends (who were very much on lots of drugs) danced nearby and made sure no one stepped on me and every so often someone would wake me up to check I was asleep and not unconscious. It has made long flights in the pre-pandemic days much more pleasant than I imagine they would otherwise be and has just in general been a boon to me in topping up my rest levels.

[dolorosa_12]

Oh wow, that is an amazing talent, and so incredibly useful! My dad is the same — I can remember one notorious occasion when I was a child and my family was hiking in a picturesque part of the Australian bush, and he fell asleep next to a lake filled with waterfowl, right next to the water. People were stepping over him to look at the birds, and he was out like a light, oblivous. And when he left his previous job (he was a political journalist for forty years, and worked as a TV political correspondant for nearly 30 of those years), his colleagues made him a video compilation of him asleep in all sorts of wildly improbable places, both in the office/TV studio, and on location all over the world when he was reporting on various prime ministers' overseas visits.

I'm kind of envious of your talent for all the reasons you outline — I'm terrible at sleeping and generally can't even sleep on long-haul flights from Europe to Australia, meaning I end up going close to 36 hours without sleeping. And I love the mental image of you asleep at a rave!