Is there something you're really good at, but never tell new friends etc. because...

[SaladandGravy]

... it sounds so highly unlikely you think people won't believe you?

I have one talent that sounds impossible (I may share later!!) but my great-grandma was about 4 feet nothing tall, not very agile but she could juggle with just about anything you could throw at her that she could physically hold (Diddy little hands too!). We used to just shout "oi Grandma" and throw 3 things at her. it was so funny, and she loved it too.

And my ex could turn a digestive biscuit 360° back to front and widthwaya without it breaking.

(Csn you tell I'm. bored?)

[quote Ruthietuthie]@SilverSplitsTheBlue, of course.
English - my mother tongue.
Turkish - my husband's languages.
Various Chinese dialects- Mandarin, Hokkien, Teochew, Hakka, Cantonese
Southeast Asian languages - Tagalog, Malay (Both Bahasa Melayu, the Malay version, and Bahasa Indonesia, the Indonesian version, which are pretty similar), Thai, Vietnamese, Burmese, Karen (Taungthu, Bwe, Geba, Pwo and Sgaw versions - again each is spoken in a different region), Mon, Chin, Kachin, Shan (all these last few are spoken in Myanmar), Japanese, Korean.
Oh, and French. I think that's all.
My speciality is Asian tonal languages. I also write in all of the languages that have a writing system (some of the Burmese dialects don't, for example).[/quote]
Now THAT is impressive.
5 languages is the norm where I live though...

@DrivingHomeChristmas

I can get any baby or child into an age appropriate sleep routine with self settling in about 2/3 weeks. By age appropriate I mean a small baby might still wake regularly but will go down at 7pm and settle quickly after feeds. My newest recruit ( a refugee child who has been nocturnal for 8 months) has it cracked after 3 weeks. I use a multi sensory approach to build triggers for sleep, and it’s quite intense supporting them into a routine, but there is no controlled crying or trauma, just lots of routine ( I’m a foster carer)

Wow that’s a really impressive skill. You should teach it, I know endless people whose kids have sleep issues.

@UniversalAunt

‘ I'm laughing at the 'give a good blow job' one - like it's hard?’

You’d certainly hope so…

Ha ha

If I've been to a location just once, I always know the way back to it without checking.

@DrivingHomeChristmas

I can get any baby or child into an age appropriate sleep routine with self settling in about 2/3 weeks. By age appropriate I mean a small baby might still wake regularly but will go down at 7pm and settle quickly after feeds. My newest recruit ( a refugee child who has been nocturnal for 8 months) has it cracked after 3 weeks. I use a multi sensory approach to build triggers for sleep, and it’s quite intense supporting them into a routine, but there is no controlled crying or trauma, just lots of routine ( I’m a foster carer)

I would love you to do a thread on this, so interesting!

I have excellent short-term auditory memory. It came in useful at school when I would be obviously daydreaming or reading a book and the incredibly boring biology teacher would call me out on it. I could rabbit back exactly what he had said for the previous two minutes, so it seemed like I had been paying attention.

I hadn't, and in fact if he had asked me about something he said ten minutes earlier I wouldn't have had a clue.

Can't think of a good use for that one in my adult life! It might come in handy for simultaneous translation, if only I were fluent in more than one language

Brilliant!

I can do scrying - very well.. My grandmother was a Romany gypsy who taught me that when I was very small. I am a scientist now, and getting old, but I can still do it. I used to be well-known for it, but now that I live in a different place and have a different life and most of my family are dead, no-one knows except DH, who is a physicist and desperately tries to understand how I can do it.

I never took money from anyone. I have done it for two famous people.
I'll FO now.
Have a great Sunday everyone.

I have a dirty secret that I made a shit ton of money that even my close friends don’t know how much. Only my DH, my siblings and my parents know. I’m kind of a socialist so I don’t approve of the area in which I made it. I feel a bit sweaty admitting it here in case anyone finds out.

@Alexandra83190 sorry, stupid question, but what do you use scrying for?

Beer pong.

@DrivingHomeChristmas that's a lovely and such an important skill. It's a shame more mums don't have access to that kind of help.

I can read text upside down.
When my eyesight was 20/20, I could read documents in front of people on the other side of the table.

Really freaked people out.
Very useful business skill.

Could tell the time without a watch or clock.
Know who had walked into a room by the pattern of their footsteps, again freak people out when I’d say their name without seeing them come in to my office.
Could tell if it was going to rain irrespective of the weather at the time, actually due to sensitive sinuses, but I won a few bets on it.

Just everyday superpowers

What is scrying?

Fantastic thread!

Interesting how many of us don’t let on to friends and neighbours what our job is. Mine just genuinely wouldn’t believe me.

@McScreamysGhostPants

I have loads. I'm bipolar and so I get hyper focused on new hobbies and they last 4-6 months. During that time I am absolutely consumed and learn everything I can. They vary massively and as a result I have tons of knowledge about the most ridiculous / niche things ever.

I was obsessed with herpetology and exotic animal keeping for 22 years. During that time I was the first person in the northern hemisphere to breed a species snake in captivity that is very rarely kept even by zoos never mind private keepers. I was published in a journal and everything. But to look at me I'm just an average over weight mum 4 living in a crappy town. I can tell /show you how to sex snakes, how to safely handle venomous species and talk about genetics and mutations in certain species until the cows come home. I bred tortoises and various lizards to.

I also know hope to propagate paleonopsis orchids and created 2 new crosses myself. I can make stained glass window panels. I love the history of language and can talk your leg off about etymology .

When talking to new people I do a lot of nodding and non comital small talk. The amount of perks that get freaked out about the snakes is crazy 😂

@McScreamysGhostPants you sound fascinating. A font of knowledge. X

[quote Susu49]@Alexandra83190 sorry, stupid question, but what do you use scrying for?[/quote]
Seeing the person's future.

I can sleep on planes (even the cheap seats!). I rarely see the end of a runway and I need to be woken when we land. People don’t like hearing that, especially if they can’t.

@Alexandra83190 thats really interesting, I'd ask you more about it, but you'll get inundated with requests!

Target shooting. That really isn't something you tell new people.

And not an actual skill, but I have a knack for remembering completely useless information. Unfortunately, that means any useful information is pushed out!

I can always tell which the biggest portion is! Think it came from being the middle child. Children have tested me & I am accurate to within 1g!!

I love the fact that people are good at different things. Dh is amazing at working out knobheads after just 10 minutes of meeting. He’s always right

I can settle babies like a superpower. Doesn't matter whose or how upset/awake they are. 15 minutes being swayed and they're out. Makes me feel clever 😂

On another note this thread is fascinating! Keep it going please.

I’m another one with a good job. But because I’m up north and have always worked from home people don’t think it

@NeverChange I'm the same, knitting and crocheting. My biggest achievement was a very detailed christening shawl.

I'm 38, but it's considered a hobby for grandmothers!