My Superpower

I've mentioned this before in passing, but I have a "superpower." And it sucks. I have super hearing. Kind of. My ears are extremely sensitive to certain sounds. Basically, anything loud. There are also certain pitches that are excruciating to my ears. I used to work with this girl (who would fit into the description of an IJC), who's voice was loud and nasally. When she was speaking in a normal tone, her voice was only mildly painful, but when she would get excited, her voice would go up an octave and get louder. I literally had to cover my ears. This is probably the reason for my intense dislike of whistling- it simply hurts my ears. In normal settings, I can also hear pretty much anything. Someone is talking on the phone two offices from mine with their door closed? Yep, I can hear it. It comes in really handy when bosses are in closed-door meetings and everyone in the office wants to know what's going on. I'm their spy-hero.

There is also a down-side to my superpower (other than certain sounds literally hurting my ears). In loud settings, or large crowds, I can not distinguish one sound from another. Even if a friend is right next to me, talking into my ear, I can not separate their voice from the surrounding noise. It's almost a sensory overload. It's the reason I don't go out to bars or clubs very often. And when I do go out, I usually end up just starting a tab at the bar and paying with my credit card- because I can't hear what the bartender is saying. I never know how much my drink is, so I just give the bartender the Visa, and find out what the damage was when I sign the check.

I'm not exactly sure where I got my superpower, since no one else in my family has it; although, I used to think my mom did- it seemed she heard everything. Maybe I was exposed to toxic waste as a baby. Or maybe I was born in a nuclear test site. Who knows.... all I know is that my power is virtually useless and keeps me from going out and partying.