What's your mutation?

[Asbo Zaprudder]

Given the plethora of threads divulging personal stuff that have turned up recently, I thought I'd devote a thread to those of us freakazoids who deviate from "normalcy".

My mutation is that I don't have any sweat glands on the palms of my hands or the soles of my feet. Not sure if there's much advantage in that from the point of view of surviving to propagate my genes -- I don't go rock climbing nor do I want any progeny.

Anyone else like to share their mutation, and, if you feel like it, speculate why it might aid or hinder you from passing on your genes?

Gabba gabba hey.

 

[JarodRussell]

My penis is longer than my forearm.

 

[thestrangequark]

^So, your mutation is that you have super short arms?
(Sorry, it was too easy!)

I have a very rare single transverse palmar crease. Even more unusual is the fact that I have it only on one hand. I doubt it has much significant meaning to it. Although in researching it I found at least one person who thinks it's a sign of brilliance and creativity. I think she's probably right.

Ah, and I just read that it is most common among Asians and Native Americans when it is non-symptomatic. That makes sense, as I am half NA.

 

[RoJoHen]

The frenulum underneath my tongue extends all the way to the tip, so I can't stick my tongue out.

At least that used to be the case...until I accidentally sliced it in half one day while brushing my teeth!

 

[HoneyBLilly]

These are pure emeralds

They just happen to be the color of my eyes, I've seen several variations on green eyes but mine are the only one's I have seen this color.


Beyond that I have empathic abilities.

No seriously, I actually take on what a person is feeling. It's awesome and it sucks.

Imagine having to feel someone suffering everyday of your life, it's why I avoid hospitals to the best of my ability, it's hard to avoid when your husband is a doctor though.

But there is joy and love too. Just a whole lot of pain.

Gene impact?

My son has his father's eyes. They're too dark blue to revert to green.
Maybe my girls will get the eyes.

As for the empathy, God I hope they don't get it.

I wouldn't even consider that genetics though.

 

[Spot's Meow]

I was born with two of the vertebrae on my lower spine fused together. As a result my spine is slightly crooked and it is uncomfortable for me to sit upright with my back straight. I am always slouching. I doubt this will have an impact on the passing of my genes.

 

[Goliath]

I can't think of a thing. I must be a Pure Strain Human.

(Free cake for the first person who can identify that RPG reference)

 

[The Boy Who Cried Worf]

Oh I thought this thread was going to be about something else. I was hoping to be Wolverine.

I don't think I have any built in problems. My body is a complete mess, but that's all self-induced.

 

[Canadave]

Not really a mutation, I suppose, but I have awful eyesight. Bad enough that it's extremely rare for me to encounter someone with a worse prescription than mine, which averages out to -10.

Oh, and I'm also strongly telekinetic.

 

[scotpens]

Welcome to another edition of What's Your Mutation? Remember that this week's winner will go on to compete in Freak for a Day!

I don't know how unusual this is, but I inherited the same distribution of body hair that my father has. We're both quite furry all over -- everywhere, that is, except the armpits, which have practically no hair at all. Maybe our body hair gene is reversed, like a photo negative or something.

 

[iguana_tonante]

I can't bend my big toes, except at the junction with the foot. I walk and run normally, but I can't pick a pencil with my toes. It's burden a I have to bear.

I'm also an hyper-intelligent lizard. But you knew that already.

 

[RJDiogenes]

Incredibly, I seem to have stopped aging at 21.

 

[LitmusDragon]

Large head. I wear a size XXL hat.

 

[Deranged Nasat]

Well, my body appears to do rather strange stuff with electrical energy fields (or what I assume is strange stuff, perhaps it's merely an exaggerated version of what's commonly experienced). I seem to absorb electrical energy and then, for want of a more technically-appropriate word, radiate it when I relax. Too much time spent around active electrical devices sees me getting "clogged" with electricity, my nervous system later releasing it in uncomfortable "bursts". I just soak up electricity until I feel "weighed down" and "heavy" with it. In fact, my body seems unusually sensitive to a lot of energy waves - I can sense microwaves (at concentrated levels at least) and something about certain people lets something relating to their mood have a direct effect on my body. It's all about the energy their nervous systems are giving off, I guess.

In fact, this is really a result of my true claim to freaky mutational fame, which is that my sensory filters are, to be frank, rubbish. They loosen considerably at random intervals, flooding me with considerably more sensory information than is normal. So, I'll be chatting normally to someone and, suddenly (for example) their natural body scent will become so pronounced I have to fight not to react. Of course it isn't them, it's me, having dropped the strength of my sensory filters for whatever reason. So I suppose others would experience exactly what do if they didn't have stronger or more efficient filters.

(I'm also sensative to sounds to the extent that they're recorded in my brain perfectly and can "play back". I record songs that way and play them back on long journeys to entertain myself. Like an internal iPod).

 

[sojourner]

^I do that music thing all the time, no biggie there.

I can't think of a thing. I must be a Pure Strain Human.

(Free cake for the first person who can identify that RPG reference)

Hmmm, Gammaworld? Traveller?

 

[thestrangequark]

(I'm also sensative to sounds to the extent that they're recorded in my brain perfectly and can "play back". I record songs that way and play them back on long journeys to entertain myself. Like an internal iPod).

Other people can't do this? I always could -- least since my hearing was restored.

 

[Deranged Nasat]

^I do that music thing all the time, no biggie there

Good to know .

 

[Deranged Nasat]

(I'm also sensative to sounds to the extent that they're recorded in my brain perfectly and can "play back". I record songs that way and play them back on long journeys to entertain myself. Like an internal iPod).

Other people can't do this? I always could -- least since my hearing was restored.

Well, maybe it's not unusual then; but people have often acted as though it is. Maybe I was just talking to the wrong people.

 

[Lookingglassman]

I can see in the dark.

 

[thestrangequark]

(I'm also sensative to sounds to the extent that they're recorded in my brain perfectly and can "play back". I record songs that way and play them back on long journeys to entertain myself. Like an internal iPod).

Other people can't do this? I always could -- least since my hearing was restored.

Well, maybe it's not unusual then; but people have often acted as though it is. Maybe I was just talking to the wrong people.

I actually use it as a sort of mnemonic, though not really consciously. For example, when I was a kid I had to take a battery of IQ tests. In one of the tests there was an exercise in which I was read a string of numbers and then had to repeat back as many as I could remember. I associated each number with a tone as it was read to me, and then sort of played them back to myself. It's not something I planned on doing, but just sort of what I always did. Doing this, I was able to repeat numbers out to 40 digits, but that was as long as the examiner's list was, so I don't know if I could do more.

There was also a pizza parlor near my house when I was a kid, and they had a memory game, kind of like Simon, that played tones and flashed colors in different sequences. If you could repeat the sequence you'd win pizza, garlic bread, or soda. After I won 4 pizzas and two 2 liters of soda the manager made me stop playing. So I guess my other mutation could be my ridiculous memory. And I do mean ridiculous. I can remember a string of 40 digits no problem, but not a day goes by that doesn't see turning back halfway down the block to get the keys I forgot, the book I forgot, the metro card I forgot, etc. I actually walked out last week without shoes. As I opened the apartment door to get them, my roommate, who watched me leave, just smiled and said, "I just wanted to see if you'd notice."