If I Was A Character On Heroes...

I'm in the middle of getting some stuff in order at home and at work, planning a huge birthday bash in LA, and coming out of my self-imposed retirement (I haven't written an article in lord knows how long!) so I really don't have anything funny or juicy to report.

But last night my babies and I were watching Heroes online and found ourselves seriously coveting the characters' powers. There's one kid who can control machines with his mind (he helped himself to some loot from an ATM machine and hooked up the Pay-Per-View at his grandma's house), a guy who can fly, a girl who can heal and regenerate herself...I mean, I can go on and on with how freakin' AWESOME the characters' powers are.

My babies and I decided that, by far, the coolest powers belong to three characters:

1. Peter, because he can absorb other people's powers by just coming in contact with them, so in essence he potentially has ALL the powers

2. Monica, because she can "copy" anything she sees: karate moves, piano playing, etc. Can you imagine how many degrees I'd have by now with that power?

3. Sylar, because, dammit, he's bad-ass! He "collects" and "acquires" people's powers, but not like Peter because he has to kill someone in order to collect.

And that whole conversation with my babies got me thinking about my childhood, and how we weren't allowed to play outside as kids so we made our own fun inside. And when there wasn't anyone to play with I played by myself. And what I played at was witchcraft. Not the creepy "eye of newt" type of witchcraft where I sought revenge on those who had wronged me (that came later), but the "I can move things with my mind" or "I can astrally project myself to another place" witchcraft.

I've never really admitted this before, but as a kid I always had this sense that if I tried, I could tap into some super-human power that would make me different and special somehow. I'm sure everyone has had that dream...I suppose that's why I love the show so much- ordinary people with extraordinary powers.

As a pre-teen I immersed myself in books about the supernatural; the only time I actually wanted to read non-fiction. I specifically chose fiction books in the mystery or horror genre: Stephen King, Christopher Pike, Lois Duncan. I watched Bewitched and I Dream of Jeanie and the movie Carrie like a hundred times. I'd sneak into botanicas after school when I was supposed to be working. I was obsessed.

The icing on the cake was my trip to Salem, that creepy and mysterious witchy town that has always fascinated me. By the time I went I was pretty much over the fact that I didn't have any special powers, but still, I enjoyed communing with my poor, murdered Wiccan sisters.

So after years and years of falling in love with shows like Sabrina, the Teenage Witch, Buffy, the Vampire Slayer and Charmed, I have a new supernatural obsession: Heroes. And this one taps something inside me that's a little closer to home.

If I had my way, I think of all the powers on the show, I'd love to have Peter's. I'd hunt down all the other "heroes" and just touch them for a second and then have their same powers. It would be so cool. I would be so cool.

And my Girl Army would be so freakin' UNSTOPPABLE!

*smooches...wondering what powers my readers would want*
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And the silken, sad, uncertain rustling of each purple curtain
Thrilled me—filled me with fantastic terrors never felt before;
So that now, to still the beating of my heart, I stood repeating
"'Tis some visiter entreating entrance at my chamber door—
Some late visiter entreating entrance at my chamber door;—
This it is and nothing more."