my friend Julian was here last May, one day he said to me: "If you could have one superpower, what would it be?"

I replied:  "Julian!!!  All my life I've been waiting for my faerie godmother to come to grant me a wish and here you are!"

So I wished for omnipotence.

"Sorry..."

Well, second best was easy:  time travel!  There, now you know.  I'm a sucker for any time travel book or movie.  Even a corny Star Trek episode, if it involves time travel, sweeps me off my feet.

And where would I go with my new-found ability?:  everywhere.  Or everywhere I can get a decent meal and a good cup of coffee.  Which I figure is the least (or when I'm in a snit, the most) one can ask out of life.

Actually I wished for the ability to travel in time and space because it wouldn't be much fun to go and visit the 16th century and end up in Ottawa or even worse floating out in space a zillion miles away and then have your blood boil or whatever happens when you get sucked out an airlock.

So what was Julian's superpower?: the ability to move super fast.  So fast you couldn't see him.  Which struck me odd because Julian is soooo slow.  Like a cloud.  Ah, there's no explaining some people's superpowers...

And just what is this latter-day fascination with being able to wave a magic wand or push a button and go wherever or have whatever you want?  Getting something for nothing essentially?  Hmmm.... there's a doctoral dissertation for ya.  Would I be tooo cynical in suggesting that a credit card is the next best thing?