what would it be, and why. Only one thing. For example, if you changed your age, that's it. You're a younger you, with no other changes. If you change gender, that's it - you'd be a female version of yourself at your current age.
As for me, I'd make myself hyper-intelligent. Really, really super-intelligent, enough to find cures for cancer (and get rich), and create either nanobot technology or an MAU. Then I could change more about myself. And I could use the technology to help my family improve, live longer, etc. Nanobots could help people change things they needed to - like in many stories, live longer, prevent diseases, etc. (Yes, I know it's like wishing for more wishes, but what the heck?)
Not that I've ever given this much thought :)
Comments
One thing, hunh?
After just reading the title I was gonna just say I'd make my knees a little less knobby...
Now that feels kinda trivial...
;-)
Well if this was in the form of a wish.....
I'd wish for yours to come true, I think what you'd do with it works for me too! Hugs, Taarpa
My health
The one thing I would change would be my health. As long as I have my health, I will be able to do what I need. Money is no good without it, love is painful without it, power is a waste without it. Look at the world around you and notice something? most all of the beautiful people are healthy people and they work to be that way. People focus too much on money and fame and power; me? health would be my choice :)
one change
I'd choose to be pregnant. It's one change, but it carries implications that other things would have to change to make it work so it shouldn't be any more of a cheat than the choice of the one who asked the question. Of all the things that are missing in my life, I think the one that stings the most is that I never found someone to start a family with. So maybe I'd end up a single mom but at least I'd have a kid, which is more than I have now.
My luck
I'd change my luck, not that its bad, but enough to where I meet you as you develop your technology and then I can use your stuff to finish any changes for me.
Well that and win the lottery to finance your dreams.
But then again with my luck the IRS would hound me for back taxes.
Definitely change my gender.
Definitely change my gender. They is still some life at my current age and my intellect is excellent.
As for me, Elrod,
it would be my weight. I'd like to lose my excess weight
May Your Light Forever Shine
what to change
I would change my body to be the healthy version of it as it should have been without drugs, abuse, or depression. If I had that, then I'm sure I could manage the rest.
Changes though affect who we are. When I think of what would I give up to have what I want, that is a very scary thing. Would I be someone different if I changed myself? Would I even like that person I became. And if I changed, would I care if I was a person I would not have liked?
I think the lessons of the Djinn teach us a lot about that.
Bright Blessings,
Cassie Ellen
Hmmm...Besides super powers?
I would rid myself of the anxiety and depression that has plagued me all my life so I wouldn't be such a recluse. It would be wonderful to start living my life for a change instead of just simply existing. Oh well, guess I'll just have to settle for my meds for the time being.
Cheers,
Drew
I would wish for more willpower.
Isn't it funny how simple the answer can be to finding your dreams come true?
For me, Willpower would be the answer. With better willpower, I could more easily control my weight and eating habits, or handle my finances better, or even push through the stress and difficulty of college to obtain a degree and get a better job.
So, yes. More willpower, please?
Melanie E.
I think..
I think I'd eliminate my Leukemia (or have it cured)... There are many other things that might be nice, but that's one that hangs over my head. While I'm likely to officially be in remission in a month or two, there's a big difference between remission and cured and it's only a matter of time before it comes back visiting.
If I could change one thing about myself...
...it would be to gain the power, even if for only a moment, to cure that dreadful disease. I am in awe of your courage and generosity of spirit in the face of something so very frightening and challenging. You remain one of my heroes, and one of the folks who remind me daily of how fortunate I truly am. Thank you!
Love, Andrea Lena
Honestly...
Honestly, it's not so much courage as it is that in most other ways life is so much better than it used to be just not "hiding" any more.
Thank you for your kind thoughts and, you're right, the power to cure that (or any other) disease in general would be far better than just removing it from one person. That was a selfish thought on my part, which I have to admit I'm ashamed. My excuse is that the question was pointed at self - rather than the world.
Thank you,
Annette
I would
have said swap the Y for another X which would be fine if it happened now but if it went back to day one would i have my daughter? Would i have made the same choices, had the same opportunities, done the same things? I'm sure a female me would still be a slob, write stories, travel, ride bikes, be in a crappy job, probably have children and the same qualifications. if the other women in my family are anything to go by, i'd be reasonably good looking, 8" shorter and (other than my mum) a fairly snappy dresser. I guess i could live with all that.
I think the thing i'd really like to change tho would be my attraction as a friend, someone to do stuff with, gossip with, rely on. I've never managed to have many close friends, good friends yes, good relations with work colleagues, nodding acquaintances. Its not that i'm not sociable, but its difficult to have a full social calendar when your good friends can be counted on one hand and out of those that qualify only one lives under 250 miles away! Surrounded by people its lonely around here - oh for Drew's preponsity for attracting friends!
So thats it, i'd like to have more friends and as a result not be as lonely.
Madeline Anafrid Bell
an end of lonliness
now that would be a good to change for many of us.
What I would do
My life hasn't always been perfect, but it was the path laid before me. I would just want to be a genetic female. I have done a lot of things in my life that I wouldn't change. As a genetic female I would hope I can change to be a healthy genetic female. I would the practice to run a marathon.
The other nice thing I could be a motherly type and help others.
Jill Micayla
Be kinder than necessary,Because everyone you meet
Is fighting some kind of battle.
to change one thing
...to make sure that all here got their wishes of health ,gender , powers, and such to make sure that the world treats all with dignity and honor. and to have my hair back all long and flowing to my butt:) sniff i miss my long hair.
Hey, isn't your wish, Elrod, a bit like wishing for more wishes?
Baaaad boy!
--snicker --
I'd wish that our national politicians cared more about the welfare of the nation than their own re-election chances but that would be utter fantacy.
Plus it's multiple wishes when you come down to it.
John in Wauwatosa
P.S. Not sure what I would wish but IF I had posession of such a wish I would make danged sure NOT to sing the Oscar Mayer Weiner song.
John in Wauwatosa
I'm with Elrod ...
... that, or magic for the same thing. Yes, it's basically the power to grant other people's wishes, but is it so bad to want to help others? Assuming wish magnification of any form is out, then yes, I'd like my physical gender changed to match that of my mind & soul. Most of my other problems (weight, bad body image, low self esteem) stem from that, so if that's fixed I believe I'd have the gumption to fix the others.
Ah yes, Morpheus did one like this in the SRS universe
about a not the nicest college age guy, rather a jerk to be honest, given a cursed necklace that can only grant an unselfish wish.
Only he truely does make an unselfish wish and HER new life and the lives of many others are changed for the better much to the Wizards amazment.
A fun speculation, Elrod.
John in Wauwatosa
John in Wauwatosa
Lots of interesting responses
Lots of interesting responses to this blog post. Let me throw out something I didn't see mentioned.
This one change: To not be TS (or TG, CD, depending on how you identify).
I think it's worth some thought.
Now on a different tack. Elrod, you said to be "hyper-intelligent" or "super-intelligent". But only one change, right? So suppose you became super-intelligent but nothing else in your life changed? Absolutely nothing? Same you, same life, just this hyper-intelligence trapped in there, not able to get out or change anything. It would be a kind of cerebral living hell. Maybe a good premise for a story.
Kris
{I leave a trail of Kudos as I browse the site. Be careful where you step!}
Hmm, I would go with luck or
Hmm, I would go with luck or super intelligence for the same reasons given above, but just to be original I would change my mind. (no I don't mean be indecisive about my wish.)
I don't really like some aspects of my personality, shyness (rather extreme), low self-estimate, depression, some rather bad patterns of thought that have become to ingrained to change easily (if at all), lack of will power, aspergers, dyslexia, family issues (the people that raise you always seem to slip in some kind of self destruction switch when they are doing the construction), laziness. I would keep my humor though, you got to keep your sense of humor. :P
Of course you have to wonder if after all those changes if I would even still be me. Ah well, I guess a phoenix of the mind I would be. ;)
Young again - say, 6 years old.
You said everything else would be the same. So I would like to be 6, back in the calendar year I was at that age.
Oh the embarrassing things I did that I would avoid.
I now have the confidence to where I would rule in high school. Be not a geek, but a popular guy - who sticks up for the geeks and outcasts.
Or maybe I would have the guts to tell Mom and Dad that "that's what I want" when they described how tough it was for people to change their gender.
I would buck the system and stand by Carly instead of allowing the whole class to laugh at her.
And I would dare Royce to go ahead stop just threatening to beat me up and just hit me already. Then I'd clock him.
**Sigh**
Sighs are the natural language of the heart.
-Thomas Shadwell
Easy, currently 43, so thirty
Easy, currently 43, so thirty years younger.
Elrod, on another note, do you have an estimated time on the next Bikini Beach installment? Kind of need my fix and the re-reads only last so long... Going completely in reverse and at Desparate times at the moment...
Next Bikini Beach installment
I'm working on the last bit of polish of a brand-new story. Maybe later tonight, maybe tomorrow night.
Imagination is more important than knowledge
A. Einstein
Fantastic!
Fantastic!