If a genie was able to grant you three wishes...

[Meg the Healer]

Since we are a group of rather creative people, I wanted to pose a question to the group.

If a genie suddenly appeared before you and granted you three wishes. What would your wishes be? (The only stipulation is - there are no infinite wishes - you only get three!)

For now I can only think of two.....and they haven't changed since I was 8. Just can't seem to think of a third.

Mine are
1) Regardless of form of currency, I will always have exact change for anything that I purchase.
2) The ability to move side to side in time - i.e. teleportation (I don't think I could handle the stress of going backwards and forwards in time mostly out of fear of changing history.....Sliders really solidified that for me with the parallel dimensions).
3) Still waiting for figure that one out......

 

[Telcontar]

I also have thought about this question a lot. And I, also, can only decide on two.

1) I wish I could play the guitar incredibly well. Depending on how loose the Genie is willing to be on interpretation, I would love to widen that to 'any stringed instrument' or 'any instrument at all!' But if I must pick one, it's the guitar.
2) I wish I was really, really good at math. Like, savant level.

For my third wish... I dunno. It's so hard when you get to that last wish. I'm of the opinion that the first two are easier to decide largely because they are the last ones. You can easily think of something you want very, very much, but it's much harder to think of something you want more than anything else.

I think, though, that a good third wish is not needing any sleep. that would be like increasing your effective lifespan by a third. However, sleep is also really awesome, so... I'm not entirely certain I want to give it up!

 

[Johnny Cosmo]

Free the genie. First wish. Because I'm a good guy.









Just kidding, I'd probably be very shallow with my choices. Something like;

1. £100,000,000 ought to cover me
2. To be a virtuoso in the arts (music, writing, acting, drawing, whatever)
3. Some sort of super-power, either shape-shifting, regeneration, or telekinesis

 

[Ravana]

Hmm. More wishes…?

I presume that one's ruled out. Let's see… one problem is that I am too well-versed in RPGs, mythology and demonic lore–not to mention having worked at a law firm–to trust that any "wish" I might make wouldn't be perverted… even if it were more difficult to pervert than to grant. (A fact that only finds reinforcement the more I learn about less esoteric behavior, such as that of elected officials.) So, probably, the first thing I ought to wish for would be an absolutely honest, uncorruptible genie lawyer to hammer out ironclad texts for the remaining two wishes, to make sure they didn't go astray.

But that's no fun. So let's just take it as read that the following include such various provisos as "functional, operable by myself in my present condition (intellectual, at least: a caveat on physical will appear shortly), will not deprive others of what I am receiving, won't turn me into a grasshopper," etc.…

(1) I want a TARDIS. Which is shorthand for saying: I want to be able to go anywhere, anywhen, into any environment, to be able to witness whatever it is I feel like witnessing. I don't even care all that much if I can't leave the thing–alternately, I'd be willing to travel as a disembodied consciousness–as long as I could still receive all the relevant sensory data I desired. (It might actually be better to be unable to interact with the environment: while I'd love to grab a few texts from the Library of Alexandria before they were lost forever, it would be far easier to resist the temptation to interfere in other cases if it weren't possible to do so anyway.)

(2) I want to be able to comprehend–at least: ideally, to reciprocate–any form of communication, verbal, written or otherwise, from anywhere etc. (I'll count this as a separate wish even though the TARDIS seems to provide this ability to the Doctor. It would have been a very short series if it hadn't, of course.…) Without this, the vast majority of the "witnessing" ability in (1) would be wasted. Of course, given the amount of things I'd want to witness, I'd also need…

(3) I want to be free of all concerns relating to the ongoing existence of a functioning physical body–especially those involved in aging: no point in being able to see everything if you don't have time to do so. "Disembodied consciousness" would cover this quite nicely, of course: but I also wouldn't want to be an immortal traveler of both time and space if I had to worry about where my next meal was coming from. Besides, who wants to interrupt watching some fascinating process for bathroom breaks?

On the other hand, since (1) and (2) could also be covered–to the extent of my intended uses for them–by a single wish for "temporally-unlimited omniscience," I suppose I could squeeze in another one on health (3 might seem to take care of it, but trust me: it doesn't), or rephrase (3) in such a way that it eliminated my current physical and psychological issues, leaving me with the opportunity to ask for unlimited financial resources, too.…

That way, I could be healthy, wealthy and wise.

 

[Telcontar]

A) Dangit Johnny, you had to bring that up. Sadly, I really am the kind of person who would be tormented forever if I didn't free the damn Genie. Hopefully he'll just say 'naw, it's great being a genie!' and I'll get to keep my 3rd wish after all...

B) I stick to things that wouldn't break the laws of physics beyond the obvious exception of the freaking genie granting the wishes. Otherwise, I'd just wish to be able to do anything, and leave it at that.

 

[Angharad]

1. Apparition. I'd love to be able to go anywhere instantly, without having to spend hours on planes or in cars. It would also come in handy to remove yourself from unpleasant situations.
2. Telekinesis. I wish I could move things without touching them.
3. Healing. I wish I could heal any ailment or disease by touching.

 

[Ravana]

You don't want #3, Angharad. Think about it.

Yeah, the way I usually structure it, freeing the genie is my third wish—especially if I can use it to ensure that the other two don't get screwed up. Alternately, I'd spend one wish, have the second be for the genie to provide me with another trapped genie, then free the first with the third wish… repeat as necessary.

 

[Johnny Cosmo]

I fear I wouldn't really free the genie, even if I wanted to!

 

[Argentum]

1. I don't know how to phrase this. When you say "make me rich!" you end up only thinking about money "My money's running out" or "how can I make more?!" and you spend like crazy, pay for things, and you generally get stuck having to think about money all the time. I don't want that. I want, somehow, for money not to be an issue for me. I want to travel wherever I want, live wherever I want, buy whatever necessities I need, as though it were all free, so that I could have all this, but never have to associate it with money. Money for fun things I'd like to just keep the way it is, so I have to save up for the things I don't need.

2. That I could fly Peter Pan style ... without needing Tinkerbelle or to think happy thoughts.

3. I would then ask if the genie wanted to be free. If the genie said yes, then I would wish him free. If not, then I would wish to be an elfin version of myself. Not only get to be slender, get pointy ears, and be beautiful, but to generally live forever and never get sick.

 

[Shadoe]

Apparently, my needs are simple - and I can only only think of two wishes:

1. When my contract is up at the end of the year, another one should be waiting to being on January 1 - every single year.
2. People should read and enjoy my Naphyra stories.

Oh wait! I thought of one:

3. I want to be healthy. This being sick all the time is for the birds.

 

[Chilari]

1. The ability to travel to and from the parallel universes in which my novels are real, at will. (Assuming that parallel universes exist with infinite possibilities)

2. The ability to fly. Yes I know Argentum beat me to it, but I often have conversations with friends about which super power we'd have, and it's always flying for me. Like Superman. Don't care about the strength and heat visions and stuff, i just want to be able to fly.

3. The ability to travel in time, backwards (not bothered about forwards), without messing with the timeline. I study ancient Greece and Rome. Just once I'd like to be able to see for myself if the conclusions I spend so many hours and words reaching are actually true or if I'm way off the mark. Also, it'd be way cool to meet someone like Alexander the Great or Augustus or Vespasian or Aristotle...

 

[Kaellpae]

I think I know what I would wish for.

1) Always having the exact amount and type of currency needed to buy anything.

2) Ability to go invisible whenever I wanted for however long I wanted.(you can do so much more invisible than you can flying, IMO.)

3) Wish the genie free. I would hope he'd be like Aladdin's genie and stick around so we can go on many adventures together.

If the genie didn't want to be freed then I would want the ability to travel in time without being able to affect the timeline, returning to the exact time I left when I was done.

 

[Meg the Healer]

Hmm. More wishes…?

I presume that one's ruled out. Let's see… one problem is that I am too well-versed in RPGs, mythology and demonic lore—not to mention having worked at a law firm—to trust that any "wish" I might make wouldn't be perverted… even if it were more difficult to pervert than to grant. (A fact that only finds reinforcement the more I learn about less esoteric behavior, such as that of elected officials.) So, probably, the first thing I ought to wish for would be an absolutely honest, uncorruptible genie lawyer to hammer out ironclad texts for the remaining two wishes, to make sure they didn't go astray.

But that's no fun. So let's just take it as read that the following include such various provisos as "functional, operable by myself in my present condition (intellectual, at least: a caveat on physical will appear shortly), will not deprive others of what I am receiving, won't turn me into a grasshopper," etc.…

(1) I want a TARDIS. Which is shorthand for saying: I want to be able to go anywhere, anywhen, into any environment, to be able to witness whatever it is I feel like witnessing. I don't even care all that much if I can't leave the thing—alternately, I'd be willing to travel as a disembodied consciousness—as long as I could still receive all the relevant sensory data I desired. (It might actually be better to be unable to interact with the environment: while I'd love to grab a few texts from the Library of Alexandria before they were lost forever, it would be far easier to resist the temptation to interfere in other cases if it weren't possible to do so anyway.)

Especially since wishing for a TARDIS and not the TARDIS would mean that the Genie would just give you a keychain bobble of some sort because there was no actually specifications that you wanted The TARDIS. (Since it was short-hand ).

But I would like the idea of TARDIS - but again, messing with timelines terrifies me - and I'm pretty certain that where I go in the past (of Earth's history) I would likely be stoned to death or burned at the stake.

 

[Angharad]

You don't want #3, Angharad. Think about it.

There are just so many of my friends and family who are very ill right now, with lung cancer, pancreatic cancer, leukemia, scleroderma, the list goes on. I wish I could do something for them.

 

[Ravana]

I don't blame you. But if you could cure any ailment by touch… would your conscience ever let you see the world outside out of a hospital for the rest of your life? And even if your conscience would, would the government? Or anybody else? (Well, okay, pharmaceutical interests might pay you good money to stay away.…) It's one of those wishes that would seriously backfire on you. That's why I'd rather be able to observe rather than travel: eventually, I'd feel compelled to intervene.

-

Especially since wishing for a TARDIS and not the TARDIS would mean that the Genie would just give you a keychain bobble

Yeah, well… like I said, I wouldn't even start wishing until I could nail down exact specifications. Though that would really be pushing "perverting the intent," since it wouldn't even be "a" TARDIS, it would be a keychain bobble that happened to represent one possible appearance of one TARDIS… as well as being a representation of a British police box from a certain era. As well as being, first and foremost, a keychain bobble. It couldn't be "the" TARDIS–that is, the Doctor's–anyway, since one of those specifications was that fulfilling the wish didn't deprive someone else in the process. I'm quite sure any moderately competent genie could snag a spare from Gallifrey, where no one else was using them to begin with, and (in its present state of isolation from the rest of reality) it wouldn't matter even if they did try to.…

I'm pretty certain that where I go in the past (of Earth's history) I would likely be stoned to death or burned at the stake.

Yet another good reason to be limited to observing.

 

[Xanados]

3. Healing. I wish I could heal any ailment or disease by touching.

Isn't that what Priests try to do?

 

[Kelise]

1. I can only think of wanting THE TARDIS also. For the sake of the thread I'll try think of two others...

2. For Tobuscus (youtube guy) to get his stuff back from the in-and-out burglar so he could continue posting his Fallout videos. My partner is literally - I mean, figuratively - pining for them and it's been months.

3. Increase my ability to learn another language. I've been trying for years to learn Japanese and I've been there three times, yet very little sinks in, no matter how much time I spend, no matter whether I use flash cards, audio kits, workbooks, classes... I'm just one of those people who simply can't learn another language.

 

[Angharad]

Being able to understand and speak any language would be really useful. I've been in situations where I couldn't communicate at all, and gestures only go so far.

 

[Ravana]

1. I can only think of wanting THE TARDIS also.

Remember, TARDISes are "standard" Gallifreyan tech. Since they can reconfigure themselves in just about any fashion (assuming they're in proper working order, which the Doctor's almost never has been… and I'm sure throwing the manual into a supernova didn't do him any favors), any TARDIS could be made to resemble his as closely (or not) as you like. The only advantage I could see to having his TARDIS is that he would come with it–overall a good thing, I'm sure, though I can see some drawbacks there as well.…

3. Increase my ability to learn another language. I've been trying for years to learn Japanese and I've been there three times, yet very little sinks in, no matter how much time I spend, no matter whether I use flash cards, audio kits, workbooks, classes... I'm just one of those people who simply can't learn another language.

Anybody can learn another language–but it becomes more difficult once you're past adolescence, and few people can achieve native fluency if they haven't started learning it by around age five. Conversely, once you've learned a second language, learning others becomes easier… which is why while most people never manage to pick up even basic conversational skills in a second language, people who go on to pick up third languages often end up knowing four, or six–or dozens.

I can't claim to be fluent even in the second language I know best (Spanish)–I often tell people I'm not fluent in any language at all, and wait for the double-take when they realize I'm including English –but I can pick up the grammatical basics of just about any language in a very short time… I'm talking days here, even hours if I'm studying it intensely. Which doesn't mean I can speak it: grammar's great, but you need vocabulary, too. But I can easily hit the point where I can reliably translate written text with a dictionary and a grammar book… at least up to the level of quality of my resources: a tourist dictionary won't help much with centuries-old idioms or poetic metaphor.

At any rate: basically, keep working on it. If you really want to learn it, work on it every day, no matter how little–you have to keep it fresh, even if it's only reading a couple lines of text or listening to news reports online and seeing how many words you can pick out. Actually forcing yourself–and your interlocutors, if you're speaking with someone who does know the language–to use that language, and not resort to English when you hit a point where you're having trouble, is even more important, if it's speaking competence you're after. Try writing in it daily: take one sentence from something you've written, and translate it. If you're happy with what you come up with, keep going and do another.

If you really, really want to learn it… parachute naked into a hinterland. I promise you that in two weeks you'll be easily able to handle all basic conversation.

But, yes, increasing my ability to learn languages would be high on my list–if I hadn't already wished to simply understand all of them anyway. I just cut to the chase on that one.

 

[Kelise]

Remember, TARDISes are "standard" Gallifreyan tech. Since they can reconfigure themselves in just about any fashion (assuming they're in proper working order, which the Doctor's almost never has been… and I'm sure throwing the manual into a supernova didn't do him any favors), any TARDIS could be made to resemble his as closely (or not) as you like. The only advantage I could see to having his TARDIS is that he would come with it—overall a good thing, I'm sure, though I can see some drawbacks there as well.…

Oh, absolutely. Of course the type 40 was almost obsolete when the Doctor took it (or the TARDIS took him if you've seen the Neil Gaiman episode XD) and so newer versions would be more stable and may even offer other things we don't get to see in the show. My partner and I are having heaps of fun at the moment writing a silly little thing where two characters have a newer 'capsule' as they call it, and it can do virtually anything they like. Though the kitchen keeps moving.

Currently it's showing up as a glowing tree. A 'regular' silver tree that has softly glowing blue bulbs, or seedpods.

Anybody can learn another language—but it becomes more difficult once you're past adolescence, and few people can achieve native fluency if they haven't started learning it by around age five.

At any rate: basically, keep working on it. If you really want to learn it, work on it every day, no matter how little—you have to keep it fresh, even if it's only reading a couple lines of text or listening to news reports online and seeing how many words you can pick out. Actually forcing yourself—and your interlocutors, if you're speaking with someone who does know the language—to use that language, and not resort to English when you hit a point where you're having trouble, is even more important, if it's speaking competence you're after. Try writing in it daily: take one sentence from something you've written, and translate it. If you're happy with what you come up with, keep going and do another.

If you really, really want to learn it… parachute naked into a hinterland. I promise you that in two weeks you'll be easily able to handle all basic conversation.

I was 'taught' Indonesian and Spanish in primary school and just couldn't retain any of it. Though I don't think any of us did, maybe the lessons were awful. And like I said, I've been to tokyo three times (for probably six weeks in total) and I still struggle with it. I really think I'd have to live there for a year and have a job there - maybe teaching English so I'm set with people who can interpret and teach my Japanese in return, before I could make any leeway.

For a good year and a half I listened to audio - every day, missing maybe one or two days here and there, and I still only know the very basics. It's the hiragana, katakana and kanji which trip me up. I can do the basics like order food, handle accommodation, even go to a doctor and say what I'm ill with and understand how to take the medication they're giving me... but for all my years of study and hardcore attempts, I'm not fluent. At all.

I'm just incredibly awful with languages, no matter what I try. And I've tried. Oh I've tried! I think it's because we were never taught the very basics of English. My schooling - though I've only been to one for primary and middle, and one for high school - were awful and had huge gaps and blah.

Though of course it comes to me to teach myself, too, but when the primary years are lacking, it's hard to make up what you've missed.

Excuses, excuses.