Pet Please #147: Catching Something with Superhuman Reflexes

One of my favorite cinematic moments is in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. Michelle Yeoh suspects that Zhang Ziyi is hiding some special abilities, so she tests her reflexes by dropping a cup of tea. Ziyi instinctively catches it and returns it to the table. I’ve linked to the clip at the bottom of this post.

Even better than this is when it happens in real life. Someone drops a pen or knocks a coin off a table, and without thinking, you smoothly snatch it out of the air. You probably couldn’t repeat it if you tried.

It’s just a little thing, but I love how it feels. There’s something primal and magical about it. It’s not the type of thing I typically lock away in my memory, but I’ll try to remember the next time it happens and note it here–I invite you to do the same!

5 thoughts on “Pet Please #147: Catching Something with Superhuman Reflexes”

  1. The one time I did that, it was… Sadly in a science class, the clay pot we were heating… Magnesium, I think, in, fell off the bunsen burner, bounced off the lab bench, and I instinctually caught it.

    …And then proceeded to spend the rest of the class running my hand under cold water…

    Reply
  2. Jamey,

    Wow…I haven’t thought of this memory in 30+ years. I was in high school at the time, and reacting to someone’s comment my hand struck a can of soda, knocking it off the table. What seemed like the seconds of time passing in a cartoon when someone walks off of a cliff, I grabbed the can and rested it on the table. For whatever reason (and bear in mind that I’m a three decade RPGer), I immediately exclaimed, :”Now, that’s a 17 Dex!”

    Cheers,
    Joe

    Reply

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