24?

If you could have one day to be anybody, past or present, real or fictional, who would it be? Twenty-four hours to be GREAT at being somebody else and could have everything they have but also be yourself and in turn, within the confines of those 24 hours, possibly effect a change that's so dramatic, you set the world spinning in a new direction?
Or just have one hell of a good day.
What if you could go back in time and alter the course of history?
Or jump into the pages of a comic book and bring it to life for your own enjoyment, if only for 24 hours?

WHAT WOULD YOU DECIDE?

Here's my picks (separated by category):

Real life (present): BILL GATES
Worldwide humanitarian and philanthropist at large
I know he's brilliant and charitable and already does his absolute best to make a world of difference. I don't want to be him to do anything better (not that I would know HOW), I just want to be him for a day to know what it feels like to have so much wealth that it generates a power that can literally change everything you touch for the better. Having the means to effect change on that grand of a scale must be an incredibly overwhelming and rewarding feeling.
Bill Gates gets five stars in my book.


Real life (past): JOSCELIN VERREUIL
(hero of Jacqueline Carey's highly praised Kushiel's Legacy series...shut up, Tanya and Kristi)
Okay so technically, Joscelin would fall into the "fictional/superhero/make-believe category, but because I am CERTAIN that somebody exactly like him existed at some point in time, he is my pick for "real life" past hero and person that I would most definitely want to be. So there!
My reasons for wanting to be him are simple - he is a vambrace wearing, twin dagger and sword wielding highly trained warrior and priest who believes equally in God and in love...strong, defiant, faithful, determined, fearless. The perfect companion
Simply put, I want to be that kind of devoted, self-less, loyal friend and partner. I think at some point in our lives, we should all be aware of what love really means and how when it puts you in a position to risk everything for it, you take it.
I imagine it's an incredibly heartbreaking and humbling experience.
Plus, you know, I'm pretty sure he could take any of the highlanders with just those twin daggers alone!
Joscelin gets my vote for being the most kick ass man in anybody's book.
(I would have said Joan of Arc but that whole burning at the stake thing does not sit well with me at all...yikes...)


Real life whimsical/playful: a CIRQUE DU SOLEIL performer
Yep, complete with those ceiling sashes and bendy staffs (I don't know the real names for them, obviously...), and yours truly doing a triple back layout with a two and a half twist executed flawlessly from a russian swing by my perfectly toned body while spectators ooohh and ahhhh their way through 2 hours of jaw dropping, breathtaking excitement from their $150 seats.
At the Wynn Hotel in Vegas.
This one pretty much speaks for itself and really - the whole idea of being thrown around in a good way is exciting, no??
That and for once in my life, I'd like to look good in spandex...it's the circus, baby!!


Fictional character/superhero: NIGHTCRAWLER (x-men)
That's right - some people want to be Superman or Wonder Woman - I want to be a blue-skinned, pointy-tail having, teleporting, bouncing off walls and backflipping, kicking bad guy ass and taking names German "devil" with a penchant for sarcasm and swords.
Although I have to say, the best part would be leaving a puff of purple mist and faint smell of brimstone in my wake. Muahahahah....
Hey, nobody said you had to be perfect to be loved


Random: MATT LAUER
Because he gets to interview some pretty cool people. And honestly - I would love to sit down and talk to Tom Cruise and say, "What the fuck, dude?!? "
What happened to Mr. Mission Impossible when he became a full fledged Scientologist and started talking smack to Brooke Shields? And since when did he become a psychiatrist?
Who made him god? Has he BEEN in the mother ship? And why does his wife look scared half the time?
I just wanna know...
That and I'd like to interview Bill Clinton because come on, who can actually say they didn't LIKE the man and the President despite all the other *ahem* stuff that happened.
He's southern. And funny. And plays the sax! And any highly profiled public figure who can kick back with a cigar and in not so many words tell the entire free world to back the fuck off gets my vote.
But most importantly, I'd like to sit Ms. Katie Holmes down and tell her, "look honey, before your hybrid brothers and sisters come to take you home, get a spine, reconcile with your faith and your family, and for the love of all that is shinny and saucer shaped, stop making movies - you suck!"
Seriously, did you SEE her in Batman Begins opposite Christian Bale?
It was another one of those times I wanted to put my eye out with my yellow duckie pen...