Ten Things You Probably Didn't Know About Me:
(1) I flunked Latin 101 as a college freshman. That's right. I got a big fat "F"! It was a funny report card that first semester, thirty years ago: four As and one F. What happened? The explanation is very simple. I didn't study. The other four classes were ones I could cruise through with a combination of cramming and native intelligence, but not Latin (n.b. I retook the class the following year and got a "B"). Which leads us to...
(2) I mostly partied my way through the first two and a half years of college. I didn't really get serious until the second semester of my junior year, at the age of 21. I became preoccupied, both theoretically and existentially, with the problem of the relationship between God's omnipotence and human freedom. It was something of a crisis of faith, but it also gave rise to serious questions about the meaning of human life, of my life, and it was the beginning of my interest in theology.
(3) I play the guitar and the cello. I don't talk about this much here, because I don't do it much these days. I have no good explanation for this lapse; I got away from it when I was sick and I just haven't picked up on it again...yet. When I was a kid I was in a band, and I was (still am) pretty good. I studied cello for five years, and played a lot in high school.
(4) I used to have a lot of hair...on my head! And I wore it long and bushy, with a headband, when I was in high school. When my mother would complain, I would say that Jesus and the apostles had long hair too.
(5) We used to live in a house that was over two hundred years old. Some of my friends know that. Our first house was one of the oldest houses in Warren County (Virginia), a late 18th century two story farmhouse (i.e. very small) that leaked...everywhere. The floor slanted, and there was a root cellar. At various times in its history it had been a family house, a school, and a chicken coop. When we had our third chick, however, we realized we needed something bigger.
(6) I have a hard time writing lists like this. Okay, that one's lame, but it gets one number out of the way.
(7) I wrote a novel when I was 25 years old. It was a lot of fun to watch the story and the characters develop as I went along. Unfortunately, it was a lousy novel. I'm glad they didn't have e-publishing in those days or I might have inflicted it on the world. Instead, the "manuscript" is lost.
(8) I couldn't even grow a mustache until I was in my late thirties. The Lord taketh away and the Lord giveth.
(9) I didn't get my driver's licence until I was 23 years old. I took driver's ed. and had lessons when I was 16, but just never got around to taking the test. I grew up in an urban environment where one could walk or take a bus everywhere. It's not like that here. John Paul will be driving as soon as possible, and he'll probably be a better driver than me.
(10) I don't like nuts in my ice cream!!!! No way. I love nuts. I love ice cream. But don't put them together. Please. Nuts are chewy. Ice cream is smooth. That's the way it's supposed to be.
Whew, that's finally done. Any strangers who are reading this: I advise you to read other entries in this blog because they really are pretty good. There's theology, spirituality, poetic meditations, and (by far the most popular) stories from everyday family life with the kooky Janaro bunch.
Here is the link to my friend's blog, Rambling Follower:
http://ramblingfollower.blogspot.com/2012/02/link-up-10-things-you-probably-didnt.html
