A confession...or a couple

1. When I came to divinity school I was not familiar with the word "theodicy," which deals with the issue of evil in a God-created world. When people would bring it up in class, I thought they were saying "The Odyssey," as in the ancient poem by Homer. Needless to say, I was confused about why we were talking about this in seminary. Even now, knowing what it means, when someone says this word I am still confused for a split second.

2. I can name many of the capitals of central and South America. This is due to a song I learned in high school. I never took Spanish, but the kids who did got to listen to a catchy song that taught them most of the capitals of Spanish-speaking countries. Us French kids were jealous and wanted to listen to it too. Our teacher said no. My friend Chip and I would surreptitiously take the tape player to the back of the class and secretly listen to it during class. Our teacher would look around and ask "Who's singing?" But we never got caught and this information aids me today because I can answer many geography questions on Jeopardy.