Jared's Writing

After dinner, I went into my room and closed my door and turned on Kryptonite by 3 Doors Down. The Better Life album was one of my favorites, it put me in the zone when I wanted to play a video game, like Burnout 3; or when I wanted to block out any distractions to focus on the fantasy novel I was reading that week. This time, it was to play this new game my friend told me about, Minecraft. I had heard of it before, but hadn’t bothered looking into it, because none of my close friends had heard of it. Once Wes told me to play it “ASAP as possible,” I started downloading it as soon as I got home from school. I looked at the clock: 7:19. I had an hour and a half before my mom would come down and tell me to go to bed. She probably wouldn’t have to tell me twice, I was pretty beat from soccer practice; playing midfielder is intense. I sat in my black computer chair, its leather squeaking as I turned it toward the desk to launch the game and create an account. My setup wasn’t anything s...

He blinked at the bright light. Something was tugging at his arm...then he drifted off to sleep again. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ He was back in his apartment in Pisco, Perú. 50 meters from the ocean, he could smell the salt, and hear the waves crashing on the rocks. The smell was so strong he could almost taste the fish, the smell coming from the fish plant the village thrived on. It was Sunday, and Elder Grossman was kicking himself for forgetting to buy water the previous day - he was out and it was going to be another hot summer day in January. He had to have a drink, so he went to the bathroom attached to their upstairs studio apartment; which was actually the roof of a house, converted into a room, that happened to have a bathroom. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Elder Grossman opened his eyes again, the light making him blink. His Mission President, Presidente Fierro (IRON, and...

He was so mean...he was always telling me what I wasn't good at; what I needed to be better in. He was always so direct. It wasn't fair. He gave me so much flak about my habits and the way that I walked, talked, and took showers (yeah...I took too long apparently). "This is the way I am," I would always say. "That is not how a missionary should act," he would reply. Every. Time. It wasn't fair. I didn't wake up on time in order to help those I went there to help. I didn't practice saying the Spanish phrases enough to be able to teach those I came into contact with. I didn't communicate my ideas enough... It wasn't fair! I didn't thank him for being a great teacher. I didn't ask him for more advice. I didn't watch him or observe him enough. I didn't learn from him enough. I didn't have enough time with him. IT ISN'T FAIR!

Growing up in an LDS family, serving a mission was something I always knew I wanted to do...it was what you were "supposed" to do. So after I submitted some of the paperwork, I went to the Dentist for an exam. This was to make sure I didn't have any problems before I started serving. The Dentist was a local church leader, Bill Perez. Bill is a pretty stand-up guy. Very direct, caring, and hilarious. Relatively short, compared to the average height of american males, and Alaskan Native. i went into my appointment knowing he would probably recommend that my wisdom teeth be pulled. I wasn't worried, I actually find the dentist to be relaxing. So much so that I frequently fall asleep during cleanings and other dental work. So after looking at the x-rays, he told my mother that the wisdom teeth would take up too much room, and would cause problems in the future. Then he said, "Don't worry, you can keep your wisdom if you carry them around...want a Ziploc?...

Puke, vomit, upchuck, bile, however you want to say it, that is what it tastes like. A cold potato slice with a lukewarm, yellow sauce, with chunks in it, dumped on top. Sometimes served with a slice of boiled egg or two. Scandalous, atrocious, shameful, absolutely rude, however you want to say it, that is what it is to refuse someone who offers you food in Peru. I once refused dinner at an event, after I had already eaten a huge dinner before arriving, the lady was so offended that I later forced myself into eating a full cup of rice, a heaping scoop of beans, and a large portion of chicken, delicious-but painful. Dilemma, pickle, bind, up a creek without a paddle, however you want to say it, that is what the situation was on a daily basis as a missionary in Perú. You were either presented with food you weren't accustomed to, or offered food after being stuffed by someone else. Appreciative, polite, cordial, respectful, however you want to say it, that is how I ended up t...

An explosion of vocabulary is an accurate and appropriate image descriptor of how language develops in toddlers. So much of the language which is produced by young toddlers is misused or generalized, but a large amount of language and learning is happening in a short amount of time, these mistakes are encouraged. Children go from having about 50 words in their repertoire, to having over 200 words that they can use with those who can understand them. These toddlers switch from giving their parents one word commands like, "milk!' or "no!" to saying things like, "I'wa' milk please!" or "No, I do' wa' that!" In this process, my daughter made some amusing developments. I don't mean the, "I want a tweet!" Although adorable, those types of mispronunciations are a product of how sounds are heard and perceived by the child. When Violet was young, maybe around one and a half, she was learning to say more and more words. S...

So many parents told us all about the sleep we wouldn't get as new parents. They told us of the chronic fatigue that we would experience because of the lack of sleep. I started feeling guilty, because Violet slept five to six hours just a few days after coming home from the hospital. We had heard that we were supposed to wake her up every couple hours to feed her. My brother told us to stop that right away, and that she would wake up if she was hungry. She started to sleep so much, that when people would ask, we would pretend to be sleepy and say things like, "Oh you know how it goes with newborns, I'm telling ya!" Violet was an angel baby. Change At about three months old, when Violet was still rolling around on the ground, or wanting to be held, she started twitching. She would bring her arms and legs out in front of her, and her eyes would open really wide. We weren't sure what was happening. We thought she was in pain, we brought her into the ER in tears, ...

To say that Morgan was big when she was pregnant with our first child would be an understatement. She was so big that the doula that we had to see while our doctor was out of town, a couple weeks before the due date, said that our daughter was going to be too big if we waited until the due date. She told us we should schedule a C-section. Her voice weak after hearing the news, "Are you sure?" my wife asked. The doula insisted she knew what she was talking about...we checked with our doctor at the next appointment the following week. He calmed our nerves reminding us of the ultrasounds that he has seen. The stress still lingered. In some pregnancies, when a child is born their umbilical cord gets wrapped around their neck. This complication was one of my biggest fears the whole pregnancy...my fear became a reality. Once the baby came out, the cord was wrapped around her neck. My mind instantly went back to when I had asked the doctor, only five weeks prior, what they w...

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Blinking at the bright light, I got up to go get some toast and eggs from KITCHEN. My apartment is located in the Tri-Cities metropolis, in what used to be called "downtown Kennewick." It's in one of the first skyhighs to be built in the region. The surrounding residents initially protested its construction. The marker was barely dry when Google gave each a check to pay their property taxes for the rest of their lives - and then added a zero. This was all back before everybody found out that Google had been using predictive software to monitor migration within the country. So journalists and talk show hosts everywhere questioned their decision to build the skyhigh in central Washington. The city council was ecstatic about the new office-residential-casino-skyscraper, or at least their wallets were. Even the elderly loved this place; they felt it revitalized the Main Street, so it provided a place for people to gather...and spend their retirement money. It was very con...