Happy Birthday, Jared

Today is Jared's 16th birthday. I first wrote about him last year in this birthday post. Last night I conducted a phone interview with Jared and here's how it went.

You're going to be sixteen tomorrow. Are you excited about that? Yes! Very!

Why? Ummmm, because in my mind I'll be an adult then. And I'm hoping to get a job somewhere close to school or home.

Do you have any special plans for your birthday or any special gift you're hoping for? I'm probably going to use my birthday money to buy a laptop.

Do you like high school? Yes, it's amazing.

You're a sophomore this year. Are you looking forward to next year when you'll have more of an upper class man status? Yeah, no more of this class discrimination.

What's your favorite subject and why? Right now I think my favorite subject is Accounting. I'm taking business classes towards being a stockbroker someday and that's what I'll major in when I go to college.

Are you with anybody right now or are you single? Single

I know you're playing football this year because I recently heard that you caught your first interception. What did that feel like? Actually, I was surprised myself. I thought did I really do this? It was pretty sweet. All of my teammates elevated me to superstar status for like a day.

Overall do you like football? Yeah, I've enjoyed watching it since I was like five and now that I"m actually playing, it's even more fun.

Are you interested in any other sports? I'm thinking about baseball but I'm not sure if I should because I've forgotten a lot about it. It's been a long time since I've actually played on a team.

What do you like to do in your leisure time? I try to find time to hang out with friends and I like to play video games.

I know you had a job this past summer. Can you tell a little bit about it? Yeah, it was de-tasseling and it was actually better than I thought it was going to be. Everyone pictures these horrible things they'd have to do just to make a buck but the people there were really great to hang out with and it was actually pretty fun!

What did you not like about the job? Well all the hard work. I remember it being really hot during that time period. Wasn't the heat pretty brutal? Ummm, it didn't bother me too much.

Where do you see yourself in ten years? Probably I'll have a successful job and, of course, a house and probably married.

Would you stay in the same area or move to a different part of the country? If I can't find some good business schools around here, I'd probably move to Arizona because people tell me that the University of Phoenix has the best business classes anywhere. And I'd probably end up settling there.

What else can you tell us about yourself? Basically, if you need someone to cheer you up, I'm your guy. And, I'm a nice guy who's more of a thinker than a doer. Like I'm more into stuff in the computer than actually working in a shop.

I can tell you this about Jared, too. He loves little kids and animals. He's kindhearted, smart, a hard worker, and a loving grandson, brother, son and cousin and we're very proud of him. Oh, and he requested a mint chocolate chip cake for his birthday.

So, Jared, here's hoping you have the best day ever and they keep on getting better!