Full House: Working Girl

Holding down a job and school at the same time isn’t easy at all, as DJ Tanner found out the hard way in the episode “Working Girl” in Season 4 of Full House.

I like the episode Working Girl from Full House, because I learn some good things from it. Plus, I’m glad DJ decided to put her paycheck in the bank, although I smile at the part where she says to her dad Danny, “Dad, can I have a raise in my allowance?” I think every parent in history has heard those words from their kids quite often, too.

DJ desperately wants to buy an expensive pair of shoes ($160 for both shoes), so when she doesn’t get the money from Danny, she asks Danny to let her get a part-time job so she can earn enough money to get the shoes. Danny lets DJ start working for a photographer named Jack at the mall. Her job is to make reluctant kids smile for the camera. Danny allows DJ to have the job under one condition: she must make sure her grades stay smooth. However, this is easier said than done, as DJ’s science grade has been suffering lately. But she believes that the job will not only get her enough money to buy the shoes, but also will prove to Danny that she is not a little kid anymore.

However, DJ ends up in a sticky situation when she brings home her science exam with an “F” grade on it (as she’d been too busy with work and a lot of other classes), and then it gets even stickier when her best friend Kimmy changes it to an “A”. So after a little advice from Jesse (who had done the same thing when he was in junior high - such as changing 40s to 90s, and zeros to hundreds), DJ tells Danny what really happened. Danny tells his eldest daughter that she wanted to be a responsible adult, and what she did was the least responsible thing she could’ve done.

“I just wanted to prove that I could earn my own money,” DJ explains.

“Well, that’s all out the window now, because you’re going to have to quit your job, and no hanging out at the mall until you pull up that grade,” replies Danny.

“OK,” DJ says. “I guess I’ll go back to being a kid again.”

“Deej,” says Danny, “there’s nothing wrong with being a kid. You should enjoy it. You got the rest of your life to be an adult.”

Luckily, despite all the trouble she got into, DJ has gotten her first paycheck, which was more than enough to pay for her tennis shoes. But DJ decides to put it in the bank after all the hard work she did to earn it.

Meanwhile, Jesse and Rebecca are unable to agree on where their wedding should take place. Jesse wants the wedding to be at Graceland (home of Elvis Presley), and Rebecca wants the wedding to be in her home state of Nebraska. Luckily, with some help from Joey, they come to a final agreement and decide on having their wedding at their own home town: San Francisco.

Full House: Back to School Blues

Oh, the tween angst! It’s the first day of junior high for D.J. Tanner (Candace Cameron Bure) and she’s learning the hard way that she’s not in elementary school anymore.

The new school year is starting. Stephanie, who is entering 2nd grade, is the only Tanner left in her school, and she expects a bad day at school. But instead, against her expectations, it turns out to be a good day for her (including being chosen as the Room 7 official fish feeder).

The same can’t be said for D.J., who is entering 7th grade, which is a step closer to becoming a teenager. On her first day at Van Atta Junior High, D.J. is separated from her best friend Kimmy except for sixth period Spanish, humiliated by a mean girl Colleen and her gang, a squad of girls dressed like tarts, discovers that she’s wearing the same outfit as Mrs. Agbabian, the annoying lunch lady, and has to eat lunch in a phone booth.

The next morning, D.J., along with Kimmy, decides to put on makeup. The reason why is because she believes the only way to fit in among the other students is to do what virtually the other 7th graders are doing when they put on makeup - look twice as old as she really is. Danny thinks D.J. is overdoing it, so he lets Rebecca help D.J. with the makeup.

The next day, Kimmy’s schedule changes so that she and D.J. can have the same lunch, especially with D.J.’s new friends from her English class, Karen Sykes and Susan Ericson, who are sitting at Colleen’s gang’s table. Colleen refuses to sit with scrubs (her name for people like D.J.), saying, “I’d rather eat in a phone booth”. So she and her gang split up and go eat at different tables.

Meanwhile, Joey tries to teach Jesse how to play golf in order to impress a golfing client.

Full House: Please Don’t Touch the Dinosaur

Michelle and her class are going on a field trip to a local Museum of Natural History and Danny is one of the chaperones. When the other chaperone, Ms. Gwelch, cancels because of illness, Danny finds himself in over his head with being the only adult in charge of sixteen kids.

Desperate to find a replacement before the trip, he persuades Jesse to come along. However, Danny’s feelings are hurt when Michelle chooses to be in Jesse’s group instead of his.

At the museum, Danny acts like a drill sergeant by constantly making up new rules and keeps his group on a tight leash. Jesse, on the other hand, lets his kids run wild throughout the exhibits. Danny also treats Jesse coldly and constantly lectures him on how to handle things, creating more tension between the two. While in the dinosaur exhibit, Michelle and Denise start playing a game of tag and accidentally knock over most of a $4,000,000 skeleton, effectively ending the field trip when the museum kicks them out.

Back at the house, Danny explodes at Jesse, berating him for letting his group get so out of control. Jesse snaps at Danny to get off his back and to stop treating him like a little kid, stating that the dinosaur is going to be fixed, and that he’ll be doing community service at the museum for “the next ten weekends in a row” to make amends. He also says he was just trying to let the kids actually have some fun, which was the last thing Danny was doing. However, Danny continues to lecture him, asking Jesse when he will stop trying to be “Mr. Cool” and start taking his responsibilities more seriously. Jesse asks Danny when he is going to get off his back. As the fight escalates, Michelle, becoming more and more angry, finally snaps at them to stop fighting. She tells them that she knocked over the dinosaur and that it was her fault, before running to her room in tears.

Realizing that their arguing did no good except hurt Michelle’s feelings, Danny and Jesse follow her to her room. There, they apologize for their behavior. They say that while she did knock over the skeleton, the real reason the field trip was a disaster was because neither one of them did a good job at being in charge (Jesse with being too flexible and Danny being too strict). Danny admits that the real reason he was so hard on Jesse was because he was jealous that Michelle wanted to be in his group instead of being with Danny, and apologizes to Jesse for his behavior. In the end, Jesse promises to be more responsible when it comes to being in charge, but will still hang a little loose, while Danny promises to tone down the sergeant behavior and be more reasonable when it comes to making rules.

Being home alone

Did you know that in the U.S., almost half of all kids aged 6 to 13 are home alone for part of the day? The boys in the Home Alone movies certainly had fun, but the whole experience can be freaky sometimes.

Luckily, I myself have had plenty of experience with being by myself at home, so it’s nothing new to me. After all, practice and experience are two of the best teachers when it comes to learning about life itself, of course. :)

Pauline Phillips (Abigail Van Buren): She Was Dear Abby

Rest in peace, Pauline Phillips (July 4, 1918 — January 16, 2013).

She wrote the Dear Abby advice column, where her advice was sometimes sassy or snappy. Her pseudonym, “Abigail Van Buren”, was very unique, and I remember reading some of her columns while wearing a grin on my face. Sadly, Pauline died on Wednesday, January 16, 2013, at the age of 94. From my perspective, her battle with Alzheimer’s disease was one that she fought bravely until the end, and she lived a great life while using the talents God had given her. 

Thankfully, she is survived by her daughter, Jeanne Phillips, who said, “My mother leaves very big high heels to fill with a legacy of compassion, commitment and positive social change. I will honor her memory every day.” Jeanne took over the column in 2002, after her mother was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease.

I will miss her as well. She famously dispensed intimate guidance to readers around the globe on everything from cheating spouses to intrusive in-laws. She also was an equal champion for the rights of women, minorities and people who were mentally ill or had physical disabilities.