Mad to the Bone

Ryan and I recently became 100% addicted to Mad Men. Here's how it happened.

Over Christmas break, we started Friday Night Lights (which is awesome by the way. At least before Season 3 while the show was still actually ABOUT football and not abortion). We powered through it in less than 3 weeks. It was great. Everyone had gone home for the holidays, and we sat on the couch with no curfew and nowhere to be for hours and hours. We loved it.

After that, we watched all of Parks & Rec (Ryan hadn't seen many of them), and obviously plenty of The Office. We even tried a little Veronica Mars and a few episodes of Dexter. But nothing was OUR show yet.

Arrested Development came closest. Classic. I can't say enough good things about Arrested Development. If you've never seen it, I don't know why you're reading my blog and not watching it right now. Between Hulu and Netflix online streaming you have no excuse.

But then we were married, with tons of boring married time to fill. Kids? Psh. No. We're looking for a TV show. I noticed that Mad Men recently became available, so we decided to give it a try.

AND IT BLEW OUR MINDS.

The style. The class. The chivalry and chauvinism. The drama. The love. The betrayal. The hope. The comedy. The irony. The heartbreak. The sarcasm. All of it unreal. It's really like no other show I've ever seen. I gush about their clothes and makeup every single episode. I still melt when I see Don Draper opening doors and lighting cigarettes and taking coats from women. (When did we lose such courtesy in society?) Sterlings' smooth charm and biting wit is fantastic. Even the annoying characters (Pete Campbell) leave you with a false sense of friendship, like  you know them in real life and their douchebaggery is occasionally excusable.

True. All they do is drink, smoke and cheat on their wives. But it's in a suprisingly conservative manner. Oh? There are consequences for drinking too much and adultery? This show demonstrates a part of that. Definitely glamorized. But awful things happen to these men for their awful decisions on occasion, much like real life. (Not smoking, though. Science really hadn't caught up with it yet. I feel like I got secondhand smoke just from watching it.) It shows semi-real life in a watchable and interesting way, sparing no characters or emotions.

But my favorite part? Her.

Joan. Joanie. The color and life of the show. She is the girl to go to. At one point she left the office (covered in blood, not her own, no less), and I was considering not watching anymore. Thankfully, she returned, all her charm and wit with her. I love her confidence. Her active mind. Her comfortable demeanor and earned respect with the big wig men. And I LOVE her curves. A girl after my own heart (and body). Who would pick a straight boyish physique over her red hot (pun intended) curves? I love her. She's fantastic. Watch it, if only for Joan.

A few weeks ago Courtney gave me the best compliment of my life. She said "You're totally a Joan." Tears to my eyes, you guys. Tears to my eyes. 

Out of the Mouth of Babes

Out of the Mouth of Babes

I know I can't compete with this gem for student-answer entertainment. But I had a good one today.

When explaining the importance of a certain news article, my student wrote:

"People get pissed off at rapists."

In his defense, they do. They totally do.

Goodbyes Are Such B*tches, You Guys.

I don't know who decided to fill my dream summer with bittersweet moments, but it wasn't me. And don't start into the whole "You can't have the bitter without the sweet." I know. I get it. But still. I spent a decent amount of my summer saying goodbye to things I loved.

First, The Office. Well, The Office as it should be. I WILL still be following The Office this fall, without Michael Scott. But we all know it will never be the same. Laugh all you want at Little Miss Danica, but The Office means a lot to me. It defined me during formative years. It nails my humor in a singular way. There have been times when I've felt lost, discouraged, depressed, and the only prescription that seemed to work was the friendly Jim/Dwight rivalry, a handful of ignorant Michael Scott comments, a dash of wacky Creed, and general Office camaraderie.

The clock just would not stop ticking as the "Goodbye Michael" episode neared. I didn't even want to watch it. I felt like a part of me would die or be lost. The Office without Michael is like chips with no salsa. Coke with no Diet. Danica with no Beard. OBVIOUSLY I was gonna watch it. But I was scared. Especially to watch it with The Beard. I knew I'd be emotional. And I've never really been a crier. But it was inevitable. The Beard would have to see that side of me sooner or later.

Well, it was sooner. I fell to pieces. Absolutely fell apart. Ryan's white tee sleeve was streaked with mascara. I couldn't believe it was happening. The moment between Jim and Michael melted my heart completely. The years of frustration and anger dissolved in the cathartic goodbye that wasn't. They did a fantastic job. It was hard, but it was time. I said goodbye.

Then it was goodbye to the LAO. No need to dwell on that. It's all been said and done.

When a student is struggling with a concept, the recommendation is to increase the FIT.

Frequency

Intensity

Time

I practiced my crying by increasing all three of these during Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Pt. 2. It didn't stop. My head was throbbing. The Beard watched with me and concealed his embarrassment. That's why I love him. It was really hard to say goodbye to Harry Potter. Again, something I've loved since I was probably 11. Harry Potter is amazing. J.K. Rowling saved books. Twilight is ridiculous (although I read them), Hunger Games are pretty awesome, and there are other respectable options for young adult and universally appealing fiction. But I think I'm right in saying nothing will touch Harry Potter. Ever, probs. I love to reread them. The movies got better and better. The geek humor of following Harry Potter religiously is incredibly endearing. Thank you, J.K. Rowling. Thank you Harry Potter.

Finally, I said goodbye to my last name. Danica Budge had such a nice ring to it. That's been my name. It's everywhere. Email, Twitter, all kinds of social media, all my online shopping accounts (which are numerous, I assure you). Social Security was a bit of a hassle. Changing my information with Nebo School District took a while. I still haven't even dealt with BYU. It's still a little weird when I habitually sign my name "Danica Budge." Have 200 kids call me "Mrs. Holdaway!" or "Mrs. HALDaway!" all day has helped with the tradition.

But you know what? I love being a Holdaway. I didn't shed a tear over that one. I've joined another family that I'm so proud to be a part of. I like to label myself as The Beard's by taking his name. It's an indication of our new little family. I'll always be a Budge. But now I'm a Holdaway. And it feels great.

All the Nice Things are for "Guests"

In case you missed it (meaning you aren't on Twitter), I was a guest blogger for the redeemingly bitchy and relentlessly hilarious Untypically Jia over the weekend while she enjoyed a nice little vacation. Click here and please enjoy!

This is What Marriage Looks Like:

At least for us.

Top Ten

I survived. One week ago I started as a new teacher, with a real room and a full schedule of bright-eyed 9th graders. Everyone kept asking me if I was nervous. I wasn't. Everyone kept asking me if I was ready. I wasn't. So sixes, I guess.



Often in my Teacher Ed classes they would say "you'll learn more your first day of teaching than most of your BYU career." Fact. Imagine what I've learned in one week. Well you don't have to imagine. I've summed it up concisely for you here.



What They Don't Tell You About Teaching



10. How naturally teaching comes. You really don't have a choice but to get up there and teach. I know I am blessed and it isn't as natural for some people. But generally speaking, its an absolute necessity. You simply HAVE to be prepared. You simply HAVE to employ some classroom management. You'd die otherwise. And I haven't yet.

9. Over 80% of my job is being able to successfully multi-task. You guys know how I feel about that.

8. How quickly the day rushes by. I'm there frantically making copies. Then first period starts. Suddenly it's lunch. I blink again and it's flex time. I take a breath and the kids are all gone. It's insane. I love the fast pace.

7. How much time teachers spend each day. Not enormously surprising. Everyone in the universe knows teachers are overworked and underpaid. But its very different to be on the teaching end of that. Especially as an intern. I'm doing the full amount of work (more even, because I'm a first year and doing a lot from scratch) for half the pay. I consider myself lucky. But even I can't believe I'm showing up at 7:15 a.m. and getting home at 5:30 p.m. or later consistently. Good thing I love this, right?

6. Being mean is such a good idea. In the same way that a girl loves a guy who treats her badly, students don't hate you when you're mean. It kind of drives them to win your respect and love even more. Plus discipline problems diminish steadily.

5. Teachers love to steal and be stolen from. I love that I can walk into a classroom, steal someone's idea and they commend me for it. Encourage it, even. It's fantastic.

4. There are no such kids as "bad kids." Ok. They kind of teach you that. But you don't realize it until you have the opportunity to watch and get to know some of your problem kids. Even over the course of one week I've gotten to know one kid that hates trying. And he's delightful! I see it as a fun challenge.

3. Teachers see everything. Oh, you think you're a sneaky texter? You aren't. Oh, you think I can't see you making lovey-dovey eyes at your boyfriend? Well, I can. And gross. HEY TEENAGERS. I GET IT. YOU ARE CHAMPION EYE-ROLLERS. Guess what? Me too. [rolls eyes]

2. How little teaching you actually get to do. So much of my time is spent in preparation, giving instructions, grading stuff, answering random questions and babysitting. In a 45 minute class I generally get around 20 minutes of instruction if I want them to get some independent practice (which you almost always do). That's disheartening and relieving at the same time.

1. How much fun it is. For reals, you guys. All day I smile and laugh. The kids, teachers, staff, everything is just so fun and hilarious. It's so comforting to me that I enjoy it so much. I know I made the right decision and I'm going to love this for the rest of my life. I'll work as hard as I can to not become a grumbling, cynical teacher. Because I believe that isn't inevitable. The noble profession of teaching can be just as fun and exciting 10 years from now as it has been this week.

I'm just glad I have the chance.