25 Random Things About...
May. 8th, 2009 10:12 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
quaggy
I never did that Facebook “25 (or 27 depending on who you ask) Things About Me” thing. For one thing, I still refuse to have a Facebook account. Secondly, I’m not sure my list would be all that interesting…. Until I realized I could make it fandom related.
I’ve always meant to write down my personal West Wing fanon and a list is a great way to do it. I figured since I write fic, it’s only fair that I publicly acknowledge where I’m coming from. So the following are the beliefs I hold about The West Wing. Some of these I’ve worked into stories. Some I haven’t. I’ll leave it to you to figure out which is which.
1. Josh and Donna eloped.
2. It took being apart from Josh for Donna to realize the depth of her feelings. Josh already knew. He just didn’t know what to do about it.
3. Josh couldn’t be Jed Bartlet’s chief of staff, because they were too alike. That’s why Josh was fine with being passed over for CJ. He thought he was wrong for the job.
4. Donna never suffered from PSTD… and she never recovered her memories from immediately before the explosion. When she tries, all she can remember is vaugue memory of Admiral Fitzwallace laughing.
5. It’s not that *we* see Donna as different. She was. She there when the Bartlet campaign was still a long shot. She and Margaret were the only two assistants who worked in the West Wing that had been on the campaign trail since the very beginning. (Mrs. Landingham is in a category all by herself.) The group was small during the early days, so Donna got close to everyone, not just Josh, in ways that the others never had to opportunity. Even in Season 1 canon, we see the assistants look to Donna to inform Senior Staff who they thought the leak could have been.
6. Margaret stayed on as Josh’s assistant. Working with Josh was a way for her to stay close to Leo. She never forgave herself for staying behind to work for CJ, even though she knows that it was the right decision and that Leo would have kicked her ass if she had turned down the opportunity.
7. It was Leo who brought Donna on staff and was the one that signed her performance evaluations, even though Josh was her immediate supervisor. Cause Leo ALWAYS knew that there was a chance Josh and Donna would happen someday and he didn’t want some idiot to try to use their past professional relationship as a way to score a cheap shot.
8. Leo knew that Josh and Donna were all, but officially happening and he was delighted. For a long time, he was the only one on the Santos campaign who had a clue anything was going on.
9. Josh gets both his love of politics and his compulsive need to fix things from his mom. When Josh mentioned in Election Day that his mom had mobilized her friends to get out the vote, I just took it as further proof.
10. Donna doesn’t get along with her parents. They love each other, but they just can’t seem to be in the same room without arguing about stupid things.
11. CJ and Danny adopted their two daughters. Danny would have been fine with just one child, but CJ thought it was important to have siblings.
12. No matter where their lives took them, Toby and CJ always stayed close.
13. While CJ could be happy with a great many potential partners, Toby really can only be happy with CJ.
14. Andy blames Toby totally for the failure of their marriage, for everything, because it saves her from admitting that she was as much to blame. That in the end, she failed him more profoundly than he could ever fail her. (Yes, I’ve never forgiven her for her “You’re sad, Toby.” I don’t care if she was in labor.)
15. This one is sad and rather angsty for me… but I choose to believe that Leo and Jordan never broke up. She died, quite unexpectedly. Part of the reason that Leo was such a robot for the latter half of season 5 was because he was grief stricken. He literally wasn’t himself.
16. Will privately thinks the moment he lost his way was when Elise left him. They had a big falling out over him working for Russell and they didn’t speak to each other for a long time. She called him after the DNC convention and they slowly rebuilt their friendship. Will sometimes sees the parallels between Josh and Donna’s relationship and his own with Elise, but after Josh and Donna got married, he tried to ignore it. Elise is his step-sister, after all, and he just can't bring himself to believe that they could be anything else to each other.
17. Mandy left shortly after Rossyln. Nobody blamed her… nobody, but Mandy herself. The extremely guilt she felt was probably why she left the world of politics completely. She now works for a publishing house in Manhattan and is much happier that she ever imagined she could be. She still votes in every election (for whoever is the most closely affiliated with Jed Bartlet), but that’s all that’s left of her old life.
18. Abby had a miscarriage in between Elizabeth and Ellie. (Which would account for why there is, or at least should be, an age gap.) It was a little boy.
19. Jed does not have a favorite, but if he did, it would be Ellie.
20. Elizabeth was pregnant when she got married. When Ellie got married Jed and Abbey, to a lesser extent, felt like history was repeating itself, despite the fact that Ellie was much older and clearly knew what she was doing. Her husband won them over. Ellie clearly wasn’t going to be repeating her sister’s mistakes.
21. Zoey entered politics and would ultimately serve as a Senator. She never had her eyes on the White House, though many hoped that she would run.
22. Charlie and Zoey got married shortly after the Santos Administration.
23. Charlie came to work for Josh after he graduated from Law School. He had a long successful career as a lawyer.
24. Josh and Charlie regularly go to Nationals games together. (Charlie had been waiting for DC baseball literally his whole life and now is a rabid Nats fan.) Donna loves to go with them, but she refuses to go to any more Mets vs. Nats games. You can probably imagine why. They’re even worse when Toby joins them.
25. Josh is a MAJOR Beatles fan.
I’ve probably got more, but 25 seems a good place to stop.
I’ve always meant to write down my personal West Wing fanon and a list is a great way to do it. I figured since I write fic, it’s only fair that I publicly acknowledge where I’m coming from. So the following are the beliefs I hold about The West Wing. Some of these I’ve worked into stories. Some I haven’t. I’ll leave it to you to figure out which is which.
1. Josh and Donna eloped.
2. It took being apart from Josh for Donna to realize the depth of her feelings. Josh already knew. He just didn’t know what to do about it.
3. Josh couldn’t be Jed Bartlet’s chief of staff, because they were too alike. That’s why Josh was fine with being passed over for CJ. He thought he was wrong for the job.
4. Donna never suffered from PSTD… and she never recovered her memories from immediately before the explosion. When she tries, all she can remember is vaugue memory of Admiral Fitzwallace laughing.
5. It’s not that *we* see Donna as different. She was. She there when the Bartlet campaign was still a long shot. She and Margaret were the only two assistants who worked in the West Wing that had been on the campaign trail since the very beginning. (Mrs. Landingham is in a category all by herself.) The group was small during the early days, so Donna got close to everyone, not just Josh, in ways that the others never had to opportunity. Even in Season 1 canon, we see the assistants look to Donna to inform Senior Staff who they thought the leak could have been.
6. Margaret stayed on as Josh’s assistant. Working with Josh was a way for her to stay close to Leo. She never forgave herself for staying behind to work for CJ, even though she knows that it was the right decision and that Leo would have kicked her ass if she had turned down the opportunity.
7. It was Leo who brought Donna on staff and was the one that signed her performance evaluations, even though Josh was her immediate supervisor. Cause Leo ALWAYS knew that there was a chance Josh and Donna would happen someday and he didn’t want some idiot to try to use their past professional relationship as a way to score a cheap shot.
8. Leo knew that Josh and Donna were all, but officially happening and he was delighted. For a long time, he was the only one on the Santos campaign who had a clue anything was going on.
9. Josh gets both his love of politics and his compulsive need to fix things from his mom. When Josh mentioned in Election Day that his mom had mobilized her friends to get out the vote, I just took it as further proof.
10. Donna doesn’t get along with her parents. They love each other, but they just can’t seem to be in the same room without arguing about stupid things.
11. CJ and Danny adopted their two daughters. Danny would have been fine with just one child, but CJ thought it was important to have siblings.
12. No matter where their lives took them, Toby and CJ always stayed close.
13. While CJ could be happy with a great many potential partners, Toby really can only be happy with CJ.
14. Andy blames Toby totally for the failure of their marriage, for everything, because it saves her from admitting that she was as much to blame. That in the end, she failed him more profoundly than he could ever fail her. (Yes, I’ve never forgiven her for her “You’re sad, Toby.” I don’t care if she was in labor.)
15. This one is sad and rather angsty for me… but I choose to believe that Leo and Jordan never broke up. She died, quite unexpectedly. Part of the reason that Leo was such a robot for the latter half of season 5 was because he was grief stricken. He literally wasn’t himself.
16. Will privately thinks the moment he lost his way was when Elise left him. They had a big falling out over him working for Russell and they didn’t speak to each other for a long time. She called him after the DNC convention and they slowly rebuilt their friendship. Will sometimes sees the parallels between Josh and Donna’s relationship and his own with Elise, but after Josh and Donna got married, he tried to ignore it. Elise is his step-sister, after all, and he just can't bring himself to believe that they could be anything else to each other.
17. Mandy left shortly after Rossyln. Nobody blamed her… nobody, but Mandy herself. The extremely guilt she felt was probably why she left the world of politics completely. She now works for a publishing house in Manhattan and is much happier that she ever imagined she could be. She still votes in every election (for whoever is the most closely affiliated with Jed Bartlet), but that’s all that’s left of her old life.
18. Abby had a miscarriage in between Elizabeth and Ellie. (Which would account for why there is, or at least should be, an age gap.) It was a little boy.
19. Jed does not have a favorite, but if he did, it would be Ellie.
20. Elizabeth was pregnant when she got married. When Ellie got married Jed and Abbey, to a lesser extent, felt like history was repeating itself, despite the fact that Ellie was much older and clearly knew what she was doing. Her husband won them over. Ellie clearly wasn’t going to be repeating her sister’s mistakes.
21. Zoey entered politics and would ultimately serve as a Senator. She never had her eyes on the White House, though many hoped that she would run.
22. Charlie and Zoey got married shortly after the Santos Administration.
23. Charlie came to work for Josh after he graduated from Law School. He had a long successful career as a lawyer.
24. Josh and Charlie regularly go to Nationals games together. (Charlie had been waiting for DC baseball literally his whole life and now is a rabid Nats fan.) Donna loves to go with them, but she refuses to go to any more Mets vs. Nats games. You can probably imagine why. They’re even worse when Toby joins them.
25. Josh is a MAJOR Beatles fan.
I’ve probably got more, but 25 seems a good place to stop.
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no subject
Date: 2009-05-08 02:55 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-05-08 10:53 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-05-08 05:17 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-05-08 10:56 pm (UTC)You should post the rest of them.
You mean the rest of my fanon? Hmmmm, maybe if I gather enough that I left out this time around. :-)
no subject
Date: 2009-05-08 06:41 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-05-08 10:57 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-05-08 08:02 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-05-09 02:04 am (UTC)Hmmm, that sounds like Speranza's The Age of Aquarius. It's one of my favorites. :-)
And here I'd have thought you'd respond to the whole thing about Will and his stepsister Elise. I had a giggle when I wrote that one. I never made the connection to LWD until now. :-)
no subject
Date: 2009-05-09 05:16 pm (UTC)And here I'd have thought you'd respond to the whole thing about Will and his stepsister Elise.
Well, that did intrigue me! But I can't place either character. I casually watched bits and pieces of the first series - and the only thing that stuck with me was Donna and Josh (I think because when I was watching there was business with a short-haired brunette woman, and I thought 'She seems drafted in to be part of a cliche romantic will-they-won't-they storyline with Josh, but Donna and he have a much more interesting dynamic.') I'm fairly politics-dumb, so I filtered what I did watch through shipping :)
no subject
Date: 2009-05-09 11:45 pm (UTC)That she does. I wish I was familiar with more of her shows for that very reason. When you said that the press had kept articles on file, I knew it had to be her. Most fic writers who went with the press scandal story went down a much more melodramatic path.
Personally, I've always had trouble believing that two unmarried people getting together would cause a Clinton-like scandal, even if one of them was the other's boss. And then at one point during Season 1, Donna, Josh, Leo and a bunch of others were at a breakfast meeting and no one was being serious. Donna said something about regretting not getting the waffles and Leo shot back "I am beginning to regret having hired any of you!" which sort of implied Leo hired Donna. I thought it would be really funny if, contrary to everyone's expectations, there was no scandal because nothing sketchy had happened. Of course, they didn't get together until both had left the White House, so I guess it doesn't really matter.
Well, that did intrigue me! But I can't place either character.
Well, if all you watched was Season 1, you wouldn't have met Will who came mid-way through Season 4. Will was introduced as the manager of a quixotic Congressional campaign, who seemed to be in a relationship with his campaign assistant/writing partner. They acted like they were a couple... or very close to becoming one. And then during the third episode it comes out that she's his step-sister and that's why they were so close. It broke my brain a little, I swear! Especially because they still acted more like a couple than siblings. And then she was gone by Season 5 with no explanation and, under the new writers, Will became a pod person, so I put two and two together. :-)
I think because when I was watching there was business with a short-haired brunette woman, and I thought 'She seems drafted in to be part of a cliche romantic will-they-won't-they storyline with Josh, but Donna and he have a much more interesting dynamic.'
BWAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!! Ohmigod, that's what EVERYONE thought! Including the actors who played Josh and Donna! By Season 2, Mandy was gone and Donna took on a much larger role. But the characters didn't get together until practically the end of the series. (That's seven seasons!)
I'm fairly politics-dumb, so I filtered what I did watch through shipping
Hee. So am I. Actually, I think even those of my friends who WERE politically saavy, still watch through a shipping lens.
no subject
Date: 2009-05-09 11:45 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-05-08 08:14 pm (UTC)24 made me LOL because I'm pretty sure Nats games have showed up in a few of my ficlets. Many of these are also in my fanon, but I really love the ones like 14, 15, 16 because that's unexplained stuff I haven't given as much thought to.
And WORD to number one, duh!
no subject
Date: 2009-05-09 02:15 am (UTC)And WORD to number one, duh!
*high fives* Definitely! I just can't imagine either one of them having the patience to go through all the hoopla of a big political wedding when they could be married in a matter of hours. :-)
no subject
Date: 2009-05-08 11:04 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-05-09 02:16 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-05-10 12:42 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-05-10 01:38 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-07-19 04:38 am (UTC)2. Oooh, interesting. I was just thinking the other day that way too high a percentage of fics have Donna aware of her feelings from day one, and I was trying to think of plot ideas that would have it work differently.
3. YES. This had never occurred to me, but it's totally true.
8. Ohhh, I like this.
10. Yup.
12. Of course.
15. Oh, interesting idea. Have you written a fic about this?
20. Yes!
21-25. Perfect!
no subject
Date: 2009-07-25 02:47 pm (UTC)3. Yeah, I worked that into a fic at least once.
8. Referenced that in a couple fics. And this drabble too.
15. No. I want to, but it's going to take some time and planning to do it right. It'll be a hard fic to write. The closest I've come was that same drabble.
As for the the rest, THANK YOU!! :-D
no subject
Date: 2010-01-22 02:04 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-02-07 04:38 am (UTC)Why Ellie? Lots of reasons to be honest, but it can all be traced back to "Ellie" with Jed's line "God, Lear's a good play." Even if her sisters aren't evil, Ellie is very Cordelia-like. She honestly is the one that loves her father the most, possibly because she is the odd one out in the family, she is able to see him most clearly. And it was Ellie who hugged Jed, instead of isolating him when Zoey was kidnapped.
Ellie is an interesting character for me, because I love her character on paper, but disagree with how the actress portrayed her. Normally that only happens when you're watching an adaptation, not an original story like West Wing.