I say to you a la Bridget Jones's Diary:

Fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuck.


Some of you lovely f-listers already know my plight (laid off quite some time ago, still unemployed). Well, I've been growing more and more frustrated with this position, this lack of purpose, and how nothing seems to be changing or moving in any sort of way.

Therefore, I decided to go at it from a different angle. I called a local college and requested to meet with a career counselor. I thought maybe I might be able to gain a new perspective, get some fresh ideas, gather up a better plan of attack, because clearly what I'm doing now is not working.

Their first available appointment? December 1st.

I made this appointment over two weeks ago, so... you can see how bad it may be for everyone out there, how many people are unemployed and looking for guidance, if the counselors' schedules are this booked up. That makes me sad.

Anyway, I've got one week to go before my appointment, and they just sent me a background form. In trying to fill it out, I feel like this:

*head desk head desk head desk*

Because some of the questions are really difficult. For some, I haven't a clue how to answer. After all this time spent out of work, after all the frustration and worry and disappointment, it's become challenging to remember that I was actually good at anything. It's tough to tout myself or assign proper value.

For other questions, I can only imagine the blank stares I might get if I answer them the way I'd like to -- either because I want to answer sarcastically, or because I fear there's nothing I can say I want that they'll be able to help me attain, or because I fear they'll automatically say they don't think I have what it takes to do it (I'm too old, too fat, not smart or talented enough).

For example, one question was about what my gross monthly earnings are (or were) in my most recent job. And the next question was: What do you think you are really worth to this job? (Yes, they emphasized it with those italics.)

How the hell am I supposed to answer that question? Um, how about... I'm priceless. (End sarcasm here) I work my ass off. I learn fairly quickly. I stay late. I help others with their projects. I try to do the very best I can, even under extreme circumstances.

But is that really what they want to hear? And what's any of that worth in this economy where companies want to get employees as cheaply as they possibly can?

The most difficult questions were these:

Describe your ideal job.
What makes this ideal job so great?

And this delightful gem at the end...

Do you think it is possible for you to get a job like your ideal job?


Way to make me feel confident, you bastards.

I don't know anymore! I just feel like I'm floundering and I need to do something, anything, to get some forward momentum in my life again. I can't keep living like this. It's slowly but surely chipping away at me. Truthfully (yet with tongue firmly in cheek), I need purpose and I need joy, damn it.

This is a much belated post, and for that I should be flogged.

(I've been watching Merlin, so please forgive the medieval reference. Hee.)

Anyway, to explain: back in August, I responded to readthesubtext's personal LJ when she asked her friends-list members to give her some 'top five' questions. In retribution for all the torturous questions I gave her to answer, she came back and gave me the same treatment when I posted the meme to my LJ. (And I love you for it, Gemma. *GRIN*) I answered everyone else's offerings first because they seemed easier, but then I got sick of reading my own voice on the page so I decided to take a break from answering before diving head-first into Gem's marvelously lengthy list.

Now I'm back. (Everybody run!)

She gave me fourteen top five questions, so I'm going to break up my responses into three posts in order to keep them from getting enormously unwieldy (well, as much as I can, given that I am a wordy, wieldy sort). I will also put my answers behind a cut, so as not to break your f-list pages.

Okay, let's have some fun! On to the Top 5!


( Top Five Favourite Ways To Pass The Time )


( Top Five Songs That Make You Smile... )


( Top Five Scenes That Make You Laugh... )


( Top Five Books... )


( Top Five Pet Peeves )


Annnnd that's it for now!

I'll be back soon with such madness as "Top Five Films That Had A Lasting Impact On You" and "Top Five People You'd Like To Smack Upside The Head." *laughs uproariously*

Thanks again for playing along! (Especially Gemma, my hilarious taskmaster. *wink*) I hope you're finding these entertaining thus far.

:)

My friend accordingtomel is a big fan of this program, and wanted the people on her friends-list to watch it and let her know what we thought of it, whether or not we liked it. I've spent this past week watching the first twelve episodes (out of thirteen total, for the full season), mulling over these characters and their stories so that I might provide Mel with a decent answer.

Here within are some of my observations.

( I've told you you're an ass... I just didn't realize you were a royal one. )

Annnnd I'm back. Top Five Meme. Yadda yadda.

This Top Five is in response to the fantastic krazykitkat. Cheers, beautiful! ;)


( Top Five Pairings )


( Top Five Current TV Shows )


( Top Five Moments of The West Wing )


And finally...

( Top Five Role Models )


And that's it for part 3! readthesubtext, I've saved you for last because you asked the most questions and I'm still working on them. I swear, I oughta ask you some more in retribution because the ones you asked have been really tough to narrow down to only five! I'm workin' on it, I'm workin' on it. *laughing uproariously*

Until next time... have a gorgeous day, everyone! ♥

Top Five Meme. You know the drill. ;)


First of all, true to what I said would happen, I did think of a couple more answers to callieach's Top Five Ensemble Showtunes question, and slapped myself for forgetting. After all, how could I forget the classic "One" from A Chorus Line? Say what you will about that show and how agonizingly long it ran, but it's still a memorable dance number and one of those songs you just can't get out of your head. (For better or for worse.)

I didn't slap myself for not thinking of that one, but I did grunt and slap myself in frustration with the realization that I forgot about "Let The Sun Shine In" from Hair. How could I forget that? *head desk* All these big-haired, rainbow-peace-love hippies go out into the audience and dance all over you! Heeeee. And make you get up and dance with them. And make you want to. It's very alluring. *GRIN* Seriously though, it's a good song, one that draws you in, uplifts your mood, makes you want to sing along, and besides, it's just plain FUN. What's not to love about that?

P.S. lostakasha, I know you must have heard that one! I read your Woodstock LJ entry. ;)

Okay, now that I've got that off my chest, let's get to the next request in line.

These questions were asked by the most awesome siapom. Welcome to my LJ, and thanks for playing along!


( Top Five Commercials That Make You Cry )


( Top Five People You'd Invite To a Once-In-A-Lifetime Dinner )


And finally...

( Top Five Guilty Pleasures )


And that's it for part 2! I hope you're finding these a bright spot of entertainment in your day. If not, well, what the F*** do you want from me?? *teasing grin*

Because I was feeling whimsical last week, I agreed to take part in the "Top Five" meme (as mentioned in this LJ entry).

I'm still working on one person's lengthy list o' questions *cough*readthesubtext*cough* but I'll be posting the three others' requests in subsequent posts tonight (or tomorrow morning, because it's getting verrrrry late). This is the first of those three.

There were some tough choices to make, and I'm certain I forgot some things that would have made for even better answers. I'll probably think of those possibilities months from now and Gibbs-slap myself.

(By the way, that's an NCIS reference, for those who may not know. Agent Gibbs often slaps his subordinates on the backs of their heads when they're being obnoxious or overly stupid. He once even slapped himself, when he really messed up. Heh.)

Okay, on to the Top 5!

This post is for the lovely callieach.


( Top Five Ensemble Showtunes )


( Top Five Celebrities You'd Like To Meet )


And finally...

( Top Five Ways You Like To Wear Your Hair )


And that's it for part 1! Hope you liked my answers. Thanks for playing along, Callie! :)

We interrupt your regularly scheduled summer activities for this brief announcement.

***

I have just received email notice that I have completely paid off my student loans!

WHOOO!

\o/

(That's stick-figure me throwing my arms up in the air in triumph.)

Now, in the words of the magnificent Ben Browder, can I get a HELL YEAH?


What this means to me... how long this has taken me... how good it feels... what a relief it is... I can hardly put into words.

I may have cried a little.

This was a huge thing that seemed to take forever, amidst a lot of strife and stress and terrible mistakes and bad choices and hard work, and just like that, with a four-sentence letter from my student loan company, it's done.

It's DONE.

Holy crap.

*pause while I sit in stunned silence*

That is all. You may now return to your regularly scheduled programming. I thank you for your support.

P.S. Does this mean I can finally use my degree, now that it's paid for, or is it too late? ;)

I don't usually do these, but I recently tortured readthesubtext mercilessly (heh) over on her LJ when she asked her friends-list members to give her some 'top five' questions, so I owe her big time.

Gemma, have a go at me! I'm ready!

*gulp*

Of course, the rest of you are more than welcome to play, too. The more, the merrier! As they say. Here's the meme:

Ask me my Top Five [fill in the blank here with whatever you want to ask].

Whatever you'd like to know. Doesn't matter!

Can be fannish (favorite books, films, Broadway showtunes, whatever); can be non-fannish (favorite breakfast cereals, types of food, places to go, games to play, again whatever); can even be unusual (I'll let your imaginations run wild to a point, heh).

And I will answer them all to the best of my ability in a new post.

Have fun!

:D

Yesterday I participated in LiveJournal's "Writer's Block" exercise entitled "Two Truths and a Lie," posted here on my LJ, because I found it fun.

What I found even more entertaining were your answers to the question, "Which of these three statements is a lie?"

To refresh your memories, here are the three statements from that post:

1. I bake an awesomely delicious loaf of homemade pumpkin bread.

2. I played a homeless woman in a production of "Rent."

3. I once sang backup for the band Poison.


First of all, lostakasha, no pumpkin bread for you! *laughs uproariously*

;)

Secondly, pluschi, if you get the opportunity, you must go see a production of "Rent." It's awesome! Unconventionally good. (Callie will back me up on this. Right, callieach? *GRIN*)

Finally... the answer to the puzzle.

As the shadowy informant Deep Throat once told Special Agent Fox Mulder on The X-Files: "A lie, Mister Mulder, is most convincingly hidden between two truths."

#2 is the lie.

Though I know many of the lyrics to songs from "Rent," I have not yet had occasion to be in a production of it. Thank you to those who thought I could have been. Heeee.

Which means, yes, I do make a mean loaf of pumpkin bread (at least, so I've been told, heh), and yes, I really have sung backup for Poison. *wicked grin*

Rock on!


P.S. That XF reference was for all my X-Phile friends, though I will admit I first thought of bardsmaid when I remembered the quote. :)

Because I found this exercise entertaining...



1. I bake an awesomely delicious loaf of homemade pumpkin bread.

2. I played a homeless woman in a production of "Rent."

3. I once sang backup for the band Poison.


Okay, my friends, which one is the lie? Can you guess??

;)

The X-Files: "Paper Hearts"
Recap, Part Two
(Part One of the recap found here.)


ACT 2
SCENE 3

Skinner watches prison videos?

FBI HEADQUARTERS
WASHINGTON, D.C.

Mulder bursts into Assistant Director Skinner's office, asking why he's been denied further access to John Lee Roche. Skinner snaps at him: "Could you tell me why you saw fit to strike a prisoner in federal custody?" Oooh... did Scully tell on him?

Mulder whips around and gives his partner a look. She approaches quietly, concern all over her face. Skinner admits that Scully didn't report that to him, but snarks pointedly that she should have. "The whole thing was videotaped as per prison policy. I saw it. You're lucky I don't have your ass in a sling!"

Skinner, I gotta tell you, you're hot when you get all bossy like that. Heh.

( 'I need to know.' )


If you've made it this far, thanks so much for reading.

If you love this episode as much as I do, you might be interested in some further reading material: the lovely and talented leucocrystal has written a brilliant, thought-provoking essay for this episode, entitled Down The Rabbit Hole: Dreams, Memory, Subjective Reality and Mulder as Alice, that is well worth your time. I highly, highly recommend it.

Thank you again for reading my take on this marvelous episode.

Dedicated to all the beautiful, intelligent X-Philes on my friends-list...

The fates have been kind to me this month. During the program rewatch over in the LJ community trustno1_redux, another volunteer was regrettably unable to complete her recap of this episode, so I stepped in and gratefully received an opportunity to take a shot at it. Why was I so excited and happy about that?

Because the episode is "Paper Hearts." ♥

Written by the brilliant Vince Gilligan and directed by the mega-talented Rob Bowman.

Before I get started with the recapping -- which I originally posted yesterday over on trustno1_redux -- please let me take a moment to express just how much I love this episode. It's interesting to me because it's not the standard monster-of-the-week thing, it's not to do with conspiracies or aliens; instead, it's something so simple yet so scary. The bad guy is so ordinary, he could be anyone, he could be your neighbor, which is why he's so terrifying. Yet it gets marvelously psychological: he mocks and needles Mulder, just pokes him in all the right emotional spots. He makes Mulder think that he might have taken Mulder's sister, and that causes Mulder to doubt everything he ever believed about his sister's disappearance, which is fascinating because it calls into question almost everything about the show, everything he's worked for, everything he's obsessed about, and it's SO amazing to watch him deal with that and struggle with it and try to figure things out and not let this horrible man get to him.

In my opinion, it's one of David Duchovny's best performances in the history of the show. He's fantastic, and the episode is fantastic. It's emotional, intense, riveting, scary, creepy, and unsettling... it's just amazing stuff. Great story, great idea, great execution, creepy dream-like music throughout, and terrific acting. Just a phenomenal episode. It's in my top ten favorites, may even be my most favorite as an overall episode.

Without further ado...

The X-Files: "Paper Hearts"
Recap, Part One

( Dreams and Nightmare Realities )


See Part Two for the rest of this episode's recap! Thank you very much for reading.

Tuesday was my grandmother's 93rd birthday, and we (two of my aunts and I) celebrated it by taking her out to dinner. This was part of the hilarious conversation I had with her, after we'd ordered --


ME: So, Gramma, do you have any pearls of wisdom to impart to me, on this auspicious occasion? Anything gleaned from your years of experience?

Cut to my grandmother laughing and shaking her head.

ME: (teasing) Come on, Gramma, my life is in shambles, here! I need some pearls of wisdom!

GRANDMA: Nope. I've got nothing.

AUNT MARILYN: I guess that kind of thing only happens in the movies.

ME: I know, right? No Tuesdays With Morrie? This is seriously disappointing.

Cut to my grandma still laughing.

The X-Files: "Terma"
Recap, Part Two
(Part One of the recap found here.)


ACT 2
SCENE 6

Can you say, "Bite me, Senator?"

Annnnnd... we're back to the very first scene as presented at the top of "Tunguska." Scully's standing before the Senate subcommittee in Washington, D.C., swearing to tell the truth, the whole truth, yadda yadda.

She tries to read her statement: "I left behind a career in medicine to become an F.B.I. agent four years ago, because I believed in this country, because I wanted to uphold its laws, to punish the guilty and to protect the innocent."

This time as Scully reads her words, a note is seen being passed around from a messenger to Chairman Romine, and then to Senator Sorenson. Do you think it's a note from CSM and WMM, saying, "Stop this ridiculous hearing right now or we'll ensure your political careers end in scandal? Or, you know, your violent deaths? Don't make us come down there!" Maybe not.

Read on...

( 'No arm, no test.' )


I love "Tunguska" and "Terma." Both so exciting and intense, both wonderfully illuminating intriguing answers to some of the shadowy questions created by the enigmatic mytharc. Thank you so much for reading my take on these episodes.

An experiment in episode recapping continues...

The X-Files season four, two-part story arc begins with "Tunguska" and continues here with "Terma."

Sherry's Standard Warning: This recap is lengthy and therefore will be posted in two parts. I like to paint a picture, so that (as best as possible) the reader can visualize what's happening on screen, even if they haven't actually seen the episode. I hope it's entertaining that way!

The X-Files: "Terma"
Recap, Part One

The Teaser: Should have taken Auntie Janet to Shady Pines. At least their jello doesn't make you ooze black sludge out your eyeballs.

HARROW CONVALESCENT HOME
BOCA RATON, FLORIDA

A nurse draws down the shade to a window on an upper floor, as a van outside pulls up to the front of the convalescent home.

Cut to a young woman sneaking down a dark hallway, using a flashlight as her guide. She slips inside a room marked with the word "INFIRMARY" on the door. The beam from her torch passes over the faces of elderly people sleeping in various beds before it alights on the face of the woman she seeks. She hurries over to the bed, and gently rouses the frail woman: "Auntie Janet? It's time, Auntie Janet. He's... waiting." Janet nods, and moves to sit up.

Cut to Auntie Janet's niece leading her in her bathrobe, out of the building to the waiting van. The niece opens the side door, and a man wearing a stethoscope quickly slides back a curtain. "We should hurry. We have papers to sign." Poor woman. She's about to be euthanized and she still has to deal with paperwork? Lousy health care system. I cringe to imagine how such paperwork would be worded. Janet doesn't mind, though; she nods and enters the van.

Read on...

( 'It becomes easier each time... until it kills you.' )


See Part Two for the rest of this episode's recap! Thank you very much for reading!

The X-Files: "Tunguska"
Recap, Part Two
(Part One of the recap found here.)


ACT 3
SCENE 1

Ask a stupid question...

Mulder approaches his car. Cut to me laughing as I realize Alex Krycek has been sitting in the passenger seat, handcuffed to the steering wheel of his vehicle the entire time that Mulder's been in Marita's apartment. That's gotta suck.

Click the link to read more...

( Sometimes the simplest way to express oneself is by punching a guy in the face. )


If you've made it this far, thanks for reading. You're fantastic, and I adore you.

Contemplative thought for the day: Do you think Mulder really would have left Krycek in his car for a week? ;)

I recently wrote episode recaps for two episodes of The X-Files, for the LJ community trustno1_redux. It was challenging, time-consuming, and really fun. It also gave me enormous appreciation for all the recappers out there, especially the entertaining ones at Television Without Pity. I salute you all!

Therefore, because I have X-Files fans on my f-list and because I worked super hard on this project... I'm going to post the two recaps to my personal LJ, for your enjoyment. One hopes. Heh.

(Technically, this will be four posts, because I divided each episode into a two-part recap.)

Without further ado...

Reader Warning: This recap is lengthy and therefore will be posted in two parts. I like to paint a picture, so that (as best as possible) the reader can visualize what's happening on screen, even if they haven't actually seen the episode.

The X-Files: "Tunguska"
Recap, Part One

The Teaser: "Why, Miss Scully, are you quitting the FBI?"

Pan down the enormous red-white-and-blue, stars-and-stripes of our classic symbol of Freedom, Justice and Grand Patriotic Heroism: the American Flag. Ooh, look, irony. Because this show is all about Kindly, No-Secrets-Whatsoever, Big Government protecting and serving its people, with Truth and Integrity and other capital-letter moral code words... that Cigarette-Smoking Man (CSM) nonchalantly stubs out like the butts of his ubiquitous Morleys.

Read on...

( 'These men, they fear one thing: exposure. You expose him, expose his crimes... you destroy the destroyer’s ability to destroy.' )


See Part Two for the rest of this episode's recap! Thanks very much for reading!

It's been a full week since Michael Jackson died, and it's taken me this long to find the words to express my thoughts about it. It's complicated.

Like so many, I feel conflicted about the man. One way or another, I'm sure most people have feelings (and probably even jokes) about his bizarre and troubled life as well as the questions surrounding his close -- or too close -- relationships with children. I have thoughts and theories, but I can't say with absolute certainty what I believe. I have no way of knowing what he did or didn't do.

What I can say for sure is that I think he needed major therapy, for many things but especially for the damage caused by his own stunted childhood and how it affected the way he looked at himself in the mirror. I wish someone had helped him before he altered his physical appearance so radically. As someone who has struggled with negative body image issues, I look at the dramatic differences in Michael Jackson photos from over the years, and I feel great sorrow for him. I wish he'd had someone in his life who could have helped him with that.

Mostly, I wish that kids today -- wow, does that make me sound old! -- knew him as the talented man I adored when I was a kid. I imagine so many just know him for his eccentricities and weird behaviors and odd plastic surgeries. That is so sad to me.

And so many of the artists in R&B today are simply emulating his style and his moves. (Even Justin Timberlake, who would probably be the first to admit Michael influenced him). Of course, Jackson himself got a lot of his stuff from James Brown, but he was only five years old at the time and already had so much natural talent, so there's just no comparison.

He was a phenomenal dancer, gliding across the floor like liquid, bending and contorting like smooth putty. His videos were innovative for their time, so amazing and fascinating to watch (during a period when MTV actually was about music and performance instead of excessive reality TV crap), and his music was undeniably outstanding... when he was a kid with the Jackson 5, when he was starting out as a solo artist, and by the time he hit his stride with Off The Wall and Thriller. I know it's been a while since he's been in the scene, but I can't imagine the music world without him.

I still remember sitting on the floor at my grandma's house, glued to the television set, watching the Motown 25th Anniversary special with my older sister, seeing him moonwalk for the first time and hearing the crowd gasp and cheer with delight. We played that "Billie Jean" performance over and over again, just to watch him move.

My sister was such a huge fan -- she had posters of him on our bedroom closet doors (the kind where his eyes were focused outward but everywhere you went, it seemed like he was looking at you, LOL), and she would tape countless TV specials about him and we would watch them over and over again.

I was too young to know him from the J5, but watching clips of his performances of "Who's Lovin' You?" astounded me. He was only five or six years old, yet he had such depth of expression, singing that bluesy song.

I also remember when the "We Are The World" single came out, and the local news interviewed my sister as she purchased it, on either an audio cassette tape or a 45, no less!

I watched all his music videos, each outstanding in its own right, but who could forget "Thriller"? I believe it was the first of its kind to be short-film length; as a story and as a music-and-dance vid, it was such a remarkable creative project.

And it scared the crap out of me.

(Hey, I was only, like, eleven or twelve, okay? And I was a very sensitive child. Okay, maybe the right phrase would be "big chicken baby." Shaddup. You want a piece of me?)

Anyway, I remember jumping in absolute terror when his head jerked up, his eyes all demon yellow, and his voice suddenly changed from his usual soft tenor to that angry, distorted bass as he yelled "Go away!" And my sister milked that... boy oh boy, did she love to scare me with that video. She used to play the song all the time, which was fine; I liked the song. It was the transformation section of the video that scared me. And at the end of the final scene, Michael looks at the screen and smiles this wicked smile and his eyes turn yellow again, and it just made me shudder. So Lisa would come up to me at unexpected moments and she would widen her eyes like Michael did, and get in my face and laugh like Vincent Price, until I either kicked her or yelled "Mo-ooommm, tell Lisa to leave me alone!" (Heee.) I'm a grown woman, I know there are no monsters in my closet -- at least, unless you believe the show Supernatural, heh -- but I nevertheless have to steel myself if I sit down to watch that video, because so many fearful childhood feelings rise up, like I'm still 11 freaking years old.

But the biggest thing for me was when Michael and his brothers had their Victory tour. On a total lark, my dad entered a contest for concert tickets (at Burger King, I think), and he actually won. But because the tickets turned out to be for the Detroit performance, and since he wasn't familiar with that area, he refused to take us. Plus, there was the matter of there being only two tickets. My brother was too little to go, my mom didn't really care to go, but my sister and I both desperately wanted to go. If my dad used one of the tickets, that meant he would have to choose between his two daughters, and there was no way. No way were we going to get this close to seeing Michael Jackson perform live and end up stuck at home. I remember we begged and pleaded for him to come up with a solution so we could both go. I remember saying, "Why did you enter this contest if you didn't know how you would handle it if you won? Were you really going to make one of us stay home?" And he simply laughed, "I honestly didn't think I was going to win." Ultimately, I think he sold those tickets, and he relented to our pleading by purchasing new ones for the Chicago venue, and the three of us went. The seats were in one of the nosebleed sections, but it didn't matter. The girl who sat next to us -- I recall Jermaine was her favorite Jackson -- convinced us to venture down for a better view. Her dad and our dad kept an eye on us from a distance, while the three of us ran down a few levels and stood against the railings. All I remember from that night was staying up very late, dancing manically, and watching both the stage and the big screen monitors in enormous awe. It was incredibly entertaining and exciting. He was a tireless, inspiring performer. (And even more thrilling -- that night, he ended up staying at the hotel for which my uncle was reservations manager, so my uncle got my sister Michael's autograph. Yeah, just my sister, not one for me, not that I'm bitter or anything. *GRIN*)

I confess, I haven't listened to his music regularly in years, but I feel sad about the news of his death. I believe the first words out of my mouth were, "No freaking way!" The more I thought about it, the more I felt like a large portion of my childhood had just died. It just feels so strange.

Therefore, tonight, I thought I'd honor Michael Jackson the musician.

Do any of you have favorite MJ tunes?

Here are some of mine:

( 'Cause this is Thriller! Whoo! )

As Michael would say, "Go with it. Jam!"

Thanks for strolling down memory lane with me tonight.

:D

Because I am having too much fun playing with this 'five words' writing exercise, and southoffebruary just started one for The X-Files over in her LJ, here...

Listed below for your entertainment are a few of my own five-word X-Files drabbles.

Dana Scully, season 1:
I'm not ready to believe.

Fox Mulder, "Paper Hearts":
Safety: curved against Scully's hip.

Alex Krycek:
I'm never what you think.

Because I insist that this particular West Wing season 7 plot was a CROCK and there was no way Toby did what they said he did, I follow up last night's Five Words Drabble-a-thon with these additional quickies...


Toby Ziegler: Innocent. He will be vindicated.


And a double drabble follow-up to that. (Whoo! Ten whole words!)

CJ Cregg: She should have trusted him. She was his best friend.


P.S. A big thank you to all who responded so kindly and encouragingly to the first round of these. ♥