when you wish upon a star.

so i continue the tales of my US trip 6 months ago, much to the amusement of one of my silent blog readers lori. (: yes i'm slow. but i take time to remember my exciting and memorable trip. so it's a nice time for me too. to blog and tell stories.

so i continue my days in LA. we woke up bright and early to get to disneyland! it was really way too early i didn't even get my contacts in my small eyes. we managed to navigate through the morning rush hour on the freeways to get to anaheim, california where disneyland was. just about 50 minutes from west hollywood. we got there at around 8.30 am and there was already a long line of cars waiting to get into the carpark. the theme park isn't even opened yet. after parking our car we sat a short tram ride to get to the entrance plaza. joined the LONG line to buy tickets. a one-day pass, if i didn't remember wrongly, cost us US$80+. steep. but it's once in a lifetime right? unless i bring my kids there next time. then we joined a huge crowd of people gathered at the entrance and waited for about 15 minutes for the park to open. tourists are always kiasu, not just singaporeans.

so we enter the park and i was a little girl again. i grew up with disney films and i can sing and tell you disney stories and rattle them out at the tip of my fingers. i used to watch my LDs over and over again. although that feeling did fade away after awhile when we went to sit the rides. there was the pirates of the caribbean ride, which was so disappointing. oh i should get on with the pictures. i didn't take a lot 'cos we were just enjoying our time in the park and sitting more and more rides. (:

at the center of the park is this big lake, with an island at the center. a big ferry allows you to explore the place. oh not ferry. haha a pirate ship.

disney characters have designated photo ops around the park. so as we walk along in the park, we'd stop and wait for our turn to take pictures with them. they even sign autographs for the children. i was thinking i would be so super happy if i was a kid. and if you need an introduction, that's winnie the pooh beside me. he's very cuddly.

remember that lake? because we were adventurous and didn't wanna take the pirate ship, we chose to take the kayak ride. and in case you think you can just sit on the kayak and admire the sights, we had to paddle!! we were all given paddles and it got tiring after awhile. haha. but it was quite fun and my kayak "instructor" was quite cute, dark and muscular. hurhur.

it was a hot hot hot day! i got sun burnt so i was quite glad i wasn't wearing a t-shirt or i'll have ugly tan lines. this ride is for kids, but for linda my travel partner, we queued for it. it's the ride where you sit in a big tea cup and the ground spins, and you grab the wheel at the center of the tea cup if you wanna spin somemore. it was fun in a strange way. haha.

the ever famous disney castle of sleeping beauty. and the symbol for buena vista international, the company that is owned by walt disney company and produces lots and lots of films and television. including grey's anatomy and brothers and sisters.

pretty flowers. i was bored while waiting for a ride. i think this is the lunge ride. where you sit in a cylinder-like thing and whoosh down narrow tubes around a man-made mountain. it's called the matterhorn, which is an actual mountain in the european alps.

the spacey-futuristic theme at one part of the park. and this is where space mountain is! my favorite ride of disneyland. we sat on it twice and it was really very exhilirating! (: and it's a super popular ride. the fast passes for space mountain for 1115pm (the very last time slot) is given out at 6pm, and it runs out super fast but we managed to grab them so we can sit a 2nd time.

anyway the fast pass system is really good. it's only available for the popular rides and you scan your theme park ticket, and they print out a fastpass ticket for you for an allocated time slot. so all you gotta do is to return to the ride at that designated slot and you get to skip the long lines and go on the fastpass line. 90% of the time, the fastpass really allows you to skip the queues. but for the VERY popular rides, there's a waiting line at the fastpass queue even. but still faster.

oh and i remember another one of my favorite rides was the buzz lightyear one! where you sit in a space car and you get a "laser gun" and as the car moves along the ride, you travel into "space" and there are many targets all around you and you gotta point your laser gun and shoot. different targets (proximity, distance, size and moving/stationary) all get you different points and it's recorded at the "dashboard" of your space car! it was such a cool, high tech ride and loads of fun shooting the aliens down.

another ride, where you get to power a bumper car and drive on tracks. it's for children lah but we still went to take. haha.

then at 6pm, it's time for the grand parade, where everyone in the park gathers along the main streets and watches the parade. so here we are, sitting at the sidewalk waiting for it to start.

so the parade consists of dancers, stilt walkers, clowns, characters from the disney films and singing of course! and the very elaborate floats. this one above is from the little mermaid!

still the little mermaid.

that's alice from alice in wonderland.

and i forgot what's this. (:

the lion king. also one of my favorites. can still remember how i cried buckets when mufasa died.

as night fell, we sat more rides, grabbed dinner and waited for the famous fireworks to start at 9pm. but we have the poorest luck. the fireworks were canceled due to strong winds and impending rainstorm. HUH. we were all so disappointed. the fireworks over the castle were famously spectacular. sigh. we resigned to our fate and hung around somemore, walking the shops, buying souvenirs, sitting more rides.

so after our final space mountain ride, we walked around for abit more before the park starts to close, and we head out of disneyland, sat on the trams to bring us back to the carpark and drove home. so essentially we were there before the park opened, and we stayed till closing time. ahhh the perks of driving. of course i was SO tired from the day's activities and still had to drive back home. travelling is tiring, but i really don't mind.

ok here are the pictures taken by the professional photographers of disneyland. it's just like many theme parks (like movie world). you take picture with pooh, we snap, and we ask you to pay US$10 for one lousy 5R photo. but at disneyland, they issue you your individual bar-coded photo-pass, where all your pictures are stored digitally under your card and they are available online at the disneyland website for a month! so technically you view them and if you wanna order prints you can order them at the park or online when you get home. times have changed huh. high tech. but since we cannot ctrl+c and ctrl+v the pictures, i use ctrl+printscreen. (: or in mac terms, grab!

oh you can even add your own borders at the website! which is what i did. haha.

this is aurora. she's very pretty and she said my top was very nice. (:

this is belle. her dress reminds me of giselle in enchanted.



everyone let's sing. m-i-c-k-e-y m-o-u-s-e!

and to end off disneyland pictures, here's winnie the pooh again. xiaohan, this is for you. (:

***

these days have been days of pigging out. i had fish & co. dinner with justina before we sent cherie off to UK for exchange. and it was nice seeing so many people send her off and it reminded me of my own departure for exchange 1 year ago and was quite thankful i didn't have so many friends sending me off or i'll cry buckets in front of everyone. i'm going to miss cherie and her company a lot these 6 months when she's not around. but i'm sure she'll have a great time of learning and discovering and loving the Lord and being stronger in Him so much more.

then the next night i met with long-time-no-see classmates from tj for melben crabs at AMK. ahhhh i love their crabs so much and i ate so much. after that we adjourned to jalan kayu for some drinks and the guys ate prata. i reckon they're not seafood fans. but it was so good seeing them again and catching up.

then the next afternoon, which was today, we had a post-christmas, post-new year's party at work. boss treated us to pizzas and we exchanged gifts. it was a rather unique way of gift exchange because you can choose to take other people's gifts which they chose from the pile and opened already, and that person have to give it to you. strange rules right. but it's quite fun actually. at first, i grabbed a pink shawl from a spanish post-doc fellow who's pregnant with twins! cos she wanted another person's present for her babies. then my own supervisor grabs my shawl when another person takes her gift. so i proceed to grab a bottle of wine from another guy. HAHA and i brought home the wine in the end. good thing i didn't have to steal from boss.

yes it's complicated. but anyway i ate quite a lot again and there were many snacks going around and we sat around and talked for 2.5 hours. everyone was so nuah and boss also commented no one was in the mood to work anyway. (:

***

the macbook air is calling out to me. my ibook is still going on strong when it's coming to 4 years old. apple laptops rock (when you take care of it). but now i realized i have to really get down to learning photoshop in order to edit my photos of my zebrafish for FYP, as well as get annotations for my figures out. and i'm afraid my ibook has not enough memory to support. sigh.

***

i'm glad it's the weekend because after a long hectic week at work/FYP/gatherings and lots of distractions and tiredness, it's good to turn my utmost focus back unto the Lord and worship Him and learn from pastors His word and truths. and recharge my spirit for the coming week and renew my strength once again. and i also look forward to choir and singing. (:

of happiness, wisdom and the days of our lives.

it's been a long time since i went to work for a full week of 5 days. i miss the holidays, where for 3 weeks consecutively, we had holidays and half-days. but amazingly i didn't feel as drained or tired as i expected to be. no doubt the sleepiness hits when my alarm sounds and i press the snooze button 5 times before i wake up. and one cup of coffee in the morning and one cup of teh-o in the afternoon gets me through the day. but my soul is refreshed everytime i read God's word. and THAT gets me through everything.

***

i opened the yahoo homepage on my firefox just now and saw in the headlines, a featured video where singapore was named the happiest place in asia. at first i was quite shocked to see that. i didn't think that singapore would come out tops considering how big asia is.

then i clicked on the link that brought me to a video. it's 20/20, a program produced by ABC news in USA. i know the program from the days of downloading clay aiken clips and also my 6-month stay in US. and as an intro, the host asks a series of rhetoric questions for her audience.

"Picture this: A country where you have no choice on who to vote for. No jury of your peers deciding your fate in a courtroom. And chewing gum is banned. So how could it be that a place with the most rigid and unbending rules is the happiest country of the continent?"
- ABC news, Jan 9 2008, source

well you know i can't exactly blame the americans for asking such questions. it just goes to show again how different and yet similar 2 countries can be. and how singapore, no matter how we try to be westernized, we can never escape our cultures and values, and even personality. of course the narrator lists all the big bad things about singapore first (like no press freedom, no jury proceedings, drug users are executed etc. etc.). then the video goes on to explain (with interviews of the normal singaporean uncle in a hawker center and mark zee, of all people) why are singaporeans happy when we are a "fine" city?

well americans cannot understand because they have a country which was built on freedom many many years ago. and they are paying a price for that freedom. singapore took a different approach, one that is radically different. we restrict freedom so we and our children don't have to pay the price. and in exchange, as the video reiterates, we get peace, stability, corruption-free, booming economy and a stable government run by smart people. i'm not saying one way is better than the other, and i'm not an expert at anything, but both ways are working. not perfectly. but the 2 models have produced top-notch nations and citizens and are top players in the global market and leaders of the world. so maybe america can be a little less critical about how other people run their governments. that's just my 2 cents worth.

do watch the video. the link is found at the end of the quote.

***

anyway this week has been a good week in lab. my RNA probes are working very well and the signal in my zebrafish embryos are strong and in the correct places of the brain. which made my supervisor and i so happy. (: i've got some pretty pictures of the expression of this gene called YAP1, which has been linked to cancer in humans and other mammals. so now i just got to mimick the conditions in human cancer and overexpress this gene in the embryos and see what happens.

and also prayer meeting was a good time of reflecting upon the Lord's word and praying and fellowshipping with shannie and praying with her. there was also a meetup with the girls from my tj class, where we spent 4 hours at waraku talking about the good old days and the people we knew in tj. we talked about so many and it was nice catching up with catrina and caiqun.

today i had lunch with tr. chen kee at biopolis and i really thank God for her wisdom and guidance. she has been able to help me see things from other perspectives and to turn my focus back onto the Lord. and it was also very nice catching up with her 'cos she's always busy in church. we got to talking about boyfriends and growing up at my age in the early 20s and how unstable this period is for us. and the uncertainty of our future can be very daunting. and i'm thankful that i have one less burden because my near-future has been made certain by MOE. but i know my friends are going through that phase of not knowing what the future may hold and what life may throw at them in the coming months.

but even then, i have my fair share of doubt and uncertainty. will i make it through NIE? will i be a good teacher? what happens after my bond is up? will i be in education forever? am i cut out for other sectors of work? when will i get a boyfriend?

hahaha. but she shared with me how trusting and being secure in the Lord helped her through her years of growing up. trusting in God's plan for us. and if a boy comes, he comes. but if not, really it doesn't matter. i need the Lord more than i need a boyfriend. (:

it's amazing how much wisdom God gives to get us through our lives. that's what tr. chen kee said. and as she said it i got reminded of the song Be Thou My Vision, a song that i heard on my phone on the way home yesterday. and i remember pondering over the lyrics and appreciating how meaning they are all over again. and in an amazing God-driven coincidence, tr. chen kee mentions that same song over lunch.

Be Thou my vision, O Lord of my heart
Naught be all else to me, save that Thou art
Thou my best thought, by day or by night
Waking or sleeping, Thy presence my light

Be thou my wisdom, and Thou my true word
I ever with thee and, Thou with me Lord
Thou my great Father and, I Thy true son
Thou in me dwelling, and I with Thee one

Riches I heed not, nor man's empty praise
Thou mine inheritance, now and always
Thou and Thou only, first in my heart
High King of heaven, my Treasure Thou art

High King of heaven, my victory won
May I reach heaven's joys, O bright heav'ns Son!
Heart of my own heart, whatever befall
Still be my vision, O ruler of all.

one of my all-time favorite verses, which incidentally was first shared with me by tr. chen kee. (:

"But as it is written:
“ Eye has not seen, nor ear heard,
Nor have entered into the heart of man
The things which God has prepared for those who love Him.”"
- 1 Corinthians 2:9

confessions of a movie/tv junkie in LA.

i'm thinking back on 2007 more often than i should be. which is something i wish i did less. to look back. but being a sentimental girl, it's hard to not think about good times in the past.

anyway this is day 3 in sunny los angeles. i love the LA weather when i was there. mid-june. it was sunny and breezy and the nights were nice and cool.

day 3 was our private warner brothers studio tour which we paid for. i can still remember i bought the tickets online at the las vegas airport because LAS had free wireless access. and i also checked my spring quarter results and i thought i did SO badly for my human resource management module that i panicked like crazy. my prof emailed me to tell me she forgot to key in my exam marks.

anyway we booked a super early slot. 8.45am. it's good also 'cos we can spend the rest of the day doing something else. which we already planned. it was a sleepy morning and we had breakfast at the motel before heading up the bus to bring us to burbank, calif. we registered and got personalized nametags. so cool right. and hung around the lobby to wait for 8.45am to come.

then we were ushered into a small auditorium to watch a video of those famous movies and tv shows that are shot by warner brothers. and a history of the company. i recognized many of my favorite movies so that got me really excited. then we got introduced to our guide who is this movie-&-tv buff, obviously. we got into a small tram-like vehicle similar to those on golf courses and off we go onto the warner brothers lot.

production offices that double up as buildings for shoot. bicycles belong to production staff who cycle around the huge compound. and it was pretty funny when we met this production assistant working on a new tv show "the chronicles of sarah connor" now showing in the US. and he was complaining about his boss to us, a group of strange-looking visitors. well i understand. since PAs are sai-gang warriors in the film industry.

and we go past many houses on the lot used for shoots. and those sprawling mountains of burbank are usually digitally-removed in post-production.

seems ordinary right. but it's a frequently used set that i recognized on the west wing! it shows itself in several seasons, as a california mexican cafe place where bartlet and his daughter were eating lunch, as a place where a group of activists were rallying against the government during the big block of cheese day, as a hospital where the chief justice was admitted and matthew perry went to visit him. (:

this is sookie's house on gilmore girls! but it's empty inside. a typical facade.

this house, on the outside, is lane's house (also gilmore girls). and i learnt that some facades have working interiors like this one. except the 2nd floor is partically non-existent 'cos they have to hang lights and mikes. this is for shots where the director wants a long, continuous shot from outside to inside the house. so they gotta put up decor in this house and it changes from show to show.

this is the famous town gazebo of stars hollow in gilmore girls. the entire stars hollow town is left as it is, and it was actually a set of a very old film, reused in gilmore girls. and now even as the series has stopped completely, the set still remains. so you can tell i was SO excited when i was there. like i was really in stars hollow. where lorelai and rory were.

this is luke's diner (gilmore girls). with the decor taken off of course.

this looks like chicago at first glance, the very distinct subway tracks. but we're still on the set. this is used, obviously, for stuff that needs to look like it is in chicago.

and because chicago is known for its winds and rain, these lines high above the ground are known as rain-makers. or a water-sprinkler system, if you like. and tey would just drape a huge piece of black cloth above the rainmaker and use lights to create a rainy day.


this is the doors that open to the emergency room of cook county hospital in ER. the show that reigned way before grey's anatomy even was created in shonda rhimes's head. and yes george clooney looks young and cute.

this is the carriage that brad pitt rode in the movie Troy. then he proceeded to kill eric bana and drag his body behind this carriage. it was a super cry-worthy moment.

the flying car from harry potter and the chamber of secrets. (:

and after harry potter and the prisoner of azkaban, the whomping willow left its mark.

this is the couch that 6 famous people have sat on. the couch at central perk in Friends. left in its original state even after Friends wrapped production. in a special corner designed to pay tribute to the only show in history that raked in profits for warner brothers in its first season.

so just an iconic place what must you do. take picture! (: yes i was also very excited to be here.

inside central perk.

outside. filming in progress. the streets have no street lamps if you noticed. that's 'cos it enables the movie people to shoot whatever period of history they want. just pop in the correct type of street lamps and decor correctly and make sure the cars and the clothes people are wearing are of the correct era and voila. you can get anywhere between the 1800s and today.

we saw many many others things in the studio tour and many places where movies were shot. and i was sad that the tour came to an end and i didn't spot any stars. all on vacation i suppose. but i'm glad i went for the tour.

after that we were supposed to wait for the car rental company people to pick us up from warner brothers. so we hung around, take picture, buy souvenirs etc. we rented a car for 3 days over the weekend 'cos enterprise, the company, had this special discount for weekend rentals and it was only US$14 a day! so we did.

on the way to the rental place. we saw NBC studios. where many people are picketing and striking right now. when is it gonna end?!?! burbank is home to many production companies and their backlots. oh yes. rental companies in US pick you up from any nearby place and bring you to the company. so good right. great service.

so after we collected the car, we managed to get ourselves on the freeway and drive back to downtown LA. i was quite freaked at first because the last time i drove, i had my sisters with me and i was much more familiar with seattle roads. now it's all foreign and we don't have a map! but we managed without getting lost. but LA traffic is horrible. even at off-peak hours.

so we got to downtown LA and we searched for a grocery store to buy maps and finally spotted a safeway. yayyy. linda went to buy a map while i scrutinized the car. then we decided to drive around LA and explore the city. which's a really good idea 'cos we would never be able to do it on foot 'cos LA's too big. so here, the pic above, we started at downtown LA.

we parked along the road. learnt how to feed the parking meter. then walked around. (: these were sights around the walt disney concert hall.



this is for the very discreet rainbow peering out from the water. (: so pretty.

this is walt disney concert hall. very very nice design. quite avant-garde and nicer than esplanade. we took a short walk inside and in the shop. very very nice. too bad no time or money to catch a performance there.

p.s. this outdoor place of the concert hall, with the fountains, was where robert mccallister proposed to kitty walker in brothers & sisters. (:

the sky scrapers of downtown LA. oh this is where kevin walker of brothers & sisters works.



the concert hall from across the street.

after exploring downtown LA (and just walking past a nice museum), we drove out of downtown LA and headed for beverley hills and rodeo drive.

this is rodeo drive. and it looks more quaint and prettier than i expected. the building in front is bvlgari. and this intersection is really weird.

anyway rodeo drive is really the most upmarket, 5th ave of manhattan type of shopping. but it has that typical LA vibe to it. rows of short buildings. palm trees. the sun. tons of sports cars and cute cars. and cute guys.

this street, i can still remember, leads to a pretty 3-storey shophouse housing tiffany & co.

this is a car-less rodeo drive, or hollywood drive, the parallel street.



after some shopping. yeah right. i only bought a skirt from anthropologie, on sale. we drove towards the coast to santa monica. and i love this town!

first up, we drove right to the beach. at this time it was approaching dusk and it was starting to get cold. either that or it was the cold pacific ocean wind. we spotted this huskies van at the beach carpark, and judging by its washington state licence plate, it is indeed a university of washington van. haha must be some of my ex-collegemates who had taken a drive all the way from seattle to LA.

the beach!

the fine fine sand and the beautiful ocean. i haven't seen it in awhile. no oceans in NYC or las vegas.

the famous santa monica beach theme park. it's very distinctly santa monica. and this ferris wheel and theme park is always in the sweeping aerial shot in private practice. and santa monica is where addison and sam lives.

this is the 3rd st promenade. where it's a lovely lovely shopping street filled with big brands and big but affordable brands and small cute shops. people are busking and there are many little cafes and restaurants with al fresco dining, to soak in the nice weather and bustling crowd and talented buskers. i even took a video of this acoustic duo who sang beautifully. that's why i love santa monica. (:


well that was the end of day 3. we did more shopping at various shops, esp. forever21. had a late dinner at california pizza kitchen (how apt right) and began my long drive back to west hollywood.

no escaping from it.

happy belated new year.

it's 2008 and it promises more exciting movies, the opening of our own ferris wheel, a new american president and streaming towards bu*sh's end of term, the end of the hollywood writer's strike (they can't possibly drag the strike on till 2009 right, right?), convocation and finally it's my term to wear that gown and get that certificate and a trip to finland and neighboring countries and SO much more.

i've been semi-following the US presidential elections'08 for quite some time now. most of which from yahoo news, google news, the wires and ST. and just early this morning, i rejoiced with the obam*a campaign at their win at the Iowa caucus. i've been quite undecided about oba*ma and hilla*ry. like many americans, i presume. but now i'm beginning to lean towards ob*ama for a number of reasons. which i would think if strange 'cos wouldn't i, as a woman, support the first woman-president of the US's election bid? and i'm wondering about the countless women of Iowa who voted for all the other men, whether democrats or republicans.

well oba*ma now wins my vote because he's tough on foreign policy, albeit inexperienced (unlike hill*ary, or so she claims), he's also very much against the iraq war right from the start, he's african-american, he's from a humble background who worked his as* off to get to where he is today, he is young, fresh and so passionate about the work and i believe can inject a fresh new start to change america and shape it to be a better world, taking over the ruins that b*ush left him. he loves his family, he's a man of God, he is that "bridging gap between the college campus and the retirement homes", as said by kitty walker in brothers and sisters.

and i had the opportunity to hear oba*ma speak at a rally in early june (i think) in seattle, but i wasn't sure if they'll let me in, me being a non-american, not registered to vote and i have no washington state driver's license. so i didn't in the end. it's a pity. the rally was FULL by the way, packed to the brim in the huge 15,000 or so stadium.

anyway, my ideal president is personified by jed bartlet, the president in the west wing, written by aaron sorkin and protrayed by martin sheen. (: in real life, obama is probably him, with the exception of age and experience.

anyway i was going to say, there's really no escaping from politics. it's everywhere. there's national politics, relationships politics, office politics etc. i never really understood or bothered to care about politics when i was younger. but as i grew older, i began to comprehend just how important politics are and how intricately it's related to change. and bitchiness of course.

claudia jean from the west wing once said in a 'rock the vote' opening speech,
"Think government isn't about you? How many of you have student loans to pay? How many have credit card debt? How many want clean air and clean water and civil liberties? How many want jobs? How many want kids? How many want their kids to go to good schools and walk on safe streets? Decisions are made by those who show up. You gotta rock the vote!"

you know we live in singapore where everything is handed to us in a silver platter. there's schools to go to, financial aid if you need it, loans and CPF, medisave, clean air, clean water, more jobs are created, there's financial reward for having kids, our streets are safe, free from guns explosives and nuclear weapons. so there isn't much for political debate on a national level, and as i did in my younger days, why bother?

but things are changing now. and i find it hard to not bother sometimes. oil prices are up to US$100 a barrel. ir*an, north ko*rea may have nuclear weapons, the middle east is too unstable, so is south east asia, our closest neighbors. terrorism, global warming, the economy, rising food prices, electricity prices, genocides, famine, H5N1 influenza, AIDS and the list goes on.

so just how is a normal human being supposed to react to all these? by showing up i guess. in singapore we can rest a little easier 'cos we've got a good government to tackle big issues. it's just the smaller domestic issues that we find fault with.

***

speaking of politics, the creator of brothers and sisters the tv show, jon robin baitz, has left the show after getting into a disagreement with network execs and some colleagues. and i'm dismayed that it turned out this way. i can never understand hollywood backstage politics. but as a fan of the show, i'm afraid the show will go downhill from here.

like what happened with the west wing when aaron sorkin, the creator, left the show after season 4. seasons 5-7 were just dismal. especially that dreadful season 5. the show had no longer a sense of direction and was just merely floating from week to week, settling for any storyline that was interesting and could captivate the audience for 1 hour each week and that's all. it was disappointing.

and there's uncanny coincidences with regards to the 2 show creators. they are actually good friends in real life, aaron got robbie baitz to write an episode of the west wing, they both started out as playwrights, with very successful plays on broadway, and there's rob lowe to tie the 2 shows together.

i was reading robbie baitz's very emotional and lengthy essay on his departure from the show and LA, and how he describe the direction of each character on brothers and sisters he would have taken if he didn't leave the show. and i mourn the fact that i would probably not see those story arcs happening on the show. part of his departure was due to the disagreements of story arcs that robbie baitz and the network execs wanted to take. the former was more stage-play-like, more emotional, more smart, more intricate and complicated while the latter wants to appeal to the mass market. hence more silly, funny, drama rama type stories, less serious and political commentator-ish.

sigh. so sad. the west wing is now gone. they canceled studio 60 on the sunset strip (also politics. and ratings.). robbie baitz left brothers and sisters. smart, witty, fast-paced dialogue with great acting and a great script that delves into issues like aging, sexuality, social behavior, politics, war, religion etc.

there's no escaping from politics.