Hey there, everybody!

Life is continuing to go well. I'm going next week to get my stuff from New Orleans and bring it here to Vegas. My dad is using his truck and trailer for the haul. I can't say quite how grateful I am to him.

In fact, it's been amazing - this whole time, everybody gave everything they could. Way above and beyong just helping a little. It's extraordinary.

I just read Robert Jordan's new WoT book "Knife of Dreams." Although I have no idea what the "Knife of Dreams" the title references is, it's still undoubtedly his best book in a decade. He finally let the people at Tor edit it, and it's plain to see. More happens in the first 200 pages than in the previous five books combined. It's wonderful - the type of writing that makes me want to buy a copy for every person who enjoys that "Harry Potter" bullshit. Yes, I have read them. Yes, I still think they suck ass. They are not the worst-written thing I have ever read, but they're in the top (bottom) five.

Anyway, back to Robert Jordan... During the first few books of the WoT series, I was convinced he was as good as Tolkien, and better than all the others in fantasy, including George R. R. Martin, and Steven Brust, and Neil Gaiman, and David Gemmel. Then the books bogged down into a worthless mess of nothing happening despite thousands of pages of writing. The only reason I even read this book was because I wanted to see if I could tell a difference when he let it get a full editing cycle instead of a few weeks, like the last ones.

It's not perfect. There's still a wee bit too much spanking going on, and people being bitchy to each other. But we're finally seeing female characters being strong, instead of just glaring at each other (and men) hard enough to knock down stone/tear down walls/frighten Santa Claus. We're finally seeing male characters being strong, not just having expressions hard as stone/granite/steel/rock/teflon-coated aluminum.

If you have no idea what I'm talking about, you haven't read the last few books in the series. Let me give you a quick synopsis in case you want to skip them:

Blah, blah, blah...

Okay, so now you know - read books one through six, and the last page of book nine, skip book ten, and pick up book eleven. That should save you about 3,000 pages of reading.

And if you read just those, you'll be convinced (as I once was) that Jordan is indeed, the best fantasy author since Tolkien. His plots are so incredibly involved, and detailed... I love Joss Whedon for his characters, but the plots are usually kinda lame. If you could get Jordan to write plots for Whedon, or Whedon to flesh out characters for Jordan... It'd be the best writing ever.

Oh, and if you haven't done it yet - GO SEE "SERENITY"!!!!!

If you don't believe me, ask anybody who's seen it. Or go online - 9 out of 10 reviews rave about how great it is. But it's flopping hard-core, and this week is probably your last chance to see it on the big screen, and if it doesn't do decently this week, it puts the final nail in the coffin of them continuing the story in sequels.

I've long since gotten over Anna as a romantic partner. But as time goes by, I'm missing her friendship more and more, not less and less. You know, there's tons of advice for getting over relationships (all of which seems to be complete bullshit). But none about losing friends.

Oh well. I tried way too many times as it is. It's so easy to tell other people "He/she's not going to change! Quit hoping for what you know isn't going to happen!" It's a lot harder to do in your own life, though.

Well, on that note, I think I'm going to go to bed. In the last five weeks, I've

1) Evacuated (telling Amy Trail "I don't think it's going to be that bad" - don't depend on my forecasting!)
2) Lost everything
3) Tried out for American Idol, didn't make it. My only regret is that I know Anna is obsessed with that show, and I would have loved for her to see me on it. But damn, after seeing the audition process, I think that show is worthless!
4) Came to Las Vegas. Started working. Amazed by the musicians here.
5) Got a car, an apartment, and my life going again
6) Found out my stuff is fine, and my dad is willing to help me get it all here.
7) Went through the AI audition process again, but this time just to support a friend. Thought it sucked just as much as before.

It's been hectic. And I'm tired now.

Talk to you all later,
Jess