I just looked at the list of posts on my site and wow it’s been over 6 weeks since I’ve blogged. I know you were waiting on baited breath, so I apologize for that.

Lots have happened in the past month and a half, mostly good things, too!

Let’s see:

I finally finished my book! Victory is mine! It’s available here if you’re interested: http://www.mjandreau.com/books/a-sour-chord/ Here’s a summary to help entice you to grab a copy:

Sal Maggione has been struggling to write the perfect song. A song that will help bring his band, So Say The King, to stardom. He’s crumpled up more pieces of paper than he’d ever admit to.

In the midst of his mundane job making coffee and fighting with himself over the song, he meets Samantha. His world is immediately turned on its side and he questions everything that he knows, wants and needs.

Join Sal on his quest to complete the perfect the song, his band’s rise to fame, and his immediate and intense infatuation with Samantha.

A Sour Chord takes you into the mind of a musician trying to live up to the potential that everyone tells him he has.

What else? I had my 5th tattoo removal treatment and that’s going quite well. Rob is confident that they’ll be completely gone after the 10th treatment. And since I’ve helped him so much with his website, anything beyond the 10th treatment will be on him. He’s a great dude. If you need tattoos removed (and really, who doesn’t have at least one embarrassing one?), go see Rob at Disappearing Inc

I had my second to last oral surgery on Friday. One more surgery in about 10 weeks and I’ll be fully on my way to having a working jaw again that won’t fall off my face, so that’s a definite plus. I won’t even add up all of the out-of-pocket expenses I’ve paid there, I’m pretty sure it’ll make me cry.

I’m actively (finally!) working on the rebranding and site rebuilding for MJJ Designs. We picked a new name almost two years ago and am just now getting around to actually doing the work. I think I’ve subconsciously put it off because it’s so daunting and such a pain in the ass. But it’ll get done. I’ll make it happen, it’s long overdue.

I think that’s it, that’s the gigundous update on what I’ve been up to over the last month and a half. Time certain does fly by as I go through the day to day of my life. I’m just glad to be happy, healthy, and able to stand on my own two feet when I need to.

I do my best to remember things; friends’ birthdays, eating healthy, exercising, etc.

Sometimes it’s just hard, ya know? There’s so much happening in life that things slip through the cracks.  You sit down in the morning and tell yourself that you’ve gotta remember to do something.  It doesn’t matter what that thing is, sometimes no matter how important it is, you forget.

Before you know it, the day’s over, and your list of things you “absolutely can’t forget” is still sitting there, unchecked, staring at you.

I bought myself a set of weights a couple of weeks ago.  They’re on the floor in my office, directly next to where I’m seated for a good portion of the day, staring up at me.  I bought them so they’d be there, and I’d grab them from time to time, do some reps, and tone my arms.

Why? Well, glad you asked.  I was finding that while I was drumming, my arms were getting tired faster and faster, probably because I wasn’t playing as much as I used to, and my muscles strained themselves faster.

So I figured rather than trying to get myself to the gym (which let’s face it, just isn’t going to happen), I’d just have the weights next to my desk, and I’d remember to grab them for 30-45 seconds on a daily basis.

And even that I seem to not remember to do on a daily basis.  My work day ends, I look down at them and remember that I forgot to reach down and grab them.

Granted, some things I just “forget” because I don’t want to deal with them.  For example, I have a task in my task manager for “Pick a new name for the company” with a due date of February 28th.  I have been ignoring it because I flat out don’t want to do it.  No matter what name I pick to replace my existing company name (MJJ Designs) it just doesn’t seem to work.

Imagine trying to pick a screenname for AOL back in the ’90s.  Remember how hard that was?  Multiply that times infinity, and that’s how much pressure there is to pick a new name to replace the one your company’s had for almost ten years.

Which brings me back to the fact that my company will turn ten in August.  I’ve been designing and building websites for my own company for ten years.  That’s an accomplishment of some sort, isn’t it?

It seems like my brain is full of all sorts of things that I really don’t need to remember; the dialog from every episode of Saved by the Bell, every word from Braveheart, a phone number that someone told me to remember twenty years ago.  But I can’t remember to take frozen chicken out of the freezer in the morning to make for dinner.  It’s baffling how the human brain works.

In case you haven’t noticed yet, this post is going nowhere.  Sometimes I write just because I want to write.  Today is one of those days. (I’m also killing time until my Chinese food arrives.)

I decided that for tonight (and Saturday’s) drum time (my affectionate name for when I play my drums), I will make a special playlist, containing some of my favorite songs, and some that I haven’t played before.

I know you’re dying to know, so here’s what I’ll be playing along with for my next two sessions:

• Passenger – Deftones & Maynard James Keenan
• Come Undone (Cover) – Adrenaline Mob (featuring Lzzy Hale of Halestorm)
• Brother – Alice in Chains
• Breathe (2 A.M.) – Anna Nalick
• Cover Me – Candlebox
• Far Behind – Candlebox
• Call Me Maybe – Carly Rae Jepsen
• The Red – Chevelle
• She Said – Cinder
• Clean My Wounds – Corrosion of Conformity
• The Downfall of Us All – A Day to Remember
• Arterial Black – Drist
• Barely Breathing – Duncan Sheik
• White Rabbit – Egypt Central
• Where Did You Go – Full Devil Jacket
• Levitate – Hollywood Undead
• 2 Minutes to Midnight – Iron Maiden
• Since U Been Gone – Kelly Clarkson
• San Francisco – Madam Adam
• Dyers Eve – Metallica
• Everywhere – Michelle Branch
• Cemetery Gates – Pantera
• Purple – Pop Evil
• Look In My Eyes – Rains
• Bully – Shinedown
• Wait and Bleed – Slipknot
• What do I Have To Do? – Stabbing Westward
• 22 – Taylor Swift
• If You Could Only See – Tonic
• Not Enough – Van Halen
• Fallen – Volbeat
• Shoot It Out – 10 Years

As you can see, quite the eclectic playlist.  I jump from Taylor Swift to Slipknot to Metallica to Michelle Branch.  Why? Glad you asked.  For one, it keeps a drummer versatile to be able to play along to various styles of music. Sure, I could just slam my head to pure metal the entire time I’m playing.  But there’s only so far that style of music can take you.  By adding in some pop and mellow tracks, it helps me be improvisational.  I don’t play those types of tracks note for note, but instead put my own spin on them, making them more fun, but also keeping me on my toes.

Classics like Dyers Eve and Cemetery Gates are just fun to play.  Of the 33 songs I put on this playlist, 22 I’ve never played before. So this should be interesting!

Have any suggestions that I should add?  I’m not leaving for drum time for 6 more hours, and will gladly take requests. (You’ll just have to trust me that I’ve played your requested song, unless you want to hike into the city at 5pm.)