Every so often I remember to come back here and blog about something.

Then I stare at the screen for what seems like an eternity and realize I have nothing exciting to say. The track changes in iTunes over and over, and I’m stumped on what to talk about.

I really don’t think you’re here to hear about what I’ve been up to. I don’t think you’re concerned that I haven’t blogged in a month, I just feel like I need to write something here, otherwise the internet Gods will come and take my blog away. Or something less crazy.

Since my last update, I’ve done a few things:

I’m extremely close to finishing the first draft of my second novel. It’s called My Last Days and is the tale of someone who’s given a short time left to live. We follow him on his journey to complete a bucket list and try to make the world a better place before he leaves it.

I also published another short story about my wacky life on These Are My Stories just yesterday, and have another queued up for a couple of weeks from now.

I bought a new primary monitor — a new super wide screen monitor — to replace the 30″ Apple Display I’ve had for almost 5 years. I’ll blog more about that once I’ve had time to fully evaluate it.

That’s pretty much it for what’s happened in the last month. Did you think I was going to be interesting?

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.)