Notice that there haven’t been any updates for ages? Well, that’s because Blogger died on me. I’ve been unable to update my blog since I returned home from Florida on Monday. A full work week after emailing back and forth with both Blogger and my web host, I abandoned Blogger and moved the entire blog to WordPress. I still need to modify the CSS a bit, but so far, so good!

And now that everything — including this editing software — is on my host site, I won’t have to worry about any Blogger service issues anymore. If my site is up, I can publish.

After an intensely stressful two weeks, AEJ and I are going to the movies tonight. We’re seeing “Knocked Up.” Should be fun — and nice to just get out of the house.

AEJ and I flew to Florida last week to deal with a horrible family scare. I couldn’t have made it through without AEJ. Fortunately, everything is fine now.

For a cheery change of pace from the usual photos of Loki, here’s a picture of my mom’s dog, Molly.

Here’s one of my mom’s cats, Needles. A much sweeter cat than Loki, I’ll admit. Not as fun, but sweeter.

This is one of her other cats, Beverly. This cat is a bitch. She’s all, “meow, meow, pet me, meow” (not unlike Henrietta Pussycat), but when you pet her, she bites you. Somehow, my mom loves her.

In other happy news… I discovered a new recording artist recently called MIKA, a British pop singer who may or may not be known much in the US. (I’m totally out of the loop when it comes to pop music, which, for the most part, makes me gag.) MIKA’s stuff is like Queen plus Scissor Sisters plus ELO. It has that retro sound that somehow feels completely current. And man alive, it is CATCHY. The album (iTunes link) is “Life in Cartoon Motion.” Check out “Grace Kelly” (could totally be a Queen song — he even mentions Freddie, presumably Freddie Mercury), “My Interpretation,” “Billy Brown” (another very Queen song), and “Stuck in the Middle.” If you’re a fan of Queen’s “Fat Bottom Girls,” check out MIKA’s “Big Girl (You Are Beautiful).” The entire album is only $7.99 on iTunes, and I recommend the whole thing (only one song is kind of a dud — out of 14 tracks). If nothing else, if you like Scissor Sisters, Queen, ELO, or Elton John, you should check out the iTunes previews.

In the happiest news of all, word is that our friend Jonathan Newman and his wife, Melissa, have had a baby (with Melissa doing considerably more work than Newman), and everybody is doing great. Congratulations!!!

I have a picture of the baby (who, admittedly, is even cuter than a cat), but I don’t want to share more than I’m supposed to, so to keep things private for them, here’s another picture of Needles.

I’ve been chugging away on the Soprano Sax Concerto. If you don’t believe me, just ask AEJ. I played excerpts for her for the first time today. She, for good and bad, confirmed my instincts — that one movement is going really well, and the other movement needs a little somethin’-somethin’. I think I know what that sump’n-sump’n is, thanks to her.

When I’m not working, I’m taking lots and lots of pictures with the new toy. I love this picture of the CostCo-brand Tylenol, on top of a recipe for Pepper Crusted Filet Mignon in an issue of Cook’s Illustrated. The photo looks doctored, like I did some crazy processing in Photoshop, but this is straight from the camera.

Here are two of those crazy-colored pills on our sofa.

If you play with pills on the sofa, Loki gets very interested.

This is my new headshot — a self-portrait, taken with the ultra-wide angle lens. Incredibly flattering, I think, and it makes me look super smart. And intense. I’m pretty sure that’s what the ladies love.

Last night, we made Rice Krispies Treats. They were delicious. It felt like I was 7 years old. You just have to change the Rice Krispy / marshmallow ratio to make them a little softer — a little trick I learned from my sister.

Today, I got a new lens attachment that lets me take much more close-up photos than I could before. I took a few pictures of my vast book collection.

And look! More pills. Don’t they look yummy?!

Mr. Kitty.

And just to prove to the doubters that yes, I am writing music, here’s a little sample — with my favorite accent!

Tonight, we went out for sushi — my favorite food — at a restaurant called Jinpachi in West Hollywood. Here is Japanese red snapper with Hawaiian sea salt, chili sauce, yuzu, and garlic chips. Mmmmm…

Not the best photo, but here is yellowtail with cilantro, yuzu, garlic, and jalapeno. Again… mmmm….

And finally, a sushi plate, with eel, yellowtail, salmon, blue fin tuna, and toro. Just delicious.

I swear, if I could afford to spend $100 on dinner every night, I’d eat sushi daily. Maybe someday. Your Band Booster dollars at work…