13 Jan 06 - Status: 7

Now then, on one hand, I'm really pleased with how it's going so far. Not quite 2 full months into it, and 7 autographs done already. As you can easily work out, I need to get an average of 2 per month... so I'm almost double my quota. That's AWESOME. Well done me!

However, these were the easy months. I had the karting to start with (and if only I'd got the Challenge worked out then, I could've been even further along. Boo! But oh well... that's why I've allowed myself the 2006 karting too, to catch up on what I missed from not being into the swing of things yet) - and so that was 2 autographs in the bag easily. Then December rolled along, and with it came my Neighbours-stars-in-Pantomime obsession... and bing bang boom, another 5 in the bag without me even having to TRY.

And now I go into what I can only think of as being the lean period. Contrary to popular opinion, I don't just stumble across famous people in my day to day life. And so I've realised that I have to actually THINK of ways to find them.
Tomorrow I'm going down to Birmingham NEC for the Autosports show. Due to the ticket I bought, and the fact that he'll be there, I should HOPEFULLY end up with David Coulthard's mark in Crayon. Hopefully there'll be another name or two there that I can nab. After all this time and money, I'd better get a step or two closer to the Holy Grail of 24. I've also almost decided for sure which date to go and see Richard Hammond's 5 O'Clock Show - whilst I'm in no way guaranteed to get a crayon into his tiny but, I'm sure, perfectly proportioned hand, it's a great excuse for going! (I love little Hammond!) I might also get tickets to see The Mighty Boosh in Newcastle... because that show is damn funny, and I'd love it if I could Crayola them at the end!

I also plan on getting my hands on a NUFC footballer or two... that'd be quite exciting on a personal level for me too. August could be easy to some degree, as I'll be at Edinburgh Festival and should bump into some folks there. At the very least, as long as they turn up, I could get The Umbilical Brothers... although I can't decide if they count as one or two??

But even working this out using a sensibly optimistic calculator (an 'sopticulator', if you will)... that's still, say, only bringing me up to about 15 or 16... that's still a lot of work to do. Oh, plus a couple of easy extras at the Karting.. but I'd still be struggling to reach 20. Where do I find that extra handful?? I foresee more trips to London... I could keep GNER and Megabus in business singlehandedly if I'm not careful. Oh well, as long as it's fun, I don't mind!

I'm really looking forward to seeing who use my favourite Crayons (due to names alone) - Cerulean and Dandelion. Will let you know!