My (Al)pen pal

I've been delving back in the box - mainly for photo negatives now ('cos I've discovered that my scanner can also turn 'em into pics), but this popped up first. It's Simone, my pen pal (from the US) during my year not at university. I have a feeling I may have encountered her on IRC whilst avoiding doing any work, but I could be completely wrong. I've discovered her Flickr account and web site (Google is so good at stuff like this when - with a name like Simone's - the search term is specific enough).

So as I don't look too much like a creepy stalker, I'm leaving the pic here for her to discover for herself. I imagine many more fleeting acquaintences from my past are going to be exhumed during this task. (I've already found Paula from Slightlydelic, let's see who else turns up.)

I've noticed that most of the people I used to know are girls. I shall have to see if there's any blokey mates in the box.

My book cover

The "wet proof" of my book cover arrived today. This is very exciting. There were a couple of mistakes (but then I guess that's what a proof is all about), plus I'd been told it would be glossier, with a frosted cover and raised colour elements, but it was just like shiny plain card.

Still, can't complain. This is my book cover, ferchrissakes! Soon, hopefully, it will house my actual book (rather than a copy of Don Estelle's autobiography as in this photo). It's out on November 2nd, it says here, and is already popping up on Amazon (albeit with the wrong cover), Play (although they say it's a hardcover when it's a paperback) and Tesco (they're doing it cheapest).

All of the above sites have both the working title and the old cover to illustrate the book. Hopefully that'll be changed soon by the publisher. All of those cover photos were taken by me (except the Etch-A-Sketch and the Rubik's Cube).