Bless Dean! I’ve been running around like a maniac today, worrying myself silly, because today was the deadline Dean and I had set to hear back from the Count about whether or not we had a meeting set up in Berlin for next Monday. I was sick over the idea, because I knew there was no way the Count could reply by today. There was only a teensy little chance that a miracle could occur and suddenly he’d know how to speak English enough to call me and let me know that everything’s on the square. Not surprisingly, that didn’t happen.

Oh, I just realized you all probably don’t know what I’m talking about, because I meant to blog about the latest developments last night but then I forgot to. So here’s a quick recap:


My new bestest friend – Drew, the Remarkable Instant German Translator – got a hold of the Count yesterday afternoon. They talked for a while, but Drew says that the Count is a very traditional German businessman in the sense that he always wants an outline of any proposal in writing before agreeing to a meeting with anybody. And, on top of that, he also wants background information, which apparently is another typical German business practice (who knew?) So I hurriedly threw together a two-page fax and sent it right over about an hour after the telephone conversation. Only problem was, Drew didn’t have time to translate it, but he said that the Count said he’d have a translator on-hand Monday. As in today. Hence why I didn’t think we’d get a reply by today.

I didn’t think a fax was enough. Not only did the Count want a fax, but he also didn’t remember me. Drew said that didn’t seem so surprising, really, and I suppose he’s right. So I was awake until 2:30 in the morning preparing a package to mail to the Count, complete with copies of my original letter to him from last year, his reply, the booklet from the Childnet Awards, as well as a lovely little present – a small photo album that I pulled together to show him some of my best photography. I figured that would be a nice gesture, and a good way for him to see where all I’ve traveled to. I wrapped it up in beautiful hand-made gold paper and stuck that in with all the letters and things. All of the papers I put together in a beautiful, professional looking portfolio thingie, so it was all very polished and charming. The FedEx man just came about 15 minutes ago to pick up the package and send it over-night for me to Schenkendorf. Phew. Thank heavens for FedEx men! Heh, and as a funny side-note, turns out my FedEx man lived in Schenkendorf for a while. –singing– It’s a small world after all… –/singing–

So, I sat around making myself sick today, running around doing absolutely nothing useful apart from mailing that package. I watched a ridiculous movie that TiVo recorded for me. Oh yeah, forgot to mention that too – we got TiVo last week. I’ve been recording movies on TCM and AMC that I previously never had the chance to watch, since the majority of the ones I want to see air at around three in the morning. So I went through their listings for the next few weeks and found all sorts of fun movies to watch. Today Steven and I watched, “Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter?”, a classic with Tony Randall and Jayne Mansfield. It was actually incredibly funny, and it was great to spot all the famous people that had bit parts in the movie. For instance, the beginning of the movie is a montage of stupid advertisements, and one of them happens to feature a young, beautiful Majel Barrett – for all of you non-geeks out there, she happens to be the voice of the computer on the Starship Enterprise, she was Deanna Troi’s Mum in Star Trek:TNG, AND she was married to Gene Roddenberry. (Are you scared by my geekiness yet? I am…) Tony Randall was great in the movie, and it was interesting to finally see Jayne Mansfield in a movie. She was definitely better suited to be a pin-up rather than an actress.

Anyway, I’ve completely strayed from where I first started. Bless Dean! After all of this worry, I finally decided that it was hopeless to count on a miracle for today. It just wasn’t possible. So I called Dean, explained, and said since we’re past the deadline he might as well just book his flight to Nice (as in France. Yes, he’s a nice guy, but this is a different Nice.) Thank heavens, he said we could give it until tomorrow or Wednesday! I’m SO relieved now. It’s far more likely that a miracle can happen on Tuesday or Wednesday – that gives the Count enough time to at least have the gist of the message translated and to make his decision about whether or not we’re worthy enough to attend a meeting. Now let’s all just cross our fingers, pray, knock on wood, or whatever it is you do, so that this miracle can happen, we can fly to Berlin, we can Wow the Count, and I can be a Princess and get my own TV show, okay? The more people we have rooting here, the more likely it is it’ll happen, right? I think so.

And now, I have to go marinate some meat, because that’s what every girl does when she’s waiting to find out if she can go to Berlin. That’s not really why; I have to go to a barbeque thing tonight and I have to bring my own meat. So I’m taking a lovely steak which I plan to marinate in a lovely mix of soy sauce, honey, brown sugar, and a variety of spices. Now let’s just hope my nervous stomach can take it.