Covering the Red Carpet

Just a few more days and then it is the final! Woot! I feel like I am currently running on espressos and self importance; actually, a natural state for me. I am so glad I made friends last Thursday because they are veterans and they are fabulous and they have made the time even more enjoyable. On Saturday I found them and that meant that I finally had a place to sit and a place to bitch about dresses and it was wonderful. They asked me if I was going to the opening ceremony and I shrugged, fantasizing about a bath and a face mask and a glass of wine. They looked at me like I was crazy and I usually get that look only from loved ones and close friends so I gave into peer pressure and decided to go.

Thank God I listened to their advice to get there early. I had no idea what time anything officially started and they said to come at 4:45. I headed to the Rathausplatz and suddenly noticed an unusual amount of security and I flashed my press badge (not getting old, you guys!!). I was sent to the left hand side of City Hall and noticed a small crowd of journalists had already gathered. Twenty minutes went by and our crowd grew. I noted I was lost in a crowd of TV people and cameramen and I was happy to have worn my flip flops. Finally the gates opened up and the crowd seized forward. At this point, I still had no idea what I was supposed to be really doing at the opening ceremony. Then I saw a group of volunteers giving out free drink tickets and that seemed like a capital idea. But alas, there was no time for afternoon drinking and I went with the pushy crowd. People were almost running which always makes me nervous and makes me want to run even though I had absolutely no idea why we were all suddenly lemmings.

Squeee! Is that what a lemming looks like? Ad.or.ab.le.

We went through security and suddenly I spied the red carpet. I briefly thought "Oh that's nice. Nice to be appreciated once in a while." And then I spied all the press grab places along the barrier lining the carpet and it finally clicked. Yeah, I'm not the smartest. I went into panic mode because I had not really understood why I was at this event and then it was clear - I was the press, as in E! Entertainment. The barriers filled up quickly and I looked around and spied a well known German television station. Knowing nothing about journalism but being a watcher of TV, I figured it would be best to stand beside the guy with the recognizable logo on his microphone. And boy, did my intuition pay off. The red carpet kicked off and group after group of glamorous people walked by. I went into picture taking mode and more than once accidentally photographed the wrong person. The guy beside me was getting all the plum interviews and I took full advantage of this by taking pictures of the stars. My heart almost leaped out of my chest when Conchita showed up to talk. She is lovely and I wanted to squeal "YOU ARE AMAZING!" but I kept it together and click click click.

At one point an act from a country that shall not be named, walked up to the German TV guy expecting an interview and he shook his head "no". Ugh, cringe worthy. I died a little. At one point another big act arrived and I got jostled. I turned to the German guy and said "Just let me know if you need more space for an interview. I can step back for a minute." He looked at me and said "Don't worry, we just usually push people out of the way." Oh, so it's like that. At one point, when a well-loved Eastern European act walked by, I was literally lifted out of my spot and set down on the side so that one guy could film. I was still blinking in shock when he picked me up again and put me back in my spot. Gentle giant thinks Tova is obstacle. Rawr. I hope he didn't put his back out. Another time, the top of my head was briefly used as a tripod and there were a multitude of hands on my shoulders and back throughout the event. Very affectionate crowd. There were hundreds and hundreds of press people but for the most part, everybody was respectful and patient... I obviously have been standing in line at Billa for too long to even know what rude is nowadays. The red carpet lasted almost 3 hours and I thought I was going to collapse. The energy was catching and I was able to meet up with my Portuguese/Spanish buddies at the end. They took selfies with a large amount of stars and they were still so choc-full of energy. We used up our drink tickets because of course we did and then I decided to head home because I somehow unexpectedly had ended up doing something I never ever thought I would ever do and I was overstimulated. Again, surreal.

I think it will be a long time until I forget last night. I am also so happy with how the pictures turned out. I'm not a great photographer but with a very forgiving camera, I was able to get the money shot.

Vienna Würstelstand

Earlier today I received an invite for an event that hits close to home. I am completely honoured to be able to participate and I will write about it after Wednesday. My biggest dream/fantasy is that one day I can have the freedom to choose my hours to be able to spend more time with the Kid (which right now is kind of ironic considering I feel like I need to purchase a large stuffed animal and stick a picture of my face to it so he doesn't forget me). But that is the dream and I truly believe that if I work hard enough, it will happen. It has to. So many more things that I could write about but I have to get to work. A rehearsal is about to start and I need to prepare things for tomorrow's first televised event. I'll be back!! Squueeee. Oh, and now I want a pet lemming.