2006-02-07

Spielwaren Uber Alles

It's been a sleep-defying couple of weeks. London Toy Fair was followed immediately by Nuremberg Toy Fair.



This crazy-ass scheduling is a "legacy problem" that nobody wants to fix. Before communication and world travel became what they are today, trade shows were set up within a few weeks of each other all over the globe. (There are more in Hong Kong, Paris and New York.) Manufacturers would reveal their ranges for the entire year and buyers would decide on their big Christmas items based on what they saw in January! Needless to say, much has changed. It's pretty pointless to meet with people you saw only the week before when neither of you has had time to follow-up on anything you talked about yet, but we go through the motions anyway.

My company knows how to keep its clients entertained. (For "entertained" read "plied with drink and away from other manufacturers".) And if the employees catch a buzz too, good for them! Detox Month went out of the window as soon as I realized someone else was paying. I danced twice in two weeks, if you can call what I did to "We're the kids! We're the kids! We're the kids in Americaaa!!" dancing. I started many converations in German that I had no hope of ever finishing and irgendwie im vollständigen Prozeß rediscovered my knack for international relations. I swear I go to worse parties in my private life.

Here are some of the fab people and places I've seen since we last spoke.

15 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

Thank God you posted! I was starting to go into withdrawal! All my blog friends need to be on alert--I have too much time on my hands I need people to entertain me!

Okay, having said that, welcome back, and it sounds like the toy fairs were good times. I oohed and ahhed at your photos. I like the one with the blue lights or whatever they were. Very pretty.

21:46  
Blogger C said...

OMG, DITTO to Kitkat!!!! Detox Month was supposed to be for YOU not us! I was gettin' the DTs somethin' fierce!

**takes big, calming breath**

Ahhhh!

Welcome back! Still hard to imagine anyone having fun in Nurenmburg but it looks like you pulled it off. :o) I like the blue lights, too. Note to men: girls like blue lights. Wrap yourselves in them (and nuttin' else!) ;o)

I *almost* spoke German to someone in the library last week, but I chickened out.

03:49  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Looks like you had fun, Marcus (three different girls, or is it the same one three times?), although the wheel holds no novelty for me and your fourth photo looks like you went to a brightly lit municipal car park.

10:35  
Blogger Hilary said...

Toy fair? Sounds like fun. My German got as far as "Ich wohne in Monk Sherborne, in der Nahe von Basingstoke" which still gets some Germans impressed....

11:19  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Regarding the blue lights--I absolutely loathe blue Christmas lights on houses.

14:14  
Blogger C said...

Good point, Kitkat. Trees, yes; houses, no. I guess for me to be sure about them on a guy, Marcus will have to wrap himself up and take a picture. ;o)

17:19  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I second that!

(maybe he already tried that, and that's why he has all those pictures of women on this post)

19:25  
Blogger thisismarcus said...

I was going to comment but it's much more fun to stand back and let your imaginations run riot...

20:05  
Blogger thisismarcus said...

I should add that the only way you're gonna get a photo of me dressed in nothing but Christmas lights is if we trade such pictures!!

20:09  
Blogger C said...

Kitkat, I'm sure you're right! I bet he was fighting them off with a rubber hose or some other such non-conductive material. Oooh. I said hose. Was ist das grosse ding da? *snickers in a juvenile manner and runs off to get the Christmas Lights*

##Marcus quails in terror. Will he actually have to reciprocate?? :oD##

Forgive me. Been writing smut today. Someday it will pay.

21:17  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

I'm quite sure he was "fighting" them off with some kind of hose--rubber or otherwise. Hah. Smut is fun!

Marcus, don't make empty threats. I swear I'll do it!

01:03  
Blogger C said...

He's hiding now, Kitkat! (or else he has a life - D'oh!)

Shall we double-team him? }:->

Do you have any blue lights? I don't. Do you think he'll weasel out of it on a technicality if the lights aren't blue?

Then again, maybe he's out buying blue lights right now. . . Wheee! :oD

02:10  
Blogger thisismarcus said...

The lights don't have to be blue. If I think some more about what I want to get out of this, there don't even actually need to BE any lights :).

10:01  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Welcome back. I'm a little lost but is good to have something to read. So who are the women then...?

Hope you had fun!

Tone

13:17  
Blogger C said...

No lights?! Brave Marcus! You realise the standards will apply to you as well, nein?

04:20  

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