Last Sunday I grabbed two of my puppets and together we made the best bun recipe from page 32. Just to prove that it is that simple. I hope you like it, it would be great if you could share. It is such a great Christmas present. Buy a bag of flour, a wooden spoon and the Artist’s Survival Cookbook and you can make someone a really happy kitchen god(ess).
Archives for category: Absurd
Self-regulation is the last pillar of emotional intelligence. It is absolutely wonderful when you have all these skills, unfortunately not everyone has them and there are people who will take advantage. It is important to know when to step back and let go. Smile when you can’t make a change. Show emotions when it is safe and helps the team.
I have read a lot about emotional intelligence lately and so far I only came across one article that said it is all a load of crap. In this particular article it said the bullies will walk all over you. I still think it is good to stand-up against bullies, or at least try. They will hate you, when you don’t bow to them and will step it up big time. The sad thing is, when management supports bullying behaviour, simply because it is easier not to look too closely what’s wrong with a place. When it starts to affect your health though, it is best to get out. Life is too short!
The first shipment of the Artist’s Survival Cookbook has arrived. Just in time for the Indie bookfair at the Northshore Event Centre this weekend. For all my overseas friends… the book is now available at Amazon. I haven’t quite figured it out, but they already discounted the book, strange. It is also available on the CreateSpace Store, but here it is my intended price. This is one way of robbing the author of their royalties. Why would anybody buy it on CreateSpace when you can get it cheaper from Amazon, and the shipping is also cheaper there too. Grrrrr. But that is not what I wanted to write about!
The Indie bookfair was a very intersting affair. The exhibitors were small publishing houses, self published authors and companies that offer publishing services for those who want to become published authors. The visitors were mainly the latter or people who knew someone who was exhibiting. So there weren’t many sales to be had all around. I had prepared little bags with one bean plus a Dede instruction card on how to grow the bean, and on the back there was info about the book . At least the visitors were very happy to take the little gift and hopefully they will grow the bean and look up the book on Amazon (slim chance though, but I got some attention). As I was invited by my friend Dee to share her stall, I still came out ahead and Dee herself didn’t do too badly. We both made good contacts with people we can work with in future. And that is invaluable. The comments about the puppets were also nice. A few people knew the puppets from their exhibition and from puppet month last year, so they are little celebrities in their own right.
Personally, I get anxieties when I see so many people in one place all wanting to sell their books. I am pretty sure every single one is worthwhile reading and everyone poured their lifeblood into their work and then there I am, with a book too and wanting to sell it! I think I will have to retreat and play with my puppets again for a little while :)
Empathy is compassion and understanding of human nature. It enables you to respond genuinely to others’ concerns. Empathy doesn’t mean you take on other people’s fights, rather you support them to find their own way. Think about why you are fighting for something: is it because someone else wants you to, or it will benefit you or benefit the wider society (this come back to self-awareness and motiviation).
Playing with puppets is a wonderful tool to understand where others are coming from. But understanding is not everything, sometimes it simply makes you sick when you clearly see injustice, but can’t do anything about it. The heart bleeds, when you have to watch helplessly how some people in a powerless postition are walked over by people with self-serving motivation. I have been in this situation for the last 15 month. I tried what I could, but finally had to walk away. The bully was simply stronger (they usually are). At least I know that the people I supported will remember me for the rest of their lives even though I couldn’t help in the end. As life is closely entwined with my art, I have decided that my next book will be an Emotional Intelligence workbook by the Dedes. But first I have to find my creativity and my humour again :)
After my late-breaking news yesterday, I am back with my Pecha Kucha presentation about “Why I play with puppets”. Okay, here is the first pillar of Emotional Intelligence: Self-awareness.
This is an understanding of who you are and taking responsibility for your actions. Knowing your own strengths and weaknesses and how your actions affect others. It is not the same as being self-centred. Self-centred people believe the world ows them. Sorry guys, it doesn’t. But don’t worry, when you are in you late teens or early twenties, you are allowed to be a little self-centred as you have to find out who you really are, not who your parents and peers and teachers try to tell you you are. By the end of your tweens the self-centredness should have morphed into self-awareness. If not – it’s time to get worried!
I am getting very close now making my famous Artist’s Survival Cookbook available on CreateSpace. After puppeteer-friend Tony had a good read and made correction, the lovely Heather went over the whole thing again with a fine comb. I have entered the latest changes and uploaded the complete file again. That is it now! In the meantime I have created a preview on CreateSpace. Everyone can look at and review the book here: https://www.createspace.com/Preview/1177728
There is an independend book festival on first weekend in October. My garden guru friend Dee has organised a stall and offered to share it with me. I also have seen the first proof copies from CreateSpace and I am happy with the print result. You guys can not believe how excited I am right now!
So what does Emotional Intelligence mean? To say it in the words of a layperson: it is the ability to put yourself in someone else’s shoes without being walked over.
And this is where the puppets have been invaluable for me. Here Devil takes measure of my feet to see if the shoe fits. To come up with all the puppet stories, one has to be an excellent observer and understand human interaction.
Before I go on I will quickly run through the 5 pillars of Emotional Intelligence. These are the traits employers are looking for:
- Self-awareness
- Motivation
- Empathy
- People skills
- Self-regulation
I will explain those in the next slides.
I have finally uploaded the Artist’s survival cookbook to CreateSpace and ordered two copies. It is not available for purchase yet. The next step is to proof the quality of the images. I have printed two copies here on two different digital printers and both came out a bit too dark, with the blacks clogging up. Knowing how tempramental printers can be (as many small digital printers are not regularly calibrated) I have to get a print from the machine the book will be printed on. Then I’ll have to make a call on whether I need to work on the images to improve the result.
In the meantime, good old Mouse is still on Devil’s case. No matter what Devil says, Mouse is deeply concerned that he is not coping well at the moment. After enough pestering, he finally he told her what he is currently working on, just to shut her up. But she is not allowed to tell anyone else. Now this is a real test of will power for Mouse, as she is such a big gossip. Surprisingly, she has managed to keep the secret so far, though she let slip that all will be revealed by next weekend.
Mouse was shocked when she heard Devil had been bullied in his new job. The two of them had done so much together and worked really well as a team, like when they ran the Super Dede competition at Christmas two years ago. Then Devil lost his daytime job and in the aftermath he became a little withdrawn. Mouse wanted to help, but Devil begged her to leave him alone. As a good friend she respected his request and put it down to his grief, but kept an eye on him. Normally, Dedes get over set-backs in no time at all and sure enough, it didn’t take long before Devil found a new job. Everyone was excited and confident that once he found his feet in the new job, he will be back to his old self – It never happened!
Yesterday Mouse finally went to Devil and asked, “I hear you have a hard time at work. Philosopher says you get bullied”
Devil, who is very confident and assertive, looked at her for a while. “I am not sure whether you can call it that” he finally said. “Bullying is such a blanket excuse. A lot of people throw it in the ring simply because they don’t get their own way. And that is the end of any discussion, isn’t it.”
“But you have certainly lost your humour” Mouse remarked.
“Ah well, I have to get to the bottom of it somehow” sighed Devil “and that means a lot of hard, honest soul searching”
Finally, the Artist’s survival book went to the proofreader this week. I will upload the file to CreateSpace and order a copy to see what the print quality is like. Then when it comes back from proofing, I can make the changes and thunderbirds are go! I am so excited about it all. You certainly wonder what took so long. The book was basically finished two or three month ago. Well, life has been a bit of a struggle last year, hence the book. However, having no money wasn’t the main problem. Of course the Dedes live the life of their Artist. Recently they had a full Dede meeting to discuss what project should be next. Pig wanted to embark on a potato cookbook. Mouse wants to make a book on how to set up a garden in a small space and someone else suggested a book on the nutritious value of nuts, called The Artist is going nuts. Everyone was laughing, but Devil. Philosopher who is a good observer said, maybe the home economic books should be put aside for a while and the Dedes should make a book about workplace bullying. Now the room fell silent and no-one quite understood where this was coming from. It was very awkward. Devil’s eyes became watery and he said: “We have to do it, for the sake of everyone out there, who has to deal with it, but I don’t know if I am ready just yet.” Who would have thought that the Devil get’s bullied?
dedepuppets 