Archives for posts with tag: mood

moving on

Now we are at this stage again…. the Dedes are getting impatient with me! We had the big book launch, which went very well, thank you. And then they went quiet again. It’s coming up to Christmas and the Dedes will soon have their fourth anniversary. When I reminded them of that and asked what they wanted to do to celebrate it,  Snotty Nosed Prince thew his hands up in disgust. “Four years! We should be more well known by now. What have you done in all those years, girl?” And he had support from the others. “You are useless as an artist, I think we should sack you!” Loudmouth crowed angrily and didn’t waste any time packing my suitcase.

I couldn’t take it anymore, “Well,” I said when I left the studio, “writing a book is the easy part, marketing it is much more difficult.” Personally, I think they should be a bit more supportive and come up with some ideas themselves. After all, I am only one person and there are 64 or so of them.

Carly sent me the images she took at the launch of The Artist’s Survival Cookbook. It was so difficult to whittle them down to a few. I am really impressed. Click on any of the images to enlarge and see the slideshow. (c) carlyphotography.co.nz

 

yeast plait

Today is baking day. We are making a couple of items so we have something to offer before the first bread will come out of the oven tomorrow. Early this morning we started off with a yeast plait, and would you believe it, it got slightly burned around the edges. Cash Cow was very unhappy and her initial thought was, she will have to do it again, we can’t take that thing to our event. Alien, who has a very sunny disposition tries to talk her out of it. In his opinion nobody will notice once it is cut up. I don’t know. I leave them to sort it out :)

I use my oven all the time and it really should not have happend. This of course makes me wonder how the two ovens a the church will behave. I never used them before. We might head towards disaster.

And while I am writing this in a disgruntled mood, can anybody tell me where the spellcheck function in WordPress is hiding now? I can’t find the button, or am I the only one who needs a spell-checker?

packing up

Now I am getting nervous. The book launch is on Saturday and I have made plenty of lists: What I have to take, what I have to buy, what I have to ask others to help me with and so on.

Yesterday I had to swing by the venue again because all of a sudden I realised I don’t even know where the toilets are and then I was told the fridge is broken. So I will have to organise a chilly bin for the milk and the butter. I don’t have one of those.

Today I went to the shops to buy flour. Surprisingly, the 1.5 kg bags were more economical, because they were on special this week. So I bought 8 packets of white flour and 4 packets of whole meal. The lady at checkout was so curious, she couldn’t resist asking me what I was doing :). I knew that will happen. Honestly who would buy 12 packets of flour in one go. It wasn’t really that cheap that it justified hording. So I gave her an invitation to the launch.

The worst thing is, I have absolutely no idea how many people will show up. I have had some replies to my emails and a lot of people said it is a great idea. I didn’t ask for RSVP as it would make it too official and I really would like for people to just drop by.

halloween

Hermit’s Web was the first public appearance of the Dedes, and someone recommended I should write a blog to keep track of their progess. After the book was published the story continued here. The blog really helped me to find out, what I am doing. To be honest, the puppets don’t have much bite. They are funny in a very subtle way. Sometimes I might be the only one who gets their jokes :). For me it is all about understanding where people come from and how they tick. I don’t care if others deem the puppets silly. I love them. They are a brilliant tool to keep me sane.

This picture was taken on Halloween two years back. I am not a big fan of Halloween, but obviously the Dedes are. (Note: you certainly guessed it, they are all wearing masks with my face on it. Pretty scary!)

empathy

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 :)

group image small

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?

more exercise

It is the end of the week. Hurrah! Next week I am back to part-time work, finally. I am so looking forward to continuing on the Artist’s Survival Cookbook. For now I am still watching Millie doing her air acrobatics.

exercise

Millie is surprisingly agile and she uses her rope to do acrobatics. I really like how content she looks.

recouperation

While she was recuperating Millie sat mostly on her rafter and observed what was going on below her in the classroom. There is still a little wound visible on her tummy. She is wearing her leash as a safety harness so she won’t fall off.