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Ultimately…

September 15, 2012 //
2

Further to my post of yesterday… I had a few conversations since and I realised I wasn’t entirely clear in what I’ve said.

It is very sad, but ultimately I think (and this is my very own cheerless opinion) we are alone in the world. I believe there is no way, one human being can ever completely know and comprehend another living being (often we don’t know ourselves). At the same time we crave for others to understand our individuality, we are searching for closeness, for acceptance. We want to be understood, we want to be looked after, we want others to help us carry our burden and share our plight. We want  for someone to complement what we are lacking. We want, we want, we want… But of course on our terms… People are selfish! But if we wouldn’t look after ourselves who would?

I can understand that humans look to Him and find solace. We are here on borrowed time and only once, so we have to make the best of it! There might be re-incarnation. I don’t know. I will find out one day. In the meantime I try to be nice to people. I say I try, as it doesn’t always work this way… I have no influence on how people perceive me. They might not like my frown lines, they might not like the pitch of my voice or my accent… all things I can’t change, and I shrug my shoulders and say: their problem not mine… On the other hand, if somebody is grumpy… How do I know what happened to them before we bumped into each other? Maybe their wife just left them, or their father had a car accident, or their child was diagnosed with an untreatable disease. Their grumpiness might not have anything to do with me at all…

It is this split second of eternity in which we meet and make a decision about whether we like or dislike a person. Scaaaaryyyy! And, be honest, once we have formed an opinion about someone it is very, very difficult to change.

To cut a long story short, what I am advocating is, find yourself a person who has similar values as you have, fall in love with this person and note, IN love is a completely different feeling than love itself. Being in love is a wonderful folly, and a period of exaggeration and best behaviour. Love itself is a feeling that has to be nourished to grow, a feeling of warmth despite all the flaws, the farts and burps. If it is allowed to grow it will lead to the ultimate trust… in the acceptance  of two people in their individuality and differences. And this is what I mean by soul mate.

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Categories Art, Life, Relationships

My secret to Happiness

September 14, 2012 //
5

First a warning: Most people actually don’t want to be happy –  as truly happy people are so, so boring. What makes life interesting are the spikes, not equilibrium.

I have learned to embrace my ups and downs. I have learned that the proverbial brick wall stops me only temporarily. I don’t have to force my way through it, there is always a way around it. Finding  this detour often requires a pause, to sit down and ponder.

On my personal list of happiness there are only two items, and they are by no means fame and riches. On my list is one item you should have and one you shouldn’t. Not too difficult, is it?

The item you absolutely need to have is a soul mate!

What you need to get rid of are any personal expectations you have of him/her, so that you will keep this gem  for a long long time to come!

As easy as…

Funnily enough, most of my friends seem to think the first part is the difficult one. In fact it is the second, the working on the relationship, trying not to re-model the person you’ve found to fit your ideas. Without expectation the ideas will grow together in due time :)

Then when you hit the brick wall your fall will be cushioned!

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Categories Art, Fun, Life, Relationships, Social Network

The truth?

September 8, 2012 //
6

I am staying with the Liar this morning. I read an interesting post about lying on a fellow blogger’s site (Moments Matter). The response I’d started to write got a bit too long, so I decided I pick up the subject on my own blog, particularly as it fits with yesterday’s post.

I personally gave up lying a long time ago, basically because I found lying extremely stressful. Once I realised I couldn’t keep track of who I had told what, I decided to tell it how it is/was. And voila… no more fluster! This is a very bold statement and it is of course only possible with factual lies. For example, if I say I have been to Mexico, but in fact I have never been there. The fact is wrong and ergo it is a lie. (…these lies are so easy to debunk, so why bother!).

This is the kind of lie I mentioned yesterday, when the male editor pretended to be a women. These lies are told to deliberately deceive and in my opinion are despicable.

Everything else that is not a fact, is an opinion.

If I dislike your painting/dress/new boyfriend and you ask me what I really think of it, I can always say it’s not for me, but that is just my opinion. It goes the other way round as well,  because, if you don’t lie you have to tell the truth… The big question remains; what is the truth? Most of the time the truth is just an opinion and everybody is entitled to their own. I might not like it, but I would rather hear their truth (opinion) than being told what someone thinks I might like to hear…. Uhhhuuu it’s getting really complicated now!

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Categories Art, Hand Puppets, Life

The ark

August 13, 2012 //
0

In my post yesterday I mentioned the ark we have parked in our front yard. Here is a picture of it. It is such a New Zealand thing to have a boat in the garden. Sadly you don’t see it quite as often as you used to. It was such an expression of the relaxed life-style we used to have… Still, many New Zealanders have life-time projects on the go: Restoring cars, doing up houses, building boats…

This one here is a beautifully hand-crafted wooden catamaran, built by hubby. The image is a few years old, when she had just moved back into the garden for an overhaul. It was taken in the back yard. In the meantime, a bit closer to re-launch day, she has moved around the house to the front. And she will move back into the wonderful Auckland playground, the Hauraki Gulf, before summer, to make room for our next big project…

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Categories Art, craft, Life, Photography

Scuffle

July 31, 2012 //
0

More of the  gannets today.

It was an advantage that there weren’t as many birds as there are in summer. It made it easier to observe how the birds interact with each other. They are very noisy creatures. There is constant screeching and squawking. After all, they have to out-scream the thundering water and howling wind. And if the wind comes in from the sea, the smell can become unbearable. It was an offshore wind last Sunday.

The situation in the picture here reminded me so of a schoolyard scuffle. Two birds started to have a go at each other. One was egging them on, a third one was watching from a distance. The last one pretended to only be remotely interested. His only concern seemed to be whether he had to move or could stay. They were going at it for quite a while.

Since today is more about documenting the gannets rather than an artistic interpretation, I have added another close-up image. Doesn’t he look like a winner?

I would love to have a new lens, to get even closer next time.

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Categories Art, Photography, Relationships

Puppet friends

July 5, 2012 //
2

These two, Pig and Witch, were early puppets. (If I recall correctly, Witch was the third puppet I ever made). They are a reminder of how relationships change over time. These two were really good mates once, but now they can’t stand each other. I don’t know exactly what happened, but I suspect it is because Witch turned into a health freak and a teetotaler, while Pig likes his booze. Pig is now hanging out with Professor while Witch keeps more or less to herself.

I noticed the more puppets I make the more negative (in my opinion) traits they display. The first lot of fifteen, they were my friends. They have their little quirks, the ones you just reckon with in friends. Some of them I like more, others a little less, but they are all puppets I wouldn’t mind inviting round to my place.

The newer ones are more like acquaintances. I know them, but some of them have traits I totally dislike. The worst is, that I can easily come up with these now.

I have two more books planned for later this year, early next year. The next one will be of course about Puppy the love sick stalker (by the way, he has moved back into the house and he is starting to annoy me) and the following one will be about Hermit loosing his job. Pretty sure all the negative characters will find their place in this one.

I am currently working on a puppet called Push–Push. It is one that drives her own agenda, no matter what. Along the way she tramples all over the others. Yes, pretty sure you find her at the average workplace. And then I think, I really need to get started on Procrastinator as well.

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Categories Art, Hand Puppets, Life, Relationships, Self-publishing, Social Network

One dislike

July 2, 2012 //
2

I have created twenty-six characters to date and so far have only one character I really dislike. This is Twoface.  She looks straight at you and smiles. Superficially she looks like a pleasant enough person, very non-committal though. Her response to what you say is usually: “Ah, yes” or “Really” or “Indeed.” But you know exactly she doesn’t give a toss about anything. Even worse, when you turn her around, she has a second face rolling her eyes and it is very clear she believes everybody (except for herself) is a tosser.

I haven’t incorporated her in any stories yet, but I think she will become the boss. I will only use her if absolutely necessary.

two_face roling eyesNow that I look at her second face and know that she is the boss, I feel slightly sorry for her. She must be in middle management and feels a bit of pressure from higher up. While she rolls her eyes, she does look a bit scared. But still I thoroughly dislike her behavior and I will stay clear of her as much as possible.

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Categories Art, Hand Puppets, Life, Social Network

Hurrah! It’s Saturday!

June 23, 2012 //
0

Who doesn’t love an extended breakfast on Saturday? I love it and I enjoy it even more in the company of  friends, so I invited Devil’s Advocate and Fairy Godmother for breakfast. Okay, okay, I had an ulterior motive. I’ve noticed these two are always standing together lately, whispering to each other. I am so curious about what’s going on.  As if I hadn’t enough on my mind with Lou and Skeleton Edeltraut, but after all I am only human.

So they came along and they are a lovely couple indeed. You can tell they have a lot of respect for each other and they really care.

Unfortunately it wasn’t long before the subject changed to Lou and Skeleton Edeltraut (Mouse did a brilliant job spreading the gossip). My visitors were interested in my point of view.

“I don’t want to favour either of them” I started. “But you can’t remain sitting on the fence” Devil’s Advocate interrupted me  immediately. “Amongst friends you have to have an opinion! There is no way around it. Otherwise you will be nobody’s friend!”

Then they explained to me that both Edeltraut and Lou want me on their respective sides. “If you are not on their side” Fairy Godmother warned me, “they automatically think you are against them. For them you are a traitor.”

It seems the Dedes are now divided into three camps: Some side with Edeltraut, others with Lou and the third party is putting pressure on me to solve the problem and giving me advice on how I should do it. And this is by far the biggest group.

“Can’t you do anything about it?” I asked Fairy Godmother. “Oh no, that’s not my department!” she waved her hand, “you better ask Witch.”  Then she clarified the difference between her and Witch. Fairy Godmother can only work on wishes for yourself (for example, if I wanted to be rich I could hire her to give it a go, but I would have to work with her), while Witch works on wishes you have for other people (for example if I’d wish the plague on Nosy Neighbour I would have to go to her and pay her to cast a spell or mix a potion). But of course neither of them guarantees success.

“So,” I asked her out of interest, “did Lou come and see you?”

“I couldn’t discuss my client base with you” she said in a quite unfriendly manner.

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Categories Art, Fun, Hand Puppets, Life, Social Network
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