Don't Be Stressed Be Logical

With age comes stress. It's a thing that affects us all in some way or the other. No matter how chilled you are there will be something tiny that's scratching at the back door of your mind. 

When Twenty One Pilots dropped their single 'Stressed Out' it was real. Everything about the song is basically how I feel every day. Sometimes it would be so rad to go back to being a kid, riding around the neighbourhood ringing door bells or building tree houses. My neightbour and I built some sweet tree houses!  

Look, I'm quite the optimist as much as it annoys some people. But I truly believe that you can overcome stress with a few simple acts. 

First you need to stop everything. Stop thoughts stop actions, just stop everything around you for a second.
Secondly, take a step back as if you're in a cyberspace movie where you can view your surroundings from outside of you. Point out the stressed and list them.

Then pioritise. Something will always be more important so start with that.

At this point maybe turn on some music that will calm you a little and make you feel relaxed. Panic is not the ideal situation for stressful situations.

Take that list, and slowly find solutions. Be they big or small you'll know what's right. Think about the journey and the outcome and before you know it you'll realise that some every day stresses are simple problems you never really took the time to lay out. 

If you felt the realness of Twenty One Pilots please do download their latest album 'Blurryface' here. It's my top album of 2015, hands down. 

Life is life, we just have to live it. More often than not our stresses are things we can easily get rid of. We're just too busy to stop and think. So stop. And think. 

Be The Dinosaur You Want To See In The World

So I'm going to watch a movie on Sunday. A Disney animated film. The best part is I can take a few people with me.
I don't know anyone who doesn't enjoy a good animated film. They bring joy, song, laughter and usually endless adventure to our lives. They kind of make me want to go home and play a game based on the movie I just watched, like when I was a kid - "Hey, let's play Jungle Book Jungle Book!" 

So here's the thing. I have a set of family tickets (2 adults and 2 kids) to watch The Good Dinosaur on Sunday (13 December), 12:30 at Cavendish Square.
After seeing the trailer, I am AMPED!

To enter, comment below with your favourite Disney movie of all time. Really, it's that easy.

And hey, if you don't win the tickets you have a lot to look forward to. Like the M-net Animania Festival happening these holidays. They're giving away weekly prizes in their Dubsmash competition, which if you know anything about me, it my favourite kind of competition! 

Time Off, Jol On!

To me December is a time where traditions come around. There are things that you just end up doing because it's become habit over the years of you being here.

For the most part the best thing is the time off. The time with family and the time to sit back and do nothing. Watch movies all day, eat food all night and repeat. Not having to check your mails or answer to a boss is one of the greatest luxuries of the holiday season. 


Here's a list of things to do in and around the house if you do end up getting bored of your time off.

Eat food. 

Gather who ever is home, look up a recipe, cook it and eat it. Done.

Hang Out With The Fam.

It's the one time of the year where you deal with your family. We don't all live near them so take the time to enjoy the few weeks with them.
Invite the little cousins around for game days. Take them on adventures or take the great food you tried making and eat it with them while watching the M-Net Animania Festival. Everybody loves animated movies. Everybody knows the words to the songs and everybody has a favourite character!

Make Videos.

Take to Instagram and record the coolest Dubsmash videos you can find. This is literally one of my favourite things to do. Everyone wants to be in their own movie, even if it's only 15 seconds long.
Head over to M-Net Animania Festival's website and create a little video of your own to win some cool, cool Takealot stuff -There's a lot so do it!

Enter ALL The Competitions.

'Tis the season to win stuff. Meals, holidays, goodie bags, vouchers, discounts. You probably have way more chance of winning a competition than winning the lotto, so what do you have to lose?

Get Some Sun.

Safely, of course. South African summer is a glorious thing. Days by the pool or on the beach, sipping delightful refreshments, inviting friends over. What I'd give to do that every day of the year... Except for winter, then we'd move the jol inside. 

The list is endless. Please let me know what else we could get up to, I have a short concentration span...

How International Men's Day Should Probably Work

I clicked on the "International Men's Day" trend on twitter earlier, and while there were some tweets celebrating men and what not there were a lot of angry, revengeful tweets against the celebration of the day.

Now I'm well aware of the world and how things in society are and I agree with the difficulties women face on a daily basis, but are we not all fighting for equality in some form? Why is a day like today being used as a vessel of negativity?  Again, I understand why, but that kind of mentality doesn't make it easy for men or people in general.

I believe I have achieved some great things on my own as a man, but after seeing some of those tweets I don't want to talk about it in fear that I'll be lambasted by an army of women's right tweeters. I feel like it's almost become frowned upon to celebrate yourself as a man. 

So, instead of bashing International Men's Day why can't we all work towards encouraging men to fight for a common cause - women's rights. At the same time also let men celebrate their personal victories without schooling them on the daily hardships women face. We know, or at least I do. 

Now before you get all anti on this, remember that equality works for everything and everyone. I believe that talking down on someone and speaking angrily and even sarcastically on such a topic is not the correct approach. Open, honest and calm conversation is the way to go. I am willing to do what I have to to help those in need, but at the same time I am also human and have shit to deal with albeit more minor shit than others.

Long story (which you already ready, sorry) short - Don't be kak be lekker. If we encourage people to work together towards a common cause rather than confront them things will be a lot easier and maybe even move faster.

The world is overflowing with negativity and rage. This needs to stop. 

"Man" and "woman" both contain the word "man" because we are all human. Lame but true. 

I don't know, it's just an idea. 

High School For Adults

Maybe I'm trippin', but when I scroll through my Twitter feed I see high school.
I see cool kids, I see "nerds", I see the smarty pants, I see cliques, I see cool kids, I see passive-aggressive comments aimed at "friends" and frenemies alike. 

I often think to myself, "I'm almost 30, most of the people I interact with are aged between mid 20s to mid 30s and everyone still acts so silly". I find more people having arguments about stupid things rather than just having an unbiased, open conversation. It's all about how much more right one person can be or how hard they can school you for being wrong, well,in their eyes at least.
Why can't we just talk and teach each other lessons without having to come off better than the other person for being so "intellectual"?

Sometimes I feel like people are too scared to share their thoughts because other people might aggressively question them and attack them for thinking what they do. I know I do. It's so easy to be a tough cat on the internet, but why would you want to be? Everyone is fighting for equality but no one wants to treat people equally on an intellectual level.  

Just a thought - What if we actually spoke to each other instead of questioned each other? Reading someone's tone online is damn near impossible. But less use of exclamation marks and strategic caps can change a lot.
Maybe I'm overthinking this, but we need to learn how to talk to each other properly.

How To Not Be Kak

Every day we internet and there is kak. There are kak stories, kak music ( to some), kak photos, kak videos, kak blog posts, kak websites and kak people among other kak things. This might be one of the afore mentioned kak things, but whatever.

Here are three tips to not be kak. Be kak if you wish, but be kak on your own. 

1. Don't wake up on the kak side of the bed.

If you wake up in a kak mood do something you think isn't kak. Like eat your favourite cereal, drink coffee, have a poo or go for a run. We all have things that we enjoy doing that we think are not kak. If you struggle to find a not kak thing to do then go back to sleep until you don't feel kak anymore.

2. Don't let the kak get on you.

You get a flat tire or you shart in your pants on the way to work, or you drop your lunch on a dirty carpet. Or maybe your double capufrappelatteflatty was mistakenly made with almond milk instead of soy milk. Or your favourite bagel place has run out of Norwegian salmon and only has poppy seed bagels left. These things happen and they happen to everyone. Don't let those kak things make your day kak. It could have happened to anyone but it happened to you that one time, this is what makes life fair. Kak things happen to all people and it will inevitably be your turn at one point.
When these things happen take a step back and say to yourself, "Today IS my day. Tomorrow can only be better". A wise person once said, "Shit gets kak. Rivers flow. Deal."

3. If you want to be kak then stay off the internet. 

Hey, Baby... Don't Be A Doos

Earlier today Anja posted something on Glitz and Glamour that bummed me out a little. Okay, a lot. It's on the subject of catcallers/street harassers and really basic men.
Now I don't know about you, but this is not something I find joy in doing in my time off. In fact, even talking to girls is a little too difficult for me, never mind being all macho about it. 

There are a few things I don't quite understand about the people who do this. Maybe you can help me find some answers. Also, why don't guys talk about this more? Chivalry, guys. We should work a bit harder on reviving that.

What are you guys trying to get at? Who on science's great earth do you think you are that you think you can just go up to a woman you've never met and act like that? Maybe I lack a bit of confidence, but that doesn't sound like confidence to me. It sounds a little more like douchebaggery. "Fuckboy" isn't even a strong enough word for you guys.

Luckily I have no friends who behave as such, but if I did I'd make noise about it. So there's a nice place to start. If you hear someone, whether you know them or not, do some sort of douchy, catcalling act you need to stop them. 

I just don't understand it. Being "manly" doesn't mean you beating your chest and shout out derogatory things to women passing by. It doesn't mean following a girl for multiple blocks forcefully trying to get her number when it's clear she's not interested. Being manly is more about being polite, being respectful and knowing your boundaries. No matter who you are or who you're talking to.
Think of it as being ladylike, only the man version of it. 

I have to agree with Anja that there needs to be some sort of rule about this kind of behaviour. It must be so crap to have to prepare yourself for things like this every time you step into the street. Behaviour like that is straight up unacceptable. A swift kick to the nuts or a taser to the face isn't even strong enough immediate punishment for it.

As grown-ass men the rest of us need to stand up to each other and stop these guys from being such savages. It's not cool. You're making things crap for everyone. Some dudes genuinely want to meet and get to know girls on a civil level but are unable to because of the ever growing population of assholes. #DouchebagsMustFall

Just Say It

This morning I woke up feeling fresh and bubbly, looking forward to the day ahead. As I got in my car to leave for work I got a call from a friend to inform me that the guy I lived with for my first year in Cape Town had suddenly passed away. It was shocking news to hear first thing in the morning as I'm sure the rest of our circle of friends could agree.

He was a humble, modest guy. Always the voice of reason and smart as hell. With a knowledge of music and literature like a boss.
We moved into a flat in town together in August last year barely knowing each other. We had different tastes in music, vastly different personalities but we got on well. A year or so later I moved out and we kept in touch, but not too closely. 

So I got this call, I usually listen to music fairly loudly on the way to work, maybe record an instagram video or something on the way. But this morning I couldn't bring myself to listen to anything. Same for the rest of the day which is quite strange. Especially considering the wealth of music we shared with each other. So much I'd never heard before that I enjoyed, and visa versa. I guess that was one solid connection we had, the passion for good music no matter what it was.

I spent all day with my headphones on, not speaking much at all and reflecting on life, watching the odd fail video to distract myself. Didn't do a stitch of work as I couldn't bring myself to do any. Now I'm at home and I feel properly bummed about the situation and it upsets me even more that it takes something like the loss of a person in your life to realise just how fragile and unpredictable life can be. And I started questioning a few things...

Why are we so afraid of people? Why are we so afraid of telling the people really close to us what we think? Why when you care for someone so much is it so terrifying to tell them exactly what you think or how you feel for them? Why are we so afraid of getting hurt when we can fix that?

I'll be the first to admit that I'm not an amazing friend. The amount of times I've said to people "let's make a plan" or "we should meet up for a beer soon" is lost to me. It's been a lot. And I keep thinking it'll happen and we'll get around to it but more often than not it doesn't happen and we just end up meeting up by chance, or crossing paths on the promenade and saying a quick hello only to go back to the habit of saying we'll make a plan.

So if you're a friend of mine reading this I guess I'm sorry for all the false promises and vague plans. I hope I can make it up to you all soon. And if you're like me, let's try harder. Just know you're all in my mind regardless of us seeing each other often or not.

To Divan's friends and family - I'm so sorry for your loss. I know you all lost someone really great and unique.

To Divan - Thanks for being a newbie in town with me. We may have let dishes stack up and the house get dusty, but we had some jols, we shared some rad times so thank you for that.  


In short, let's try be more brave and speak our minds and hearts. You never know what could happen overnight or in the next minute.

I have to go hang some washing now. 

I Don't Know, So Here.

For a while I've been a bit bleh about writing. It's not that I have to write, it's because I want to. I just haven't felt strong enough about anything to write about it... but that could also be because I tweet so damn much. That's not to say I feel nothing. Real life has just been cool enough so at least I have that.

I thought I'd share a bunch of stuff that I have grown to learn through my mid to late twenties. I thought that might be a cool thing to write about. I guess it will differ for everyone, but this is by no means a "how to" on life. It's just a bunch of thoughts.
I'd be keen to hear any lessons you've picked up along your way through life. The internet is about being talky, right?

Here goes...

Good people usually attract good vibes and good food.

There's no such thing as a guilty pleasure. 

Red wine is amazing.

Pink wine isn't that bad.

Always eat the food. 

If it's free, smash it. All of it.

Don't try make friends, try keep friends. 

Craft beer really is better than "mainstream" beer, it's just way overpriced.

Two blue ticks doesn't warrant a reply right away.

Exercise. Only because getting out is great and it does make you feel great. Even if it's a one kilometre walk.

Dogs are just as cool as cats.

If you're unsure just go for it.

Use the word "moist" as much as you can.

Office politics is silly.

Try food you think you'll hate. You might just not hate it.

Writing someone a poem can better their day in a big way.

Take selfies. 

Be nice to everyone, even if you dislike them. 

If you put your phone to your ear when listening to voice notes, as you would a phone call, no one will hear your voice note but you.

Try different clothes on.

Fedoras are pretty cool.

Racism will probably never die. 

If you're full, wait a few minutes then eat more.

Someone will always think you're a dick.

Watch every live act you possibly can, you never know what might tickle your fancy.

Always bring biltong on road trips.

The word "narcissist" is very loosely used in this day and age.

Being a poes doesn't get you anywhere.

Show your butt more. We all have one.

Enjoy the small things.

Pink Steri-Stumpie is my favourite flavour.

Time sheets are a thing some of us have to deal with. 

Learning to play musical instruments is the greatest thing I've ever done.

Hashtags are #Awesome.

Not being into politics and reading loads of thought-provoking novels doesn't make you stupid.

Kanye West isn't really a dick, he's just bad at communicating.

Typos happen. 

Some pop music is a lot more intricate than you might thing.

Bird is not the word, nor is grease. They are just words and there is no one word that is the word.

Make lists.

Don't listen to everything everyone tells you.

Probably Why You Hate Brands On Social Media

So apparently the way to go about writing is to do so drunk then edit sober. Here I will attempt both in not the latter state. #YOLO.

The other day I had a thing on Twitter with someone who said community managers are making social media, more specifically Twitter, shit because of their rubbish content. While I understand where he is coming from, it is wrong. And I will attempt to explain why.

You so, community managers (social media people) are very limited in the content they post. Well, to an extent at least. The thing about social media is that it is quite a personal thing. You have people expressing their opinions and what not in a personal capacity. This leads to other people engaging in that and so on. The problem comes in when brands try and "fit in".
While brands want to be people, they are still very much brands. This is no fault of the community manager. We understand people and we understand brands, we are also hired to bridge that gap which is not alway possible. Let me explain even more...

The community manager will write an awesome content plan. A content plan is a document that basically has every post written a month prior to posting. This content plan goes through a whole process before it is approved to be put in the internet. I will explain this more now...

Step 1:
Community manager writes a month's worth of content. The posts are awesome, funny, risque in some circumstances, and very much human. This is from the perspective of a person who spends a substantial amount of time online and observing their communities - you people.
These ideas are rad for the most part. Well, I think so at least.

Step 2:
The content plan is then passed on to the next step of the process. Usually the account manager or client service person who understands where the community manager is coming from but also understands what the brand wants. They have to find a middle ground before the client receives their content plan. These people usually want to have the cool content (human stuff) happen, but unfortunately there is still one more step... They will come back to the community manager with reverts and advice on changes that will please the client. This is where it gets a bit more bleh.

Step 3:
Hold on I just need to check on my roast potatoes.

Real Step 3:
The client. 
You see, more often than not the client is a person who doesn't completely understand social media. They just know that it is important and they need it, which, in this day and age, they do.
They are usually more worried about what will sell their product, whether the content is in the "brand tone", and whether the content it is safe or not. This is where the problem lies, because these people don't always understand that social media is quite a personal thing they don't understand that the brand tone needs to be adapted to a more natural, conversational tone.

The Community Manager At This Point In The Process

Are we still on the same page?
If not, holla at me.

Ultimately you want brands to not talk to you in a generic, high level and bland tone. You want them to talk to you like you would with any of your friends or followers. The thing is that brands cover such a broad spectrum of followers that it's quite difficult to be a cool person as a brand and appeal to everyone –
Having said that, some brands have it down. Those brands are usually a lot smaller and a lot more niche so they have a better idea of who is in their their community.

A brand is very much like a musician. It has its own way of saying things, its own outlook on life. And much like musicians, not everyone likes the same music. Some people understand some types of music while others just don't because it's not their thing.
I may have gone astray, but the point is that a lot of the time so much has changed from where the Twitter post you might see compared to where it starts. In the same way that a musician might have a great idea for a song, but by the time the record label and producer sees it they will have changed it to make it work for the listener. The only difference being the client of the community manager will more often than not know less about the industry and the audience than the producer and record label will.

Are we still on the same page?
If not, holla at me.

So when you see a shitty post from a brand on Twitter, take a second to process that the original idea may have been different. Also, the person you are ranting to is not the brand, it is a human. The postman between you and the brand. 

I've lost count of the amount of times I've wanted to tell people to fuck off simply because f the horrible tone and abusive language they use. Remember, these platforms are still run by humans and these humans merely represent the brand, they are not the brand. So chill. 

Pro Tip:
The next time you see a promoted Tweet, hover your cursor over the ad, click on the little x where it says "dismiss" and you can carry o living your life.

PS.
Stay lekker.

PSS.
Jon Snow dies.