#TBDZA

I found out about the Twitter Blanket Drive last year. #TBDZA was all over my Twitter timeline so I did my little bit for charity and bought a few blankets and dropped them off at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Rosebank.

I was amazed at how many blankets were donated from a simple request started by @melanieminaar on Twitter. One tweet requesting that the South African twitter community donate blankets to those in need resulted in 700 blankets in 2010 and an impressive 2 700 blankets in 2011.

The power of social networks seems to just grow stronger. This year, volunteers have already come forth with their ideas on how to increase blanket donations and create drop-off points in various suburbs around the country to make it even easier to donate. There’s even a drop-off point in Zim.

If you want to get involved, visit www.twitterblanketdrive.co.za for more information on the drop-off points close to you. Also don’t forget to attend one of the National Tweetups on 26 May 2012 to meet some tweeps and appreciate the sheer number of blankets collected.

As for my bit for charity, for every new follower on my blog, I will donate a blanket to #TBDZA. So look at the right of the screen, see that Followers block, click on Join this site. It’s currently sitting at 8 followers. By 26 May, I will make my blanket donation that is at least equal to number of additional followers my humble blog has gained.

Oh and while #TBDZA makes charity seem fun and exciting, let’s not forget that one-third of our population lives in poverty. While winter may bring thoughts of snuggling under a blanket sipping hot chocolate, for many it is a time where keeping warm comes with a very real risk of asphyxiation and shack-fire deaths from the use of gas heaters in poorly ventilated homes. Donate as many blankets as you want to. We may not be able to rescue everyone off the cold streets but keeping as many people as warm as possible will make a difference in their lives.

When it’s cold, I find myself praying for those that don’t have a warm bed. This winter, you may be able to give a child the gift of sweet dreams.

Always the girl friend, never the girlfriend

You know what’s the cool thing about women? Women get to have platonic friends. "He's my pal, he's my bud, he's my pla-ton-ic friend. I love him like a brother. He's my bud – my platonic friend."

Men don't have platonic friends okay. We just have women we haven't fucked yet. As soon as I figure this out, I'm in there!

I mean, we got some platonic friends, we all do. I got some platonic friends but they are all by accident. Every platonic friend I got is some women I was trying to fuck. I made a wrong turn somewhere and ended up in the friend zone. “Oh no! I'm in the friend zone!" – Chris Rock

The friend zone: a deathly pit of torture that every guy avoids and yet finds themselves stuck in at some time or the other. Guys lament all the time about chicks they are pursuing who think of them as nothing more than friends. They complain about it so much that the friend zone is considered this dungeon that all women create to keep the guy friends in that they don’t want to date. A male friend zone apparently doesn’t exist.

Guys supposedly never create a friend zone. So does this mean every girl who comes into their lives is eligible for their affections - be it romantic or physical? Therefore a girl can get any guy she wants as long as she has boobs – especially if the guy she’s interested in is a friend, right? My unsuccessful love life does not bear testament to this. I’ve been friend zoned many a time and so have a number of girls that I know. My theory is that girls just keep it on the down low. Also, it’s sexier when girls believe they can attract anyone they want so they don’t complain to keep up appearances.

Men are generally the pursuers. As such they are usually the ones who befriend a girl they are interested in. Deciding power is in the approached girl’s hand as she then choses whether she wants to date the dude or not. That’s why the friend zone is thought of a female creation – because men approach women who ultimately have the deciding power. But this isn’t how people necessarily meet.

Girls and guys meet all the time – through work, mutual friends, hobbies, etc. They may not necessarily meet in a bar where one is interested in the other. Feelings may develop over time and girls too become interested in guys who may not necessarily feel the same way. Here a guy could very well be the one with deciding power when a girl confesses her attraction to him. It is rather ridiculous to assume that he will automatically seize the opportunity of being her man purely because he doesn’t have a friend zone to put her in. He will think about it in a similar way that girls think about it their suitors. If he decides he isn’t interested in pursuing a romantic relationship with her, she too can be friend zoned.

So guys, stop complaining. You’re not the only ones serving time in the friend zone dungeon. Girls are in there too. We just don’t complain about it as much.