The Blacksheep List of Alternative Date Ideas That Don’t Suck Pt2

*All of these ideas are Cape Town specific

Going to your local mall and watching a movie is over-rated, uncomfortable and damned expensive for what it is. Ster-Kinekor has just raised their prices to R50 - R62 for a 2D movie and R66 - R79 for a 3D movie (EXCLUDING GLASSES)- add popcorn and a drink to that price and you may as well cancel all future dates and declare bankruptcy.

In my last instalment, I was adamant that if you asked me on a first date to the movies, I’d instantly judge you and unceremoniously decline. I have since learnt that there are some exceptions to that rule. The following movie venues don’t suck and would make for a pretty above-average date idea.

The Pink Flamingo Cinema

The Grand Daddy Hotel is known mainly for its luxury themed rooftop trailer park but it is not the only epic thing about this quirky hotel. Among their seven vintage Air-stream trailers, conveniently located right next to their sky-bar, lies the Pink Flamingo Cinema.

This 35 seater cinema is a fool-proof way to score major points all year round as it is cooled in summer and heated it winter with blankets to snuggle under also added into the mix. It's swanky as hell and a great place to bring someone if you have little personality and need to impress someone into liking you.

For R100 rand you’ll get a welcome drink, a bag of sweets and popcorn which is significantly cheaper than a shitty movie at a commercial movie house. If you are looking to get a bit fancier then R250 will get you all that and a picnic basket full of gourmet treats.

Check out their cult movie line-up and book your spot here

The Gallileo Open Air Cinema

Besides the fact that I still hold a grudge against them because they cancelled their Star Wars Marathon last year, Gallileo Open Air Cinema is still a firm favourite date option of mine. As well as being able to watch movies under the stars, you are also sitting in gorgeous outdoor venues making it a tough decision whether to watch the movie or the scenery or just furiously make out with your date because it's just all so damn romantic. 

The cinema has set up shop in four different places which host movie nights on different nights of the week.

• Tuesday evenings at Hillcrest Quarry
• Wednesday evenings at Kirstenbosch Gardens
• Thursday evenings at V&A Waterfront Croquet Field

Watching a classic under a ceiling of stars at the V&A Waterfront Gallileo Open Air Theatre ,

A new venue has now opened up on in the Winelands which is open one Saturday a month. I would incorporate this into a leisurely (read: boozy) weekend trip to the Winelands (Check out Fairview for well-priced wine and cheese tasting). Everybody loves a good mini-break although it may be a bit overwhelming for a first date.

At R80 a ticket, it's not going to break the bank and is on a par (price-wise) with uncomfortable commercial movie houses. There are a couple of sneaky extras which I feel could be included in the ticket price, like the R10 for a blanket or R20 for a chair. The good news is that you are more than welcome to bring your own food and drink and if you forget, there are food vendors that supply a variety of different  tasty treats.

You can book and check out their website here.

The Labia Theatre

I am an absolute sucker for old school charm and alcoholic Slush Puppies, both of which can be found at The Labia Theatre on Orange Street in Cape Town.

The name is, in fact, NOT a tribute to female genitalia but instead an homage to Princess Labia of Italy. She turned the former Italian embassy ballroom into a venue where plays could be performed. The Cinema was then turned into an independent theatre and for the last 65 years has been a haven for a more alternative crowd of movie-goers.

The vibe and passion of this old cinema more than makes up for the not-so-great sound and less-than-comfortable seating. Did I mention the Chocolate bar which serves all the normal movie treats as well as alcoholic Slush-Puppies (I highly recommend the Orange Cocktail Slush Puppy), the cosy coffee shop and fully stocked bar?

The Labia Theatre, 68 Orange Street, Gardens, Cape Town.

The best part is the price. Students get in for R25 and the rest of you will pay just R30. It gets better though: the theatre offers many movie and dinner specials in conjunction with Societi Bistro, Divas, Kauai and The Ocean Basket. A dinner and movie for two will cost you just under R100!

Fun fact: The owners wanted to call the bigger and smaller theaters Labia Majora and Labia Minora respectively but decided against it when they realised that there are a lot of righteous old prudes in Cape Town that would probably boycott them.

Check out the movies and specials here. 

If you don't bore the pants off your date with a lousy choice of activities, dates can be the gateway to a myriad of wonderful things. Keep your eye on my blog for the next installment and please comment with your date ideas that don't suck.

The Blacksheep List of Alternative Date Ideas That Don’t Suck Pt1

*Some of these ideas are Cape Town specific

You only live once; it is on the lips of all the most obnoxious teens and used ironically by way too many a Twitter account. But just like all the most annoying clichés that we have thrown at us on a daily basis- it has its merit. In the spirit of this annoyingly overused acronym, I will be damned if I waste another two hours of my life in a less-than-comfortable movie house wondering whether or not my date will dig up enough courage to do the yawn and reach.  No, I choose to do things that are a little less predictable. These alternative date ideas can be used for first dates or even just to add a little life to your weekly date night.

Small disclaimer: I suggested going metal detecting to my last prospective date and I haven’t heard from him in 3 weeks so suggesting these ideas MAY result in you being forever alone.

Geocaching

Geocaching, simply put, is a modern day treasure hunt or a game where grown-ups use multi-billion dollar military satellites to look for Tupperware hidden in the woods. But seriously, with 6 million Geocachers and 2,408,406 caches worldwide, this hugely popular pastime is actually really enjoyable and addictive.

People hide caches (usually a Tupperware box filled with cool shit) and then post its coordinates on the Geocaching website. There are many different types of caches but the most common ones are containers that have small items that people can take and replace with a new object- sometimes these are themed, like the book cache. There will also be a logbook to sign.

Geocaches can be filled with anything, recently there was a philanthropist in California who used Geocaching as a way to give away money- read about it here

To get started you will have to sign up on the website and download the free app on your phone. Use the online map to find caches in your area and then use your smartphone to find the spot that the coordinates lead to. Your smartphone will only take you so far (within a couple of meters of the cache), you will then have to work out the hints or puzzles provided to find the actual treasure.

This is a great idea for a date because you both have a shared goal to work towards together, coupled with the fact that the thrill of the find will secrete oxytocin- which will make that victory kiss all the more magical (and probable).

Get drunk and go to the museum

The only semi-socially acceptable museum for you to do this at in Cape Town is the Iziko South African Museum- (definitely not the Holocaust or District Six museums). Between the Crappy Taxidermy worthy stuffed animals and the truly laughable dinosaur models, you are sure to get a few photo gems to document your date. Find dark corners (of which there are many) to make out in and maybe even learn a thing or two about the history of our country while you’re at it.

One of those inexplicable photo opportunity gems that I was telling you about

Opening times: Monday - Sunday: 10am to 5pm, closed on Christmas Day and Workers Day.

25 Queen Victoria Street | Gardens | Cape Town | +27 (0)21 481 3800

Sunrise Picnic

I have been dreaming of making this particular date a reality for a while now. You wake up moerse (read: very- for the non SAffers) early so that you can  fry up some bacon and eggs and deposit them into a couple of croissants. Then fill up your flask with life-giving coffee and bundle up with your sexiest blizzard-proof jacket so that you can head out to the beach (or rooftop) before the sun rises. Bring along a lantern or one of those magical Consol light jars and a gigantic, snuggly blanket and you can start your date while reveling in one of those most spectacular sights that happen to occur every morning (usually while you are still dead to the world).

The Half-half Date

One of you gets to organise the food/restaurant and the other organises the entertainment. The catch is that neither of you know the other half of the date until the day/night in question. You could also decide to each pick something you've never done/ somewhere you've never been. Dates are about getting to know each other and the best way to do that is to go through a “first time” together. You get to impress your date with your ingenious ideas and superior taste while simultaneously getting to know a bit more about them.

Cereal and Cartoons

I once read a thread on Reddit about pick-up lines and a woman told her story about how she was sitting at a bar and a kid with Down Syndrome asked if she wanted to hear his pick-up line, she said yes and he then delivered the smoothest line I have ever heard: “Do you want to come to my house to eat cereal and watch cartoons?”. If a guy asked me that I would find it very hard to resist. Make a date out of it by arriving at 9am in your pyjamas and a box of your favourite cereal and a hard drive full of your favorite childhood cartoons.  You can tell a lot about a person by the cartoons he/she watches and the way they react when you slurp your cereal milk in front of them.

I spent 20 minutes on this homage to cartoons and cereal.

 All these ideas insure that, even if your date doesn't end up being right for you, at least you didn't waste your time getting to know them doing things that weren't interesting. You can’t sit back waiting for adventure to happen to you- you have to make it happen. Please comment if you have any other alternative date ideas that don’t suck or if you have successfully (or disastrously) tried one of my suggestions and you want to share your experience. Part two coming soon!

Hungry Enough To Eat A Horse? Do It.

One awesome thing about the Internet is that we can research things that are held as commonly known facts in order to open our minds and objectively review consensus reality. We all know about the horse meat scandal that happened worldwide earlier this year and instead of blindly following the disgust and uproar that it has caused, I have decided to research the subject. I believe that we shouldn't take anything for granted and EVERYTHING should be questioned.

I recently found this infographic and it got the cogs turning.

So why don't we eat it?

Well actually a large portion of the world's population do. In China it is dried and made into biltong (jerky to you non-South Africans) and dried sausage. Japan serves thinly-sliced raw horse as a sort of sushi called Basahi. In France (its capital is also considered the world's food capital) they often prepare horse meat into steaks called Viande le Cheval. Belgium, Kazakhstan,Russia, Mexico, Mongolia, Argentina, and Sardinia ALL consider Horse meat an integral part of their diet.

So why don't WE eat it? I think it comes down to what my ex boyfriend calls "the pet factor" and what a friend of mine explained to me as the 'matter out of place' theory.

This theory simply says: In life we put things into categories and people don't like to combine these categories. For instance, horses have been used for transport, farm work and companionship for most of recorded history (obviously not in the countries I wrote about earlier) and this makes it hard for us to regard them as food. This could also be for health reasons as it is our natural instinct to avoid eating things that don't fit into the 'food' category in our head which is why it could feel unnatural. Similarly, although a bit off topic, cats don't generally like to drink water from those two in one food and water bowls as it is hardwired into them that water found near their food source/prey is usually contaminated.

 The same friend who educated me on this theory suggested that since we call cows beef and pigs pork, why don't we call horse meat "Heef" to reduce the stigma associated with it? It is a good idea although personally I think that having an alternative name for animals that we eat is ridiculous and just fuels our ignorance about the food we eat.

In a perfect world I would like to hunt my own food because I feel that if we are going to eat meat we should be able to kill it ourselves and watch that animal die while honoring them and giving thanks. We like to pretend that the meat we buy has very little to do with the adorable animals that we gush over on the internet. Supermarkets make this very easy for us by packaging meat like they do so we don't even have to give the life of that animal a second thought.

But back to horses...

I was wondering what horse meat tasted like and after some web surfing I found the following horse meat reviews:

"Horse is a versatile meat that lends itself to a variety of preparations. It has more protein, and less fat than lean beef. It tastes somewhat like a mix between beef and venison. It can be a bit sweeter than other red meats, yet still possesses a dense meat flavor with a hint of gaminess."

- The Huffington post

"It is half the price of beef and undeniably delicious. I went to a steak tasting at Edinburgh's L'Escargot Bleu bistro at the height of the scandal. Chef and patron Fred Berkmillar had packed in 12 Scottish foodies, cooks, and meat suppliers and gave us rump steaks to try. One was the best 30-day-aged Orkney beef, the other Comtois horse, farmed in the Dordogne.

You could have confused the horse with beef, but its steak — juicy, tender, just slightly gamey — won the fry-off by 12 votes to none."

-Alex Renton from The Guardian

"Horse meat is a bit sweet in taste. Some think it is a blend between beef (a cow) and venison (deer). People use it similar to the way they use beef, putting it in sandwiches, or serving it in a slab." 

-The International Bussiness Times

All in all it sounds pretty damn delicious!

If you are health conscious you will be pleased to note that horse meat contains 25% less fat, nearly 20% less sodium, double the iron and less cholesterol than high quality beef cuts, and when compared to ground beef 25% less fat, 30% less cholesterol and 27% less sodium. VIVA LA HEEF!

The problem of course was the fact that companies lied about what was in their meat products. If I pay for beef I want beef- by the same token, if I pay for horse I WANT HORSE. Another problem is that the horse meat that was used came from animals that were never intended or raised for eating. Horses raised for racing and companionship are pumped full of medication and chemicals that stay in their meat. If it was accepted in our society it would be properly regulated and that would not be a problem.

Availability of meat is subject to supply and demand and due to horse meat taboo here in South Africa and in places such as England and America. It is unlikely that we will see horse meat being sold in shops (unless it is disguised as ham).

The biggest problem I have with this uproar and categorical rejection of horse meat as an acceptable food source is that people want to push their illogical morality us and tell us that eating horse meat is disgusting and taboo.

The Death of Dialogue

As a kid I didn’t have many friends but soon found that I preferred books anyway. I soaked up facts and character histories like a sponge at a swimming pool convention. I didn’t need to experience things to know them. Instead I read hundreds of other people’s experiences and considered myself an expert. I felt superior because I knew more arbitrary information than most kids my age and quite a few adults.

 I’m pretty sure you can all see that that sort of attitude wouldn’t be very beneficial to me at school. While I was building my random thought library through hours of reading, it soon became apparent that the part of my brain in charge of social interaction was being neglected (Which is why at the age of 24 I still think it is perfectly appropriate to flirt with a guy by telling him that the price of pistachios is directly related to the fact that they can spontaneously combust and thus are a danger to transport). For a person who talks so much, I have sadly had few true conversations.

Recently somebody brought to my attention that most conversations were intersecting monologues instead of dialogues. This means that instead of really listening to what someone is saying, taking a moment to mull it over and then forming a response, we tend to half listen and then formulate what we are going to say based on our vast internal library before that person has even finished speaking. We are so used to soaking up information through reading monologues that a lot of us have forgotten the art of true dialogue. I know that I am guilty of it.

The Greek philosopher, Socrates (469-399 BC), had a very interesting view on knowledge. He strongly objected to writing, worrying that if relied on that it would destroy memory. More importantly he feared that those who learnt from reading would be misled into thinking that what they had was knowledge when in fact all they really had was data. He believed that real knowledge could only come from dialogues which require both questions and answers. Dialogue allows one to form and interrogate ideas so that actual knowledge can be extracted and truly understood. This suggests that a book could never really give you knowledge unless you had access to the author to dissect the ideas written about. In essence, all writing presents itself as a monologue.

Socrates himself never wrote down any of his thoughts but his protégé Plato (a philosopher in his own right) recorded all of his dialogues. This is one of the dialogues on the deficiencies of writing.

“[Writing] will create forgetfulness in the learners’ souls, because they will not use their memories; they will trust to the external written characters and not remember of themselves. The specific which you have discovered is an aid not to memory, but to reminiscence, and you give your disciples not truth, but only the semblance of truth; they will be hearers of many things and will have learned nothing; they will appear to be omniscient and will generally know nothing; they will be tiresome company, having the show of wisdom without the reality”

With the invention of the printing press and then the internet, writing is everywhere and everyone has access to it. There is so much information available and thrust upon us on a daily basis, from television programmes, Google to social media.  Instead of learning from actual experiences and teachers, we can get all our information off the internet and through the media. There is no need to commit things to memory because we know that we can refer to the internet for any of our information needs. Some say that we are “outsourcing our brain to the cloud” implying that technology is making us dumber because we don’t need to think for ourselves. 

So in order to combat this we need to be able to dialogue and find true knowledge – thoughts that have been dissected and proven through your own means. I think we also have to be a lot more discerning with what information we take in. An information snob if you will. 

Sherlock Holmes summed it up quite beautifully while explaining how he ‘furnished his brain attic’:

“You see,” he explained, “I consider that a man’s brain originally is like a little empty attic, and you have to stock it with such furniture as you choose. It is a mistake to think that that little room has elastic walls and can distend to any extent. Depend upon it, there comes a time when for every addition of knowledge you forget something that you knew before. It is of the highest importance, therefore, not to have useless facts elbowing out the useful ones.”

To avoid the inevitable brain clutter that we tend to pick up while reading endless amounts of 9gag, Reddit, news articles and the like, I offer you a piece of advice that I gleaned from a site called Pocket Anarchy. Treat journeys into cyberspace like most men do supermarket shopping trips: get a list, get in, buy what you need, then get out!

I think that the internet and print media is incredibly ingrained in all of our lives and it would be damn near impossible to avoid it completely. However, I don’t think that we need to be slaves to it. If we start to use technology as an aid to gaining knowledge and not as a source of knowledge then I think we will be ok. I think the trick is to truly understand the effect of mass media in order to gain power over it. Resurrect the almost lost art of dialogue and de-clutter your brain attic. 

This is what we are trying to avoid people!

The Friend Zone: Time to put on your big boy/girl pants.

“I do so much for this person, I listen to them and I am here when they need me. I am nice and I make an effort but they don’t notice me and just want to be my friend. All (insert gender here) suck.”

I see variations of this comment very often, the internet is full of friend zone references. There are forums dedicated to it, memes outlining the pure injustice of it all and many WikiHelp articles telling us how to GTFO* of this dreaded purgatory-like state and into the arms/heart/bed of that special someone. As such, the friend zone has become steeped in negative connotations.

As a woman that has both been ‘friend zoned’ more than once in her life and as someone who has had to friend zone quite a few men lately, I would like to say that this mentality is frankly quite pathetic. So you got rejected by someone? Yes it hurts, but we all go through it and is it really their fault for not being attracted to you? Oh, so they want to be your friend because they actually care about you? What a shitty thing for them to do!

This meme is called Friend Zone Fiona. The top caption typically shows something that someone would say to their love interest and then contrasted by the bottom line that shows that she is actually just a friend. It is a passive aggressive way for men (women have other memes) to bitch about how unfair the friend zone is. I personally think that these men should pull up their big boy pants and see that this chick actually sounds like a pretty legit friend.  

Pop culture describes the ‘friend zone’ as a platonic relationship where one person wishes to enter into a romantic or sexual relationship while the other doesn’t. It is generally considered to be a rather lamentable situation by the one that wants more (and let’s face it, unrequited love always is pretty lamentable). The term 'friend zone' was coined by the writers of Friends way back in 1994 in an episode called 'The Blackout' where Joey refers to Ross as "The mayor of the friend zone" when describing his relationship with Rachel. As someone who has been a fan of the gang from Central Perk since I was 8, I am forced to forgive the writers since I am convinced that they didn't know what they were starting.

I am not denying that there are many selfish people who intentionally lead you on so that they can keep you around to stroke their ego, those people are douche-bags and you are better off far away from them. I am not wasting my energy talking about them.

Some men and women who claim to be in the friend zone believe that they are entitled to relationship because they have been kind and caring and then place blame on the other person for not wanting a relationship. What crap is that? Everyone has a right to choice in that situation. There should be no pressure or feelings of obligation to return those feelings. Similarly, if someone does say no to you, it doesn’t make them an awful person- especially if you two are supposedly friends. 

Here is an example of the negative ranting about this dreaded friend zone that is littered throughout the Web.

 (as seen on Urban Dictionary).

 There are so many reasons that someone may not want to start a romantic or sexual relationship with you and surprisingly enough, some of those reasons aren’t even personal. Sometimes people are going through issues and actually cannot deal with the thought of being in a relationship, or maybe they are looking for a boyfriend or girlfriend to play a different role than the one you can provide (or maybe you should just stop wearing that ultra-lame fedora). 

I love my male friends. I have held them through the worst times, listened to every girl problem under the sun and will do nearly anything for them without expecting anything in return. Assuming or wanting sex to happen with a friend show that your motives are not friendship based and maybe you should re-evaluate your view of what being friends actually means. If you don’t want to be in someone’s friend zone then DON’T be their friend. Friendship is a beautiful gift; the friend zone is a choice.

I apologise if I come off sounding a bit harsh but I am sick of guys and girls complaining about being ‘put in the friend zone’. If we didn’t ‘friend-zone’ most men/women then we would all be considered Slutty mcWhoresons and we wouldn’t have many friends.

It could be for the best. Who wants to be with someone that doesn't want to be with them?

Now don’t get me wrong, I know it is hard and heart breaking to be passed over as a romantic interest. I have done my time in a thought prison built on “what ifs” (this is coming from a girl who has read 'He's Just Not That Into You' about 10 times). But I think there comes a time where one needs to cut out for the sake of self-preservation. Maybe downgrade your ‘friend’ status to that of an acquaintance- your ‘friend’ could be offended or confused by your actions but you can’t control how you feel just like they can’t control how they feel and you can explain it to them if needs be.

Also consider the fact that you are tying up your feelings by staying friends with someone who doesn’t want anything more. You could possibly be passing up the opportunity of developing another relationship with someone who is going to give you what you deserve by staying in this victim-like state. Do you really want to be filled with jealousy and frustration when you see him/her enjoying life with someone else?  Nope? Didn’t think so.

*Get the fuck out 

Paying Attention To Distraction

 "There's no shell script, there's no fancy pen, there's no notebook or nap or Firefox extension or hack that's gonna help you figure out why the fuck you're here. That's on you" - Merlin Mann

Ok Kelly, close your email tab. Good girl… Now just check to see if there are any comments on Facebook since you checked 3 seconds ago. Close that too. Nearly there!  Now just kill 9gag, Twitter, Reddit and that article about the origin of Nyan cat and then you’ll be all set. All gone? Well done. Now you can sit down and concentrate on writing your blog post about distraction. Ironic, isn’t it? 

I am going through a breakup. As you all know, they can be pretty tough. My usual way of dealing with this sort of thing is to immerse myself in cute but forgettable images of baby animals in various human disguises, or to post statuses with painfully transparent lyrics in an attempt to get my friends to understand the depths of my agony. Other times I would form new Facebook based friendships and immerse myself in them. These distractions allow me to avoid the obvious unpleasant realities.

The good news is that I am older and a little bit wiser (I would like to think) and I have enough brains to question whether my old methods served me well or whether I should try something new. The question on my mind is: are distractions always a bad thing? 

My uncle explained to me the theory of unfinished cycles. Humans have a finite amount of attention. When we abandon a process that has caught our attention and go onto the next, we have less attention to devote to a new task. Facebook, Twitter and everywhere else on the web that acts as platforms for interaction can make it impossible to complete certain cycles since you are always waiting for a reaction to something you have posted or a reply to a message. This makes it difficult to be present and fully aware.

With the rise of the internet, which brings with it plenty distraction and oceans of information, people have started to name the situation that we are facing as “The Poverty of Attention”. Years before the inventors of Google were even born, an economist by the name of Herbert A Simon succinctly described our current plight: “What information consumes is rather obvious: it consumes the attention of its recipients. Hence a wealth of information creates a poverty of attention and a need to allocate that attention efficiently among the overabundance of information sources that might consume it”. 

While this argument has merits, I believe that the internet – through the wealth of knowledge it provides – can also offer constructive pathways for focussed change. The internet does not necessarily only consume, it can also give.

 Last week I wrote a post on how social media can kill relationships. In the post I highlighted the importance of being mindful when using the internet to distract from introspection and working on yourself but, during a 3 hour hike, I realised that some form of distractions are not only healthy, but incredibly necessary.

Our primitive brains are always on the lookout for threats, both physical and emotional. Distraction can give you a break from these threats in order to come back to them once you have gathered enough strength to face them. The key is moderation and mindfulness.

Through Facebook I found a free fitness group that was going on a hike the very next day after my break up. I didn’t know anyone that was going but I realised that in order to keep swimming I needed to take my mind on a bit of a holiday and stock up on serotonin. Three hours, 50 gallons of sweat and a mini asthma attack later I was in higher spirits and ready to face reality and sit with my thoughts. Without Facebook, I would not have had this opportunity.

Edward de Bono has a great theory. He said that creativity requires breaking rigid thought patterns. He explained that when you think a certain thought more than once, a neural pathway is created and the more you think that thought (or a similar one) that particular pathway is thickened and strengthened, making it easy to surrender yourself to a certain way of thinking over and over again.

Now what I am trying to communicate here is that when you are going through changes in your life there is a forced breakdown of neural pathways that are nice and thick from daily use. Not automatically using those well-established pathways can be incredibly hard. For example, when I stopped smoking I had to surrender to the neural pathways linked to smoking breaking down. I then had to build new ones by thinking new thoughts until they become natural and the old pathways fell away. So basically, if you keep thinking and doing the same old things, you will never give yourself the opportunity to change. 

While I may be dealing with sadness right now, I am also revelling in the incredible feeling of my mind opening and in a strange way it is kind of beautiful. I can feel the neural pathways that were used to a certain way of living crumbling and collapsing on themselves. I am suddenly forced to be the town planner of my own head.  I can choose which thought patterns I want to get rid of and which I want to develop. It would be a tragedy if I chose to clog my mind up with too many distractions like Nyan cat and baby manatees. On the other hand, habits like hiking and meditation, accessed through the internet, are undoubtedly healthy.

Life changes shouldn’t be ignored by immersing yourself in distractions all the time. These are times to find your own definitions of things without the input of consensus reality (a la Facebook). However, shutting yourself off from the world’s wealth of knowledge and experience can also be detrimental since our jobs and social lives do depend on a degree of connectivity. Let the internet be a tool: use the creative energy that distractions spark to inspire focussed change. Allow yourself the opportunity to do the town planning in your own head.