It started off as a joke. Well, Mark Francis suggested it to me as a joke.

But now maybe he knows me a little better to know that when someone suggests an idea to me, it often leads me to come up with some further idea and… Voila! We have the next three-way trade offer.

Well, two three-way trade offers happened almost simultaneously with Mark.

He was listening to 5FM and heard me chatting about the SWARM with Simon Dingle and Grant Nash. He then got in touch with me and offered me a laptop for a T-shirt (yes- one fully functional laptop- but before you get too excited, that trade has happened already) and then made this joke "I was gonna offer myself as a date… but I guess that is my imagination running wild".

Well my imagination only runs wild! ;)

I thought I would see how daring Mark is and take him up on the offer. And he came through- "Why the hell not? I think that will be fun and not a bad idea to increase my social networking."

So here it is: Mark has offered to take you on a date in exchange for one of my Springleap T-shirts. You get to go out with Mark in exchange for putting up the R219 to give Mark one of my T-shirts, and help me finish my tenth trade.

And this offer is nothing risqué . This one matchstick project has turned out to be all about people. I would never have got to where I am, and I wont get to my office space, if it weren't for the people I have met who have supported me, and the people I have yet to meet who will help me get to my end goal.

And so Mark is now one of those awesome people who is supporting me and helping me get to my office by offering to meet some new people in a fun way, and in the process help me trade some more T-shirts.

So ladies in Johannesburg, what an awesome opportunity to meet this fabulous guy! Really! I've chatted to him quite a bit and met him today, and besides being so generous, he has a presence and is full of smiles and manners and an interest in life.

Mark is also pretty sporty: he plays cricket, soccer, squash, volleyball, golf, and also enjoys kick boxing and snow boarding. He writes (you can see some of his deep pieces here) and is a romantic, believing in "love and all that jazz" (his words too!). He enjoys travelling, socialising and dancing, and he even has a thing for cooking! He spends his day as a Systems Manager for one of our big banks, and Batman is his favourite superhero because of his car.

So if you are in Johannesburg, and are interested in meeting Mark, give me a call, or pop me an email or inbox me on facebook, even tweet me, and we can finalise the details :)

• You'll get to meet Mark for just R219
• Mark will get a new Springleap T-shirt
• I'll get to have one more T-shirt traded!

So come on, make Mark and my day- CALL ME 0837302979

PS- The laptop Mark offered was a fully functioning second hand one, and Sonja Kruse (aka the Ubuntu Girl) was sitting with me when the mail came through, and jumped at the opportunity! So sooooorrry for youuuuuu! ;)

After having such fun chatting on 5FM with Simon Dingle and Grant Nash, I got this email from Roxanne of Live inc.

Hi Telana

My sister Joni and I just heard you on 5fm, we are interested in making a trade with you...

Two Civil Twilight tix for the gig in Pretoria on the 22nd Dec 2010 for two t-shirts.

Let us know if you find this suitable as we from Live incorporated would love to support your cause.

Regards
Roxanne

Live inc are an interesting company, in that they specialise in marketing fine wines and in taking all the hassle out of booking live bands. They are all about helping people and making things happen – and I believe them because now they are trading concert tickets for T-shirts! :)

Civil Twilight originally came from Cape Town before they made it big and became international, and moved to America (South African music rocks!). Their music has been on TV, on the "Sarah Connor Chronicles", "House" and "one tree hill" and they were also in the music complication CD "NOW 55'. I'm a fan of them, especially their song "Letters From The Sky" – here's a live recording of it from Chicago:

Civil Twilight are taking a break from their North American tour, and are coming to Pretoria for a one off concert on 22 December 2010 at 19:00! Their support acts are the awesome Wrestlerish - Werner Olckers and Dance, you're on fire! The concert is taking place at Stone Cradle, Rietvlei Pretoria.

And best of all Roxanne has offered me two VIP Tickets to this gig! VIP gets you golden circle access, plus you can mingle with other VIP’s in the bar and dining areas and the massive balcony that wraps around the venue!

So- who wants these 2 VIP Tickets?

I'm quite tempted to trade with myself (if that's possible?!) and take them up myself, so be quick before I change my mind! It'll cost you just R407 to pay for the two Springleap T-shirts that Roxanne wants in exchange for the two VIP Tickets (worth R440!)

Call me on 0837302979 if you want to trade with Roxanne and I in this three-way trade!

• You'll get two VIP Tickets to this gig for R407
• Roxanne will get 2 T-shirts!
• I'll have traded another 2 of my T-shirts