The Other Side Of The Monash South Africa Nightlife

On a typical Thursday or Friday night, if one was asked the question, “What are you going to be up to, tonight?” One would usually expect the reply to be ‘clubbing’ or ‘drinking’ or ‘a night in’ because one is broke. That is the norm at Monash South Africa. But unknown to the average Joe at Monash, there is a deep underground of avid gamers, otherwise known as nerds, who engage in gaming marathons which carry on into the wee hours of the morning.

These marathons can take different forms but the most popular would be the LAN Party. A LAN party is a temporary, sometimes spontaneous, gathering of people with computers, between which they establish a local area network (LAN), primarily for the purpose of playing multiplayer computer games. The size of these networks may vary from the very small (two people) to very large installations. Small parties can form spontaneously, but large ones usually require a fair amount of planning and preparation. As of 2010, the world record for the size of a LAN party is 12,754 connected systems, set at DreamHack, in Jönköping, Sweden.

LAN party events differ significantly from LAN gaming centers and Internet cafes in that they generally require attendants to bring your own computer (BYOC) and are not permanent installations, often taking place in general meeting places or residences.

LAN parties have their own unique culture. Participators often show off computers with flashy aftermarket lighting, LCD screens, enhanced speakers, and many other computer accessories. Highly caffeinated drinks, termed energy drinks, are very popular in these events to improve concentration and stamina as LAN parties often run into the early morning hours. Large parties can last for several days with no scheduled breaks. Often sleep is compromised to play throughout the night and into the next day, although there is often a designated room separated from the LAN party to sleep.

 In a Monash South Africa scenario, laptops are the main ingredient needed. These ‘parties’ are carried out in the bigger double rooms on Residence 6.  They enjoy alcoholic drinks and loud music as much as any clubber.

According to a source, a regular participator, at first, these LAN parties were spontaneous. The party consists mostly of the Malaysian foreign exchange students, South Koreans and a few other nationalities. It is not a male centric activity as female students have been known to participate actively. At the moment, they play the MMORPG (Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game) World of Warcraft, which is at the moment the most frequently played game at LAN Parties the world over.

They are very open and they are always on the lookout for more students who are interested in their weekly parties.  The more, the merrier.

Apart from LAN parties, there is also a huge FIFA Football gaming community at Monash. Students gather in a console owner’s room and challenge each other for ultimate bragging rights. Tournaments are held all the time and gambling sometimes comes into the equation.

According to these ‘nerds’, LAN parties are the equivalent to nights out clubbing. Plus, they argue it is much safer and lighter on their pockets, while having the same amount of fun as a ‘club hopper’.

  Monash Students @ a LAN party: video and photo above.

Self-Reflection

Thus far, since I began this extremely demanding course of Journalism, the freedom I have enjoyed in doing all my journalistic work has been what I liked best. I’ve always liked the fact that every time I re-read any of my works it was unmistakably mine. The lectures and tutors have done well in allowing me, the student in expressing me in my way.

On the other hand, I intensely disliked the fact that my work lacked some much needed poshness and urgency. It was always bland. Although I got good marks, my obsessive perfectionist tendencies never let me feel truly fulfilled about how unacademic and unserious my articles could sometimes be.

If I were to do this again, I would totally re-invent my writer persona. At the moment, I write like a journalism student in a university setting struggling to juggle work and social life. Given a second chance I would go for the professor persona. I would be more erudite and flamboyant with my articles. I would double dot every “I” and double cross every “T”. This would mean putting in more time and effort than I do now. I would aim for the absolute highest in journalistic brilliance. Every article would be a work of art. Pun intended.

I found it rather tedious getting myself to see the world from a journalist’s eyes when writing my stories. I was trying too hard to write outside the box, that I totally lost the box altogether. I would digress often into areas I need not venture. I would often easily lose the point of whatever task was before me and go off in another tangent looking for something that wasn’t there. That, to me, was my Achilles heel, mu hubris. It could possibly be the key to my undoing in this course.

So far I haven’t made any life changing, epiphany type decisions in the course of study but I will say that I gave myself a pat on the back for choosing to study journalism. I must admit, I blindly jumped into it. It sounded exciting and I wanted to take a leap of fate. So far, I have no regret. I like where I am and I I have a vague idea where I’m going.

I learnt a lot this year. None more than the other. From, website design, to social networks as an instrument of journalism. So much in a short while. With the start od the new journalism club, I have been forced to write more. As a journalist, that should be fun, but as a student, more work is never fun. Still I learn what I have to learn and do what I have to do.

It’s too early in the year to really evaluate my accomplishments but it is safe to say that I have projects in the works that could potentially become major accomplishments in the bag. I also experience little surprises each time I write. Maybe , a new word, or definition. Or getting a high score for work Im sure wasn’t my best. It’s these little things that add up to the big accomplishments at the end of the year. So far, so good.

I would like to learn more about radio journalism and the details about the set up processes.  I would like to know what microphones work best, what styles are used to mix the raw vocals, the software and hardware involved. It has always been a passion of me and I feel that so far, this course has not covered radio in detail.

Truth be told, I had no initial goals for my portfolio. I simply went with what my lecturer told me to do. With the entire work load I have I feel like I’m not in a place to be having big dreams. In fact, my only goal is to get a good mark.

The entry I am most proud of is my “Garbage Disposal Methods on Res”.  It actually included me getting actual facts and figures to back up my article. It also involved taking pictures and captioning them and then posting them to a blog. It was about how carelessly students disposed their trash, thus underutilizing the provided disposal methods. My favorite part was, ‘another worker complained, “it is not our job to take your sh*t to the bins. “’ It was hilarious listening to a ranting employee.

There wasn’t much of a challenge. It was very straightforward. I did everything as best I could and hopefully it would be worth it. Other students did come to me, though. They found the research process very tedious especially as many of their stories were far from home.

Looking at my work as a whole, I feel like I am where I ought to be. It would be nice if we did some intense radio work. But either way, I’m fine. I won’t be setting any unrealistic goals because I do 3 other subjects that would not allow me to give special attention to the other.

Garbage Disposal Methods on Res Very Unhygienic

There have been complaints by the environmental workers employed by the Student Residential Office that the students living in these apartments are not disposing their trash appropriately. There have been complaints made stating that the students, ever since the start of the semester have been littering the corridors with their garbage and dispose their garbage through unsavory means.

The environmental workers have expressed great distress at having to do double work unnecessarily. One of the workers, in an interview, had this to say: “I would come to the res to work and I would all kinds of pieces of garbage all over the corridors. Then, on weekends when it rains, the things will be soaked and over the weekend they’ll be full of maggots.”

On closer inspection of the provided trash bins, they have been found to be largely empty, some even collecting dust. It has also been found that laziness among students may be the culprit as it is only those whose rooms are closest to the bins that use them.

At the ends of each corridor on every floor are plastic bags, cartons, cans and all other items sitting in stacks on the bench-like concrete slabs waiting to be taken to the garbage cans. These stacks are eyesores as sometimes they can be there for four days untouched. Another worker complained, “it is not our job to take your sh*t to the bins. “

A student came to his defense by bringing up the ridiculous price of the rent. He had this to say: “With the amount of money we pay per semester for these tiny rooms, you can understand our nonchalant attitude. And upon the price, these managers still don’t give us an optimum living facility. I could go on but basically my point is that maybe if we got bigger bins….. {giggles}”.

As of recent, there have been no official complaints made to the management. When asked why, the worker said: “We get paid reasonably well and despite the unhygienic behaviors of these kids, we get along.” She also expressed feelings of being grateful she could get her reservations off her chest.

On a lighter note, a worker complained how he hated it when the students intruded as he mopped the corridor floors. “They can see the floor is wet but they still step on it. Some apologize but others don’t even care. It’s not nice, “ said the Zimbabwean.

A stack of trash lying unattended

One of the bench-like concrete slabs where lazy students dump their trash

Soaked trash lying at a balcony at the end of a corridor

More trash.....

And yet some more trash...

18 things I learnt about indians in SA

 I went serious clubbing for the first time in a while with a couple of friends to this night club somewhere in Johannesburg called Jet. Now, this was my second time visiting this particular club. The first time it was barely filled, one of my most disappointing clubbing experiences EVER! You can imagine my surprise on arriving only to see a line almost 400 metres long at the entrance. As I get to the queue, I notice that the line is very mid toned; no highlights, no shadows. "Very peculiar", I thought. Upon closer inspection, it dawned on me how very asian tonight felt. No asian, as in sushi, but asian as in curry. lol. My point is, whatever the event, the reason, the catastrophe, there is no reason for this many indians to be in the same place at one time. Unless of course, it was India. lol. Strangely enough, the night was fantastic. Here are some somewhat trivial things I picked up on what i call, "The Bollywood Night".

1. When it rains, it pours: Whenever indians have anything to do with an occassion, they will storm that event by the minute. Beware. Get your Indian umbrella on.

2. Where 100 or more indians are gathered, there will be a handful of niggas....and the occassional, totally out of place white guy.

3. 99% of indian boys have spikey hair. They are very liberal with that hair gel.....and hair dye.

4. Indian boys CANNOT dance. Yet they still have dance-offs in the club. Imagine how hilarious that must've been.

5. Indian girls TRY....

6. In case you didn't know, they have sluts too. I'm talking 16 year olds in clear heels, wearing the most sluttiest outfits, that's if you call a boob tube that is crotch high an outfit. still who am i to complain. there was so much eye candy, if my eyes had teeth, it'd have a toothache.

7. Every indian couple in the club that night engaged in PDA with reckless abandon. This was probably because it was the only place and opportunity to expel the much accumulated horniness that strict parenting has cursed them with. They do know how to use their hands. I gotta say.

8. They always move in packs. White guys and niggas can go clubbing alone as a one man army. Indians dare not. I stepped out for fresh air and i watched as people (by people I mean indians) arrived and for the half hour i was there, i noticed that they arrive in packs not less than 3. I kid you not: i witnessed 7 indians jump out of a subaru. 2 were girls. it was hilarious.

9. They can party like it's the end of the world. Not even Ghandi can stop em

10. They are all brunettes.well duh. but there was this one who died her hair blonde. it was weird.

11. Indians have very strong genes. If an indian was to fuck a dog, you woulld still be able tell that he's indian. i saw a mix of a white and an indian and i could tell straight up.

12. No matter their background, indians don't fuck with technology. They always have the latest shit. Not one indian had a crap phone in that club.

13. There are indeed indian ladies with titanic tits and badonkadonks. the only problem is they cant quite shake it. no offence.

14. They don't care for black boys. Believe me, I tried. i think it's cos my hair was not spiky. Next time...

15. Indian girls wear their bindi to the club. Thought that was meant for weddings exclusively.

16. Indians clean up after themselves nicely. The male bathrooms were actually decent looking after 10+ hours of partying. kudos

17. Best of all, they are so fun to be around. I never had a fear I woulg get harassed or witness a fight. Infact, there was not a shattered bottle or tumbler in sight.

18. Lastly, the most hilarious moment of my night hands down,When the DJ played Jay Sean, they went ballistic. that was when some indian guys started having dance-offs. u need to see it to really understand.

The 13 Sighs

I, Dirty Sexy Rodney, solemnly apologize for keeping you, the world, waiting for nearly 4 months. It has been a tight couple of months. I lost my hand to that grenade song by Bruno Mars> it's very contagious. Trust me. Haha. Anyway, i know this topic is not the brightest of ideas to ever pop into my mind but trust Dirty Sexy to save the best for last.
Happy new year> I got a couple of new years resolutions i wanna share with you in my next post stay tuned. best believe that's gonna be fun!
So for now, try and find this a little funny and educative.
Stay awesome.
I think a sigh is an exhalation of built up air as a result of strong emotion in various situations. It can be likened to a fart. LOL. According the dictionary, it means  to let out one's breath audibly, as from sorrow, weariness, or relief.
1. The just-had-a-great-orgasm sigh....Nuff said :)
2. The sarcastic sigh
3. The fake sigh.....for when your engaged in a conversation. it serves as a filler when u dont have anything to say.
4.The sigh of relief.....for when you are relieved. lol. for when an potentially bad situation takes a turn for the better
5. The virtual *sigh*.....for when chatting online vie instant messenger applications.
6. The I just-lifted-something-heavy sigh.....u know how out of breath you feel when u just lifted then dropped something heavy at it's final destination....yeah, that.
7. The sigh of disappointment....when u are dissapointed>>>duh.
8. The frustrated sigh....when ur mom refuses to let u go out with ur friends to that all nite party even after an hour of trying to convince her.
9. The I'm tired sigh.....For example, "I've had a long day" sigh*
10. The attention seeker's sigh....in order to get what sympathy
11. The lazy sigh.....couch potato can't reach the remote....imagine that
12. The sigh before the response.....usually after someone asks a stupid question, before the response.
13. The "I almost drowned" or someone tried to choke me" sigh.....it's usually you trying to catch ur breath but i called it a sigh cos I really wanted to get to 13. lol.

Dirty Sexy Out!