Sincerity. Selflessness. Solidarity

What does this three words mean to you at all? When the S House IC asked me what S could have stood for, I came up with these three words because it was like “duh” words people use when they praise each other (now you know that when people end off their letters with “Yours sincerely” 全都骗人的啦谁要跟你 sincere，只是 sincerely 等你快点 reply 他罢了）


Now in retrospect, after Arts Camp 2018 has ended, I returned to these three words on the Dictionary.com:

SINCERITY:

1. freedom from deceit, hypocrisy, or duplicity; probity in intention or in communicating; earnestness.

SELFLESSNESS:

1. having little or no concern for oneself, especially with regard to fame, position, money, etc.; unselfish.

SOLIDARITY:

1. union or fellowship arising from common responsibilities and interests, as between members of a group or between classes, peoples, etc.
2. community of feelings, purposes, etc.
3. community of responsibilities and interests.

___________________________

There were two Orientation Camps that made a great impact on my life—Arts Camp and Union Camp. I’ll save the Union Camp one in a fortnight’s time after the actual camp, which (like it or not) limpeh is the House IC.

Okay this is 2018. My final year of action, or more exactly at “retirement age”. People has been asking me why am I so involved in all these seemingly juvenile and “not-your-age” activities, and initially I didn’t have an answer—I just felt like it. 其实也没有为什么，林北喜欢，林北觉得应该这样做咯。Having done 2014 and 2015 Arts Camps, the S House experience has been so wholesome to me because of all the friendships and memories we have created. There isn’t anything more I could have asked for.

I wrote two blogposts on my 2014 and 2015 Arts Camps, and beyond that I wasn’t exactly very involved in the Camps (contrary to popular belief, really). It just happened that I am constantly in Eusoff Hall and most of the time the Camp were staying in Eusoff Hall so I get to meet these people, and for Beach Day it was tradition that S House Seniors go back to support our juniors for Tug-of-War, thus the common impression that I was OMNIPOTENT during camp but actually no lah, I’m just OMNIPOTENT on campus.

HANDSOME ANNOT.

2016 was a gamechanger, I guess everyone knows why so I shan’t elaborate. I wanted to be House IC, but somehow I didn’t make the cut (heng ah...). Well everything became different from then on, our seniors stopped supporting because they either felt that everything has became “lame“ or they were “scared”. A selected few of us (like me and Yuheng) decided instead that this is EXACTLY why we should stay on help guide the younger ones what EXACTLY was right and wrong because we went through that phase of transition.

@whoisbirdy is FASS’ top DJ?

And BOOM, THE LEGEND WAS BORN?

To those that thought camps have became lame:
路线是自己取的，要不要lame是由你自己决定，如果想要改变体制，就加入体制从内改变它，不要在外面哭父哭母。

To those that lost their balls to join camps:
没有做错事，怕个鬼？
红豆薏米亚答籽，龙眼荔枝葡萄籽，
谁有籽谁没有籽，一目了然也。

______________________

Arts Camp 2018 was the first legitimate Arts Camp experience I had after 2015. I had some hesitations about taking up the camp due to my current work and school commitments but oh well I guess the Chinese ahbeng inside tells me that 义气 comes first and after all, it’s last year last chance. For my personality I like to meet new people, and it’s more so given the nature of the industry I am working in. Well given that I have been taking up leadership positions all these while (OGLs, House Heads, President, etc) it was quite funny that I chose to be a councillor but it has been two years that I was physically leading an OG so it might as well be a warm-up before I go on to another camp in July.

A very capable S1 Leadership.

The OG Seniors Team was made entirely different people:

Yi Zhen is very pretty and is a very good dancer.

Ernest is very obstreperous and is a very good brother.

Sara appeared naughty but is actually not so.

Clara appeared noisy but is actually very sweet.

Joyce appeared quiet but is actually slightly noisier.

Zichao appeared tough but is actually quite tame.

Nathaniel appeared rabak but is actually very wise.

Yanzheng appeared motherly but is actually grandmotherly.

Lionel appeared friendly but is actually late everyday.

Joel appeared on SUNNUS but should appear nude.

Honestly I don’t really remember their existence (everyone claimed to have met me at Vivocity last year after Beach Day but I DON’T REMEMBER ANYTHING) but I am glad they took the leap of faith to take in this old man who existed around the same period as Czechoslovakia and Yugoslavia. I hope our frequencies were similar? Nevertheless I learnt a lot from these young people and it does help me adopt a slightly more youthful outlook. Tell me I don’t look 27.

This OG was an unpolished gem. Seemingly tame, with people claiming to like to study and chill on weekends, it was amazing how these nearly 20 strangers got to know each other and get hooked to 《毕竟深爱过》 after a mere four days.

One things I learnt during the Saga two years ago was, that you did not need “naughty things” to bring people together. Well, you could have used “lupsup stuff” as an easy way out, but a better and more effective way would really just be genuine. If as a leader you were genuinely concerned in bringing these kids together in the right way and take steps to make sure that they remain close at least mid-way into the University life, then there would be something inherent in your behaviour which the freshmen would feel and hopefully emulate in the future.



Each of these freshmen have their own stories to tell; it’s no longer a time when we seniors could 颐指气使 simply because we say so. Maybe only I can lah because I really old af so I like to 倚老卖老 and some people really use me to 狐假虎威 which really disgusts me but I 无可奈何 LOL that is a lot of Chinese idioms. In the past we like to probe about the disgusting things that people do, but I think perhaps it is way better to listen to their own life experiences (they must be willing to share lah) and see what life lessons we could learn from it. Of course all these facilitating takes experience and so I do hope more freshmen and juniors could step up to be bigger agents of influence in the future.



I hate to call S House a family because in every family someone dies. I would have called it a RELIGION. BECAUSE RELIGION NEVER ENDS. 阿门。

This religion is about sharing, about camaraderie. During Beach Day, a junior that I haven’t met for two years passed a pack of snacks she bought from Thailand. Yeah you could say 他妈的不过就是包玉米片有什么了不起 but it tells a lot about the relationship between me and the giver. Strictly speaking we aren’t close friends, but the bonds that S House (and Arts Camp, in extrapolation) created amongst us kept it tight and unbreakable. Twenty years down the road we would still be talking about the days donning blue and taming dragons.

Ultimately, use your butt and think, why do people cry for Beach Day? 感动嘛！
为何？因为有你嘛！

未必爽爽到芽笼，但是大龙小龙一起去奎笼亦足矣。

Some personal dedications for some of the older folks:

  So this is Sydney. Cute and adorable.

  We first met on a fateful evening in a conference room. From then on I became an “S House Daddy”.

  She is one of the few women I have met in the camps that were constantly passionate—many of them will choose to punchek halfway—but this gem doesn’t give up. Surely she will ask and contemplate but that’s all it takes for her to get recharged.

  She was elated about my apperance and to be honest the House enjoys her leadership. She will be terribly missed when I leave this school for good yeah we’ll meet some time soon for 《毕竟深爱过》 at Envy I think.

  Okay I look like an old paedophile here but our age gap NOT THAT WIDE OKAY.










This man called Shuen Rong is cool. He used to have long hair but I swear he looks better like this.

I have known him for more than two years and we sang together. Everyone should grab him and make him sing because his voice is good.

He was one of the motivations why I wanted to go out of my comfort zone and interact with people not just within S1 and around Arts Camp as well because it was really about "hyping up" the atmosphere and making whoever that we reached out to feel significant in their own ways, from simple things to remembering their names to course enquiries.

Surely enough we both are 性情中人 so it is normal to cry. But I didn't cry. Nope. I did not.








AND this man. Is very important.
Without this man, I will not be in Arts Camp.
If I am S House Daddy, this one is 老祖宗 please.

Chun Aik is the S1 pioneer that took the suicide (not leap, but 跳楼) of faith to adopt me into the OG after I changed my course from Architecture.

He really got balls. But I guess he never regretted since.

有他才有我，有大家才有我。
不指望人人为我，只盼我为人人。

















Okay this is really a quick rant post, I am in Russia now so I have a few more outstanding posts to update. As usual, almost every camp I go somehow there will be an all-girls fan club photo so have a nice day. 希望你以后不会后悔没选择我。