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Elaine Chan's blog.
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Let's hear it

Thursday, April 1, 2010 Mazel Tov!

Wow I'm done with the thesis. Ring-bound & Hardcover bound with gold letterings. So if I keep my second upper, please go search in NUSlibraries for Chan Kit Ying, Elaine; Zionism and the West Bank: Israel's policies in a disputed territory. There's a grammatical error in the acknowledgement page though. Please don't laugh.

I had a nightmare 24 hour the day before submission. My friends rallied and did my biblio, my cover page, title page, etc. while I tried to fix my thesis. Then there was a printing alignment problem at the binding shop, I just completely broke down. Sniffing and trying to arrange the papers helplessly. The staff took pity on me and didn't charge for some spoilt copy. Shirah & Ruhan took over. They were true pillars. So were Darrel, Shanta & Jus. God gave me amazing friends in my final year in school. I was so detached from school for the first 3 years and when it's time to leave, I found some of the nicest and unbelievably great friends. These 3 months being heartbroken over rewriting the first section; fretting over the efficacy of research and feeling inadequate compared to the brilliant first classes...my friends really stepped up. I know I've been blessed with wonderful people in my life: the PL girls; the JC crew; the seniors in church; my solidarity sisters. This first quarter showed how when it comes to friends, I really do lead a charmed life. I've only known most of these people well (with the exception of D who has been kindly offering me lifts since year 1) over the past 5 months. They laugh at me for shamelessly asking for help all the time, but when it's crunchtime, they're selfless and absolutely dependable. So the thesis is really dedicated to them. I know it's only 40 pages long ( in the words of the supervisor: it doesn't even constitute a chapter in some academic books). Still, a whole lot of gratitude is due.

Winded down on Wednesday evening at the guildhouse with this same bunch of people + the some others in the cohort. Everyone was nostalgic - promising to get alumni membership together so we can be regulars at the guildhouse; teasing each other about the schools we were from and as the staff were packing up to leave at 11, playing Stereophonics and the Beatles on S's Macbook. Took one more drink for the road; one last drag and we heaved ourselves to go home for that much needed rest.

Someone once mentioned that the PS kids were a wild bunch. Someone else also said that it's pretty special how the guys and the girls in the 09/10 cohort are so platonic and noone's gotten together with anyone (yes that makes stuff so much less complicated!) Most of us probably wouldn't be in contact after graduation. I mean the social cliques are already pretty obvious - look at the grad trip groups. Maybe we'll have a reunion 10 years later. But right now, everything's pretty special and I'm glad that these are the people I'm sharing memories with.