Take a bow, Gerry!

Gerry dropped a message in my shoutbox which filled me with great joy:

Donnie, Im done with my THESIS!
Hopefully makgraduate na ako! Tnx for the perk!
Nasa acknowldgment page ko ikaw!

No, not because he told me that he’ll be putting my name in his acknowledgement page. That's a silly reason. Modesty aside, my name has been in more than 100 research paper acknowledgement section of students whom I helped in my capacity as a research teacher or adviser. And now that I am lurking in my little world called the "novitiate," this prestige is no longer sought for. At least for now.

But the news that he's finished his paper is definitely a good one. Something that has definitely upped made my day, nay, my month of March a good one despite the setbacks.

As a little backgrounder, Gerry was a “virtual classmate” when I was in the graduate school. I had to use the modifier "virtual" since we were not seated side by side in one physical classroom since ours was an on-line course. But one of the wonders of the cyber world is to break the gap of time and space, and even if we just saw each other once, ironically, during the day of my graduation, I have felt a closer affinity with him—despite the geographic distance.

Congrats, Gerry. DOn't forget to flash a smile with your sablay in your grad pic!

I remember that Gerry once posted a related entry about his thesis. You could find it here.