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 By  Staff Reports Published 
6:49 pm Wednesday, November 26, 2008

Ready for December

By Staff
Scot Beard
While I am usually sad when the calendar rolls over to December – mainly because it means the year is coming to an end – I couldn't be happier to see the final days of November.
This month has been more hectic for me than any other November I can remember.
Work has been crazy because the start of basketball season is always hard.
Football is easy to cover because the vast majority of games are on the same night.
Basketball, on the other hand, has games just about every night.
Also there are more teams as schools field boys, girls and junior varsity teams.
It takes a few weeks to make that transition, and it is always difficult to make.
Added to that is the special basketball section the Franklin County Times is putting together this year.
Trying to get teams together for photos as well as getting rosters can keep you busy.
But work is not the only thing running me ragged.
I am also finishing up my last semester at UNA.
This term has been pretty laid back since I am only taking two classes and one of those is an Internet class.
Everything was sailing along smoothly until a few weeks ago when I had to get started on a 10-to-15-page research paper.
I do enjoy writing, so a paper of this length should not be too hard. Unfortunately I do not like doing research, which has more than cancelled out the joy of writing.
The last few weeks of searching the Internet and pouring through journals in an effort to write an acceptable term paper for my class have been mentally draining.
The class is Mass Communications Theory, and yes it is almost as boring as the title indicates.
This paper is due Dec.1, so I am running out of time.
Pile that on top of the basketball section and deadline crunches brought on by Thanksgiving and I am ready to pull my hair out.
My only consolation is the knowledge December is right around the corner.
Less than one week from now all these stressors will be out of my life for good.
Next week I will settle in front of the fireplace with my wife, dog and a warm cup of hot chocolate and enjoy my worry-free life.
Life will be good for a little while.
About five minutes later I will remember I still have to do all of my Christmas shopping.
So much for getting some rest.

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