once upon a time

A long long time ago in a forest far far away, there was a girl who started working on a master's degree in Business Administration with a health care emphasis. Often a story from long ago in forests far away revolves around a hero or a heroine, but I'm sorry to say that is not the case for this story. This girl was a procrastinator, and no matter how hard she tried, somehow she never managed to slow the rest of life down enough to give the proper amount of time toward her studies. Early in her school enrollment she was not required to turn in weekly assignments and would often end up doing half the course's homework in the last few days of the term. Even toward the end of her time when she was required to turn in weekly assignments weekly she would often be up late the night before the due date.
A heroine would have worked quite quickly through the coursework and toward the degree. As might be expected for our anti-heroine, the girl progressed quite slowly through her courses. Because her employer reimbursed her a set amount each year, the slower she went the less she paid out of her own pocket. Everyone knows that people appreciate that which they have paid for more than that which has been simply given to them, so there is a strong possibility that she did not fully and properly appreciate the education she was receiving.
Thankfully for everyone concerned, there eventually came an end to the whole sad affair. True to form, after she finished her second-to-last class in 2012, she was ready to push off taking the last class until later in the year. Her boyfriend, a true hero, came to the rescue just in time. He talked her into taking the next class right away, just to get it done. Given the abysmal lack of cross country skiing snow for the 2011-2012 winter, and the fact that the girl DID like to do fun things like kayaking and travelling in the summer, she acquiesced and started the class. Because the course was actually a capstone project, it took more time and work than any of the previous courses, but the girl did finally manage to put a wrap on the degree. And there is a reason this is not a story that should be shared with small children. There is no moral. A proper story would end with the girl not getting her degree and exiting the experience a sadder but wiser individual. As it turns out, she did achieve the degree and ended up feeling quite accomplished about the whole thing. You won't believe this, but they all ended up living happily ever after. Ridiculous! The End.