Words can't express my regret

These things just aren't easy to say but it is with a heavy heart that I admit today that I did use a performance-enhancing Thesaurus on several of my recent Colorado Press Association award-winning stories. Words such as "ebullient," "gormless" and "doleful" were used in my stories. I gave into my weakness, seeing other writers effectively using words like "procumbent," "lilliputian" and "skinflint." And, yes, I did turn to a thesaurus. In my defense, I didn't know it was a Thesaurus at first and came across the words while looking up words like "happy," "dumb" and "sad." I also refuse to believe I'm the only one in the journalism business using a Thesaurus. I can't justify a reporter using the word "sempiternal" in a story and pretending they had it on the tip of their tongue the whole time. I apologize to my family, my editor and all those wrapped up in the emotion of my stories because of the use of words like "carbonniferous," "catabolism," and "heliocentric." I will turn in my awards lest cause my company any more shame but I already spent the prize money. I wish I could come up with the words to describe my deep regret, words like "disconsolate," "sordid" and "erratum." Instead, I will simply say "Oops."