It's late, and I'm not packed yet, and I'll be hopefully leaving for the Chi shortly after work tomorrow, but I thought I'd stop and write, just ever-so-briefly.

I've had really nice conversations with Nemo and Gurs the last two nights, net conversation time of nearly three hours - lots and lots of minutiae covered, which is important. Substantive things, too.

I finished Christmas shopping and gift-wrapping on Wednesday night, which was important. I'll give my gifts a C, where C is average, which is disappointing. I'm hoping for some giggles and some excitement, but I'll probably get some...stares at the gift, unwraps, turns the box over a few times, looks me straight in the eye, and says, "Thanks" reactions. Like, appreciative, but far-from-overwhelmed. But that's not the point, but it kind of is.

I'll be back in the suburbs from late Friday night through sometime Wednesday. That's four full days, which is great. We're angling for some Didi-Jenny time, though that's still undetermined. We know there'll be a trip West, and ruthless holiday grab-bagging. We know that there'll be a trip to the House, to enjoy some Old Style, on Monday night. We know that there'll be Christmas tree-shaped cinnamon rolls on Tuesday morning. Man, those are the best. Other things are undetermined. Recharging is important, as are low-level college bowl games.

I really, really needed the last two days, even though I got nothing done. Nothing days are important, too. I'm really looking forward to being done with this round of applications - they're owning my life, but I'm reasonably proud of what I've accomplished, because I think I'm giving a fairly reasonable representation of myself. It'll be good enough for someone, I think. I'm reasonably proud enough that I even asked a friend in The Ring Fingernail to give my work a look. That unembarrassed, which is definitely worth something.

This weekend is well-needed, though I'll have to do some new-writing and some revising, probably on Saturday. But I'll be fresh off of three straight non-essaying days, so that'll be valuable.

Lupe Fiasco really is a genius. And Matthew Santos is the world's best white rap-hook singer in the world. Lupe's got a Go-Go-Go-Go-Go-Go-Go-Go-Go-Go-Gadget-Flow. He's from the city in the midwest - best city in the whole wide wide world. This is why he's awesome. I think that Lupe Fiasco's The Cool is in the top twenty, definitely, though I'll wait to rank it until next year. But "Superstar" and "Paris, Tokyo" and "Hip Hop Saved My Life" are probably all among my favorite songs of the year.

Okay, I've got nothing more. Happy Christmas. Back in a week or so.