I've done no Christmas shopping of any kind...

Not that I don't plan on it, mind you, because I do... plan on it. Sometime around December 15th. The payment/distribution of my income toward bills won't really allow me to start much before then most years. The difference this year is that most of my friends and family are getting gift cards from me. So there won't be any kamikaze trips to the mall that are rife with pushing, shoving morons indiscriminantly grabbing up anything in a shrinkwrapped basket. I can't bear it. And for those for whom I am not getting gift cards, I really want to support local shops in Hampden, Fells Point, and the East quadrant of the Harbor area near my job by finding suitable treasures in those places.

December promises to be frenetic. I have a poetry portfolio to put together and a final short story to write before I can bid this semester a fond adieu. So somewhere between forays to the cinema, holiday parties (not Christmas parties mind you. Everyone throws "holiday parties" now. I would be so impressed if anyone had the moxie to be like "I'm having a Christmas party. Wanna come?"), and visits with friends I have to get cracking. Those things are both due week after next. Maybe tonight after this function I'm attending (free wine) I can do some late night writing.