this guy

I love this picture, because 1) it shows how "freakishly tall" Seth is (his words, not mine) if I were in the picture I'd be up to his knee cap.. and 2) the unromantic, normal side of Europe.. just a trip to the trafika in Vienna to pick up some batteries or water or whatever. I like this picture I took in Berlin for the same reason:

I've gotten to hang out with Seth a bit (Trina, you were missed!). On Halloween I headed down to the Moon and Sixpence.. I saw some creative and bizarre costumes. I think we were the only ones not dressed up.

I left my house at ten (making me realize how old I'm getting, and the fact that I could've crawled into bed instead of heading out.. but it was all worth it). I thought I'd stay a couple hours, but it was 2am before we got out of there. What can you do? Seth had amazing things to say about the Congo and we wanted to hear... even if our eyes were fighting sleep... we wanted to hear.

My sister was just posting about Romanians dropping off their teenagers to live in orphanages. My friend Will works with orphans in Kenya. Seth and Trina bring attention and aid to the needs of Burundi, through film and aid work. And I have no deep insight into what's happening in this world, but I feel overwhelmed when I hear of the great need in the world, and the very little I do to change it. People are getting slaughtered in the Congo, women and children are getting assaulted in the worst way possible. And I live in a house with locks, cops roaming the streets, and a pitbull asleep downstairs. I'm safe, for the most part. And people all over the world, including here in Portland, are not.

I honestly don't know what to do about all this. I guess I find what I can do and do that with all my heart. But you still feel lazy, and inadequate, and selfish... what do you think?

Well Saturday was another chance to hang out with Seth (and Jamie, Andy, Sara and Kristin). We had intended to watch "King of Kong", a documentary about the insane world of professional gamers (highly recommend!) and then we were talking about going to see the Dimes at the Doug Fir. We didn't make it though. We ended up sitting around talking most of the night.. perfect.

Thanks for reading my jumpy post!

Oh! And if the 4th grade class at my school is any indicator, Obama will win with 70% of the vote.. or at least those were their voting results.