Say goodbye, say goodbye
To the you I knew before
Say hello, say hello to a new beginning
Say goodbye, say goodbye
To the you I knew before
This is your genesis (Joy Williams - Say Goodbye)

I was tempted to post this at first with a post password, limiting it only to my friends, but I’m going to be open and let people understand how I work. Tonight, I became single again. Oddly enough, I’m not fretting about it or scared of what to do. On the other hand, it feels wierd to be with someone for that long and suddenly be mutually apart. I’ve come to the conclusion that relationships are a wonderful thing as long as they last. Once they’re gone, you can’t worry about them, you just have to live life like any other day, which is exactly what I plan to do. Despite the pain and/or awkwardness that this will eventually cause, I’m determined to keep a positive outlook. I was given a quite interesting quote, and I’ve decided to live by it.

“If you love someone set them free, if they return, it was meant to be.”

Thanks first to God for a great relationship that He blessed me with. A popular Christian song goes,

“You give and you take away, my heart will choose to say, blessed be the name of the Lord” (Tree63 - Blessed Be Your Name)

I want to thank Ashley for a wonderul 18 months. You were more than I ever could have asked for. I will cherish my memories with you. I hope your future is bright and successful. I hope that we can continue to be friends.

This has been a great learning time in my life. Thanks to everyone who gave me wisdom and insight, for you are who I look up to. I pray every day that God will give me wisdom like you have. I couldn’t ask for better friends. Thank You.

“She sat down in order that we all might stand up - and the walls of segregation came down…”
- Civil Rights Leader Jesse Jackson

Rosa Parks, who is commonly known as the African American woman who refused to give up her seat to a white man, died last night, peacefully in her sleep (BBC). She will be remembered as the spark that started the fuel-laden civil rights movement. Although she was just a seamstress at the age of 42, she refused to give up her seat on a bus to a white man. She was fined $14 and arrested. To many African Americans she was the one person who had the courage and tenacity to stand up against segregation. Without her, it is quite possible that African Americans would still be experiencing extreme racism through segregation. Not only was she an agent of change in the United States, but the fact that she brought about change in a peaceful manner is what amazes me. December 1st 1955 will be a day greatly remembered because of Park’s peaceful protest against segregation. While she was arrested, she started an African American boycott of buses that lasted 381 days and was led by Reverend Martin Luther King Jr., who at that time was almost unknown, but who still helped start the transportation desegregation movement. Rosa Parks was the inspiration for activists for years to come, and she was eventually awarded with Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1996, and the Congressional Gold Medal. These are the highest honor anyone can recieve without being in the military. United States history is often described as:

“In many ways, history is marked as before, and after, Rosa Parks.”
- Jesse Jackson

You can find the obituary for Rosa Parks here, and you can post a tribute to her here.

Today was equally interesting as the first day in Seattle. I woke up and headed to breakfast at Great Harvest, where I had a delicious cinnamon roll and some milk. I then went back to my brother’s apartment, and proceeded to go to the Public Market Center, which is also where the Farmer’s market is. (See flickr photos) This place, so far, was the most interesting part of Seattle. There is a culture there that is quite reflective of our society. The area was quite diverse, filled with seafood venders to fruit and flower venders to professional photographers. Forrest, his girlfriend, and I then headed to the University of Washington Village, where we visited the Apple store, looking at Mac mini’s and even the new iPod Nano. After heading to a bookstore, we headed back to Forrest’s apartment and to a restaurant/pub called the Elliot Bay Pub/Restaurant. I had fish and chips because, after all, what else is there that one should eat when in such a Western port city? We headed back to Forrest’s apartment and watched Hotel Rwanda. My next regular post will likely be about this movie, so as not to spoil it now. Pictures from today are on Flickr.

As promised, I’m now writing this post from my brother’s apartment in West Seattle. My flight, which left at 9:50 AM (Mountain Time) landed in the Seattle-Tacoma airport at 10:50 AM (Pacific Time). At first glance, the flight would appear to only be one hour long, although the flight is actually a two hour long event. I’ve done a little walking around West Seattle with Forrest’s girlfriend who kindly met me at the airport to take me to Forrest’s apartment. She would have picked me up, but that’s a different story. I went to a good bagel shop for lunch, as it was pretty good. On the way back to my brother’s apartment, our bus was involved in a car accident, so Forrest’s girlfriend and I walked the rest of the way back to Forrest’s apartment. I’m enjoying the scenery, and I’ll be taking some pictures from the roof of his apartment, which has three nice views. Look forward to pictures posted later, as I realized while I was writing this post that I neglected to pack my USB cable for my camera. I’ll likely add more to this post later today, so look for updates.

Update: Photos are now up on Flickr.