[ Living In The Fairytale ]

Monday, January 16, 2006

Martin Luther King Day Celebrations

Today, Seattle celebrates a day of peace, unity and equality. To me, MLK Day = holiday! Haha. I noticed that there were a lot more blacks who turned out today, and it was quite an experience watching the MLK Day Parade down 4th Ave in downtown Seattle. Initially I thought there would be floats and streamers like the Chingay parade, but in actual fact there was only dancing and marching. There weren't many people on the streets watching the parade as Seattle was back to its usual inclement weather of pouring showers. It was also a pity that the paraders had to wear raincoats, which masked the glittery and colourful costumes that they had on underneath.

I felt pretty excited trailing the parade as they trod down 4th Ave, and before I knew it, I had arrived at the Space Needle / Seattle Center House, where they did a wee bit of cheering and then everything was over. It was quite a quiet affair on the whole. After that we went to the Seattle Center House to watch the performances by the All-City Youth Choir and the Garfield High School Marching Band. The band was pretty amusing - their movements got more and more exaggerated with each piece and towards the end, they were swinging their instruments with wild abandon. Haha. The woodwinds section was relatively weak compared to the brass and the percussion, and thus the balance was a little off. However, I was quite impressed with the solo trombonist (and I really mean solo - there was only one!) and the trumpet section.

Garfield High School Marching Band

Thereafter we went to downtown to do a little shopping (hehe). I couldn't stand HS's style of shopping so I decided to come back by myself. Spotted "The Cheesecake Factory" and felt quite tempted to purchase a godiva chocolate cheesecake, but managed to stop myself in the nick of time and saved $7.50 in the process. Haha. I shall make it my short-term goal to eat in The Cheesecake Factory before I leave Seattle..(btw I heard that they have a 50 page menu!)

In The Fairyland On|7:00 PM|