Little Shelley Goes to the Big City

I've been in PA for one week now. Orientation has been very full and thought provoking. As I learn more about what I am becoming part of, the more I am impressed with what can be accomplished through the courageous lifestyle of humility. I am thankful to be sitting in the common room of the house where I am staying in Akron while surrounded with new friends who are sincere in their desire to embrace this spirit of love.


In other news, I visited New York City yesterday. You may have heard of this town before. My impression is that there are a couple of people there and some buildings. Please, let me provide a visual demonstration of a few of the things that I found in this city:

Did I mention there were some people and buildings in NY?

What does this light post in Central Park represent to you?



Mark and Janice demonstrating responsibility for our subway adventure while I look on with an expression of amused confusion.

The Mystery of the Airport Bird

A Freedom Eagle. Image by Steve.

Hello, and thank you for joining us here at Grandma Panda's Food Show. If you don't know me, my name is Joel, and I am Shelley's brother. I'd like to tell you a little story about something that happened to me today.

Many of us are familiar with the Internet. It's a place where things are always happening: people meeting people, people buying things, and what have you. Today, I was using my Internet, when Shelley logged into the IM and we got to talking. Turns out she was in Denver at the airport, and she needed some help. Here is an actual electronic transcription of what she said:

(18:36:18) Shelley Shaver: would you post an update to my blog?
(18:36:19) Shelley Shaver: i can't get it to open and i have to go
(18:36:19) Shelley Shaver: you can be a guest auther
(18:36:19) Shelley Shaver: or
(18:36:19) Shelley Shaver: *
(18:36:19) Shelley Shaver: just tell them that i saw a bird in the airport

And then she disappeared. Now, I firmly believe that she would have wanted me to convey this final message to all of you out there reading this homepage. She may even be out there somewhere, watching. As for the bird, only Shelley knows what it really was, but I like to think it was our very own freedom eagle, keeping an eye on her. Keep watching the skies!

Eagle image licensed under a Creative Commons cc-by-sa license.

The final round

Looks like I'm going to end up in Dazhou at the Sichuan Arts and Sciences University. Meanwhile, my approaching departure date has triggered quite a trail of wreckage around my house. In preparation for my adventure, I recently purchased a new camera! It's a Canon SX10 IS (just released on Sunday). Here are some of the telling pictures for your admiration and sympathy (especially for my mom!):










I'm going to test out my new sleeping bag tonight. It's rated for 35 degrees (F), and the low for today is supposed to be 18, so I guess I'm really going to find out!










I've got some work to do with my photography skills...perhaps the lapses add to the gestalt of disarray.