Dreams, Soap Operas, Behavior, and Cousins

1. Dreamed about Australia.   I have this love for the land of Australia, the red soil and the natural structures/monuments.   It's like they call to me. 

In another part.... I want to bring home sand from Australia; put it in a bottle or jar.   But I'm thinking it's illegal, and it would scare me to try to sneak it into our luggage.   I assume I'd be caught by customs. 

Then there was....Tim and Jack talk about a place they want to go to in Australia.  I like hearing them talk about Australia together, on their own.  I like hearing them say Australian place names.   

And....We're in Australia and staying in this building that we've stayed in before.  It feels nice and familiar.  To get upstairs you have to go to this storage type area and use a dingy elevator in which you have to pull the door closed.  I don't mind any of it. I love it and think about how I'd like to move here and live in this apartment.  While waiting for the elevator, I think about how I haven't yet called my parents to tell them we safely arrived in Australia.  We have email, though.  I've read their emails and they don't seem to frantic about our whereabouts. I figure we're okay.

2. Talked with Tim about going to Australia while we drove to the lake house.

3. Read answer to question I asked an Australian in NYC (via Facebook).  I wanted to know if things are cheaper there compared to Sydney.  Tim had said it's not.  Well, this Aussie said everything is cheaper.  So that kind of adds stress to my hopes of going to Australia.  I thought prices were higher and that worried me. Then Tim reassured me by saying they're the same as NYC.

Maybe the Australian included the discount from the high value of the Aussie dollar; and that's what made it cheap.  

4. Saw the Australian dollar is down to 1.0582 dollars.  So, that's good news for us. It's not too meaningful, though.  Who knows what it will be tomorrow or next week.

5. Did an impressive amount of socializing and now I shall take a break and watch a bit of Offspring.  I haven't felt like too much a loser yet, because I got a fantastic amount of attention from my adorable four-year-old cousin. He's autistic and very fun. We played this game where he'd take my hand, we'd run to the playhouse, go in for a few seconds, and then run back out.  Kids can be great for your self-esteem. Well, at least they are for mine.  

6. Annoyed sometimes by Nina's and Chris's communication problems on Offspring. Nina's frustrating tendency to not listen and jump to conclusions reminds me of the type of stuff that happens on Days of our Lives. I wonder if it happens on Aussie soaps.  Well, I guess Offspring sort of is an Australian soap opera. Since it continues each week, I guess that would qualify it.  I think most night time dramas these days are soap operas.

7. Loved a quote from Offspring. Darcy was giving Cherie support for her meeting with her very Christian father. He starts to say something like Whatever he should say....Cherie interrupts and says, I'm not worried about what he'll say.  I'm worried about what I might say. That's brilliant. In the end, isn't that what we most need to worry about when having to face encounters with people we find difficult?  But I don't know if I ever thought of it that way. I think I worry about how the other person's going to behave, and I worry about how I'll feel.  But if we can keep control and act okay even when they're saying hurtful things; I think we'll feel less bad.  

8. Found myself attracted to Mick on Offspring.  He's one of the few people on the show that doesn't interest me. Then all of a sudden I like him.  What was he doing in the scene that attracted me?  He was spreading peanut butter using his mouth to hold the knife. 

I am definitely weird.  

9. Did more socializing than escaped back to our room to watch more of Offspring.