Lost Camera, Blog Questions, and Exercising Like Anthony Field

I had dreams related to this blog and Australia.

1. In one dream....we're in Australia. Some friends of ours (not ones I know of in my real life) have to see the police about something. There's this idea that I can help by going with them and dealing with OUR lost cameras.

I'm not sure why that would help. Yeah. Sometimes dreams make little sense. Right?

As we get near the police station, I realize I don't have the paperwork for the camera. I feel bad—like I'm failing them. I guess we decide I should go anyway...well, because I end up going.

I dread talking to the police. Earlier I had gone to the doctors and I hated that too. I think about how this day is full of stuff I don't like doing. I try to cheer myself up. I remind myself that the police will have Australian accents. That doesn't cheer me up as much as I expected.

At the police station, I have a conversation with someone on the phone. At some point we talk to the police (I actually don't remember that part). Then we head out. The receptionist is appalled that we're leaving. I learn she assumes we're not reporting a crime that happened to us. She thinks we're reporting a crime we committed. I ask her why she would think this. She said from what I said on the phone. I can't understand what in my phone conversation would give her that idea. I scold her for eavesdropping and judging. In a bitchy voice I say something like, we're here to report a camera I lost in YOUR city.

2. I start to wonder if I should continue writing my blog (something I've thought about lately in real life). I ask myself why can't I just learn quietly on my own—read books and stuff. Why do I have to make my Australia-learning so public? But then I consider the idea that writing in the blog helps me to retain the information. I remember at the library they have this test you can take about Australia trivia. I decide I should go to the library, take the test, and see if my scores have improved. If I do well, then that means the blog is helping me learn. I then start to ask why I need to retain all this information in the first place.

In my real life, it's an issue I've been struggling with lately. It suddenly seems incredibly absurd that I'm doing so much research on a country that's not my own. Is there a purpose in it? Am I just wasting time? Am I being foolish? But then this morning, I told myself none of that really matters. I LIKE doing it. I love learning about Australia. I'm having fun. I find comfort in it. So maybe that's all that matters.

3. I exercise in a closet. Somehow I end up holding onto the clothes bar and doing the hanging abdominal exercise Anthony Field did in the exercise video. I never expected that I'd be able to do it. I'm very pleased with myself, but a little worried I might break the clothes bar.

4. Jack and I watch a Wiggles video. We're delighted and surprised to see that my cousin (who lives in Australia) is in it. She's being all cute and happy. I think about how I need to email her and tell her we saw the video. I also plan to ask her if she had a chance to hang out with The Wiggles.

Then later there was a dream-within-a-dream type thing....

I'm with my cousin. I think about the Wiggles dream. I feel compelled to tell her about the dream. I don't really feel like it, but I feel I don't have a choice. I plan to write the dream on my blog, and I have this idea if she sees it on the blog first, she'll think I lied about dreaming it. She'll wonder why I didn't tell her about the dream when I saw her.

5. There was a dream about Aborigines. There's a school house or center I walk past that's for indigenous children. I suddenly have this realization. I think about how it's not always a straight black and white issue. There might be white people who do a lot in the Aboriginal community—help out and make a difference. There might be a black person who does stuff to hurt the community.

In real life, this is something I already understand....of course. I think some white people ARE very good. I do still think the Minister for Indigenous Affairs should be actually Indigenous. But I think non-indigenous people could be of assistance.

I'm pretty sure this dream came from what I read in research yesterday. Although I actually didn't write any of it down (I can't write EVERYTHING, you know). Anyway, this person talked about how he feels that some white people have done some positive stuff within Indigenous History, and this is often ignored.

I see nothing at all wrong with recognizing people who have done the right thing in the midst of atrocities. As long as we don't ignore or deny the bad, there's nothing at all wrong with remembering the good. I'm fine with someone saying that SOME indigenous children were saved by white people—rescued from dangerous and unhappy home situations. I'm not okay with people using phrases like so-called stolen generation. That implies nothing bad happened. To me, it's a lot like Holocaust Denial.

6. Another dream:  I'm in the car with my family. My dad starts driving through people's yards. He seems to think it's funny. My mom yells at him to stop. The rest of us don't seem to care much. In the dream, it didn't seem as horrible and criminal as it would in real life. It was more akin to walking through someone's yard. You know, you're not really supposed to do it. But it's not causing too much harm.

I talk with Tim and my brother-in-laws about Goonies. I think they praise the 1980's. I then announce that I prefer movies and television from the 1960's and 1970's.

This is the third driving dream I've had in a row. Driving dreams are supposed to have a lot of meaning. From what I've read, cars represent our lives.

Are any of you good at symbolism? Maybe you can interpret these dreams for me.

In the first car-dream night: My family and old neighbors are all meeting at a restaurant. My family has already left. I assume I'm riding with my neighbors. But then I learn I'm supposed to drive myself there. We're taking separate cars. I'm nervous. The odd dream-thing about it is while in my car I can hear and talk to my neighbor. I suppose we could be talking to each other on the phone. That would be weird, though, because I never talk on the phone while driving.

I have to go straight and then do a slight left or right. It's kind of a fork-in-the-road type thing. The catch is both sides have me heading into traffic going the opposite way. It seems no matter where I turn, I'll get myself into a head on collision. My old neighbor assists me. She tells me to take a right, but then go FAR to the right. I do that and have to go down a very steep hill. At the end of he hill is a gate.

In the next night's dream: I was in the car with my dad driving. He was in a wacky fun mood and sped down this very steep hill. It looked like we might crash into this big wall. I was scared somewhat, but also pretty much trusting that my dad wouldn't get us killed.

And then there was the more recent dream of my dad driving through people's yards....

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