California Dorothy Gale, Endings, and Hope

1. Dreamed that I'm somewhere with my family (maybe an Australian airport?) I end up seeing a glossy newsletter with a picture of my college Californian friend on the cover. The headlines say that my friend, and someone else, committed suicide.  

I see that the magazine is written and published by the Australian clique who gave me a hard time online a few years back. I'm surprised that they've published something that can be found at the airport (or wherever we are). I'm also surprised that the Australian clique knows about my California friend. Though, when I think back, I vaguely remember finding out that they somehow knew each other. 

I try to read the newsletter as we're rushing around. I have a hard time finding the whole article.  

In a later dream scene: I try to send a message through the newsletter by writing on the newsletter. I try to say that I hope/wish that this suicide isn't true. I'm hoping it's just a dream. I have a hard time writing the word dream. It doesn't look right.  

Then later there was something with me talking to another friend from Santa Cruz, the place where my Californian friend had been from.  

2. Wrote down my dreams on Livejournal. Then I did what I usually do. I read the dream I had on this date last month (August 18). And I read the dream I had, on this date, a year ago (9/18/14).

In the dream from a year go, I dreamed about one of my old Santa Cruz friends.

So, that was quite a coincidence.  

3. Wondered if the universe is trying to give me a message about Santa Cruz.

4. Had another weird coincidence.  

The other thing I do in the morning is read an old blog post. I'm just working my way backwards. Right now, I'm my post from May 30, 2011.

One of the subjects listed on the title of the post is Kirsten McKenzie.  My college Californian friend's name was Kirsty. I say "Was" not because she truly committed suicide and is dead. But we're not friends anymore. I haven't talked to her in over twenty years. 

Anyway, I know Kirsty and Kirsten aren't the same name. But they're fairly close.

And THEN...I started reading my blog post. I mention that Kirsten is from South Africa.  Before my Californian friend was Californian, she was South African.  

5. Started to feel haunted.

These things happen to me once in awhile, though. They never turn into anything very exciting. They're always left as unsolved mysteries.

6. Saw that my May 30, 2011 post also mentions my Californian COUSIN.  My Californian cousin has a sister living in Sydney.  So maybe the dream was somehow about them.  It's that California-Australia connection.

I'm sure, though, that there are a lot of Australia and California connections—in the world and that I know of personally.

Well, first of all there are Australian actors moving to California so they can try to find work in Hollywood. I mentioned Australian actors moving to America in my post yesterday.

Second, I had a friend from Sydney who moved to California.  I've been reading her blog lately.

In college, I had strong feelings for a guy from Santa Cruz. He had a roommate that I wasn't too fond of. Guess where the roommate was from?

Australia!  

7. Started watching an episode of Neighbours.

8. Could relate to Amber (Jenna Rosenow) having her friend disappear into thin air.

I've gone through that—being friends with people who end up not existing.  

9. Watched The Wizard of Oz with Jack.

I thought about how Judy Garland is the mother of Liza Minelli and that Lisa Minelli married Peter Allen. 

Then I started thinking about that saying, Friends of Dorothy.  Where did that come from?  Well, I know where it comes from, really. I know what it means. But why is it used in that way?

And then my brain started connecting things and wondering. Is that why rainbows are the symbol for gay pride?  

I also thought about how the movie takes place in Kansas, which is interesting, because I did a little cyber-stalking this morning. Kirsty, my old Californian friend, seems to be living in Kansas now.

And no. Learning the Kansas thing didn't inspire me to want to watch Wizard of Oz. It was Jack who picked out the movie. I wanted to watch Beetlejuice

10. Wanted to say that I also remembered the whole Boy from Oz thing and the fact that Oz is a nickname for Australia.

11. Found myself liking the movie less than I did when I was a child.

First of all, I think Wicked has jaded me. It's hard to see The Wizard of Oz in the same way these days.

I didn't like the whole it's-just-a-dream thing.  I think I ignored that as a child.  In my eyes, Dorothy went to a magical place. But now watching it as an adult, it doesn't seem that open to interpretation.  

Then there's the main message of, There's no place like home. Not only is the movie anti-fantasy, in some ways; but it's also anti-adventure. Dorothy has this chance to be away from home—to explore this magical world. And all she wants to do is leave it.

12. Thought that the message of the movie reminded me of my parents when I showed interest in moving to Australia.

13. Consulted Lord Wiki about Friend of Dorothy.  He says the origin of the term is unknown, but some believe it's about Dorothy being able to accept people who are different.

Okay?

But as Dorothy accepted the Tin Man, The Scarecrow, and The Lion; didn't they all accept her as well?  They also accepted each other.

14. Learned from Lord Wiki that Judy Garland herself is a gay icon.

That makes more sense to me. 

15. Saw that Lord Wiki has a quote from John Waters (the American one, not the Aussie). His sentiments remind me of my own. He says,  [I was] the only child in the audience that always wondered why Dorothy ever wanted to go back to Kansas. Why would she want to go back to Kansas, in this dreary black and white farm with an aunt who dressed badly and seemed mean to me, when she could live with magic shoes, winged monkeys and gay lions? I never understood it.

Exactly! Well, that's how I'm looking at it now. As I said before, as a child, I think I ignored the whole part about going home. Or I just saw it as a quest that made the story more exciting.

Then again, I did get homesick a lot as a child. So maybe I could relate to Dorothy wanting to go home.

16. Consulted Lord Wiki about the rainbow flag. He says some believe it comes from Dorothy/Judy Garland and the "Over the Rainbow" song.

17. Started watching an episode of Neighbours.

18. Finished watching that episode of Neighbours.

Maybe it will be my last for now.

The episode is the one that aired on Jack's birthday, so that kind of seems like a good place to stop.

I was going to watch another episode, but I think instead I'm going to get spoilers by looking at the episode descriptions on Hulu.

19. Read the spoilers.

There wasn't anything too exciting. Hulu doesn't have any episodes beyond August 28.

Terese starts the AA path, and it seems Toadie decides to sue Naomi for the bouncy house catastrophe.

20.  Amused by comment on the last episode of Neighbours.

Scott Windsor from California says, Well, I guess after 30 years, it was bound to come to an end.

I think he thinks that Neighbours is leaving Hulu, because it's completely over.

But no. As far as I know, it's still airing in Australia.

21. Done with Neighbours.

I'm ready to move on.

22. Deleted all of my Neighbours bookmarks.

It's my way of moving on...and being overdramatic.

23. Hoped that Neighbours will return to Hulu someday.

Until then, I shall watch other things.


How would our world change if we knew for sure there was life after death, and it was easy for our dearly-departed to talk to us via the Internet?   

The Dead are Online, a novel by Dina Roberts 



24. Went to the Triple J 2014 list.

Today I'm going to listen to the 62nd song, which is "Heart Beats Slow" by Angus and Julia Stone.

I forget. They're brother and sister, right?

25. Googled.

Yes. They're brother and sister.

I didn't realize they were still singing together. I thought they had both gone solo.

26. Started to watch the video to "Heart Beats Slow".

27. Saw man that looks like an Australian actor—the guy on Love My Way and other things.  I'll go look up his name in a sec.

Anyway, I wonder if it's him or just someone who looks like him.

28. Found the actor.

It's Damon Herriman.   I don't know if it's him in the video, though.

29. Saw that Damon Herriman is going to be starring in an American TV show, starting in November. It's called Flesh and Bone, and it's about ballet.

It sounds similar to Dance Academy.

30. Saw that from 2010-2015, Damon Herriman appeared in twenty-episodes of the TV show Justified.

The show has been on for six seasons, and I don't think I've ever even heard of it.

There's just so much media out there. It's hard to keep up.

31. Went back to watching the Angus and Julia stone video.

32. Liked that the video has clips from old cartoons. That's fun.

33. Wondered if the video was filmed in Australia or the U.S

It kind of looks like California again.

Hey! See, that's another California-Australia connection. I've watched two Australian videos lately that were filmed in California.

34. Got idea it was filmed in the U.S.  I looked at some signs in the video with phone numbers. They looked American not Australian.

35. Saw a sign in the video that says, Eat Pie.

I wish I knew what kind of pie. If it's a fruit pie, the setting of the video is probably the US. If it's a meat pie, then it's probably Australia.

36. Considered that the video might have been filmed in Canada.

I'm not sure what their phone numbers look like.

37. Tried to find information about the video and failed.

38. Tried again and succeeded.

I found this article.

I was right about Damon Herriman; and California!  The video was filmed in Los Angeles.

I'm very proud of myself right now.

39. Saw that one of the other actors in the video was Nash Edgerton.

I didn't notice him.

I was distracted by the cartoons, guns, and phone numbers.

40. Looked around the FreemantleMedia page to see if I could any clues about Neighbours.

I didn't really find anything helpful.

Now I'm on the FreemantleMedia Australia page. Maybe I'll find something there.

41. Saw that there was a partnership thing between Neighbours and something called Airbnb.  There was a contest where fans of Neighbours could have a sleepover on Ramsay Street.

42. Saw that FreemantleMedia Australia also owns Wonderland.  That's the other Aussie show on Hulu that went wonky!

It's still there, as far as I know.  But they have the first season and part of the second season combined into one season. Then it just ends.

43. Considered sending out a Tweet to the Neighbours Twitter account, but it doesn't look like they respond often.  Instead I sent one out to Hulu. It looks like they respond to people quite often.

I'll see if they write back.

44. Saw that someone already asked the question.  Damokeeffe from Brooklyn asked why there hasn't been any new episodes of Neighbours.  Hulu says their rights to the show are expiring. Why didn't they sign a contract that allowed them to at least finish the season?

45. Felt a little better. Saw Tweets from Hulu saying they're going to talk to their team about Neighbours.  And there are other fans besides Damokeeffe speaking out about the huge Hulu loss.

46. Felt better seeing that there are other American fans of Neighbours wishing for Hulu to keep the show.