My ship comes in
Lately I've been setting my clock-radio to go off to NPR's Morning Edition rather than the alarm. It's not really as effective as the alarm. Not only is it not as good at waking me up, but I'm also often inclined to lie in bed for as long as hour listening just because it's interesting (and in many cases, I go back to sleep).
I had a bizarre dream this morning that I think was the fruit of this. I was at some country gas station, and I had somehow come into a large sum of money (perhaps the "large sum of money" I've saved to buy my camera translated to the dream world?) - somewhere around $200,000. And on the spur of the moment, buying gas at this country gas station, I decided I was going to invest in oil, thinking about how much the price of gas would go up with the summer. This gas pump somehow allowed this - spending $160,000 on a $30 tank of gas, and putting it on my debit card. As I did this, I felt anxiety over the safety of the oil tankers, whether "my ships would come in." I thought of Angelo from The Merchant of Venice.
But at that moment, as I'd just put a couple of gallons in my tank, the gas pump failed and lost my transaction. What had I just done? A gas pump normally only charges for the gas you've pumped - but I'd apparently just done something different. I went to the guy at the counter, who was very confused, and didn't know what I did or how to refund my money. I'd just blown $160,000.
I woke up to the most interesting news story about the 1989 Exxon Valdez disaster. That ship didn't come in. I remember this, but I was too young at the time to pay much attention. It's in the news again, with the Supreme Court revisiting the case after nineteen years, considering the limitation of punitive damages. Frankly, in this case, I think they were totally warranted.
I suppose I must have heard the news of the Valdez and appropriated it for my dream. It is amazing how the dreaming mind works.