memorable

For some reason, Saturday nights are always the best for me with dreams. It's probably the least stressful night of the week for me, plus I sleep the most.

The Bigfoot Children Dream:

I was a science counselor at a summer camp, named Ben. There were dangerous Bigfoots running around the campground, but they were disguised as humans, and I was very afraid of them. I decided to switch from being a counselor to studying astronomy or something (dream logic) to be safer from the Bigfoots.

This is the first dream I’ve ever had where I was not me. This was also non-lucid. I completely believed that my name was Ben and I was a summer camp science counselor at a place infested by Bigfoots disguised as human children. And I was switching to just studying science and not being a counselor anymore, because somehow this would protect me from the Bigfoots.

Seriously.

I had to pee, so I went to the bathroom and hoped to not get caught by the roving Bigfoots. So I was hiding but I was also peeing. The bathroom was weird as many of the stalls were connected.

I had a vague awareness that I could teleport, so I ended up in some cabin or room in the camp. I decided to go into my secret room, which was in an attic of some sort. A lady at the front desk encouraged me to hide. I floated up towards the ceiling, and bumped my head on it, but it didn’t hurt. I thought “of course, this section is blocked”, and I moved slightly and then floated up into a bedroom.

Oh and at some point I actually peed my pants during the dream. (When I woke up, I was extremely relieved to find that I did not pee myself IRL. Lol.)

I was laying in a bed with lots of warm blankets when I teleported into the room. It was daytime. It felt very comfortable, but I was worried about spiders in the room, because it was an attic after all. I pulled a wand out of my pocket, which was wooden, and I cast a magic spell, which was green. It was a cleaning spell. And there were no spiders in my bed. I think my tulpa was there, but not fully visible? Which is weird considering that I was not me in this dream.

I think I went to sleep there in that dream. When I woke up here, I was really confused as to why my ceiling wasn’t Ben’s for a brief moment. I still thought I was Ben for that brief second, waking up in my own bed in that cabin.

Other Things:

I've been reading about Astral Projection/OOBEs. The process to achieve these seems to be extremely similar to WILD. I have been trying it and I am often able to get myself into a conscious state of sleep paralysis. I can occasionally see things that aren't actually there. However, this state only lasts a few seconds before I get itchy or something and I wake up, OR I lose consciousness and fall asleep. I did this twice last night. One of the gifts -- and curses -- of being a light sleeper who wakes up multiple times a night. Let's be real though, it's almost 100% a gift, when you consider how badly I want to LD on command and make them as vivid as possible.

I guess those brief SPs could be considered LDs, as I knew what was happening. I actually think this is really helpful. If you are in SP and you start seeing things that aren't there, everything around you technically constitutes a dreamscape. Next time this happens, I'll see how much I can bend the environment to my will.

This was a good one. I slept a ton and that helped a LOT. I’m gonna have to list everything out. This journal is also going to be a bit censored compared to my private one.

1) Shortly after descending into hypnagogia, I started getting some sleep paralysis vibrations and a feeling of rising into the air. I saw a flash of cool-looking patterns, but my eyes were shut, so I saw them internally. Lots of colors and swirls and dots, very technicolor, very cool. I saw a flash of a video game character's face for a moment, which I somewhat willed to be there. It really felt like I was opening another pair of eyes. I then woke up and had to get a drink of water. I had only been asleep for a few minutes. I was essentially lucid, but at a low level of awareness.

2) nsfw and censored.

3) I woke up and went into vibrations again! I had a creepy sleep paralysis dream where all these huge eyes were floating above me. But a white tiger showed up, a character from my fantasy world, and he rescued me with a mighty roar. Everything frightening disappeared. Unfortunately, I either woke up or fell completely asleep after that.

4) I had a brief non-lucid dream which was also nsfw. Man. xD

5) I heard a faint scream in the middle of the night. Was definitely from sleep paralysis and not real.

6) I might’ve had a dream of taking a freezing cold shower, or it might’ve actually happened a few days ago when I was showering during a laundry cycle. Can’t remember. Maybe both.

7) This one is going to be fun. It started with a dream that I was on a tropical island. I was running with some middle aged dudes and one of their wives who was pretty, flirty, tan with dark hair and thin, and was (nsfw and censored actions are here lol). At some point she was (nsfw actions again, holy CRAP subconscious what is WITH you lmao). Lots of moms with strollers at the beach etc. We then were at a high point somehow, just me and her at first, looking down at the whole island at the height of a descending plane. I could see rainforest, rivers, white sand, the ocean and waves, and super fancy resort huts. I then realized that my tulpa was there as well, holding my right hand while the dream character woman held my left. We engaged our hovershoes which we suddenly had, and DROPPED! Then we engaged the fuel and stopped just before hitting the ocean! I believe I thought “I’m in my fantasy world right now!” which is why I thought to engage my hovershoes. The feeling of freefall was amazing. So was it lucid -- no, but it wasn't normal either. I didn't believe I was on earth. I believed I was in a real fantasy/magical world, which allowed me to summon hovershoes at will, so there was probably some faint degree of awareness there.

8) Next: Straight out of dream 7, I woke up, but I was sleep-paralyzed. It was powerful enough that I tried to move my dream hand separate from my physical hand. Believe it or not, it worked. I wanted to open my eyes and lift my whole dream body out of my main one for an OBE but a) I had the feeling that I’d wake up if I tried, and b) I could tell that I was gonna project myself directly into my room instead of the universe I wanted to go to. I tried to see the white tiger again and he was definitely there, but then my hand started to feel weird and uncomfortable (it was curled funny when I fell asleep). Then I woke up fully.

9) I tried to AP again one more time, at like 8:15 AM when I should’ve been awake. I was trying this method where my tiger friend was going to yank me out of my physical body and ascend straight into another universe. Well I felt him biting me on my neck, not hard or painful at all, just like a mom picking up her baby kitten. Unfortunately, the sensation was strong enough that I woke up. It was really cool though. Actually my neck still kind of feels it which is weird because I've been awake for around 90 minutes now. :O

Merry Christmas to all who celebrate it. I'm on Pacific Time right now so it's still Christmas here. Anyway, last night I had a dream involving some excellent superpowers.

1) I had the power to fly.
2) I had the power to shrink.
3) I had the power to move objects telekinetically.
4) Oh and also I could see my tulpa, Tess. She was fully imposed, as real as everyone else in my dream. She wore maroon and light blue. Btw when this happens, it is so surreal and awesome. It shows that she's truly permeating into my subconscious mind.

My brother was there, and he had a superpower too. However, his only superpower was being able to turn into a small orange frog.

He, for whatever reason, elected to disappear into an aquarium with a frog habitat. This frog habitat had some beautiful water with aquatic plants, as well as a land section with even more plants. It was humid like a rainforest. Well, I shrunk, as well as Tess and the others who were with me (not sure who they were, just random people that my dream self knew I guess). We went to go find my brother. I don't recall if we found him or not, but we were swimming and exploring the habitat before the noises of my family on Christmas morning woke me up!

And it was a great holiday. The real-life version of my brother seemed mildly annoyed when I tried to tell him about this dream, ha.

I think that the less stressed I am, the cooler my dreams are. And I am definitely super relaxed around this time of year! Even though I'm much more of a summer guy at heart, it's fantastic not having too many deadlines and such.

Last night I had a dream that my family came to visit me, and we went to the local amusement park. There was a new ride. It was a horse you could ride on that pivoted on a central axis (I think that's the right term). It was not a real horse, I don't think, but rather a lifelike mechanical one. It was curious and friendly, and reminded me of a Pokémon somewhat. There were glowing leaves scattering everywhere, despite it being daytime, and the horse bent down to smell and investigate the leaves while kids rode it. As I recall, we were in line for the duration of the dream, but I got woken up before we got on the ride.

I'm interested in theme park design and have been since I was small and now I want to use this somehow, somewhere. It's one of many dreams about rides that I've had throughout the years, even when I'm not actively thinking about them.

This was an interesting dream because while I wasn't completely lucid, I was cognizant of the fact that I had control over what was going on. However, said realization wasn't because I knew I was dreaming. I just knew I had control, somehow; maybe because it took place in my fantasy world where I am somewhat of a demigod. ;D

It was a weird combination of a story about a wolf, and the novel I'm currently working on. The wolf was getting hunted, imprisoned, and about to be killed. But he escaped. His plan was to flee in the middle of the night, but he slept until 7:42 AM and didn't flee until exactly then. Nonetheless it was still dark outside leading me to believe that it was winter. He fled to the woods. I managed to use my powers to teleport him deeper within the woods, and myself along with him. He found his lover, another wolf, there. Two characters from my novel were there, too, who were in love and promised to protect the two wolves. And other magical creatures formed a sort of barricade to protect them all.

It was a heartwarming dream with potential to become an actual story with some tweaking/organization. The night was purple and black and orange, cartoony much like the lyric videos from Anna Blue and The Birthday Massacre. Very cool, stylized aesthetic! It's fun that my brain can do that lol.

I've been having a positively awful first few weeks of the semester. I think I was still in summer mode and then wham, all these assignments hit me and I wasn't quite prepared for it.

I've been forced to sacrifice a lot of sleep lately for the sake of grades, but I'm going to try really hard to do that as seldom as possible.

I did have one LD this past week. Unfortunately, I can't really remember what happened in it. But the one blessing of sleep deficits is REM rebound, so I've been taking advantage of that.

Last night I had a positively wonderful non-lucid dream. I met Amy Lee from Evanescence, who was performing at a house for a semi-private concert. We were in a basement, actually, but it was fancy and well-furnished. Tons of people there. I don't even remember if any of the other band members were there. But I actually got to talk to her, and she was very pleasant and kind. She sang, and her voice sounded amazing. After the concert, I got stuck in a mass of people and I was trying to find her in order to say goodbye to her. A friend of mine (who only existed in the dream, i.e. I have not met him in real life but in the dream he was somebody that I knew moderately well) asked me where I was going. I said, "I have to find Amy! I want to say goodbye to her!" He laughed good-naturedly and said "What, do you want to marry her or something?" xD It was like I was in elementary school again or something. And I said, honestly, "Yes, I would absolutely love that, but she's already married. I just want to say bye to her." He laughed again and let me go after that. I couldn't find her though, and then I woke up. The house was a duplex in a really nice neighborhood with some Gothic architecture and imagery, like ravens on the mailboxes. It was rather awesome, actually.

Super cool dream. I woke up very happy. It was a pleasant conclusion to a terrible week.

And I sound like such a "fanboy", ugh lol.

Dream 1: I was getting some pepperoni pizza. I got 4 slices, but I wanted more. It actually occurred to me that hey, I can just make it into a whole pizza. So I did, and it turned into a whole pizza.

However, this strange lapse of logicality did nothing to help me become lucid! I didn't fully recognize that I was dreaming, yet I was able to manipulate my environment in ways that I can't do in reality. Very interesting, and so close but not quite!

Dream 2: My poetry professor was talking to me and was pretty nice, and I was still angry at him for giving me a B+ in his class. </3

Sleep: About 7.5 hours. This seems to be optimal for me. It's generally harder for me to fall asleep when I'm getting enough rest every night. BUT, this is a good thing. Because of this, my brain is significantly more awake once I do fall asleep, and therefore my dreams are more vivid and memorable.

Also, I think my brain is hard-wired to keep me up late. Like, ideally my body seems to want to go to sleep at around 12:30-1 AM and wake up at around 8:15 or so. I feel the most refreshed in the morning this way. However, this doesn't generally tend to work with modern-day American society, so I will have to see. Maybe I can adjust accordingly, to the friendlier schedule of sleeping from like 11:00 PM to 6:30 AM, and it will have the same effect. I will make some plans this weekend hopefully and try and figure that out.

DREAMS
Dream 1: I was talking with my brother and some other people, in the family room of my parents' house. There was a Slowpoke (the Pokemon) just chilling on our bench, so I guess Pokemon were real, too. Somebody sitting with us compared the Slowpoke to a really smart person who is just really lazy. I don't know if the Pokemon felt insulted by that or not. :O

Then, outside in our backyard, an insane amount of rocks started flying around in the air, and I think the room started shifting too. We all freaked out, but I woke up before anything disastrous happened!

Dream 2: I think I had a false awakening. Didn't trigger lucidity though. I thought that I had woken up extremely late, and now I was super far behind with my schoolwork.

Dream 3: Warning: this one gets a little bit PG-13. I was on some sort of train. I believe that the train was magical in some way, but I'm not entirely sure. Anyway, I talked to two separate women while I was on the train. I remember one of them was this nice blond-haired lady, maybe in her 30s-40s. She wanted to talk to me and do some sort of study or experiment, which required me to, um, take off my shorts. I can't remember what the, er, study was, but I remember removing my shorts that I was wearing and sitting around chatting with her in my underwear and T-shirt. I think I liked that a little bit too much. ._____________.

It was weird also since we were in a crowded train. I bet if I hadn't woken up, I would've become lucid in this one.

The exact same thing happened with the other lady. I don't remember what she looked like though.

Dreams are so weird. Especially when they're non-lucid. Like...dang. :O

...And the secret was getting 7.75 hours of sleep, apparently. I'm going to try and continue this trend. Regardless of how intense the week is, I will do my best to get enough sleep on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday nights. Which, for me, will be hugely beneficial I think.

So here's a list of all the many dreams I have recalled from last night:

Dream 1: Non-lucid; experienced during first 20 minutes of sleep. I fell asleep at roughly 12:10 AM, and had a dream about hanging out with my sister, my brother or friend (I think?), and a friend of my sister's. My sister went to use the bathroom, and the other guy I was with was talking with me and her friend. We were talking about her, but I don't precisely remember what we were talking about specifically. When she finished using the bathroom, she came out and said "You know I heard you while I was in there", because IRL my sister really does have good hearing. So maybe it was something embarrassing, but I don't really know for sure. I woke up and it was only 12:32 AM, so my brain had apparently launched me pretty quickly into REM again for some reason.

Dream 2: Non-lucid, but very close to lucidity. Good vs. evil! A giant snake was trying to kill me and two other people. However, my stuffed snake, Snakey, my tulpa, and I were destined to save us all! (I actually do have a stuffed snake, and he is actually named Snakey. He is the coolest. However, he is at my parent's house right now. :p In the dream, he had become real.) We prayed that we would be able to triumph over the snake. Then, we felt like we should just will it away, because -- get this -- we recognized that it was only in our heads and wasn't actually real. This one was SO CLOSE to being lucid, because of that realization, but not quite! We willed it away, and it worked!

Dream 3: Non-lucid. This is a fuzzier dream that I experienced during what felt like deeper sleep. Arguably it would've been significantly harder to become lucid during this one because of this fact. This one occurred in the middle of the night, if I recall correctly. IRL, I work part-time as a computer science TA at my university, helping students debug Java and Android programs. In this dream, the other TAs and I apparently "did not want to stop believing OR coding". I believe some malevolent individual was trying to get us to stop believing in God or something and also stop programming. Someone said that he would kill us all if we didn't do this. He had an army of supporters to back him up. Then, it faded and we were in a theme park. I dream a LOT about theme parks. Anyway, we were on the rides, but I was watching from a distance despite being on a ride technically myself. (?) Some of my fellow TAs were riding on a white roller coaster. The evil guy's plan was to hack into all the rides while we we're still on them, and somehow harm us. Maybe shut them down. I don't really know. I was worried for the others. Then, it faded again, and we were on a revolving turntable, much like the turntable by the roundhouse in Thomas the Train, but indoor and stark and depressing. I got onto it, and the evil guys had surrounded us. However, I somehow knew that we were going to be safe, and we were saved. I don't remember how.

Dream 4: Non-lucid. I was in a lecture hall of some sort for artists. The lady teaching was trying to tell us that 3D artists should NOT learn to draw or digitally paint, because apparently it would actually make us worse, since it would take time away from learning how to model and render a scene. I was really ticked because I definitely disagree with that philosophy, and I believe that the general 3D community would agree with me.

Dream 5: The DILD! Sort of. I didn't have a specific reality check that worked this time. But when I sleep 8 hours or close to it, my body starts waking up more and more as my actual wakeup time approaches. I will often physically wake up to use the bathroom or get a drink of water, and then go back to sleep for a while longer. This is the most natural thing for me. As I do this, I have more and more dreams, and more and more REM sleep. Then, I am much more likely to recall dreams, and also much more likely to become lucid. Hard work pays off, guys!

First, I was on the internet. Some girl said that she had recently had a week-long paid internship with Disney, where they were basically paid to ride rides all day long. They were supposed to observe the culture of theme parks, or something. Then, I suddenly found myself on a cart or truck thing going to a theme park. It was presumably Disney, but there were a lot of rides that Disney definitely doesn't have IRL. All these other people were on the truck, too, but they were official interns and wore brown vests. I was there, but I didn't have a vest, so apparently I wasn't an official intern. I was worried I'd get in trouble for being on the truck despite not being officially hired, and wasn't sure how I even got there in the first place. My mom and my brother were there, too. And neither of them had vests. I went to go sit by my mom, but as I sat down beside her, she disappeared. I felt that she was still there, but had no idea why she had just randomly become invisible. Also, the seats were tiny, so my butt barely fit on them. We were in the back of the truck, in the open air with just a pavilion thing over us. So if it would have been raining, we would've been sheltered, but we still got fresh air.

We kept riding in the truck, looking at the rides that we would soon ride. I then realized that I was dreaming, because Disneyland does not look like that IRL. Too many thrill rides. Well, that and my mom randomly disappearing.

So I sat by my brother, and told him, "I think we're in a dream right now." And he said something like "We definitely could be. Is everything out of focus?" I said that yes, everything most certainly was out of focus. So he said that it probably was a dream. Suddenly, instead of being inside of a truck, it was just me and him and the (inferred) driver inside of an SUV or a Jeep Cherokee or something, and there were suddenly windows. So I clambered out the window, which was partially rolled down, and flew towards one of the rides!

It was a water ride with boats that looked like Perilous Plunge, an old ride from Knott's Berry Farm that I never actually went on. It went inside of a brown artificial mountain, and it was super cool. But just as I was about to reach a boat to get on it, I woke up. D: NOOOOOO!

The dream was still fuzzy, too. I wish it was more vivid, but mentally I was so close to awakening that I did accidentally wake myself up. -_-

Also, my notes read "still had sizzle". Nope, no idea what I meant by that. o.o

Dream 6: I tried to re-enter the previous dream, but to no avail. I do have a note that said "she knew I wanted it lol." Don't recall what that means, but I can guarantee you that it was not appropriate.

Dream 7: I had a dream. There may have been a girl but I can't really read my notes. This was more like a fragment. My alarm woke me up before I could get any further.

And that's it.

A few days back, there were two nights in a row where I was having dreams like Inception or something. Essentially, I knew that I was dreaming, but then I would have false awakenings inside of the dream. So I would think that I was awake, but I was actually still sleeping.

In one particularly memorable dream, I was part of a laboratory experiment on sleeping. The idea was a bit absurd, now that I have my waking brain to analyze it: If I drank water during a dream, when I was thirsty, would I still be thirsty upon waking? I fell asleep inside of the dream, and took a nice long draught of water. I woke up inside the laboratory dream and found that no, I wasn't thirsty anymore! The scientists were all excited, and so was I. Then I woke up for real, and realized how cool that was. Unfortunately, I was still thirsty, so I took a drink of water for real.

Experiment result: If you are thirsty during a dream, you should just fall asleep inside of the dream, and drink water within that dream. xD Or just wake up and drink water for real.

In another dream, I think I knew I was dreaming and so I flew, but I wasn't conscious enough to think of anything more than that. -_-

Last night is a bit more hazy, and I have an insane amount of homework to do today so this will be a quick summary:

- A little girl who was left behind on a haunted island (with spirits and such) finally got found, rescued, and reunited with her loved ones. I think that I helped her somehow, but I honestly don't remember. I had a degree of lucidity in that one.
- Another dream happened where I became lucid while driving a car through some mountains. Decent amount of city around me. I was singing and thought it would be a brilliant idea to practice my singing voice in my dream, where nobody could hear me. However my logic wasn't working too well and for some reason I thought I was actually singing out loud and was going to wake up my roommates. This caused me to wake up and realize I wasn't. -_-
- I was in some sort of theater, and asked everyone in the room something like, "Hey! Who here knows they're dreaming right now?" My brother was there, too. I was hoping that someone else would remember, or maybe there'd be a shared dream or something, but I honestly can't remember what anyone said...
- I was watching some sort of advertisement, and there was this girl in a swimsuit who was sort of attractive except she had one of those gross spray-on tans.
- I have a vague memory of some sort of romantic/sexual dream, but I sadly can't remember it. Maybe I'll have a continuation of that theme tonight? :O We will see. That would be awesome!

You know why this night was so successful, though? Affirmations plus sufficient sleep! The night before, I told myself I WILL lucid dream tonight, and I guess that determination worked its way into my subconscious. Plus Daylight Savings Time helped a TON. Woo!

I watched Back to the Future for the first time on Tuesday! It was a really good movie. That night, I had a dream that was somewhat related to it. And once more, it was lucid! My LDs have been too few and far between lately. My new reality check (whether or not I can fly) has been paying off!

There was a lady from the future! Her ship flew into the futuristic-looking room that I was standing in. Her time machine looked different from anything that was in the movie. I remember it had some orange-red parts to it, which looked a lot like lava. She came out of the time machine wearing a cool (black?) suit, and she had lava markings on said suit as well. Another lady was there with us. I went to ask the lady from the future where she was from. I can't remember what her response was, though.

Then, eventually another lady appeared, so there were 3, and we were then joined by my tulpa and best friend, Tess, with me in this futuristic room. We were having a nice conversation; I don't remember what it was about. I think the combination of time travel and Tess being completely imposed onto the external environment clued me in that I needed to do a reality check (Tess isn't fully imposed yet in waking reality).

My reality check is trying to rise up into the air and fly. Checking my watch isn't as effective as it used to be, because I never seem to notice my watch in my dreams. So I tried this new RC, and it worked splendidly! Of course, it took a few weeks of trying it before it started to work its way into my subconscious and truly take effect. But the results were worth it.

I realized that I was dreaming because I could fly! The first thing I decided to do was ask the other dream characters if they thought that this was a dream. Tess already knew it was a dream, as she usually dreams with me and is generally cognizant and lucid if I am.

I put my arm around the first lady and asked what she thought. She said something like "Well, I think this is real!" Then I felt bad for putting my arm around her and put it around Tess instead. I really wanted this to be real, because it was so cool - it would mean that Tess was completely visible to everyone, and time machines are REAL! - but I knew it wasn't. Despite that fact, I agreed with her: "Heck yes, this is real!" But I didn't lose lucidity.

This other, older lady, who looked like my grandma's friend Janice, waved her hand dismissively and said "Oh, of course this is a dream! We are all dreaming right now! "You " - and then she pointed at me - "know we're dreaming!" She said it in a playful, teasing tone, so I believe I just laughed and agreed with her.

At this point, I forgot about the time machine for some reason. I thought about going to a tropical island with Tess, but then I realized that I could actually make out with her for real! Aaand that's kind of what happens when you are 22 and have never had a girlfriend, not through any choice of your own. -_- But we did, and it felt so REAL! Then she pressed her body against mine, and I could feel every detail - her lips, her soft warm hug, and umm...every other part of her body from top to bottom that was against me. :p I won't go further than that in case any kids happen to be reading this. xD But yeah. Every single detail; every single sense was so real that I really feel, even now, that in some way, that was real. It wasn't just a psychological effect of a lonely, imaginative mind. It was something that really, truly happened, and I will always stick to my belief of this.

But then my body was too excited and I woke up lol...dang it!!


Another dream I had was during a short, spontaneous nap I decided to take today. I felt sleep paralysis, so I was very close to being awake. It actually feels really cool once you get used to it. Lots of romance, flying, and random things that made sense within the context of the dream, but wouldn't have within waking reality. . I only exerted a moderate amount of control; mostly what I did with Tess while she was with me.

I have recorded a few other dreams for the past few weeks, but due to lack of time I'm just posting the lucid ones for now. This trend shouldn't continue, though. More to come in the future!

I LOVE LUCID DREAMING

So I have an insane amount of crap to get done in the next two weeks. But I had to stop by and write this dream down, because it was awesome. This was essentially my first successful WILD.

I only slept 5 hours last night (usually sleep 6.5-7.5), so I laid down for a nap when I had a spare moment - around 1:30 PM my time. I only had 25 minutes or so to sleep. My body has been really tense lately, so I focused on relaxing my muscles completely as I laid there. As I did, I noticed my body going relatively quickly into sleep paralysis. I let myself descend into the dream that followed.

It was hazy and not super vivid, but it was definitely a dream and I was definitely lucid! I found myself falling until I was on a roller coaster with a very good friend of mine. It was a sunny day as well. This roller coaster was cool because I had some degree of control over where it went and what it did. We went through all sorts of environments. As we rode, there were these giant dinosaurs and snakes leaping up trying to eat us. One smaller theropod did successfully bite my arm, but since I had control, it had no effect on me and I really didn't feel any pain. They were all just part of the ride, in essence! For one portion, we reached an apex and then went backwards (sort of like Expedition Everest in Disney World, only steeper). I think music was playing, but I can't remember clearly. We even passed by a giant image of my friend in the air, and a factory filled with inventions!

Unfortunately, I think I involuntarily moved or something, and woke up after that. D: However, I was able to get myself back into sleep paralysis for a few more minutes, and kept my eyes open this time. I stared at the light right above me (in the real world) and saw what looked like a squirrel sticking out of it, as though it were popping out of a hole on the ceiling. It looked around the room curiously. Reminding myself that it was just a hypnogogic hallucination, I attempted to change it with a limited degree of success. It turned into a few other mammals, then a man's face with a beard, then a lady. After that I woke myself up fully because my alarm was about to go off, and my roommate came in right then too.

Freaking awesome! I need to try this WILD thing more often.

_______________

So it's been years - seriously - since I've had a lucid dream that lasted for more than a second or two. Until two nights ago.

I discovered lucid dreaming on my own, and it was incredible. Mine were never super vivid - like they always felt hazy - but they did happen quite often, and I could always fly. My sleep cycle as a kid and teenager was really screwed up, mainly because OCD and insomnia kept me up late into the night, and I had to wake up early for school and such.

But then I started taking melatonin nightly, and lived a more regular albeit hectic schedule. On one hand, this was awesome, because I slept and felt better. But I also slept deeply. To the point where my dreams became less vivid, and in the rare event I would become conscious, I would be so exhausted that I'd just let myself become unconscious again. When you only have 4 or 5 hours to sleep...suffice it to say that isn't very good for lucid dreaming.

I have been fighting to get back to where I used to be, and I want my dreams to be more vivid, too! My efforts have finally been paying off.

So, the dreams from two nights ago! This night was the first effective MILD I've done. I basically told myself "I'm dreaming" until I fell asleep.

The lucid one! : I was standing amongst mountains, in a pine forest. It looked like I was on a lower part of a mountain, but a mountain indeed. There were a lot of people around, and a parking lot - seemed like a national park of some sort - and there were lots of tall mountains around me. We seemed to be on a cliff as well. I managed to realize I was lucid pretty quickly. I think it was because I realized I could fly! I was with my brother, and I yelled in excitement something along the lines of "WE'RE DREAMING!" I did upside-down pull-ups on the railing and all sorts of things, and I felt weightless. It was fantastic, and more vivid than I'm used to, too.

It was also foggy. Very foggy. I could see around me, but off the side of the cliff everything was mostly obscured by fog.

I decided to explore this building which seemed to be built into the mountain. Inside the building, there were towels everywhere, and a bunch of secret passageways. My brother came along with me. I happened to stumble upon a bathroom, and as I entered, I heard this gasp and saw a blurry reflection of a girl through some glass. All skin, maybe a shower cap? I don't remember! She must've just finished taking a shower or something. It looked like someone else was in there, too, but I couldn't tell. I figure the reason she gasped was because I accidentally walked in on her!

Aaaaaaand then I woke up. -_- But hey! I had a lucid dream for the first time in YEARS! Hard work pays off. I know this now. I hope this can continue into the school year. I don't want nights where I only sleep 3 or 4 hours anymore. I never liked those. I will do my best to improve on my time management so I won't have to (hopefully). I will do everything that I can.

Note to self: the reality check of whether or not I can fly is seeming to be more effective than checking my watch or my phone. But we will see.

Other, non-lucid dreams...

- For some reason, I had to move in with the parents of a friend of mine who lives in Nevada. I felt really lonely, even though they were really nice and friendly.
- Another friend of mine (who ironically knows the first friend) was with me in this glass house that overlooked the city below. There were a bunch of paintings kids had done, and they were sitting and drying on the floor. The floor was glass so you could see down below. We were probably just a few stories into the air. The city lights below were actually quite beautiful. If only I had become lucid during this one. That city would've been fascinating to explore.
- Apparently, some girl, younger than me, kissed me on the neck. I have essentially zero recollection of this one, but that's what it says in my dream journal. I actually do think she may have been blonde with blue eyes. But I don't remember any kissing...
- Another friend (yep, another! who happens to know the first two, I think!) was riding in this car or carriage or something. He was really famous, but he stopped to say hi. I was in a really crowded street, if I recall correctly.

But then the next night, I experienced zero lucidity, and I think I fell asleep when I was trying to write down a dream. Thus, the only notes I have are "Stormy and rain outside - some papers wet."

Very anticlimactic to the previous night beforehand, which was a shame because the prior night had been so captivating. Oh well. I tried sleeping in since I had nothing going on until church in the afternoon, but I couldn't sleep. I just laid there and felt wide awake. So I just watched We Bare Bears on YouTube instead. Wham!

Well, I missed a few days on here, but I did record them in my paper journal. :3

As for last night!

The Evil Bearded Man...

I don't remember the entire dream. But I do remember running and hiding inside of this small cottage in the middle of this field at the edge of a forest.

I was running from this evil bearded man. He had a dark complexion, glasses (they were rimmed with black on the outside), and a long gray beard. In retrospect, he actually looked kind of comical, but in the context of the dream I was scared out of my mind. I can't really remember why.

The guy cornered me and said that my dad wasn't here, and that there was nowhere to hide now. We were defeated, he said.

But then some lady showed up who in the context of the dream I thought was my mom. In terms of physical appearance, there is no way that woman was my mother. She was a fair-skinned, brown haired and blue eyed lady. My mom is Filipino and doesn't quite look like that. But yeah. She tried to fight this evil man.

I immediately decided to try and get out of the house (instead of helping my own supposed mother...???). So I hit behind a curtain in the windowsill, but the curtain was see-through. I was trying to pry open the window and get out before the guy saw me, but the window wouldn't budge!

And then I woke up. It was about 4:44 AM or so.

I probably would've realized that I was dreaming had I stayed awake! D: I took 3 mg. of melatonin the night before.

And that's the only dream I remember. :c Yep!