lucid

I don't remember too many details of this one because I was asleep for a while between having it and writing it down. In fact, I almost forgot it entirely.

I'm in a room interacting with a DC when I become lucid. I remember my goal of attempting the second basic TOTM and robbing a bank with only a banana. The first step, is getting out of the room. There's a window, which I open and lean out of. The room is many stories above the ground.

I decide to jump out. I do a couple of RCs to make extra extra sure I'm dreaming, then slither out and fall. I expect it won't hurt and, though I do feel a definite crunching sensation when I hit the ground, there's no pain. I get up but big black spots start appearing in my vision. I attempt to stabilize but become convinced that my IRL body is moving with my dream body. I decide to hold on for a DEILD. That's the last I remember.

Color legend: Non-dream Dream Lucid

This dream was from yesterday morning, August 8th.

I'm in a small apartment with the drummer from Rage Against the Machine. He's cooking omelets. I'm thinking about what the band's politics likely mean about his beliefs when I become lucid.

I had a theory the previous night that talking to DCs would draw me into the dream and increase stability, and anyway I wanted to attempt the basic task of the month. So I turn to the drummer to ask him to tell me a word in a foreign language, and its meaning. Before I can ask, it becomes clear that he's morphing into my dad.

I don't worry about this too much. "Can you tell me a word in a foreign language?" I ask.

"Maybe," he says.

"Maybe?"

"Spelled m-i-g-h-t."

I either interpret this as a success or decide to give up. I must decide to try flying, because I hop and realize I float a bit on the way down. I start hopping higher and higher. My dad looks impressed. Finally I get airborne and am flying around the small apartment. I make a tight loop. It's pretty fun.

I decide to go looking for other DCs and try to fly through the wall. My eyes are closed before I reach it and I feel this "bonk" feeling, like I slammed right into it. This drops me into something like the void. I try to use Xanous's gladis trick but I'm having trouble controlling my body.

What comes next is either a real or a false awakening. Everything looks black, but I see a small triangle of light that looks like the aperture at the bottom of my sleep mask. I try to lift it with my hand, but I don't think it changes. This probably means I'm still dreaming, but at any rate I decide to settle in for a DEILD.

The next I remember, I'm having a false awakening where I'm journalling the dream I described above. However, I get all the details wrong (i.e. it's not the drummer from Rage Against the Machine, but rather the guitarist) and I have to keep crossing them out. The dream evolves in typical non-lucid fashion from there.

Color legend: Non-dream Dream Lucid

I'm sitting in class and interrupt the teacher two times in a row. I resolve not to do it again but find the urge almost overwhelming. I also notice some jaw pain, which is one of my dream signs, and decide to do the finger-push RC. My hands end up in a configuration with weird geometry and I realize I'm dreaming.

I leave the classroom, which has become a room in my childhood home. My goal: finally take a bite of that Krispy Kreme burger. Things appear a little flickery, and I attempt a light stabilization by feeling my forearms and paying attention to the scenery as I walk. This seems to work, and I realize that the flickering is just a result of the fluorescent lighting.

I briefly attempt to look for the burger in the fridge before remembering I don't want it to be cold. Next I try the pantry. Before opening it, I close my eyes and picture the bag the burger will come in. But then I get nervous that I'll wake up if I keep my eyes closed for too long and stop. I open the pantry and the bag is there. But by this point I think I'm rushing, and things are not very vivid.

I look inside the bag, but instead of the fat donuts and juicy patty I'm hoping for there's a really sloppy burger with a disheveled, stale bun, a greyish patty, and two tiny strips of limp bacon. I'm a little disappointed and resolve to re-try the summon, with more concentration.

I re-stabilize and go into the living room, expecting to find a better burger on the piano bench. It's not there. I take a couple of seconds to visualize the kind of burger I want and tell myself it will be under the bench, but again I get nervous about closing my eyes and rush the summon. The burger is not under the bench.

I decide time is running low, and I should just take a bite out of the burger I already have. I do. If it had a taste at all, I don't remember. Likely I wasn't focusing on it at all.

My goal achieved, more or less, I don't know what to do next. I notice a small package on top of the piano. After doing a quick RC just to verify I'm not going around opening other peoples' mail, I open it up. There's a chocolate inside! I take a bite, and this time I think it does taste like chocolate.

Now I don't know what to do, and decide to try to summon my girlfriend. But before I can, I feel myself start to wake up. I prepare to do a FILD/DEILD but my IWL girlfriend is moving around and I wake up for real.


Color legend: Non-dream Dream Lucid

I'm upstairs in my childhood home, texting with my high school friend K on a device like a big gameboy. She suddenly starts writing pages and pages, and then the doorbell rings. We don't have a doorbell, but I say "I'll go check anyway."

Outside, on the front stoop, is a bunch of stuff belonging to my mom and an old passport. Where the photo should be is half of a small oil painting of a face. I know this stuff shouldn't be outside, and I bring it in. I close the front door and lean on it. This just doesn't seem right, so I attempt the finger count RC. I'm having problems counting, so I use the fingers of my right hand to pinch each finger on the left as I count. There are six.

My first feeling is one of relief and excitement. Then I experience a kind of "whooshing" sensation. Whereas a few seconds ago I had been certain everything going on was totally real, the world has now lost a lot of its stability. Or is it that I just didn't notice it before?

I decide to skip explicit stabilization (again forgetting to ask out loud for more stability) and head into the kitchen to summon beer and a burger for my lucid goal. I want the (non-existent) Flying Dog "Island Peach" IPA from my last dream, and try to get it from the fridge. It's not there, which doesn't surprise me as it was in the ice tray of the freezer last time. I try in there, although without giving too much time to the summon as I think I'm trying to rush.

Sure enough, there's a beer in the ice tray, but it's not a Flying Dog. The label is clear with small white letters and the beer is slightly too yellowish. I figure it's a Corona, and try to rotate the bottle to see the logo. However, the small white letters (like ingredients or bottling info) continue all the way around the label. I do see what I believe is the Corona logo, but it's small. After a couple more seconds of investigating the label, I wake up.

Color legend: Non-dream Dream Lucid

A couple more stabilization fails, but my first SP!




I'm on my way to meet my friend A when I pause across the street from a tall house with beautiful chamber music coming from an open window. Suddenly the scene darkens and shadows begin to roll down the vines of ivy along the wall. I start getting scared until I realize it's only dark because I'm wearing my sunglasses.

I take them off but then it gets dark again, and I discover I'm squeezing my eyes shut and can't open them. I recognize that as a dreamsign, and start to do the finger push RC. But even before I start, I feel this floaty sensation and I realize I'm dreaming.

I think this may send me into the void or SP, but the next thing I remember is being in a brightly lit room with my girlfriend. We're talking about something, when again I feel that happy, floaty sensation and realize I'm dreaming.

I decide to phase through the window and go exploring. I tell my girlfriend, "I love you, but I'm having a lucid dream and I really want to go out there." She seems happy for me.

Then things start to get a little blurry and I remember I have to stabilize. I decide to try NyxCC's advice and take a bite of a chair. But part of me doesn't believe it's going to work, and I close my eyes as I bend down. When my jaws close, there's nothing between them.

Then I'm briefly in the void, and I try to spin. I end up lying in my bed, hearing incredibly loud electric crackling noises. I recall having heard these before, perhaps earlier in the night, and conclude I'm experiencing SP. I attempt an OBE exit by trying to will my dream body to move. The crackling intensifies greatly and I feel like I almost escape my body, but it doesn't quite work and the crackling fades.

I decide to relax for a little bit before I wake myself up. The crackling begins to transform into creepy music and I start thinking of SP horror stories and becoming a little frightened. But I remember that SP is completely harmless and will only get nasty if I let myself get scared, so I calm down.

Then, my IWL girlfriend moves in bed and I wake up for real.



Color legend: Non-dream Dream Lucid

I woke up suspicious that this one was only a dream of a lucid dream, as my lucidity was very low level. But I did try to stabilize and I remembered my dream goals, so I'm going to count it.

I'm going down a dark stairway when I realize I'm dreaming. I immediately try to assess if it feels like reality or if it's just like watching a movie, and for a second it seems real, but then I think I notice a loss of stability. I examine my hands briefly. Again, they're all messed up.

I remember that stabilization technique didn't work for me last time and try to rub my hands over my forearms, really focusing on the tactile sensations. Unfortunately, the dream isn't really stabilizing (probably because I'm convinced it won't).

I decide to attempt my lucid goal in the hopes that that will stabilize things: tracking down a krispy kreme cheeseburger. I turn around "expecting" (but not really) that it will be behind me. Of course it's not. I then "expect" it will be behind the door at the top of the stairs. All of this is done with a fair amount of desperation, and soon the dream fades.

At this point I try spinning. Slow spinning doesn't work, so I try spinning faster. I think I see glimpses of a room but at this point my memory gives out.

Anyone have any advice on stabilization? I'm guessing it's all just emotional control at this point, but it's so hard to remember in the moment...

Color legend: Non-dream Dream Lucid

I have a long, meandering dream which ends with me being shot. As everything fades to black, I think with some frustration, "I hope my next dream is better." I become lucid.

I'm in a supermarket. I shout out "I'm lucid!" and start running down the aisle. I slap a 12-year-old kid in the back of the head for no reason, then slow down. I know if I get too excited, I'll lose lucidity. I look behind me and maybe apologize, but the kid doesn't bother me.

I try the "hand examination" method of dream stabilization and look at my hands. They're a mess. Three fingers on one hand, the other has fingers blinking in and out of existence. I keep focusing, trying to will them to become normal, but it doesn't happen. Soon, the dream fades to black. (Unsure if this was part of the same dream or an exit, or if it matters).

I find myself in the void and attempt to spin out of it. I spin slowly at first but nothing happens, so I decide to spin faster. I find myself in the kitchen of my childhood home, where the original long dream started. In the dream, I label this as a false awakening and think, "this makes sense because I tried to WILD from here."

I look at my hands again to stabilize. They're still a wreck but may look a little better. However, they're not returning to normal and I fear the dream will end soon.

Out of the corner of my eye I see a fish statue I recognize from my house, except here it's painted bright red. I decide to throw it through the family room window. I first do a nose-pinch RC to ensure I'm dreaming, and I am. I head towards the fish and wake up.

Color legend: Non-dream Dream Lucid

From Wednesday, 7/9/14.

I'm in the air force and our CO takes us to another base. The CO there is insane. He orders ours to leave and forces us onto some kind of thrill-ride-like trainer, where he says we'll "do backspins until we pass out."

While on the ride, I'm reading notes on some folded paper. I finish just before the ride ends and note that it's actually pretty fun. I regret not being more aware for it. As we walk off, I'm headed towards the attendant and wonder if she'll let me ride again. "Of course she will," I think. "I'm dreaming."

I run up to her and announce "I'm having a lucid dream."

"I know," she says, sounding gleeful to be in on the secret.

I start rubbing my hands to stabilize, saying, "I'm rubbing my hands to stabilize the dream."

Then I decide to go exploring. I walk down a hallway with a black and white checked tile floor when my vision starts blurring, like my contacts are falling out. I stop and try to rub my hands again, but the blurring continues. I consider spinning, but decide against it, and soon the dream ends.

Color legend: Non-dream Dream Lucid