Awake to take in the view...

I missed posting yesterday. Or, more accurately, I was so tired that I couldn't bring myself to sit at my computer and I just passed out instead. Ope.

I'll crank this one out as quick as I can, as I still have a few more things to do before bed tonight. But there's a lot. SO

NIGHT 6 (4/19-4/20)
1. Dream fragment: There was a show called Tigers and Tiaras.
2. Attempted DEILD; was not successful.
3. (full non-lucid) I was in some place that looked vaguely like a Japanese restaurant, fighting some monsters. Some had dangerous spit that would make you go off the rails a few hours after getting hit by it. I grabbed a large poster and almost knocked over some candles with it -- according to my knowledge in the dream, they were my mom's candles, though why my mom had brought candles into a restaurant I can't say. This was because I was in such a rush to get the monsters out of my way, but it made me nervous, as I did not want to start a fire.
4. I was at a carnival with rides near -- you guessed it -- Disney World. The mouse is plumbing the innermost depths of my subconscious with a fine-toothed comb.

I won a choice of gifts from a game or contest. I wanted to use the Fast Lane privilege at the carnival. Another alternative prize was a sock, and another alternative was a collection of Christmas-themed gear. I don't remember which one I selected, but probably the Fast Lane. We (me and who? I don't know) were then eating breakfast and watching the carnival rides warm up for the day. Then the announcer said my name, pronouncing my last name incorrectly, announcing that I had won.

The announcer seemed chill, but very tired.

I had to get some stuff done -- fun or work, I'm not sure -- before a plane flight out of Florida that I had at 4 PM that day.

5. False awakening! I had one of my classic "Writing in my dream journal" false awakenings. Unfortunately, I didn't go lucid. I think it would be smart to just do a reality check, and really question everything, every time I go to write in the journal. When I woke up, whatever I had written wasn't there, just the recordings from the earlier dreams listed above.

NIGHT 7 (4/20-4/21)

1. Hypnagogic imagery, in which I listened to the Easter piece we had performed in church choir that day.
2. (Non-lucid, but on the cusp of lucidity) I was lost in a creepy world, trying to save a bunch of princesses, including Elsa from Frozen (like I said, the mouse is deep within my brain -- !!!!), using a magic necklace to get past obstacles. We were inside some sort of vast, sprawling building.

But, they all ditched me, instead siding with the evil organization that trapped us there in the first place.

So I was left betrayed and alone by Elsa my beloved. Sad day.

Oh, and there was lava on the floor. Green and with the properties of honey. I couldn't tell you which properties -- don't remember; journal doesn't say. There were different chambers within this room that served to connect people to ancient princess powers.

Then, wishing for a safe space, I immediately found a chamber that actually led me outside, and holy crap. Beautiful night sky with stars and pine trees, and chirping crickets. I sat there in some random swivel chair, spinning myself around to calm down and relax. It was also nice and cool out there. Very hot inside the building. Lava will do that.

I was being protected then by some nice guardian ladies, but I was afraid that they would be overtaken by the now-evil Disney princesses.

While I didn't become fully lucid, I did have a slight influence over the outcome because when I wanted a safe space, it appeared. I really think I was just one more piece of introspection away from lucidity, in retrospect.

Instead i just kept twirling around and watching that starry night sky.

Who knows what happened to that necklace. Must've still been wearing it, but my brain forgor.

3. (Non-Lucid) I got my own backpack with fandom related merch in it! OK, so in addition to Mickey Mouse, the upcoming SDCC is also permeating deeply within my subconscious.

4. Hypnagogic imagery again -- Gaming-related, as I sat there half-awake 10 minutes before my alarm. Man, if I had been able to sleep another 30 but with that wakeup, I probably would've had some lucids. I experienced some buzzing as the beginning of SP and a sensation of vibration, but I was unable to launch into a WILD/DEILD due to the time constraint. Dang it!

All right, here we go.

I’ve been using the How To Lucid app to reality check once an hour. Right before falling asleep I checked my hand to see if it had the right amount of fingers. Thing is, I’m pretty sure I had a dream where I did that too, in the exact same manner, putting my hand up in front of me and counting the fingers.

The problem is, it was too vague, and I lost focus halfway through the count, so I thought “yeah I haven’t fallen asleep yet” when in reality I had.

I need to sleep more. Only got like 7.5 last night and I think 8 makes a huge difference. I woke up at around 4:15 to use the restroom and yet I was just too mentally tired to try WILD. Well, I sort of tried it but then I gave up and fell asleep to these dreams:

- I was at a theme park or zoo? We had to walk through a freezing cold building despite it being winter that was supposed to be a Coca Cola shop. But I remember crawling underneath it because it was too cold to go inside.
- I was with my family, helping my dad unload a trunk after a day trip, and there was SO much stuff in it. Stuff we never used in the trip. Including a crapload of beach chairs. I was annoyed and then woke up.

It was like 10 minutes before my alarm. I changed the alarm so I’d have 20 and attempted to do an astral projection/OBE experience as I’ve heard how vivid those are. I finally felt well rested enough to attempt it. But as soon as I started to feel a bit of paralysis, boom! There went my alarm.

Moral of the story: SLEEP MORE.

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.