Dreamlog

Sleep:1:00AM to 11:32AM (10hr32m)
Detail: 687 words.

Pre-WBTB

No recall.

Post-WBTB

The Night City:
I'm laying on a couch in a living room that doesn't resemble any place I can recall strongly.
My sister shows up with a puppy, and there are a couple kids running around to play with it.
Later I'm up, and there is a bug that one of the little kids is trying to catch. She has a bag of insects that seem content to hang out in the bag.
...
I'm at a large open field, with a stone wall in front of me. The scene feels a bit distant, like it is zoomed out a little.
I try to imagine grabbing onto the rock with my hands and I can feel the rock. It strikes me that this feels like a lucid dream transition (like a WILD) but that couldn't be.
I decide to do a nose-check anyway and I can breathe.
This is, in fact, a dream.
I continue to climb the rock, not realizing that this is an excellent dream stabilizing exercise.
When I get to the top, I "take off the VR goggles" and the world gets a bit clearer.
I try to remember the pre-flight check plan, but I can't recall specifics of what I'm supposed to do.
I just say "I'm theshirecat, and this is a dream!".
...
I'm lucid again in a city at night. There is an outdoor festival happening, with food and people at a bar.
I remember that I wanted to listen to the "people chatter" and see if it is nonsense like a video I had seen told me it would be.
I decide to focus on that after I'm done talking to a couple of DCs.
"Can you make a melody for me?" I ask one of them.
The DC has a long oval face with short hair, and has a friend nearby on another stool.
He seems confused so I ask again.
"Like, if I sing, keep it going."
I sing a short 4 note tune.
He joins in at the end, with what seems like a couple random notes. That's OK, he tried.
I leave the festival area and spy a large skyscraper, the tallest along the dark sky.
There are lights all over the place and it is beautiful.
"That one, I'm going to fly to that one."
I kick off the ground superman-style and start zooming towards it.
It doesn't get closer to me as fast as I expected, it must be very far away.
"Faster. Faster!"
I get modest increases in speed when I ask for it, but pointing my fists behind me gives a good boost.
There are some electrical lines in my path, and I find dodging past them a challenge.
I start to point my fists to adjust my trajectory to dodge them, and I succeed.
I get above the tall building, and notice a pink portal in the center of it.
I decide I'm going to fall directly into it from the air.
I position myself, and do so.
...
I'm in a sort of "in-between". Almost like a healing pod from Dragonball Z, and a living room is on the other side.
It feels like my lucidity is hanging by a thread, that on the other side of the pod would be losing it.
I try to keep my thoughts together, but I slip.
...
I gain lucidity again in a small room. There are about 8-10 people being forced into an elevator. Hermione from Harry Potter is among them.
Something is terrible about this, but I follow them into the elevator.
The door closes behind us, and all is panic, but then I remember I can do whatever I want.
I smash the elevator door, and shove it aside. Beyond it, there is elevator-like room.
The people cheer for me breaking it, despite it not really helping the situation.
Activities occur with Hermione.
...
I've lost lucidity and I'm with my friend J in a jeep. We're going to go fishing for dinner.
There is a small pond that makes it easy to catch fish. I feel very prepared for this trip, comparing it to another time where I hadn't been.

Fragment
I'm in a game resembling Banjo-Kazooie. I'm flying around a neighborhood, exploring.

Showing Off:
I'm in a mall or super complex flying around. I'm wearing roller-skates and doing all sorts of aerial tricks for the audience below.
I remember feeling a bit nervous, but also excited.
I'm exploring all around the complex and working my way upward. I'm interested in exploring all of the different shops at different levels.
At one point, the setting becomes Disneyland.

Went to bed around 1AM.

Pre-WBTB

Fragment
Brief impression of a Punch-Out-like video game.

WBTB
Ratio: 6hr/20m
Supplements: None.
Sleep Cycle: Semi-stable.
I got up and walked outside of for a bit, doing plenty of reality checks. I try to make the entire time outside a reality check.
I also review my dreamsign list, trying to commit the top 5 to memory.

Post-WBTB

The Vanishing Plant
I'm walking around in my living room and I do a nose RC out of habit.
To my surprise it fails and I become lucid.
I remember that narration is supposed to help stabilization so I start talking out loud.
"I'm rubbing my hands, I'm rubbing my feet, I'm walking."
I think about what I should do next and consider taking a bite out of the kitchen table, but then decide against.
It wasn't all that exciting last time I did that.
I recall that my goal was to try and observe my dreamworld, to gain an understanding and hopefully a feel for the 'dreamlike'.
I leave through the front door and go outside.
It looks near identical to reality, sunny summer day, except there is a plant nearby that is missing the bottom.
Like in a video game where a texture is missing.
I note that daytime/sunny is one of the top dream signs, and wonder if there are more 'missing textures'.
I also connect this missing texture idea to my top dreamsign which is 'video-games or inspired by a video game'.
"I'm walking around, I'm observing the dreamworld, I'm rubbing my hands," I say outloud, attempting to stabilize again.
I decide that I want to go somewhere more interesting, so I close my eyes and attempt to transform the scene into something else.
I think vaguely about changing the season into fall or winter.
I open my eyes with hope, but the scene only changes slightly. Objects have changed position, but no theme change.
I recall flying through the neighborhood some more, but my lucidity fades.
...
Later I'm in somebody else's house, lucid and looking around.
There is a woman I don't recognize, vaguely Hispanic looking.
"Is there a portal around here?" I ask.
She replies in the negative.
Despite this, I open a closet nearby and try to imagine a green swirly portal inside.
Nope, just closet.
...
I'm at a sleepover at work with my coworker JM.
Apparently we have to sleep there because there is a test we are running.
We have sleeping bags setup on the production floor.
I feel as sense of awkwardness because there are people around us working and I wonder if I should be doing the same.
Recorded on waking at 9:15AM.

Notes
I'm going to start a series of 4 tests for the 6hr/20m/none configuration with this being #1.
Initial impression is my control and dream length were lesser compared to 6hr/10m/8mgGal (Galantamine). This could be unrelated to the configs, and due to the currently only semi-stable sleep cycle.
I want to test whether galantamine is needed for more vivid dreams, and also if my 10m WBTB wake time is limiting my lucid dream experience.
I know that changing multiple variables at once isn't the best science (but I intend to test more configurations later).
General guidance for WBTB seems to recommend much longer than 10m, so I perceive a likely improvement by making it longer, hence earlier testing of this configuration.

Pre-WBTB

Fragment
Frieza from Dragonball Z is at a Home Depot store.
Recorded at 5AM, at the beginning of sleep cycle 5.

WBTB

During my 10 minutes of wake-time, I planned what I would do if I had a false awakening at my home. After taking the 8mg Galantamine and using the bathroom, I walked down the hall doing my series of reality checks. Then I rubbed my hands together. I also decided I should interact with the environment in some way, so I licked the wall. Yep. Gotta commit man. I wander around the house a bit, and decided I should find ways to teleport to the forest (step one of "The Plan"). I decide that I will summon an image of a forest on the living room TV and then step through it. Path forward established and my 10 minutes spent, I was content to lay down in bed. I tossed around for awhile and thought about just about every current life problem I have. Maybe I was too awake. After what felt like forever, I finally drifted off. No WILD though unfortunately.

Post-WBTB

Seeking The Elusive Fantasy Forest™
I'm waking up in my bed, and I immediately think to check for a false awakening.
I can breathe through my plugged nose.
I'm dreaming!
I decided to cycle through some more RCs just in case.
I look at my hands, and I have far more than five fingers on each hand. Yep. Dream.
I tried to see my nose on the left and right sides and I can. So according to that check I am awake.
To be fair I've never done that RC before so I didn't really know what to expect.
I default back to another nose-plug RC and I can still breathe. Definitely dreaming.
I recalled my plan from the WBTB prep, so I rubbed my hands and licked the wall. Yep.
It tasted like the real wall. Like paint.
I then find myself back in bed. Another false awakening.
I repeat the RCs, but this time my vision isn't quite coming to me.
I try to will my eyes to work. Nope.
I say "Heal my eyes!" It works a little bit. I say "HEAL MY EYES TIMES 1000!" It works a bit more.
This goes on for some time, and I'm getting annoyed.
I recall another technique where I "take off glasses I didn't know I was wearing".
I do this and clarity improves a lot.
Eventually my vision stabilizes to the point where I can focus on other things. Like my goals.
I can recall "The Plan" in it's entirety. Step one is to teleport to the fantasy forest.
I wander over to my living room, which now resembles a mixture of my actual living room and my friend M's.
My girlfriend S is there on the couch. I decide to play it cool and not tell her this is a dream.
Instead I say "Oh hello! How are you? I'm going into the TV now!"
I don't recall actually going through the TV, so I may have wandered away.
...
I find myself lucid in the garage later. I'm looking around for the Elusive Fantasy Forest™.
I look down, and hope that when I look up, the forest will be on the other side of the open garage door.
Nope.
Vivid green grass and neighborhood. At least that is consistent. It looks similar to how it did in my previous lucids.
I checked around the garage some more, looking for a door or something else I can use to teleport.
I find a storage cabinet and try to teleport Narnia-style, but no luck.
I lose my focus for a bit, and I end up walking out of the garage door and preparing to fly.
I kick off the ground hard and take flight. I specifically notice that my right leg doesn't hurt as I jump (In waking life I am recovering from surgery so jumping is normally out of the question).
I zoom around and enjoy the view. The grass looks even more vivid from up here. It takes on a pastel-like painting aesthetic.
As I take in the view I come to a realization.
There is nothing other than vivid green grass and dots of homes that look like legos from this high up, for as far as my eyes can see.
Maybe the reason I can't find my forest is because this entire goddamn dream-plane is a neighborhood.
I zoom around some more, and find myself using air-swimming to control finer turns. Haven't tried that before.
Also unusual, I land without losing lucidity. I remember that I still need to try this stupid teleporting thing.
I'm back at my garage now and I remember reading a tutorial somewhere on DV about "scrolling the world".
So I raised my hand as if I was about to swipe the world like an image in my phone pictures gallery, not really expecting this to work.
Except, against dream-rules, it does work despite my negative expectation. The entire world, my current view of it anyway, swipes to the left, and a new image slides in from the right, teleporting me somewhere new.
But of course, not the elusive Fantasy Forest™.
I see a big, vivid, blue ocean in front of me. The waves are almost caramel-like. They move too slowly. In other words, their viscosity is higher than it should be. They crash down lazily.
My family may have been there too, I can recall my Dad being present for sure.
I briefly consider exploring the bottom of the ocean because who knows what my brain would put there!
But I ignore the ocean and my family: I am on a mission dammit!
I turn to walk away from the ocean and I notice it is raining behind me, and there is a forest in the distance.
But then a car drives by in front of it. IT ISN'T A FANTASY FOREST! IT'S A REGULAR PRESENT DAY FOREST!
I start to think about other ways to reach the forest. In particular, I imagined it might be easier to seek out a campfire and go from there.
But despite my best efforts, before I reach the Elusive Fantasy Forest™ I find myself waking up, thinking I should try to record before I lose memory of this dream.
I wake.
Recorded at 7:45AM.