...from the dark corners of my mind...

DJ Log: December 2, 2012 – 6:15AM (USA Eastern)
• NON-DREAM • NOTES • DREAM • LUCID •

I am standing in a garage talking with a couple other guys about car stuff. Suddenly, a couple strikes of lightning flash nearby. A brief moment later, lightning strikes the church steeple across a field behind the garage a few times. After a short pause, the lightning strikes repeatedly for about 10 seconds. It sounds like a machine gun firing as it is striking repeatedly and rapidly. Then, it stops just as quick as it started.

The other guys in the garage don't seem impressed, but I'm a bit wired because that was the some of the wildest lightning I have ever seen. They are just acting like it happens every day. I just roll my eyes and go back to talking about car stuff. One of the guys asks me to help him put on a seat cover. I get in the back seat and he gets in the front. He takes off the head rest and starts to slide a cover over the back of the seat. I pull it down from the back and fasten Velcro straps at the bottom.

Suddenly, lightning begins another rapid sequence of striking. It strikes the smoke coming from a smoke stack on a factory to the side of the garage. I quickly retrieve a small Flip camera, then I turn it on and begin recording. I hold the camera slightly out the window and can see the lightning arc travel from the sky and strike the smoke coming out of the stack. The lightning is striking repeatedly and so fast that it is nearly a constant arc. I can see the name Bondhaus on one of the stacks.

As I hold the camera, some of the lightning strikes closer and hits the power lines beside the garage. I ask the guy in the front seat to wind up the window. He just gives me a funny look then continues to adjust the seat cover, ignoring me and the lightning. Suddenly, lightning strikes the camera. I look at the screen and it is still recording. There is another really bright flash, and I suddenly wake up.

DJ Log: September 26, 2012 – 4:30AM (USA Eastern)
• NON-DREAM • NOTES • DREAM • LUCID •

Thunder awakes me and I find myself laying on a blanket under a small pop-up canopy in the back yard. The rain hasn't started yet, but it is close. Lightning streaks through the sky and thunder follows shortly behind. After a moment, I lay down and go back to sleep.

DJ Log: June 13, 2012 – 5:00AM (USA Eastern)
• NON-DREAM • NOTES • DREAM • LUCID •

(Note: I woke up around 3:00AM and decided to get up for a bit. I poured a tall glass of organic apple juice with a little elderberry concentrate added, and then I sat at the computer reading some posts on the DV forums. I read a thread titled I returned to bed around 4:00AM.)

I find myself standing in a small bathroom in an unfamiliar house. The walls have a dark floral wallpaper and the ceiling is covered with decorative square copper tiles. There is no toilet, but there is a tall urinal along the wall. The bathtub is an antique copper claw-foot tub. I look at the fancy copper trimmed mirror and I do not see my reflection. I immediately become lucid and jump into the mirror.

Once on the other side of the mirror, I am standing in an old musty root cellar. The walls are covered with sagging wooden shelves which are full of old dusty wine bottles. There is a single light bulb hanging by its wires in the middle of the ceiling. I walk over and pick up a bottle and I struggle for a second to read the label. I try to pull out the cork, then I reach in my pocket and pull out a cork remover. The wine smells like pungent cheese but it tastes like water. I take a second taste and the flavor slightly develops a sweet rose wine flavor which fades quickly.

Thinking that my lucidity is fading with the flavor, I look up at my surroundings and see that the root cellar has changed into a dungeon. There are rusty chains and shackles hanging on the walls and there are torches on posts sticking out of the floor. I walk over to the wall and feel one of the chains. The rust is gritty and the metal is very cold. There are thick sheets of cobwebs covering all of the walls. When I pull the chain away from the wall, another mirror is revealed. I see my reflection for a split second, then I decide not to get stuck in the mirror. I pull the chains away and take a step back, then jump into the mirror.

On the other side of the mirror, I find myself standing in a small dark bedroom. There is a small dim lamp on a table next to an open window. The curtains are hanging out of the window, blowing in the wind. The bed and dresser are antique Victorian style and there is scratchy music playing from an antique phonograph in the corner. The hardwood floor is dusty and creaks as I walk. I stop and look at a painting on the wall of an old farm scene when I hear someone cough. I look over to see that fOrceez is sitting on a chair next to the phonograph, reading a book. I take a couple of steps toward him and he lowers the book and looks at me over the top of his reading glasses, then he asks me, “How was your flight?” I reply, “It was quite fun, but I'm not done yet!” I quickly turn around and see that the mirror is still on the wall where I came through. I take several steps back and run into the mirror. The surface does not give way at all and I bounce off and fall on my ass. fOrceez laughs as I stand up, dust myself off, and glare at the mirror. I cannot see my reflection, rather just a dark gray TV static pattern. Deciding that I'll just find another mirror elsewhere, I jump out of the window and fall into the ocean.

(Note: For the first time that I can recall, falling did not wake me up or trigger a FA. I'm marking the last part as non-lucid because I think my lucidity was lost during the fall, but I'm fairly certain that I remained in the same dream.)

I hit the cold water and struggle for a moment to swim back to the surface. Once I regain a couple of breaths, I find that I am swimming in a very stormy ocean far from land. Just as I turn around to see if I am near anything, lightning strikes the water just in front of me. I suddenly wake up with the sound of the thunder still rumbling through my head.

DJ Log: March 6, 2012 – 7:00AM (USA Eastern)
• NON-DREAM • NOTES • DREAM • LUCID •

My brother and I are watching some show on TV when an emergency broadcast announcement comes on. At first, I change the channel, but quickly realize that the emergency announcement is on every channel. After muting the TV, we decide to flip a coin to determine whether to watch the announcement or turn off the TV. My brother pulls out a coin and says, “Heads; we watch TV, tails; we find something else to do.” The tosses the coin into the air and it lands on the desk and reveals “heads.” I pick up the remote and un-mute the TV.

There is a live broadcast from the White House stating that an intercontinental ballistic missile with a nuclear warhead is coming in from the West. They are showing a radar map which shows the geographical position of the missile as well as the expected strike area, which updates in real time. It appears to be heading directly toward Washington, DC. We watch the live video feed, anxiously awaiting interception by a defense missile. After speaking for a moment, the president and several people standing around him rush off the press stand and disappear through a door.

We watch the radar map as the missile descends through the atmosphere over the Midwest and strikes ground just southwest of DC. Shortly after the strike, the live video feed goes black. Moments later, the power flickers then goes out.

I look out the window and see a large dark cloud moving across the sky. After a few moments, the sky turns completely black and there are huge lightning strikes. Tornadoes, illuminated by the lightning, can be seen in the distance. As the lightning gets closer, huge rumbles of thunder shake the walls and rattle the windows. As I watch through the window, I can see the frontal edge of the shock wave approaching from the South. It appears as a ripple in the clouds as it moves across the land. As it passes by, I hear a loud thump followed some crackling sounds. Shortly after it passes, I wake up.

DJ Log: July 24, 2011 – 3:45PM (USA Eastern)
Text color legend: · NON-DREAM · NOTES · DREAM · LUCID ·

I am laying on a large bed, looking through my photo collection. I am deciding which photos I would like to print and place into my photo portfolio. I have printed all of my favorite digital photos onto 8x3 thumbnail sheets so I can circle the file names that I want to use. I have the pile of thumbnails to my right, and a pile of checked thumbnails to my left. As I review them, I circle the file name above the photo and write “yes”, “no” or “maybe” beside the name.

Suddenly the light in the room changes. The direct sunlight which is illuminating the room is suddenly diffused, reducing the amount of light that is entering the windows. Without taking my eyes off my photos, I reach over and turn on the lamp on the night stand. I continue to check off some of the photos, then notice that the light has reduced even more.

My mom walks in the room and says, “There is a big storm coming.” I get up and look out the window to see the edge of a dark gray cloud which is quickly filling the sky. My mom and I step outside onto the second story deck, then walk out onto the roof through about 1” of snow. There are black ashes falling from the sky, mixed with the snow. In the distance, I can see that the ground is covered with the ashes. There is a vortex of light gray smoke connecting the chimney with the clouds, which is swirling like a tornado.

As I stare at the vortex of smoke, slightly entranced, lightning strikes through the smoke and hits the chimney. My mom, who was standing near the chimney, disappears into a puff of smoke. Lightning strikes several more times, then hits the roof near me. I decide that I've had enough of the lightning, so I quickly walk toward the deck.

As I am walking onto the deck, my cell phone rings and it shows 310-000-0000 on the caller ID. As I walk into the house, I answer the phone, “Hello. Who is this?” There is no immediate reply, but I can hear someone breathing on the other end of the call. After a moment, my mom says, “Hello?” I reply, “Hi, Mom. Where did you go?” She does not reply immediately. After a moment, she says, “If you can hear me, I can't hear you. Call me back and I should be able to hear you.”, then she hangs up. I call the number from the caller ID and it rings a couple of times, then plays the number is not in service message.

DJ Log: July 14, 2011 – 6:00AM (USA Eastern)
Text color legend: · NON-DREAM · NOTES · DREAM · LUCID ·

A DC and I are digging around in a large abandoned barn, picking up random junk and placing it on a rolling metal shelf cart. There are a couple of openings in the floor, but they are filled with junk so we can't climb down.

I find a small table radio and when I put it on the shelf, it turns itself on and starts playing music. After a brief moment, the music stops and a weather statement comes on. The announcer warns everyone that a huge storm is coming through the area and there is a high potential for tornadoes, severe wind, and lightning..

As we are digging around, a huge thunder storm rolls in and brings nearly continuous lightning strikes. We decide to stay in the barn and wait out the storm. As we are hanging out in there, several other people walk in for shelter also. The wind picks up and it starts raining heavily. Some roofing tin falls in front of me and I wake up.