One Must Imagine Sisyphus Happy

High School Friends
This was a longer dream, I only recall the tail end of it. I am in my bathroom from the Daisetta house where I lived during high school. I am standing near the sink, talking to two old friends from high school BS and TC. We are talking about college. I am bragging that I already finished college before I even got my high school diploma. I explained that I was going back to get another college degree and then I wanted to travel and swim with dolphins. Weird.

Couldn't get back to sleep because my mind felt too alert. I got up for about 30 minutes and then laid down again. I tossed and turned for a while, I don't know how long. Eventually, I drifted into some lucid dreams.

Naked Chicks
I transition into the dream and the scene is exactly like waking life. I am laying in bed on my side, facing the way. Just a bit of dim light comes in from the window. But then there's an interesting different. Two naked girls are on my bed. One is laying on the edge of the bed near the way. The other is on her knees at the foot of the bed and then she crawls over the other girl to the head of the bed. I know I'm dreaming. I can barely see in the dim light. I reach with my hand for the girl who is laying down. I roll her over toward me and run my hands along her body and squeeze her breast.

Rooftops
I transition into the dream and it's my bedroom again. Now it's more light. Sadly, there are no naked chicks. I sit up and look out the window. I phase through the window glass and jump out onto the rooftop of the adjacent building. I jump from rooftop to rooftop, trying to keep control and finesse of my jumps and vision. Then on one roof I see a man learning over the edge with a sniper rifle. I am behind him. I sneak up to him and grab the rifle out of his hands. He struggles with me but I overpower him. I throw it over the edge of the building.

I haven't written in my dream journal in several months but I'm trying now to get back into the habit.

Magazine, Polar Bear
I'm with my sister and I think my mother. We are at a zoo, but the style of the architecture is like a Japanese monastery alongside a quiet brook and a wooden bridge. We are writing an article about the zoo for a magazine. I remember the image of arranging blocks of text and pictures on a white template.

Then we are looking at the polar bear and I admire how it's fur looks when it's all wet. But then the bear sees me and gets angry. He leaps over the railing of his pen and starts chasing me. I turn and run along the brook to the bridge and across. I feel that if I can just get across the bridge and over one more fence that I will be safe.

Then the bear chase scene repeats twice more. The last time, the bridge looks different and I am confused that I am going the wrong way.

I woke up pretty frightened. Just a dream.... Just a dream.... I couldn't get back to sleep. After about an hour of failing I got up and read for a bit. Eventually got back to sleep, not sure when.

Lucid, Can't Move
I start with a false awakening. It's quite dark. I look down toward my feet and see my room looks very different from what it should. I am confused, I try to think where I am and what time it is. I realize I am dreaming but without much clarity. I concentrate on my body for a moment as I prepare to move. I am afraid I am feeling my physical body and if I move I will wake up. I try to push that thought out of my mind and just do it. I try to sit up but instead hover and tumble as if weightless in outer space. My body just drifts through the air; I am paralyzed and can move my limbs or neck.

I drift through the room toward the door. I try to observe the place but it's very dark and unclear. As I float through the door and then the ceiling and walls, the scene seems to change, but always a dark room cluttered with unidentifiable objects. In one room, it seems to be a dark night club and I think I see people but they are all frozen and don't move.

After about a minute of this, I sense that I am not just floating but rather that someone is holding me and guiding me along. I speak weakly "Who?". Then with more confidence in my voice, I say more clearly "Who is holding me?" I try to turn my head to look but can't hardly. I start to be become unnerved and force myself to wake up.

Lucid, Come Fly With Me
I begin again with a false awakening. It is similar to the previous dream: a dark room that seems somewhat like my real bedroom but unfamiliar. This time, I hear my mother's voice from the next room. She's saying something about missing the bathroom. I think, wait, do I live with my mother? I have to think about that one real hard. No, I don't. This is a dream.

I sit up in bed and the dream is quiet unstable. My mother enters the room. I get up and walk towards her but she gets pulled back and disappears in the void. I turn toward the bathroom, I suppose instinctively as something I do when I wake up. I hear another voice. Not my mother. It sounds like a younger girl. I turn back to the door to look at her and I see faintly a pretty girl with brown hair. She's half invisible and the whole dream is still quite unstable. I walk toward and reach for her but she's floating away. It's like she's just an image on my retina that don't get closer as I move. I follow the image of her through several doors and hallways. Her image morphs and fades in and out.

I slow down, I try to focus. I stop walking and just look at my surroundings. Things become clearer and the girl in front of me becomes solid. I grab her hand and say "Hi, you're so beautiful." I lead her through another door and we are outside. It's sunny, though we are in the shadow of the building we just exited. It seems like a garden-style condo complex. I lead the girl toward the sunlight, not sure where I am going. As we pass a doorway, I spot another person peeking out the door. It's another girl, this one blonde and with a bright blue dress. I take her hand and lead both girls out to the edge of the building where there are some trees. I turn back and look at the girls. They are both very pretty. I see now that the first is wearing a red dress under a leather jacket. They have earrings and make up and handbags. They look sharp.

Without really thinking, I climb the tree and use it to get on the roof. I help the girls up as well. I want to fly and I want them to fly with me. They don't seem convinced that they can. I try to explain that they can. I'm not sure exactly what I said.

Then my recall skips. I think maybe I flew away alone and landed elsewhere. I can begin to recall again being in a different part outside of the condos. The sun is vividly bright. Looking down at the white sidewalk makes my eyes strain. I look up and see yet another girl. This one with a bright magenta dress. Looking at it too makes my eyes hurt. I walk closer to her to get a look at her face. Then everything fades away and I wake up.

Flying and Phone Messages
Method DILD (absurdity, false awakenings)
Lucidity B
Vividness B
Control B
Earliest recall is a false awakening. The buzzing vibration of my phone wakes me up. I listen to the buzzing, waiting for the alarm music to start but it doesn't. Instead the message beep sounds. So I roll over and look. Yup, the red message light is blinking. I grab the phone and look at the message. It's a text from my roommate. It says something like:

some whiskey here
coming in soon?

I struggle to understand what that means. I start to think I might be dreaming. I look around my room. Yes, it looks like my room in very dim morning light. But wait, then someone walks into my room. It's not my roommate and he would have knocked first. This person is a man in a white dress shirt, black tie, and black slacks. He is short and skinny. Who is that? I must be dreaming.

My lucidity isn't very strong. I still doubt I am dreaming so I feel the urge to prove it. So I jump out the window. I phase right through the blinds and glass. Outside, I start to fall in a gradual arc, like I'm magically slowing my fall by hovering. OK, I'm convinced that I'm dreaming. I look down and allow myself to fall. It's night. Below me is the city street and I see the flashing lights of police cars. I dive headfirst all the way down to the pavement. I don't feel anything when I hit the ground. I can still see for a few moments after. I see what looks like a smashed melon next to me with juice splattered around it. Then I close my eyes.

False awakening. Once again, I hear my phone buzz and see the red blinking light. I reach and grab but don't yet look at it. I look around the room to determine if I am dreaming. First I notice some strange decorative panels on my door. Then I notice the window blinds are oriented wrong and the window itself is wider than normal. I am definitely still dreaming. I jump out the window again. This time I fly up over the city rooftops, still holding my phone.

It's mostly dark, almost morning. I fly around a bit and land on a rooftop. Near me, I overhear two people talking. It sounds like a young girl and a guy. They are talking something about a hotel and phone sex hotline. I feel awkward eavesdropping on that conversation. I look at my phone and open the message. The phone's display is strange and it's hard to read the message. It's a long URL that only partially fits on the screen. I try to scroll left and right to see it but my phone is not cooperating. I remember the link contained the words "yOur" and "/Jennifer/". Not sure what any of that is supposed to mean.

I decide to forget about the phone and do something else. I fly around the city a bit. The sun is starting to rise and the sky is turning orange. It's pretty. I land on the street and walk into a restaurant. In the dream I seem to think this is a familiar place, but in retrospect it's not. Anyway, I walk in and it's a nice restaurant and bar. It's mostly empty, like the restaurant has just opened and it's just the staff hanging out. Around the bar are 3 people. One is a guy who seems to be a waiter and the other two are women. One is standing -- she seems to be the bartender. The other is sitting -- maybe a customer. They both have red hair and I find this attractive. I sit and talk to the bartender, not paying much attention to the other woman or the guy. After not so much talking, the bartender takes off her clothes and gives me a lap dance. At some point, as I'm trying to take the situation further, I close my eyes.

False awakening. Yet again my phone buzzes and blinks. I pick it up again and look around the room for dreamsigns. I see the same dreamsign of my window blinds. Yes, still dreaming. I jump out the window again and fly up to a rooftop.

On the roof, there is a small garden with a flowerbed and about a dozen pigeons. I walk toward the birds, expecting them to fly away all at once. I hear a woman's voice say "Oh those birds are like insects. They will get you fucked up." Wait, is she talking about drugs? Whatever, I ignore it. Sure enough, the birds all fly off and I stand in the middle of the flowers. I look at my phone and open the message. This time it's an image. The image is a picture of a flower bed, just like the one I am standing in. Except the picture is a painting, like watercolor perhaps. I think that's neat. Then my muscle's freeze and I can't move. Oh. Bummer. I close my eyes.

Real awakening. My phone is not buzzing, but I look at it anyway. And this time the window blinds are the right way. I'm awake.

This was from two nights ago.

Flying, Girl with Bangs
Method WILD
Lucidity B
Vividness B
Control B
I got a lot of sleep this night and woke up many times. I was in bed for a least 12 hours. So this was about my 8th sleep cycle or something crazy like that. Anyway, I woke from a dream that I don't recall and turn to go back to sleep. I get that WILD tingle so I change position on to my back. I imagine falling through the bed as usual, but it doesn't actually happen. Instead I snap directly into a scene:

I'm indoors. It's my childhood home in SAV. It's rather dark and blurry. I'm in the living room. I walk to the front door and open it. It's bright and clear outside. The area outside is consistent with the SAV neighborhood. I step outside and jump upward, flying about 50 feet up. I feel the rush of wind on my face. I look down on the trees and street.

I look up the long cul-de-sac toward the cross street and I see a girl about 100 feet away. She is standing on the sidewalk on the left side of the street. I fly toward her and land on the grass in front of her. I take a couple steps and am right in front of her. She has long light brown hair with long bangs. I think she was wearing a white buttoned shirt and a plaid red skirt. I move her hair out of her face to get a better look to see if I recognize her. Dream ends.

Many dreams last night. Not using my paper journal so they are mostly lost.

Weak Lucid 1
The dream is in black and white. I'm in bed and it's mostly dark. I fall through the bed into an empty outdoor space. I try a few times to teleport my blinking, snapping my fingers and clapping. Nothing happens. I look down.

Below me it looks like the open ocean or maybe a large grass field swaying in the wind. I can only see a strip of bright light illuminating the ground. It's like I'm on a helicopter about 30 feet above the surface with a powerful spotlight pointed at the dark way.

Next I'm wandering on the ground. It's like a desert. Still dark and still black and white. Ahead of me is a slight incline and at the top is an old rusted out car. The windows are doors are gone. Inside there is woman. I look closely. She's naked and inviting me in. Wake up.

Weak Lucid 2
I'm in my room. It's dark and black and white again. I feel along the bed with my hands to increase my sensation of touch. I have difficulty moving. I look at the door of my room. Everything else fades away. I think to look around to regain the scene, but I'm afraid if I look away then everything will be gone. I imagine the door opening and someone coming in.

A woman walks through the door. She is naked. She climbs onto the bed in front my me. I keep my gaze on her and everything else seems black. I feel her thigh and kiss her lips. I pull back and she is gone. Wake up.

Working on getting my recall back up. I think I had at least 3 dreams this night. The lucid is the only one can recall now.

Flying, Office, False Awakenings
Method DILD (false awakening)
Lucidity C
Vividness B
Control B
False awakening. I hear the voice of Collin, an old friend who I haven't seen in years. That can't be. I sense that I am in my bedroom from the Daisetta house. I must be dreaming. It's dark. I try to get up but my body seems paralyzed. I can tilt my head enough to look at my hands. I can rub them. I still seem paralyzed, but then dream time skips a few seconds. Now I'm standing in the hallway outside the bedroom and I can move freely. I walk toward the living room where some lights are on. I hear my mother's voice. Wait. I realize my vision is blurry. I turn back toward the bedroom with the intent of finding my glasses. Collin is behind me and he is holding my glasses. I take them from him, put them on, and now my vision is clear (I love that trick).

I walk out to the backyard, ignoring my mother and Collin. It's dark and very foggy outside. I hop up on the picnic table and launch into the air. I fly straight up about 20 stories and then stop hover and look down to get my bearings. The many houses and street lamps glow dimly in the dense fog. I want to fly to my office. I look south-east to the horizon and see dim lights of a large building. That must be it (IWL, it's much further than that) I fly Superman-style toward the buliding, willing myself to go as fast as I can. I arrive, land outside, and burst through the door with great momentum.

I slow down to see where I have arrived. Entering the main door, the interior doesn't look like my office as I expected. It just looks like a long corridor with generic office suites on either side. More like a prison (which, actually, is still an apt description of work). Not discouraged, I wander down the corridor and follow it a few turns. I turn one corner and am surprised to see my office lobby. Cool! Now I follow the real layout of the office toward RH's room. The office furniture looks very different. The chairs are dark brown wicker and there are big leafy fern plants. It's looks like the decor of a hotel in the Caribbean. RH isn't in her office. Next door, I hear her neighbor's voice saying that RH left.

I give up on RH and look through the rest of the office. I peek over the cubical walls, looking for someone I recognize. Then I jump and balance on top of the cubical wall for an easier view. "Where is BG?" I say aloud. She isn't at her desk. I hear a voice say, "She moved to a new seat." I turn around and see a reception desk that doesn't exist IWL. BG is bent over under the desk, pulling out something. "I'm here!" she says. She stands up and I jump from the cubical wall to land in front of her. It doesn't really look like her, which is a bit disappointing. She is wearing a black dress and her hair is black and styled up. I say hello and grab her hand, so as to lead her around the office as I look for more recognizable people.

Now the dream changes abruptly into another false awakening. I'm laying on a bed. It's light. I look down and I am naked and with no blanket. In the room I see four people who look like old hillbillies. They are dressed in plaid shirts and denim overalls. They look at me and start to walk toward me, very slowly like zombies. Ugh, I don't want to be here.

Dream skips again into another false awakening. I am in my own bed. I tilt my head back and my body starts to sink into the bed.

One more awakening, this time for real.

Finally broke the dryspell with two medium quality LDs. Dryspell was about 3 weeks I think. Don't have time to write them up, maybe later.

Flying and Lost In A Crowd
Method DILD (spontaneous)
Lucidity C
Vividness C
Control C
I become spontaneously lucid in my bedroom. It's dark. I stand up in bed turn to the window. The blind are closed. I phase through the window. Now I am outside, hovering 4 stories up. It's very dark outside too. No moon and no street lamps. I see the faint outline of tall buildings in the distance to my right. I pick the tallest building and intent to fly towards it.

As I am flying, some light catches my attention on the ground to my right. I forget about the tall buildings and land. It's a busy street intersection with lots of people. It seems like a city farmers' market. The area is lit by neon signs. As I walk into the crowd, it seems bright enough to be day. But in the crowd I become distracted and confused, seemingly lost. I lose lucidity. After that, I only recall the vague sense that I was in the area for a while, walking back and forth trying to find something or someone.

American Psycho Playground
0524: I am in what seems to be a school playground in the middle of nowhere. Sandboxes, grassy areas, pull-up bars, chain-link fences, and so on. Christian Bale from American Psycho is here, chasing me and other people. Somehow he gets stabbed and falls to the ground. He calls an ambulance. The rest of us run and hide behind cover. He can't move but he's still throwing sharp things like knives and and pencils. One almost hits me. He is covered in blood. I'm not very afraid though. Just cautious to dodge the projectiles.

short WBTB, just long enough to drink a glass of water with a B-complex supplement

fragment
In bed, notice the nearby electrical outlet. It's making a noise like running water. I remove the plug from the top outlet and move it to the bottom, thinking that will somehow help.

fragment
My mother is in the next room. I overhear her talking to herself. She says that I was talking in my sleep.

Vivid Lucid With Some Tasks
Method DILD (prospective memory), DEILD
Lucidity B
Vividness A
Control B
1134: Begin recall in my bathroom. The light is off and the door is open. Dim morning light coming through my bedroom window. I remember my own advice to look at my hands and count my fingers. At first they appear normal but I stare at them for a moment. A finger on my left hand starts to look distorted and wavy. Bingo, I must be dreaming. I also notice the orientation of the bathroom is backwards compared to the real one.

I walk out the bathroom, through my bedroom, and on into the living room. There I see my father laying on the ground between the couch and coffee table. He's wrapped in a robe, like he's sick. I ask him a question, but move on. I peek in my roommate's room, but he's not there. I haven't stopped to think of a plan, so I'm just wandering aimlessly.

I exit the front door and find myself in an unfamiliar stairway. I go down one flight and pass by two young women. I think I said to them: "Oh, you're pretty, and so are you." They are carrying piles of clothes. I reason that they are moving in to the building. I stop on the landing of the floor below. It's covered with boxes and more clothes everywhere. I say aloud: "Wow, this place is really messy." Then I think: Wait, this is my place. It is my own dream in my own mind. Maybe the mess is symbolic. I pick up some of the clothes to get a closer look. They are actually neatly folded. I say aloud: "I guess I like my place like this." I'm not sure what I meant by that.

Now I exit the building and find myself in yet another unfamiliar setting. The building I was in is at the top of a rather steep hill. I am looking down a narrow street that goes down the hill with buildings, trees, and alleys on either side. It's only wide enough for foot traffic, no cars. I'd guess it looks a bit like San Francisco more than Los Angeles. Anyway, it's bright day and many people are on the street, going in and out of shops and sitting at cafe patio tables.

About half way down the hill, there is an awning that catches my attention. I think to fly and land on it. I start to fly but sputter and lose height. I land under the awning. I sit down at a cafe patio table. Also at the table is a young man with dark brown "bedhead" hair and a scraggly beard. In a hip way, not an ugly way. He's holding an Amazon Kindle. He's talking to a nearby waitress. Neither of them see to notice my presence.

Dream fades. I DEILD back.

I'm back at the same cafe patio. The man with the Kindle stands up and walks away, never having noticed me. I stand up and now have more lucidity and control. I walk to the middle of the street and look around, thinking of what to do. I'm a bit distracted as I notice a older woman standing at a podium nearby. Maybe the hostess of a restaurant. Or maybe she's selling something. I snap back into focus and remember a few tasks. Meditate. Hmm. Risky. I decide I'm not ready for that. Laugh. I can do that. I enjoy a big loud "HA HA HA!" in the middle of this busy street. Everyone stops and turns to look at me. The noisy chatter turns dead quiet. Am I embarrassed? No, surprisingly.

Now I have everyone's attention. What next? Cry and pick a fight. Not sure why I thought of these two things together. I look around the crowd and pick out the biggest, meanest guy. He's a tall, wide, Samoan-looking guy. I look up at him and taunt him with a childish "Boo hoo!" crying gesture. Then I punch him in the face with a right hook. He punches back but I block with my left arm and counter with another right. He tries a few more times but I block and counter-punch again and again. He swings once more, loses his balance and falls. I place one leg on him, like I'm posing on top of a mountain.

I start to think what to do next, but the dream fades.

fragment
0537: Prepare for sleep with games. Dreams get wiped.

The Beach at Night
Method WILD
Lucidity D
Vividness C
Control C
0618: I visualize a sunny beach, but instead I find myself on a beach in the very dark of night. Nonetheless, there are many people around, laying as if to sunbathe. I am laying down as if sleeping. A girl walks up to me and greets me. She extends her hand to help me stand up. She has short black hair. I can barely make out her other features in the darkness. She leads me down the beach toward the water. We hop over a man laying on his back.

We get near the water and I notice the water and sand. The sand isn't smooth. It's clumpy, like a stampede of horses just trampled through. The attention to detail improves my lucidity a bit. I turn to look at the girl and realize how pretty she is. I pull her in close and kiss her. Then I say confidently and excited: "Let's go in the water!" Now I lead her by the hand a few steps into the water. Then I say, "No wait, let's go ON the water!" I start running on the water's surface, pulling her along. She's a bit scared but also excited. I feel the wind on my face as we go faster and faster. I say "We can go anywhere we want. And we can go as fast as we want!"

We are zooming along the water, parallel to the coastline. We are approaching a city in the distance. A collection of twinkling lights and buildings barely visible in the darkness. I jump off the water and soar into the city, landing on a street surrounded by tall buildings. I look around. The girl is gone. Whoops. End.

fragment
0729: Person talking about dreams. In body. Other person gets trapped in dream. ... we are OK.

Work and Games
0757: Menial tasks at work. Patching and doing regression tests. Playing the game. Zombies in a dark room. Playing another game. Humans sieging an elven city. They reach the queen's chamber and challenge her army to a final battle.

Game with Trippy Time
Method DILD (absurdity)
0815: Playing a FPS game with Hugh. He takes the lead and I follow. We are walking down a hilly city street. We reach an intersection and I look left. I see a bunch of enemies. We all turn to shoot. I only have a pistol. I fire fire shots at a guy at point blank range. But the world seems to freeze. Then it unfreezes and the five shots all go at once.

Then suddenly I seem to be on an acid trip. I see swirling colors and symbols of drugs and poison. I notice this is all so strange and become lucid. Then immediately a false awakening. It's dark and I'm in my own room. I'm confused and disoriented. End.

fragment
One last dream in here but I didn't write down. It was long. Babysitting for some rich family. Then going to a bar near a beach. Tornado warning coming in from the water. Helicopters somehow fly over the tornado and weaken it. Order drinks at the bar. See the pretty young girl I was supposed to be babysitting. She's been following me.

Had other dreams but didn't write them down because I was focusing on the WILD.

Edit: I now recall more of dream before the incubated scene.

Flying, Teleporting, Hot Tub Revisited
Method WILD
Lucidity C
Vividness B
Control B
Once again, I visualize the hot tub scene. I plan to return to this scene several times as I practice my first few WILDs. It's such a vivid memory for me. I visualize being in a friend's backyard a few steps from their hot tub. It's a party with a bunch of high school friends but mostly I am focused on the two girls in the hot tub who waiting for me. I concentrate on the blueness of the water and the silhouettes of the two people sitting in the hot tub.

I transition into dreaming but I am not in the incubated scene. I am outside and it is very dark. I think I am in an alley surrounded by tall buildings. I start flying to figure out where I am. I slowly float up above the buildings and see the cityscape around me. It's still almost pitch black. I see the outline of buildings as faint silver lines. I also see a few spots of color of neon signs. I practice flying a bit. I try to fly standing upright instead of laying out with my arms stretched, Superman-style. I don't see any people or movement so it feels kinda lonely. I practice throwing fireballs and sonic booms. They seem dim and silvery, like the outlines of the buildings.

Now I look upward, hoping to see stars or the moon. But there is just empty blackness. This disorients me and, when I look down again, the city is gone and I am surrounded by blackness. It's not scary though. I think to just fly to a new scene. I recall my visualization of the blueness of the hot tub. I think of that and start flying forward. Soon it seems I am going through a tunnel with the scene at the other end.

Then tada! I am there, in my incubated scene. It's still dark of night, but somewhat lit. It seems to be lit by some of those tiki torch things that people put in their yards. Once again, it's my own backyard instead of the girl's who is hosting the party. I look at my hands. The fingers on the right hand are long and distorted. Cool. I step down into the hot tub and sit between the two girls. I look to the one on my right, Sara. I put my arms around her and appreciate how real she feels. I look at her face. She gives me a big smile. She actually looks like someone else that I recognize, not Sara. I start to turn to look at the other girl but my body goes stiff. I try to look at my hands but the dream quickly fades. Tried to DEILD but no luck this time.

So I'm trying to get back focused on my tasks. My lucid rate has been ok lately but they have all been kinda aimless and accidental. I want to get into my fun and rewarding tasks. Didn't actually succeed in any this night, but it was a good effort so I feel good about it.

First Cycle Randomness
0755: B. First cycle. Bunch of randomness here. Not sure of the order. I'm in an airport, picking up lots of loose change. I think there was just a party of something and there's a bunch of change left. There are also pushpins with people's names written on them. I think the one I read said Bill. I am careful to keep the coins and pins separate. Then my father is here and he's haggling with a man to buy a coin sorting machine. I really want him to buy it to make my job easier. The fact that he's haggling over the price makes me think he is cheap. Then I'm talking to my father about the pushpins and the names on them. They were part of some party event where each person is given a pin and you're suppose to find the person whose name is on it. Or something like that. My father and I are talking about the psychology of it. Something about how people's anticipation always leads to disappointment and therefore people's happiness is always going down. Weird. Then I'm at another party or maybe back to the party that started it all. A group of people are sitting on couches around one guy. He looks like a frat boy with a backwards hat and t-shirt. They are talking about the pushpin game. He's bragging about how good he is at these party games. Last time, the game was to annoy people and he won four times in a row. He also has his own internet video feed on him all the time called "HD Hale." Then I'm watching a TV commercial for MetLife with a statue at the top of a building. The voice-over is talking about how they have solid investments on Mars. The statue is of Abraham, Jesus, and 4 other monks holding torches. But then the commercial turns into a comedy skit. Jesus is now Robert Downey Jr. and he's talking to the Abraham statue, who is played by someone named Carmack. He's saying, "Hey Carmack, why do you always get to be the father of God?"

Street Fighter Documentary
0927: C. Hugh is watching a documentary about Street Fighter. The original stages were in an underground hideout of a gang called the Panthers. But they abandoned it because it was radioactive. Then it talks about the possibility of a sequel and what will happen to the characters after many years. I see an older Ryu with his face starting to wrinkle and his hair starting to go gray. It says Blanka won't be around because he can't have children.

Counter-Strike, Lucid
Method DILD (spontaneous)
Lucidity B
Vividness B
Control C
0949: Very quick time from the previous dream. I'm in a game of Counter-Strike. I must be T because all my enemies look like CTs. A guy is camping upstairs in a building with the Para machine gun. I sneak in through a window and kill him. I take his machine gun and start camping the same building. I'm at the top of a stairway, overlooking the front room of the building which has a front door and several broken windows. Many CTs try to attack me from this front door and windows. One has a shield. But I mow them all down with my machine gun.

As I'm doing this, I sense that I'm narrating the action in my head. It's as if I'm trying to help myself recall this later for my dream journal. Now one more enemy comes to the front door with a flashbang in his hand. He throw it up the stairway and it goes off near me. This sudden flash combined with the self-narration makes me lucid. I stop fighting. I walk down the stairs and outside. I still see the CT enemies around but they are just standing still doing nothing.

I look at the scenery. Vividness is pretty good. It's bright day. It seems like a small town in France or Italy with cobblestone streets and stone buildings. I'm in a large city square or courtyard, with impressive buildings on three sides and a street lead up a hill to the north. I've been walking up the street on the slight incline of the hill. I start to remember my plan. I rub my hands and look at them to stabilize. Feels pretty good. Next task: summon music. For some reason, I think I should be indoors for this. I turn around and see one of the buildings. It's an old stone church with stained glass windows. Think Notre Dame. It's beautiful and vivid. I start walking toward it, but the dream fades.

More Gunfighting
1108: B. It starts a bit like the end of the last dream. I'm in a quaint European town, but now it's near the ocean. I'm in a large courtyard again. In one direction there looks to be a shipyard. In the middle of the shipyard is a futuristic airplane that looks like a giant green and purple hornet. Hugh is here and I guess it's his plane. He's sort of like Batman and the hornet plane is like the Bat-Mobile. Hugh says he just got all the armor upgrades for it. He gets in and it flies way.

Skip. The scene is now similar to the beginning of the previous dream. I'm in an old building that feels like a church. I'm on the second floor balcony that overlooks the large room below. I'm alone with a machine gun and I'm fighting off enemies below. This time, I think they look like marines from Starcraft. After a wave, I am reinforced by my friend H who leads a small group of his own marines. He says we need to move out. Before leaving, I pull out my dream journal, lay on the ground (still in the dream), and start writing in it about this dream.

Bus Station, Failed Task, The Moon and Mars
Method DILD (false awakening)
Lucidity C
Vividness C
Control C
1201: I think I am in a suburb of New York City. I am near the river at a bus station. It's early morning and it's mostly light but the sun isn't fully up yet. I'm looking around for someone or something, not sure what. There are a few DCs around and in the booth selling tickets. I walk all the way around the building and give up on what I was looking for. I am wearing a black sweatshirt and sweatpants but white shoes. I exit the bus station through a chain link fence. I get on a skateboard and start skating away toward a residential neighborhood.

False awakening. I'm in an unfamilar bedroom with very little furniture. I'm sleeping on a cheap cot. There's just a bit of morning sunlight coming through a window to my right. This is all wrong so I become lucid and back it up with a nose-plug RC. But for some reason I question whether I am really dreaming. I nose-plug several times, each time confirming that I am indeed dreaming.

So I finally accept that I'm dreaming and try to remember my plan. Rub my hands. Ok, I do that but I bit rushed. Summon music. The song I have in mind is "Free Bird" by Lynyrd Skynyrd. I imagine it in my head for a moment and expect it to keep playing on it's own. No. I try to will the universe to play it for me. No. I gesture with my hand, as if pressing a button on a remote control toward a stereo. No. Hmm. Not working. Discouraged, I abandon the rest of the plan.

Instead, I hop out the window and hover and land on the street. It's a quiet residential neighborhood, like in the scene before the FA. The street is framed with big trees whose leaves have turned orange and brown for the fall. The sun is just rising in the distance and the sky is still a bluish-black with stars visible. I can also see the moon and Mars, which is right next to the moon and almost as big. The colors are so rich and it's a beautiful scene. I think to fly to the moon or maybe fly to Mars instead. I run and jump and get some height but then halt. It's like my rockets ran out and I slowly drift back down to the ground. Now I'm stuck and I start the feel my physical body. I can feel the sleep paralysis and so now my dream body can't move. Even my neck is stiff but I'm still looking up toward the moon and Mars. I know I'm waking up soon and I can't move, so I start bring the moon down to me! I pull the moon closer with my mind and it's getting bigger and bigger. It's about to fill my view and crash into the Earth when I wake up.

Zerg, Driving, Bar
1247: C. Was patrolling for Zerg (Starcraft again). I found some but forget to write down where on the map. (I think that was a false memory in the dream and I didn't actually experience it.) Anyway, I'm beating myself up for that mistake. Now I'm driving home in my car. The street looks like the area around my real office. I want to stop at a bar. I have to make a left turn into the parking lot and I have to wait a while as other cars are pulling out of the lot. I think I cut someone off. I walk into the bar and it's very small. Everything is wood paneled. I accidently bump into a guy near the door. He's with a group of rowdy people. They must be college students and I want to avoid them. I walk to the bar area. The stools are all out of place. I pick up one and place it at the bar and sit down. I'm sitting next to a middle-aged guy to my right. I think he says hello to me. There are two bartenders which I think is weird for such a small bar and only a few people inside. They are both young guys with short black hair. One says hello to me and asks what I want. I think for a moment and order a Corona Light (which I though was weird because I'd probably never order that in a real bar). Dream fades.

Was exhausted this night. Got home and took a hot bath. I don't even remember laying down in bed. Apparently, I went to bed without my Zeo, eye mask, ear plugs, and without setting my dream journal next to my pillow. So I didn't write these dreams down and didn't note the times.

Internet Cafe
I'm in a quiet room filled with desks and computers. It seems like a library or internet cafe. The desks are cheap plastic and the chairs are folding chairs. My roommate is here and there are maybe just 2-3 other random DCs. I brought my roommate here because he needs to use a computer for something. He was skeptical, but now that we are here, he's finds it useful. Meanwhile, I'm on a computer browsing forums. I stand up and go to a different computer so I can read a different forum. I think that this place could actually make money if it advertised itself as an internet cafe.

Trains, Sex
Method DILD (dreamsign)
Lucidity C
Control D
Vividness C
I'm near a train station. It's reminiscent of the ones I used to use around Los Angeles. I'm in a hurry, running toward the station. I notice the stairways are changing color. The one I'm running toward turns blue. I interpret this to mean the train is arriving soon. I'm just in time and the train arrives. I hop on without buying a ticket. (I once did this by accident, got caught, and had to pay the fine) But I see an attendant checking tickets. She is an old lady. I hop off, buy a ticket, get back on and show it to her. I have to sign my name on it for some reason. Then I drop it in a shoe box with the others.

So now the train is moving. I'm sitting facing inward. The train is about a quarter filled with DCs. I look around and try to imagine what the people are thinking, like I used to do to past the time when I rode the train. I notice several young women on the train staring at me seductively. This has been a fairly reliable dreamsign. OK, I'm lucid. Oops, no reality checks or goals. My control is low. I get up and approach the woman sitting across from me. She is attractive with reddish-brown hair, a red sweater, jeans, and obnoxiously large sunglasses. She gets up too. We have sex. At one point, I put my hand on the back of her head and feel that her hair is now a very short buzz cut. The sex lasts for a satisfying few minutes until the dream fades.

Summoning, Flying, Legos on the Moon
Method DEILD
Lucidity B
Control C
Vividness B
I think this was a DEILD from another non-lucid that I don't recall. I was lucid from the beginning. I start with a false awakening. I'm in the family room of the Daisetta house. It's a large room and I'm alone, laying on the carpeted floor under some bed covers. I think of what to do. I still have sex on the brain so I decide to try summoning a girl. Rachel is the target. My mother walks in to tell me that someone has come to visit. I ask who. I don't recall who she said, but it's not Rachel. I try to roll with the punch. I say to my mother "Oh, will you tell me when Rachel arrives?" She acknowledges and leaves. Moments later, my mother walks back in to say someone else has arrived. "Is it Rachel?" "No, it's your friend from work." I stand up and walk out of the room toward the entryway. It turns out to be Nate, a former coworker. Ugh, this isn't working.

I march out of the house, determined to do something else but I'm not sure what. I rub my hands and look around the neighborhood. It's bright and sunny and it's at this point that I appreciate the vividness. Cool. I start flying and look at the landscape below. I'm having trouble turning again. (I now realize this is my mind obeying the laws of physics and inertia, I'll have to work on that.) I'm drifting toward a hillside. I try to turn but I keep drifting and bumping into the hill. Frustrated, I think I should try something more specific. The moon! I look upward and start flying straight up. Now I have no trouble getting speed.

I'm quickly out of the atmosphere and the ambient light disappears into a starry universe. This is my first time in outer space. I see the moon. It's gray but on it I can see colorful mountains. I think perhaps the moon has become a giant trash heap? Then I miss the moon. Yup, I'm going so fast that I miss and zoom past it. This is kinda scary for a moment because all I see around me is open space. I manage to turn around. Now I can see the Earth and the moon again. I circle around the moon a bit, carefully trying to line up.

Finally, I land on the gray surface. The colorful mountains I saw from far away are actually buildings made of giant Lego blocks. I look around a bit for people from DV. But I don't see anyone. I find myself next to a gray castle-like building. At the entrance is a metal gate that looks like a jail cell. Inside is a dragon made of Legos. He is gray, like the moon surface, except for the yellow accent of the scales on his back, his wing-like ears, and his nostrils. He says in a deep rumbling voice: "Intruder!" I remain calm. I explain that I'm an explorer. He becomes friendly. I talk to the dragon for a bit. I forget about what. At this point, the dream was fading.

I planned to not record my dreams this night. I just wanted to get a solid night's rest. So no recall in the first half (the usual reason). And for the first couple dreams I didn't write anything down. By the last two, I realized the dreams were worth writing down so I did so.

"Do Nothing"
Lucidity: C
Vividness: C
Control: C
~0800: No written notes, so this is spotty from memory. I don't recall how I became lucid. The first thing I recall is doing a nose plug RC. I'm sitting at a campfire circle. It's dusk. It seems like I'm in the giant doorway of an abandoned factory or airplane hanger. A few other DCs are around the fire. They look like migrant workers. The scene made me think of movies like The Motorcycle Diaries and Mi Mejor Enemigo. I remember my plan: "Do nothing", practice reality checks, focus on all 5 senses.. For taste, I lick a rock on the ground and it tastes like dirt! I vaguely recall that I did things for the other senses. I think I had double vision and that frustrated me. I try to talk to the DCs but I don't recall they said anything.

fragment
~0915: C. No written notes, so this is from memory. First thing I recall is a false awakening. I sense there was more before but no detail. I'm in my own room. I get out of bed and look at the time: 1:30pm. Crap, it is really that late? I get up, take off my Zeo headband and dock it in the bedside unit. It gives me a sleep score of 42. Really? I thought I slept better than that. Wake up for real. It's only about 9. My Zeo score for the night ended up at a more respectable 83.

Unfocused Lucid
Lucidity: C
Vividness: C
Control: D
1100: Just a few notes so this is mostly from memory. I'm in a classroom. It's a art or shop class so all the students are standing at work tables. In the dream, I seem to be distracted or sleepy. The teacher is a woman and there are one or two girls sharing my table. The first thing I recall is the teacher scolding me for not paying attention. So I become aware of what we are supposed to be doing. We have a piece of paper with a drawing on it. On top, we have a piece of tracing paper and we are supposed to trace the drawing under it. The drawing is an architectural sketch of a colonial era boat, I think. So I start tracing but there is a time limit. The teacher is nearby, watching me. She thinks I won't finish in time. The other girl at my table is done and she is also watching me. I feel nervous but I act confident. I think we do two tracings like this. The next task is to trim a large piece of meat. It's really thin, more like a the hide than the flesh. The tracing paper has become butcher paper. I move to a larger table and spread this gross sheet of meat over the paper.

Skip. Now I'm outside in what seems to be a school campus but it's unfamiliar. I'm walking up a grassy hill. There are many other students around. It's bright daylight. I see a girl who I recognize as a high school classmate, Beth. I'm not sure but I think this must be what made me lucid. Her hair is weird, kinda like dreadlocks but also kinda like bananas. Anyway, her face is recognizable. Lucidity and control are low at this point. I don't RC or stabilize. I just march up to her, say hello, and demand a blow job. She starts doing it but soon turns into a weird creature and I stop.

I walk away and I'm starting to get my wits about me. But lucidity, vividness, and control are still pretty low. I try to think of my tasks. The only one I can remember is flying barrel roll. I hesitate because my recent flying has not been good. But I can't think of anything else to do so I jump and spin. It works! I'm able to hover horizontally a few feet off the ground and a spin multiple times. (Wikipedia tells me that this is actually an aileron roll, not a barrel roll) I fly around spinning for about 30 seconds. Maybe I popped out to third-person a bit. My lucidity was fading away.

Skip. Now I'm in a building. The school gym or theater maybe? Maybe I lost lucidity for a while and then regained it here. A troupe of clowns is performing a circus-style act. I am in a corner back stage, near the exit. I see a door but I want to try walking through the wall. I try a few times but fail. I try to convince myself that I can do it. I know this is a dream and that I can walk through the wall. But no luck. Dream ends. In retrospect, this attempt at control was too forced.

Dream Within Dream
1130 C. This was a combination of false awakening and false memory that made it feel like a dream within a dream. I sense that I am out of town for work (this is the false memory). I'm staying in a hotel and I'm sleeping and dreaming. In the dream, I am in a WWII-esque battle among the ruins of a bombed city. I'm with my childhood friend Collin. I only have a tiny pistol in this big fight. I see an enemy across the way and fire a few careful shots. The gun is very inaccurate but I manage to hit him in the head. Everyone is happy and celebrates me as the hero.

I have a false awakening in a hotel room. In the dream, I think that the war scene was a lucid dream and I remember the two real previous lucids. So I congratulate myself for 3 lucids in the night.

Skip. Now I'm back in my apartment. Combining the war dream, the false awakening in the hotel, and the false memory of traveling for work, this all creates the dream within the dream phenomenon. So anyway, I'm home in my apartment but it looks totally different. I sense that, as I returned from traveling, my roommate has just left. I see that he has left a bunch of books and devices about lucid dreaming. He is just starting to pratice having lucid dreams. I go in the bathroom and see that the faucet has been left on just a drip. But over several days, the drip has flooded the room with an inch of water.

Unusual circumstances on this night. Took B-Complex in the evening, about 5 hours before sleep. Didn't get to sleep until I was really tired. Woke up after just 3 hours of sleep to drive roommate to the airport. Was out of bed for about an hour total. Returned to sleep and had the lucid, technically in my third sleep cycle. The rest of the dreams were all very random, but more exciting then my usual boring dreams.

Rooms, Sprinklers, Flying
Lucidity C
Vividness B
Control D
0730: The beginning is jumpy and difficult to recall. I don't seem to have a dreambody, I'm just watching like a movie. It's in a house at a fancy dinner party. A few old people are talking about arranging to meet at a restaurant or country club. Then it's like a commercial. A young woman in a formal dress and hair styling peeks into the room and recommends watching a TV show. Someone asks, which TV show... Buffy? Then I recognize the girl as Alyson Hannigan from that show.

At some point, I sense that I have a dreambody and I am in the house alone. But maybe it has changed into my work office? I step into a room with tall windows all along the far wall. Sunlight is shining brightly through. The floor is grass instead of carpet! The grass is overgrown and spotted with weeds. I think to myself that someone in the office should maintain the grass. I think the new employee should have to do it as an initiation.

I walk out the side door of this room. It leads outdoors and now I am in the side yard of my old house on Daisetta. It's a narrow concrete strip that leads to the backyard. I walk to the backyard and it's fairly familiar. Except there are a row of short fake palm trees lining the lawn. They have big plastic bananas hanging from them and I think it looks really tacky. The sprinklers are on and they are really strong. The water shoots about 6 feet high and is soaking the whole yard, not just the grass. I start to think this is weird. But I don't want to get wet so I turn and run back into the door I came out of. In the Daisetta house, this should be the garage but it's still the room with grass. I notice the size of the room is about right for the garage though. Now sprinklers are on in here too! Ok, I really must be dreaming and I tell myself to do a reality check. I run through one more door to be out of the water.

I plug my nose and confirm I'm dreaming. Yay! I remember that it's been a long time since being lucid. I had a scene in mind but I'm not sure how to get there from here, so I go outside and just start flying toward the horizon. But my flying sucks! I can only hover a few feet off the ground and move very slow. Then I remember one of my cues to invoke the Superman schema: Lois Lane is in trouble and I have to save her! My flying gets a bit better. I'm flying faster and higher but still not great. I try to focus on where I am going. On the horizon, I see an ominous factory on top of a mountain. Lois must be trapped inside! Smoke is billowing out. Then I see an explosion. I sense the urgency and danger and try to fly faster. But it seems so far away. Discouraged, the dream fades.

Family and Old Acquaintances
0849: C. Very jumpy and random. At Daisetta house with the whole family. Mother hands me a book about politeness and etiquette. She says my father read it but doesn't follow it. I'm supposed to go to work but I'm staying home late. I'm dressed in a blue stripped shirt with matching shorts, which I think is weird. I remind myself to change into pants before leaving for work. Then talking to my sister and one of her friends. Then I get a message on my Xbox from someone with initials C.C. I struggle to think who that is. At first I think of Sean, but that's way off with S.F. The closest I can think is E.B., Erinne from high school. I turn and see her in the room at an impressive desk. She's dressed nicely and looks like a lawyer or executive. I ask if she knows who C.C. could be. She asks me what her own phone number is. I'm confused. Do you mean your non-cell phone number? I pull out my phone to look. See calls her own house and talks to her housekeeper. Then my mother brings a big slice of ice cream cake. My sister and I eat it with our hands.

Saving Private Ryan
1012: C. In a war setting. In a small troop, looking for someone like the movie Saving Private Ryan. We find him and he's really shaken up. He's the only survivor of a big battle. I let him use my phone to make a few calls, but no one answers. Then my phone rings with an incoming call, but it's a wrong number.

Speed Racer, Secret Mission, Rugby
1123: C. I start as a racecar driver. Feels a bit cartoonish like Speed Racer. But it's just my cover for a secret spy mission. I'm in a team of spies with me, Hugh, Leonardo DiCaprio, and maybe a couple other people. We are in some third-world country. I am reminded of the movie Spy Game (but DiCaprio wasn't in that one). Leo comes up to a fruit stand to make the secret exchange, pretending to buy a basket of fruit. But something goes wrong and we have to abort the mission and run away.

Then it seems to be years later. Hugh and I have returned to the same place. This time, his two younger brothers are with us. Maybe we have come to avenge Leo? We go to the same fruit stand. Some of our faces and Leo's are on "wanted" posters. So we send in the brothers because they are new. The vendor at the stand starts arguing with them. Things seem to go bad again.

Now I'm in the middle of a game that's a bit like rugby, but not quite. I sense that I am not good at this game. I'm on the team to fill a spot and I shouldn't interfere with my better teammates. But the ball comes to me and a run and kick a field goal. We win and I climb up on the uprights, which look like the big arch in Chinatown.