One Must Imagine Sisyphus Happy

I'm getting a little annoyed with my mother and sister appearing in my dreams lately. They are boring and annoying.

I'm in an unfamiliar bedroom. I see a strange machine in the room. I intuit that it was installed over night as I slept. The machine is mounted on the wall at eye level. It looks like an X-ray machine in a doctor's office. It has an arm that extends out in any direction. At the end of the arm is something that looks like a camera, but it blows out air. I examine the controls and figure out that it's a heater/air conditioner. I turn it on and learn that it has a motion sensor. It detects me and the arm extends and follows me around the room, blowing cold air on me to cool me down. I think this is quite ingenious except that the air follows too close for comfort. Like a person staring too close.

Then I notice that the machine is mounted on a chest of drawers. The chests seems damaged under the weight of the machine and the mounting is blocking the drawers from opening. The furniture is painted white with bright red drawers and round metal handles. I remark that the workmen must have been sloppy to install the machine where it is blocking the drawers. I move the machine off so that I can open the drawers.

Inside the drawers I find a bunch of old stuff; bools, journals, and trinkets. I suppose it belongs to the family but I don't recognized any of it. I sift through it, reading some of the journals. Then my mother and sister enter (groan). They start going through the stuff as well. The sunlight is brighter now. I see a hot dog covered with mayonaise. I think to take it to the kitchen to add ketchup and mustard, but I'm hungry so I just chow down on it right there. My sister and I exchange some passive-aggressive banter per usual. She calls herself a "life-ist." I call her judgemental.

Now it seems it's getting dark. My mother and sister leave. I find on the other side of this bedroom a door to the front porch. It looks like the door of a convenience store. All glass and a wide bar handle that you push to open. Since it's getting dark, I look for the lock to secure the house for the night. There's a odd metal basket near the door lock. I intuit that it is to hold keys and change. Then a see a man just outside the door. He runs to the door and starts banging and screaming. I'm startled and wake up.

Irregular sleeping patterns for me lately. I sleep about 5-6 hours at a time in an irregular patterns the persists for several days. So as best as I can guess, I sometimes am getting a lot of REM sleep and sometimes seemingly none at all. Anyway, this dream below might have been two or more dreams but it was a blur when I woke up.

Going to McDonald's three times in one day. In the drive-thru in car with sister and father. No one asks what I wanted and that makes me upset.

Then at home, in a bedroom with two sets of bunk beds. Two coworkers fighting over some. One jumps from one bunk to the other and it almost falls. That makes me upset and I say something sarcastic and scolding. Then he threatens me with a hammer. Really? I start to walk any in disgust. Now he has a giant sledge hammer and he starts to swing it at me. I don't finch because I know he won't hit me. He stops the swing, surprised that I didn't move. Now I seem to be in the office. I walk away, letting the coworker get caught in the act of his aggression. I'm still upset but remain calm.

Haven't recorded my dreams for over a week. These are pretty weak in terms of recall and interest.

Spaceship, Randomness
0907: On spaceship which is one big open platform that we stand on. Something about Germans. Fighting. Kick guys down through a hole in the platform to their death in outer space. Cover the hole again to preserve the airlock.

skip

Learning a play in English instead of Spanish. Coworkers eating sandwiches for lunch.

TV
1135: TV crew interviews a couple about their [notes unclear: either "wedding day" or "missing dog"].

Indian, Newlyweds
1146: Guy from India is my teammate in a video game racer. His job is just to watch and control my resources and tanks. I win. His boss is upset but it turns out to be a misunderstanding. He gives me a printout of a bunch of Internet jokes. But they are all very old Coke vs. Pepsi gags. Interrupts me just as I am going in to the bathroom.

skip

Newlywed couple seeing a counselor. The guy is in the Marines and he has to leave for "basic."

Trespassers
1559: In a remote cabin, watching basketball with coworkers. I'm holding two people prisoner because I found them trespassing. I order McDonald's and share my French fries.

Catching up after a few days without Internet.

Guests, Cookies
Method DILD (false awakening)
Lucidity C
Vividness B
Control B
0623: Start with a false awakening and I become lucid very quickly. I'm in my own room. It's dark and still. I am a bit frightened. I get out of bed and fall toward the far wall as it gravity is going sideways. Up against the wall, I think to leave this room and go to a more pleasant scene. I visualize walking out the door to be joined by my friends having fun. Gravity now seems to be normal. I turn to the door and see light through the crack. This makes me hopeful. I walk confidently through the door.

On the other side is my living room, just like my real apartment. But it's light and pleasant here. Two young kids are running around the room having fun. I don't recognize them but I am friendly toward them. "Hi, I'm so glad you guys are here!" I walk up to one of the boys and stoop down. "Hey have you seen my girlfriend? Why don't you go look for her in the hallway. The kid runs out the front door. I look around the room and notice the strange wallpaper. It's bright yellow background with brightly colored patterns. Maybe plaid. I walk toward the front door and peek outside. I see the kid with two other people. One is S from work. The other is a short middle-aged woman that looks a bit like my mother but is unfamiliar.

I am pleasantly surprised to see S, considering I spent a long lucid dream a few months ago trying and failing to summon her. She looks a bit strange, like she just woke up. Her hair is messy and her face is rough without makeup. But it's definitely her. I kiss her a few times, gentle pecks on the lips. I welcome everyone in. I notice the kids still running around. I walk to the TV. "Hey, I'll turn on the XBox for you guys." I bend over and turn on the the game system, but it's actually a PS3. I think for a moment that I'm silly to make that mistake. I start to correct myself but then think, whatever, and let it go.

I turn back toward S and walk to the kitchen. There, I see a plate of freshly baked chocolate chip cookies. "Oh my God, my favorite!" I say. I take one and take a bit. It's so soft and gooey and sticky and delicious. I turn to S and smile. She says that the old woman made them. I thank her. I beckon S to come closer so she can try one. But the dream fades.

Another False Awakening
Method DILD (false awakening)
Lucidity C
Vividness D
Control D
0727: Playing soccer. I throw-in the ball from near our own goal. My team's defense sucks and the other team quickly steals the ball and scores. I get mad and attack the goalie. I knock him down. I turn to the rest of the players and they all shocked and staring, afraid of me.

False awakening and I become lucid. My room is dark. I sit up but can't move my legs. I look around and fixate on the door. I remember the previous dream and how I got out by using the door. Then I look at my hands and rub them together. I alternate between looking at the door and my hands. I'm trying to inching along the bed but I don't seem to be getting any closer.

I think to summon someone to walk through the door. I look at the door and become distracted by what looks like a mirror hanging on the door. It's about the size of a sheet of paper and it's hanging just about a foot off the ground. In front of the door, there seems to be a video camera on a short tripod. Also just about a foot off the ground. The camera is pointed toward the mirror and there's a dim spot light shining. I think, what the heck is that?. Dream fades from my confusion.

Football Fragment
1016: I'm a football player in the middle of a game. I'm playing tailback. The quarterback hands the ball off to me and I run left and dive over the line to the goal. It's very vivid and exciting.

fragment
1048: Something about using a computer to erase memories of dreams. But you can't erase dreams with you are dreaming of while you are accessing the memory of the dream, so you have to be thinking of something else.

I had many more dreams but didn't write them down.

fragment
0641: Old high school friend talking to her friend about a facebook beauty contest for "Asymmetric Sexy". Something about Facebook numbers.

fragment
I work for Frank, who manages a local theater. There's a band playing a concert. Frank tells me to ask the crew if they can work again tomorrow. The band wanted to play early but the theater is only available later.

fragment
False awakening with a headache. Justin is here and he also has a headache. I go to the kitchen to get us both a glass of ice water. Talk about how the ice was made with tap water and has a bitter taste.

School Randomness
0811: In high school at lunch. Walk to a playground area with a swingset and sandbox. In the sand, I write the current time. I see the time from yesterday: 11:11. Today I write 11:21. Woman at the swingset is supervising some young kids. She warns that maybe I shouldn't erase the writing in the sand. I say it's okay because I wrote it yesterday.

Walk back to a cafeteria. Talking with some friends as we walk. Something about a joke about the pope dying and then the phrase "Too soon". As we walk past a table of other people, they overhear "too soon", which is relevant to their conversation somehow. Synchronicity I guess. Then talking about not having a date for the dance.

Finally I sit down in the cafeteria. I am craving pizza. I look at my watch, which is a cheap digital one. I see the time but I don't know when lunch ends. I ask my friend if I have enough time to get some food. He says lunch will end in 25 seconds. Dream fades.

Record my 50th LD this night. I think my actual count is off by a few but it's close enough. So yay me!

Playing Cards
In the desert, maybe in the wild west like Red Dead Redemption. I am with a friend around a campfire and there's also another DC. He's a middle-aged man. In the dream I recall thinking he looked like a well-known actor but I can't recall who. We start playing cards. My friend and I play a few rounds of Texas Hold 'Em. Then the third man is dealer and he deals out a hand of 7-Card Stud, which my friend and I don't really like. Then we play a different game where we are dealt out a lot of cards, like a whole deck. I ask it he dealt too many. Recall fades.

Sex DEILD Chain
Method DEILD
Lucidity C
Vividness B
Control C
Recall is a bit hazy. DEILD from a previous dream that I don't recall. I enter the dream in an FA, looking through my sleep mask at my bedside clock. I try to move my limbs but it either wakes me up or triggers an FA. So I lay patiently without moving, just waiting and staring at the clock. I begin to become sleepy and close my eyes which triggers yet another FA.

Now I'm in a different bed and the stability of the dream is better. It's a very large bed and there is a huge pile of laundry on it, almost up to the ceiling. I'm laying on one corner of the bed. I roll out of bed and put on my glasses. The dream becomes clearer and more vivid. I walk out of the bedroom. Outside, the hallway is an open balcony overlooking the entryway and living room of the house below. I don't recognize this house at all.

Confused and disoriented, I encounter an attractive girl who I don't recognize. I grab her and we do the business. The dream destabilizes and I wake. I DEILD back into a similar scene with a different attractive and anonymous girl. I lead her back to the bedroom with the bed covered with laundry and proceed. This cycle repeats 3-4 times, connected by a mix of FAs and DEILDs. Mostly I just recall that the sex was great.

Work and Pizza
I'm at work, which is surprisingly rare in my dreams. I sitting in one of the pens instead of my real office. I recognize many real coworkers sitting near me. CG is walking back and forth between me and LM, because LM and I don't get along. CG is calling him "Steel" for some reason. Anyway, I'm begin especially sarcastic and disruptive.

I walk to the kitchen where I see one box of pizza so I take a slice and return to my desk. Moments later, I return to the kitchen just as a pizza delivery man is dropping off another pizza box. This happens a few times, with a delivery man dropping off a single pizza just as I am there to take a slice.

fragment
I'm driving my car, with H in the passenger seat. We are at a fast food drive-thru. H hands me a card to pay with. When I hand it to the cashier, she gives it back saying it's rejected. I look at it and see it's just a grocery club discount card, not a credit card.

Didn't write any notes but have some recall from memory. Before bed, a hot bath and 3mg melatonin.

Pizza Craving Fragment
I am in the Daisetta house. It's very early morning and everyone is still asleep. I am craving pizza. I get up and find 3 odd pieces of pizza, all different kinds and brands. I stick all three in the microwave, being careful not to make any noise.

College Library, Lame Pick-Up
Method DILD (spontaneous)
Lucidity D
Vividness C
Control C
I'm in a nice building with marble walls and floors. I want to find the bathroom. I'm in a lobby, waiting for the elevator to take me to the ground floor where I believe there is a bathroom. There's a security guard here in the lobby. A man in a wheelchair comes out of a room and moves toward the elevator. The security guard says something really rude to this man about not taking the stairs because he is in a wheelchair.

I get on the elevator and there are a few other DCs in there. I ride it up and down a few floors. It never stops at the floor I want it too. Then some young DC hits the sideways button and the elevator goes sideways. Frustrated, I get off. I seem to have forgotten about the bathroom. Now the building I am in seems more like an old college library. The walls are wood-paneled and the lights are dim. There are many DCs here who look about the age of college students. There's a line of people at a customer service desk. At the desk is an old librarian lady who points me out and says "Excuse me, have you been helped?" I don't want to talk to her so I just walk away toward a wide stairway. I overhear a conversation between two girls. They are trying to decide on a book that interests them to read.

I walk up the stairs and into a big room full of bookcases. The walls are all full-length windows so the whole room is lit by the afternoon sunlight. It's a pretty cool looking room. There are a few DCs sitting quietly at tables around the room. In one corner is a bed. So I lay down to sleep. Maybe I have a false awakening. The next thing I know, a doctor and a nurse are standing over me. The doctor is a middle-aged balding man with a while lab coat. He asks "Have you been treated? What is the problem?" I say there's nothing wrong and I just wanted to sleep. Then then start tucking in my blankets. I close my eyes again and maybe have another false awakening.

When I open my eyes, I'm in the same library but the doctor is gone. Very close to my bed is a table with some DCs, studying I suppose. Then there is a commotion as people rush to one of the windows. I get up and look too. Out the window, I see that I'm on about the third floor, looking down over the center square of a college campus. There's a grassy lawn and some walkways and more brick buildings. There are lots of DCs walking every which way. The people who rushed to the window are pointing out "The Fat Man" who is a really fat guy known throughout campus. I see him and he's quite obese but not as fat as I expected.

Unimpressed, I step back from the window and think for a moment, starting to become pre-lucid. I have this little dialog with myself: Hmm, what should I do now? I feel like having sex. If I were dreaming, I could have sex with anyone with no consequences. So I have to find out if I am dreaming. I nose-plug RC and confirm I am dreaming. So now I'm lucid but don't stop to stabilize or remember my goals.

I run down the stairway and out the building into the square. I approach the first girl I see. She is bonde and about 18 years old. She's not super attractive but I'm not choosy at this point. I grab her hand and start leading her off to the left. "Do you like to party?" I ask (what a stupid line...). She says something to the effect "Umm, yeah I guess." I'm leading toward another building. I say "We're going to this party and all my friends are there and you'll have so much fun and meet some cool people." Just before we reach the building, she stops and pulls her hand back. She says she changed her mind and doesn't want to go with me. I am disappointed. Dream ends.

fragment
Talking to a girl. She asks me when I lost my virginity. I answer and ask her the same. Then I realize how flirtatious she is and move in to kiss her. To my surprise, she pulls me down to lay on top of her. Coitus ensues.

fragment
Another sex dream, but I can't recall any details.

Lucid Donuts
Method DILD (absurdity)
This was in my last sleep cycle. I'm laying on a bed. On and around the bed are a bunch of coworkers. I have the impression that we are on a work retreat near the beach. They are talking about the company's goals and culture. There is a box of donuts on the bed that people are eating. Chris is typing at a laptop and asking for people's opinions. He turns to me, but I'm more interested in the donuts. As I reach for a donut, I realize that I am not in my own bed, these people shouldn't be here, and I shouldn't be eating donuts. I am lucid for just a moment and then wake up.

Four from the night and two from an afternoon snooze.

fragment
1103: D. Traveling as a drug mule. With daughter of the drug boss. It's actress Kristen Bell, as I recognize her from Deadwood.

Cooking Emergency at Work
1233: C. Emergency at work and Myra has to cook something quickly. Something with noodles in it. She will miss her wedding party because of it. Everyone feels bad for her but she's so self-sacrificing. Then I'm in the back seat of a car. Joe R is driving with Myra in the passenger seat and Lance also with me in the back. Joe is dropping Myra off while he is going to the airport. He's talking about how airports around the world are all the same because they all have the same familiar noises. I think he's going to Japan.

The Ig Fish
1317: B. At a Japanese restaurant. Want to order a simple fish dish, salmon I think. The waitress is a middle-aged Japanese woman. She doesn't hear me right. She thinks I order a really rare and poisonous fish called Ig. I point to what I want on the menu. She asks "are you sure?" a few times. She finally accepts it.

Skip to several minutes later. A Fedex package has arrived at the restaurant with the fish I ordered. The waitress shows me the package and says "Look, we had this very rare Ig fish delivered for you!" There are two fish in the package, each wrapped in plastic. This isn't what I wanted but since it was so much trouble I might as well go with it. I hand it back to the waitress with my approval. She sends to it kitchen to be prepared.

I see a young woman at the next table eating the same Ig fish dish. The fish is colored with dark red and blue strips. It has many feather-like fins all over it like a coral lionfish. It's propped up on thick fins underneath, almost like feet. The woman says something about how she can't eat all of it and she likes to cut it a certain way.

fragment
F. I recalled this while writing down the previous dream. Something about making tools for, Google, and Chrome.

Database Cleanup
1811: C. In a house with my mother and two people from high school, Chris and Brian. We work from Frank? He arranged a promotion deal with a satellite TV company. Chris inserts some data in our database but he did it wrong. He's leaving for somewhere so it's left to me to fix it. Brian is trying to explain the situation but he isn't technical enough. I need to actual list of accounts that need to be removed from the database. I look for my mother, hoping she knows where that information is. She is asleep on a couch the kitchen. The kitchen is a bit like the SAV house. The room is mostly dark and there is a very noisy fan on. I wake her up and apologize for doing so. I ask her if she knows which accounts need to be deleted. I turn to Brian and he's dressed like a Boy Scout. He's about to leave for a meeting.

fragment
D. Feels like a documentary about the wild west. Reminded of Deadwood and Red Red Redemption. Something about the development of the Bowie knife. Hunting wild rabbits near a road out in the desert wilderness.

0514 I;m in a car in the early morning. I'm going somewhere with mu sister. The mall? I'm learning how to disable cell phones. My phone I trying. It says completed task. I am curious. I don't remember setting a task. Phone crashes. No backlight. I feel paranoid.

0703 I am a hotshot artist or something. I work at a blue that deals with Xbox games. One client is very nervous about tthem gave aid don't agree with our consulting. One guy keeps taking my picture, like for a magazine. He wants to catch me unaware. I am just sleepy and he bothers me.

0852 Handing out with Garrett at some nerdy convention. He built an RC car. We go listen to some talks about RC cars. Garrett has a question but doesn't get a good answer about mud on the tires. Then play some live ction game base on WOW. I am so not interested. Then talking to Ben and Dave about eathng lunch and they rather stage something? I thought it was my father. Then my father drives us ... at a cabin?

0937 At Denny's with Lance. We order. ... in the office after ... might are glue about sorting algorithms.

1021 Live in front of a lake. Next door, they have a dock but it's being torn out as they are selling the house and moving out. Talk to sister about it. Then I am in the kitchen with Hugh. I'm slicing peaches. Something about using roasted eggs as a substitute for meat. I lool at the time. It's 1:42 pm. Is it really that late?

1130 ... with Hugh at a farmer's market. We are looking for something specific but keep fogetting what. Stop for lunch in a dark resaurant with a limited bar and advertises the freshness of their chicken.

I Thought I put in a good effort this night, but no lucids.

Spooky
0328: C. Typically weird first cycle dream. Trying to become an actor? Playing DDR-like game with the arrow keys of a keyboard with my left hand. Images of playing cards. The game is hard and I can't keep up. As I miss the notes, the screen gets distorted and starts playing really spooky wailing noises. I feel frightened, like I've offended some evil spirits. Just a dream... Just a dream...

Fighting the Soviets
0652: C. Small troop in the army. It's me, childhood friend Ashwin, a random third guy, and our commander is my apartment building manager. There's a military stand-off with the Soviet Union. Something about railroads. We sneak into Russia on mini-trains. We are wearing USC hats instead of helmets and that seems to fool the Soviet army guards. We fight and win two small skirmishes. A woman thief has been stalking us. She can turn invisible. She steals all the coins out of Ashwin's pocket. I see her and ask to stay and help us. She is familiar but I can't place her. Long black hair and tan. We settle down in an abandoned train station to sleep.

WBTB+MILD 10 minutes

Random School Scenes
0800: C. Not sure of the order of events here. It was probably the reverse of my notes. Going to junior high during the summer. My PE coach is Gordon Ramsey. I'm in third person. Looking at myself I'm wearing blue jeans and a white polo shirt, the same as Gordon. I look really buff. Then in math class. A friend, Chris, is sitting behind me and gets called out of class to the office. He asks me to watch his backpack. When class ends, I leave the backpack with the teacher. But I forget the teacher's name and am embarrassed. Then in a giant bathroom with many trough urinals like a sports stadium. Most of the boys in the bathroom are much younger than me.

WBTB+MILD 60 minutes, read DV, B-Complex vitamin, water and piece of bread

Ice Cream and Being Locked Out
1000: C. This might have been two or three dreams connected with hallucinations or short waking day dreams. At a strip mall looking for something to eat. Pass through a Weinersnitzel. Find an ice cream stand. Get a medium cup of strawberry (residue from a few days ago).

Now at home. I live with Lance? I'm in my room and hungry again. I leave to get some ice cream across the street. Forgot my keys and locked out. Find an open gate in the parking lot which leads to a bunch of maintenance access tunnels and ladders. I follow these and they lead to a trap door in the floor of Lance's room. He is watching TV. I apologize for intruding and explain what happened.

Now I am back outside, maybe the next morning. I sense I am well dressed. I lay down on a mattress that is lying at the curb of the street. The street is dirty and the area is a bit sketchy. I am near an intersection. A man walks out into the intersection to block traffic and starts taunting a guy in a van. Another man in a pizza delivery car gets out of his car and yells at the guy in the street to move out of the way. The guy apologizes and says the man in the van he is taunting is his friend. The pizza man returns to his car but he has locked himself out. He pushes his car out of the way.

Still laying in the street on a mattress, I notice the building next to me is one of those payday loans places. A few really hot women step out of it and walk near me. One steps over me in a skirt. It seems like they are trying to get my attention.

Thief with Powers
1127: C. I'm in a sketchy part of a city. I climb along rooftops and I can slip through water drains and air vents. I use these powers to sneak into a donut shop and steal all the money from the cash register. For a while, I continue to stake out this shop. I am watching for the reaction of the people and waiting for another opportunity to steal more.

Enjoyed a lot of alcohol the evening before, so no recall for the first several hours. Then I had some REM rebound and recalled these short dreams. In bed for a total of 12 hours.

Chelsea Clinton Playing Lacrosse
0527: C. I have to write a report on Chelsea Clinton. I am looking at the wikipedia page, but I am upset because someone deliberately removed all the images. Later I realize that it's just a written essay and I don't need images. Then I'm watching a women's lacrosse game on TV and Chelsea is the star of one of the teams. Her team is up 7-2 and she gets taken out to rest. The other team scores two quick goals to make in 7-4. I think I'm watching with my father.

GTA in SAV, Hangover
0630: D. I'm stealing cars and escaping cops in SAV, like Grand Theft Auto. Not much recall.

False awakening that I totally missed. I'm in my own bedroom and I'm still drunk (day residue). Everything is really weird, but I account for it as drunk stuff I did last night. I'm under the bed comforter but not under the sheets. I get up. I'm wearing a heavy jacket and a pair of swim trunks. My bedroom door is wide open. The water in the bathtub is running. I walk into my closet to change. I see something in the corner of my eye to my right. I think maybe it's my own reflection in a mirror. I move, but it doesn't which freaks me out. Turns out to be Dave who was hiding in my closet.

Comedy Show, Wrong Page
0808: D. I'm at a Dane Cook show in New York. In the first part, he's in front of a small crowd. Then as part of the big opening, this small section of seats separates and moves down into a large theater. Dane Cook continues with his act but it's like a classroom and everyone is following along with books and notes. I don't know what page we're supposed to be on and I panic. There's a girl sitting to my left and one in front of me. I guess we are in a group. They are upset with me and trying to get me to the right page. As I flip through the book, it becomes my dream journal. This happens a few times. Now Dane wants someone to read aloud from the book. We are at the far right of the theater and there is a microphone nearby. The girl to my left is supposed to read but she has lost the page too. I am embarrassed.

Touch Football, Libido
0921 D. I'm with a group of people. I sense they are friends but I don't recognize anyone in particular. We are in a convenience store, goofing off. Running through the aisles and knocking things off the shelves. The employees are upset. Then we divide into two teams to play football (day residue) in the middle of the store. I'm on a team of another guy and a girl. The other team is 4 guys. I don't think that's fair.

We have the ball first. Me and the other guy on my team alternate as quarterback. We basically ignore the girl and just pass to each other. The first time I catch the ball, I turn and see the other team running toward me. I think, wait, we said touch football, right? Not tackle, I hope? It's touch football and no one gets hurt. My team is successfully driving down the "field". The endzone is the freezers at the end of the store. I get the ball, run to the freezers, open the door, and place the ball inside among the frozen pizzas and ice cream. We win!

At some point I become lucid. I'm still in the convenience store but no longer in the group of friends. I have no control and the dream is not very vivid. I just know that I'm dreaming and there's no consequences for whatever I do. So my libido takes the lead. Naturally, I look around for the nearest woman and tear her clothes off. She looks to be in her thirties but I'm not bothered. Her underwear turns out to be some rather scandalous light purple lingerie. I move in and kiss her but this narrows my field of vision. I close my eyes and the dream fades away.

Lucid Supermarket, Libido
1021: C. I'm in my car, driving at night. I'm hungry and stop at a supermarket to get something to eat. The supermarket claims to specialize in lucid dreaming. I think at one point the store is called Lucida Monica Market. Then later it is La Lucida Market. But it's in Culver City (day residue), not Santa Monica. Inside it looks like a typical supermarket. I search up and down the aisles for something to eat but nothing seems appetizing. There are quite a few DCs browsing the aisles and also way too many DCs behind the counters working. It seems like they are all staring at me, waiting for me to ask for help. I feel a bit paranoid and shy.

Then I come to the aisle that is supposedly for lucid dreaming. The signs above mark the sections with various lucid dreaming topics. The one I remember is "Expectations". But the items in this section are just a bunch of mirrors, knick-knacks, and craft supplies. I struggle to see exactly how this is relevant to lucid dreaming.

Once again, I'm bored and my mind turns to sex but I'm not lucid as in the previous dream. I scan around me for the nearest woman. Like the food, nothing seems particular appetizing, so I continue to wander for a woman. Before long, the dream fades.

I slept GREAT last night. Zeo game me a score of 94, compare to my average of 68. I slept 9 hours total with 3h 48m in REM sleep in 6 cycles. That's a lot of dreaming!

I took the B-Complex vitamin one hour before bed and took a relaxing hot bath to meditate and adjust my body temperature for sleep. Tonight's dreams weren't as vivid as yesterday. Maybe the apple juice was the difference? But they were really really long. The three that I recalled seemed at least 30 minutes long each. I wrote a while page of notes for each and could still recall more detail that I didn't bother to write down. In fact, they were so long and not very interesting that I'm going to cut them short here.

Gordon Ramsey's Love Troubles
0503: B. Gordon Ramsey guest stars on a TV sitcom, maybe The Big Bang Theory. Gordon is a roommate with the dorky guys and there another group in the next door apartment as well. It's too crowded and someone says "Someone has to go back to Poland!"

Then scene changes to outside a nightclub with Gordon and the roommates. His part is to approach a shy girl and ask her for a date as a prank. She is supposed to be charmed because he's so famous. But she isn't interested and the prank backfires. Gordon is surprised and humbled. There's a taxicab in the scene.

Then the scene starts over but now it's "real" life and not the TV show. Gordon does the same thing of approaching a shy girl and gets rejected. He's humbled and goes into the club. A really hot redheaded woman meets him and comforts him. But then she finds out it was a prank and she's really really upset and leaves. Gordon is now completely devastated.

Then the dream really jumps around. There's a parking lot and a staircase. It leads to a college dormitory with a rec room. Gordon is in the rec room with a TV, arcade games, and a giant touch-screen computer thing. Some college students are in there watching TV. Now I am the main character in first-person instead of Gordon in third-person. Lance is looking for me but I am avoiding him. The students in the rec room cover for me.

Exchange Student
0651: B. I'm an exchange student living with a foster family. It seems like I'm still in the US though. The first part of the dream jumped around a lot. I'm supposed to film a TV commercial with this family. Then I'm making some kind of cake and pudding desert. But when I try to flip the pudding out on top of the cake, it spills on the floor and I feel bad because it's someone else's kitchen. Then the foster family has a bunch of kids and they are leaving for school but I stay at home. One kid, a girl of about 7, turns around and comes back into the house, refusing to go to school. There are a bunch of mothers from the neighborhood standing in the kitchen. Meanwhile, I am eating something in the living room and spill some red sauce on the couch. I feel bad again and clean it up with a giant beach towel.

Scene changes and now I'm in Japan with a different family. It's the first day of school and the student body is in the gym. We receive our grades from the previous year. I am afraid I failed but I get a B. Then I'm walking with the foster family toward a restaurant to celebrate.

Scene changes and I'm in a restaurant but now I seem to be in Mexico with yet another foster family. I sit alone in a booth away from the family. I order a hamburger and whiskey. I finish them and order another. A few teenage girls sit at my booth but ignore me while I eat. Then I ask who they are and what is going on. One has her face painted white like a geisha. She says it's a holiday and tells me the name in Spanish. I ask what it means and she says in English "Ten Years and Two Days."

False awakening. I roll over to write in my dream journal. I note the time is 1137 and my previous entry was at 10 something. But the light coming through the window is too dim for that time. I think, wait, is it really that late? Then I wake up for real.

short WBTB

Work Retreat
0825: B. I'm at work and a few people just got laid off. One was the other Michael, so I'm the only Michael left. I joke about this with coworkers that there won't be any more confusion.

Then everyone at work goes to a small restaurant out in the middle of a nowhere on a small rural road. It looks like a lodge. I ride along with Lance and we park across the street. Everyone is given sweatshirt and pants randomly in blue, gray, or black. We watch a movie about color and light and supposedly we have to study for a test on it next week. Then we watch some other movies made by people at work. Ex-employee Garrett is there and I avoid him. He made a film where he's looping a belt through the skin around his waist. It reminds me of a surrealist film.

Then it's time to go so I try to find my sweatshirt in the big pile of identical ones that people have left. Other people are also searching through the pile. There are other people in the restaurant. They seem like a biker gang and I feel nervous. I just grab a matching pair of small blue sweater and pants and leave. I'm going to ride again with Lance but I fall behind as we're running outside. He crosses the road before me. It's dusk and the highway has many cars going very fast with their headlights on. I try to cross a few times but turn back because I almost get run over. Then I walk to a narrower part of the road where there is just 2 lanes and cross.

I meet with Lance and there is also the other Michael who is going to ride with us. People from work have divided into their cliques in the parking lot and are talking and gossiping.

Restful, but light sleep this night with many short interrupted dreams. The lucids are barely worth counting. I'm giving myself credit for at least recognizing some dreamsigns that made me lucid.

Food and Robots
0523 C. Hazy and jumpy. Two girls are competing for my attention. We are in a two story house. I'm resting on the couch on the first floor watching a boy singer who might be a robot. One girl is on the first floor and the other on the second. They are both cooking things for me. One cooks a steak but it looks like a big raw beef roast. Around it she puts a bunch of small Philly-style cheesesteak sandwiches. The other girl made something too but the first girl blocked her from showing me. I go to the bathroom and I think the second girl meets me in there to tries to tell me something. Something about the cartoon charactor Lisa Simpson. Maybe she is Lisa. Then the boy robot singer starts singing again but he's terrible. The first girls is upset about this: "Did you reset the game back to beginning?!"

Meanwhile, I recall cut scenes in between my plot to a different character. It's a guy pretending to be a robot. He's dressed a bit like the Tinman from Wizard of Oz but really skinny. He's trying to blend in with other robots that all look that same. The robots greet him in a robotic voice (think the infantry droids from Star Wars) saying "Left-hand side of you." To which he is supposed to salute his right arm across to his left side. Then "Right-hand side of you" and salute with other arm. The pretend robot catches on to this greeting and fools the other robots. At one point he is drinking from a water fountain. I sense he is my friend.

untitled
0654 D. Short dream. Not sure what to make of my notes: I'm baking a special bread that will make me lucid. Carry inside my body? The Simpsons.

WBTB+MILD 10 minutes

untitled
0748: D. I'm Homer Simpson and I'm practicing MILD. I go into a dream world with simple geometric-shaped objects like Tron. I'm being chased by men in suits with pistols like the agents from The Matrix. I can stop their bullets just like Neo.

Trouble sleeping, turned it into a WBTB+meditation and reading DV for about an hour total

False Awakening Chain
1018 C. This was about 20 minutes of false awakenings. In my own room. I can see through my sleep mask. I see my desk and alarm clock in the wrong place across the room. I'm lucid but can barely move my arms and legs. I manage to sit up in bed. At this point IWL, the garbage truck shows up and makes a loud banging noise about every five minutes. Each time, this either wakes me up or triggers an FA. Some times I could move my arms to nose-plug and I was awake. Other times I couldn't move my arms. I'm unsure how many times it happened but I recall a couple more lucid periods.

False awakening. I can see but the view is dark and blurry. I sense a small dog jump on my bed to my left. He gets close to my face and I can feel the heat of his breath. I can't move to look at him. I'm just trying to be patient for the scene to solidify. The dog starts growling. Interrupted by noise.

False awakening. I'm laying on my back and can't move my body. I can tilt my head down and look at my body. My view looks like an X-ray image highlighted with electric blue. A blue line extends along my body like my spine but continues all the way down to between my feet.

Eventually, I reach a real wakening and give up on this futile chain so I can note it in my journal.

False Awakening, Dreamsign
1044: C. Another false awakening. I can see through my sleep mask. I notice my bedroom door is open when it shouldn't be. I hear my roommate in the next room, whisking eggs I think. I can't move.

untitled
1000: F. I recalled this dream after/inside the dream that followed it all I remember is a fragment. A blond man?

Doomsday Program, Customer Complaint
1114: D. Really jumping with very short and fast scene cuts. I'm at work. I woman comes in and tells me I have to get out fast. It's like near the beginning of The Matrix when Neo needs to sneak out of his office. The woman leads me to a car and I'm driving. We are chased by some bad guys. I tell her to reach in the back seat and grab a special cell phone. I tell her to dial a special sequence of numbers. She does and it activates a doomsday program. We are on a bridge over water and parts of it collapse but the section we are on is intact. Buildings around in the distance all blow up and collapse. The bad guy car can't follow us but we're stuck on this section of bridge.

Cut to what feels like a ransom exchange with the bad guys. I hand a guy a brief case. He looks like Andy Garcia's character in Ocean's Eleven. He hands it to another guy who then runs along a the bridge cable but there's no bridge.

Cut to a big warehouse building with a dirt floor. I have my shirt off and I'm fighting the bad guys gladiator style. One of them is still the Andy Garcia character.

Cut back to me at work. I'm dozing on a couch in the kitchen (not real IWL). I keep thinking of the previous dream about the blond man. I'm trying to keep it in my mind so I can recall it later. I look up at the bulletin board and see a red poster with a very angry customer support email complaint on it. Something about a guy who lost his credits after they went over 4000. I ask, "Hey, has anyone looked into this?" A co-worker (IWL he's just an artist) gets angry at me. He says it would be so easy to look up the guy's account and he describes the few keystrokes that it would take. But he says he knows it's probably just a fraudulent claim and it's a waste of time. He's angry at me because he thinks I care too much and it's a waste of time. I'm taken aback my this.