non-lucid lucid notes I was leaving a convenience store with a drink, and I got into a truck with a few old friends. I was in the back (extended cab) with another guy, and there were two in the front seats also. As we pulled out of the parking lot, I saw that the 'road' ahead of us was not much of a road at all, but a mountainside with sheer drop-offs into water and extremely rocky terrain. My friend Joe, who was driving, decided to take us straight down into the worst of it.. prompting us all to grab on tightly to the handholds on the ceiling of the truck. What ensued was a crazy ride that had us all yelling and cussing- partly from excitement and partly from fear. Then, rather suddenly, I was sitting in the truck- alone- out back behind my house. My close friends Luke and Jake (who are brothers) were outside, and a train was coming through my backyard. Now, there are train tracks very close to my house, but this was a separate set that was coming right through where the swimming pool should have been. They both pointed it out to me and asked "Isn't that odd?" At first, I rationalized it in the dream and told them that the railroad had recently added those tracks.. Then I realized that NONE of the old pool stuff was there, the deck, etc, like it was back to the way it was before the pool even went in. The thought occurred to me that "surely they weren't able to make it look like that stuff had never been here.. and so quickly.." That's when it hit me.. lucid! I didn't even do my normal immediate RC, I just told them all that I was dreaming. I started to summon myself a flying mount (thanks to my cool experience with one in my last lucid). I spent a good bit of time experimenting with different mounts, and practiced resizing them (and resizing myself some too) to make them fit. I summoned a small dog, then made him big enough for me to ride. I also tried summoning a zebra, but it kept having a dog's head. I was having a hard time envisioning a zebra head, then I looked to the ground and saw little zebra-head plants everywhere (lol), which allowed me to shape the head properly. During this time I also remembered to try eye drops, so I fished some out of my pocket (I always carry eye drops in my pocket anyway, so this was no dream magic or anything) and put them in. I didn't notice any immediate effect, but after a few minutes, the dream world did become much clearer and more vivid. I think this was probably all in my expectation. I have lamented the fact before that it takes eye drops a few minutes to actually clear my eyes in real life, so that's no doubt why it took awhile in the dream (I was acting on KingYoshi's suggestion to try eye drops in his dream control class). Anyway, I finally crafted myself a gryphon (of sorts) to fly on, and I headed out to find the Dream World Academy (for real this time, not just get close to it like I have done twice before). I reached the canyon in which the Academy lay rather quickly, but as I got close, I felt myself being pulled down- as if I were having trouble maintaining my flight. I have had some issues with flying in my last couple of lucids (which is unusual for me), and I feared I was having trouble again. However, I looked back and noticed that there was actually *something* hanging onto my foot and pulling me down. I couldn't get a good look at it (I was riding a gryphon after all), but I kicked it loose and suddenly was flying smoothly again. Almost immediately the forest canopy on the canyon floor (which had harbored the academy before) disappeared and the Academy was in full view! The architecture did not appear to be normal human construction. I was directly over the 'castle,' and was unable to see how tall it was or how the sides looked. It had 6 sides, but was not a regular hexagon. Instead, it was shaped like a triangle except that the 3 'points' of the triangle were actually straight lines, as if the 'points' had been flattened out. There were towers at each of these points, and the walls of the Academy were wide enough for several people to walk abreast freely between the towers. The top of the Academy inside the walls was covered in a giant pool of sparkling blue water. I couldn't tell how deep the water was, but it covered the entire area inside the triangular walls. There were octagonal platforms scattered throughout the water, connected by a network of small footpaths. These platforms were COVERED with people, conversing with each other in some alien tongue (I say alien because it did not sound like any human language that I have ever heard), and generally busying about, conducting their work. The 'people' were also alien-looking.. light-blue skinned with intense and brightly colored eyes. Several seemed alarmed at my descent onto the Castle-top, and began speaking loudly and excitedly at me in that strange language. With their intense eyes and crazy words, they were a bit intimidating. Finally, I noticed a large floor lift near one of the corner towers (it had a weird, angular shape. sort of octagonal but not exactly). I hopped on it, and it lowered me down into the bowels of the Academy. I walked off the lift, through a short sloping hallway with a semi-arched ceiling into what appeared to be some type of "control room," though I can't really say what the room was for. It was here that I finally saw humans, including a woman who appeared to be 'Mariel,' whom I had encountered on my previous search for the Academy. At this point, I got so into the dream and what was around me that I began to lose lucidity. I felt woozy and laid down on a bench along the wall. Mariel began to stroke my back and reassure me that everything was OK. I lost all lucidity at this point, then quickly remembered myself and closed my eyes, relaxed, and opened them expecting to find myself in the same room. I did, but all the people there had changed from DCs that I had not recognized into people very familiar to me. Then.. WAAH WAHH WAAHH, my alarm went off and woke me up! d'oh! -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- After waking, I used the bathroom and went back to bed (the alarm was an early one that I intentionally set a few hours before I actually have to get up). I went back to sleep with the intention/expectation of having another lucid dream.. I found myself riding in a car with some younger kids that I didn't know. I got out my cell phone and one of them warned me about a new law that made it illegal to text in a car, even if you weren't driving. I said that was complete BS, but they insisted it was true. I am an attorney, so I asked them where they heard that and exactly what the law said. They handed me a flier, and I was reading it as I got out of the car and walked with them to a swimming pool where a party was going on. I was looking around at the people at the party, and I noticed that Miley Cyrus was one of them.. I thought to myself.. "I don't know Miley Cyrus.. this is a dream!" I was already at the pool, so I decided to try some crazy dives using my dream powers. I lept WAY up in the air and did at least 3 somersaults, planning on squeezing in at least 5 before splashdown.. Problem is.. I closed my eyes during the jump and the spinning motion caused me to lose the dream AND my lucidity. This seems strange now since dream spinning has worked to PROLONG LDs for me in the past, but that is what happened. -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Next thing I knew, I was in a new (non-lucid) dream walking down some stairs, but I was holding the same pamphlet about the cell phone law that I was given earlier. I thought 'I was just having a lucid dream a few minutes ago, I wonder if I am dreaming now..' but that didn't stick and I kept walking- remaining in a non-lucid dream. My phone rang, and the name said Andy Bargo.. I thought 'I don't know an Andy Bargo.. Oh, it must be one of the kids I met earlier in the car." I answered, and it was a different person- an older man that I knew was having some medical issues. He told me a story about insurance companies dicking him around, and asked if we had grounds to sue them. I was thinking that his story seemed pretty ridiculous, and then I remembered (for the second time) that I had been having an LD just a few minutes ago. This time, it DID hit me that I must be in another dream. I told him he was crazy and I was dreaming, hung up the phone, and starting a convo with the nearest DC about how I was dreaming. He said that was cool, but seemed uninterested. I looked out and saw a pink and purple bicycle laying on it's side on the grass and levitated it. I asked him "Is that bike levitating for you?" He said "No, it's just sitting on the grass..." I started to run some other similar tests to see how he would react to my dream control, but alas, I woke up. All in all, interesting night. First time I can remember that I had 3 distinct LDs in one night, although the 2nd two were much shorter than the first. I'm glad I finally found the Academy, but I definitely still have some work to do with stabilizing and allowing myself to get into the dream (i.e. play a role and use passive control) without losing lucidity. I can see how people chain LDs from this experience, as my memory of an earlier LD was instrumental in causing me to become lucid again.