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    CanisLucidus

    The Conga Convention

    by , 07-06-2014 at 04:47 PM (1089 Views)
    Color legend: Non-dream Dream Lucid

    Lucid #219: The Conga Convention

    I’ve arrived for work at some kind of computer lab where we build or test hardware. Dreamer works here, too, and when I walk into the back room I find her interviewing a candidate, a young woman in her early to mid-20s. Dreamer’s in the middle of having the candidate assemble the scattered parts of a computer, so I decide not to bother them.

    I return to the front room to find the door blocked with tables and computer parts. I figure that Dreamer moved all this stuff to make room for the interview but I’m confused as to how it all got here. The idea of lucid dreaming crosses my mind, so I try the nose pinch and
    I’m lucid. My breathing is clumsy and difficult, though, and I lose stability, falling into the void.

    I rub my hands together and talk out loud to myself about lucid dreaming until a new scene forms where I’m walking through a large, nearly empty room with a few tables against the wall. I think this may be the office again and that Dreamer will be here, but there’s only one unfamiliar, dark-haired woman in her early 30s sitting at the table writing on a clipboard.

    I walk through a door into a large, brightly lit convention hall, filled with DCs seated at round tables, most of them sitting in front of plates of nondescript convention food. I remember that I need to summon Dreamer for the challenge so I say, “That’s Dreamer right over there,” and turn my gaze to the right while doing this sweeping gesture with my hand. When I turn I see a tiny child (about a foot tall!) with purple hair standing between two of the tables. This mini-Dreamer giggles, hops up in the air, and scampers away. When she’s run about 20 feet, she disappears in a purple flash. Several of the DCs look at me in confusion.

    This was not what I had in mind, so I circle the room for a while, rubbing my hands together and thinking about how I want to do this. Okay, new plan. I do a vague, sweeping gesture at several tables and say, “Ah, Dreamer, you’re sitting over here.” A very tall woman is hunched over at one of the nearby tables and I see that purple hair cascades all around her head, hiding her face. She’s covered in layers and layers of shawls, rags, and wraps to the point where she just looks like a big pile of rags and hair.

    The enormous woman begins to stir, slowly unfolding herself to full height. When she finally draws herself up to full height, it’s Dreamer, but a seven-foot-tall (2.1336 meters ) version of herself draped in colorful, purple-hued cloth. She smiles and then walks past me before I can say anything else, vanishing behind me.

    I’m getting agitated about these summons, so I decide to go for Task of the Month instead. All I can remember is the “get naked” task, so off comes the shirt. Next I whip my pants down, but they get stuck around my shins like I’ve gotten sweaty or something. I get a little annoyed by this and simply will myself to be de-pantsed. Should have thought of that first!

    The problem is that none of the DCs are taking notice that I’m in my birthday suit! I throw in a few booty-shaking dance moves, hoping for more of a reaction, and now the DCs start picking up on it. They start getting up from their tables, strip off their clothes (only down to underwear, interestingly) and start dancing as well. A big conga line starts forming to my left and after a moment the whole underwear-clad room is conga-ing around the entire place.

    While all of this is going on, I just watch for a while. As I'm doing this, I experiment with looking away from dream characters and looking back to see how they change. They seem to mostly stay the same except some of the DCs seem to undergo slight changes in make-up or facial appearance. As I’m toying with this persistence trick, an attractive blonde woman in her late 20s drapes her arms around my neck and kisses me.

    Spoiler for Awkwardness:


    The conga line dies down and I seem to be dressed again. The DCs are all dressed and seem to be heading for the exit of the convention hall, and after a bit of wandering I decide to give the Dreamer summon another good shot. As I’m heading toward a double door, I pick one of the women at random and say, “Okay, there’s Dreamer…” One quick morph later and now I’ve finally got a proper, purple-haired, normal-heighted Dreamer walking toward me.

    I give Dreamer a hug and start walking with her toward the exit, explaining out loud my plans for the dream. She nods and “uh-huh”s along but before we get to any of this, the dream fades out into
    a false awakening in an outdoor courtyard with a garden. There’s a woman in her late 40s with curly hair standing nearby and I tell her about the dream that I just had.

    “I just had a lucid dream myself,” she responds. “I’m glad that one ended. It was getting strange. I think that REM cycle was all played out, so I’m up for the morning.”

    “I’m going for more,” I tell her. “If you just wait long enough, there’s always another REM cycle.” She nods, pondering this. I wander the garden for a bit until
    the dream fades for good.

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    Updated 07-06-2014 at 07:29 PM by 57387

    Categories
    lucid , false awakening , task of the month

    Comments

    1. ~Dreamer~'s Avatar
      Eeeeeeeee, I love this dream! I laughed so much at your naked shenanigans!
      I was reading it out to Jenkees and he said, "Oh, so he had pants on to start with this time?"

      So funny to hear about all my different forms! (Thanks for the metric conversion, haha!)
      Maybe I was taking on the form of Jenkees - he's 6' 7"!

      So, uhhh... Were you still naked when I re-appeared? Haha
      CanisLucidus likes this.
    2. CanisLucidus's Avatar
      Thanks! It was a fun dream, especially now that I'm not dealing with any in-dream poutiness about things not working out exactly as I planned.

      Even though I fretted about each of those "imperfect" forms each time, they were actually quite cool! What I should have done with each of them is gone with the flow I think. They would have been fun to accompany on the rest of the dream and probably would have resolved themselves into the correct form on their own. I sometimes have rigidity in my thinking on dream control that really works against me. I need to focus on gradually softening that and wearing it down, accepting what the dream gives me and turning it to my advantage.

      6'7"!! That's amazing! So we're thinking that 2nd summon was maybe just Jenkees in a big pile of purple rags and a wig?

      So, uhhh... Were you still naked when I re-appeared? Haha
      Ha ha, no, otherwise that would have been one rather awkward hug! Although come to think of it, I guess these little emoticon beings somehow get away with it. ---> I actually thought about this carefully upon waking up because with that sequence of events I was wondering myself!
      ~Dreamer~ and Iokheira like this.
      Updated 07-06-2014 at 07:39 PM by CanisLucidus
    3. ~Dreamer~'s Avatar
      Ha ha, no, otherwise that would have been one rather awkward hug!
      Haha, that's why I asked so hesitantly!

      I look forward to seeing how you progress with your acceptance of imperfection. It's definitely something that has worked wonders for my dream control!

      Can't wait for the next edition of The Adventures of Canis and Dreamer in Lucid Land!
      CanisLucidus likes this.
    4. Xanous's Avatar
      That was really funny to read. Congrats on TOTM and your summoning skills.
      ~Dreamer~ and CanisLucidus like this.
    5. CanisLucidus's Avatar
      @Dreamer - Thanks, I think it'll help me in exactly the same way! I'm glad to hear that you've been down this road too. Was there any particular approach that helped you get this mindset change to carry over into your lucids!

      @Xanous - Thanks, dude! The challenge has been great for working summoning, as we've seen with your successes with dtunes dthoughts.
      Xanous and ~Dreamer~ like this.
    6. ~Dreamer~'s Avatar
      LOL @ Dtunes!

      I think it needs to start with the intention while you're awake. Affirm that you're going to go with the flow - you can do mantras if you want, or just decisively know that's your new approach whenever you think about your next LD.

      In-dream, you've probably noticed that I don't just accept things as they are if it's not what I want - instead, I pretend they're already the way I wanted them, or I adapt my goals to incorporate whatever unexpected thing has appeared.

      I first used this technique to overcome nightmare characters. When hostile DCs appeared, instead of fighting against them or trying to will them away (which rarely ever worked,) I decided, "Okay, you're here. You can help me with my task!" An example I've got in my DJ of doing this is here: Halloween Party.
      When I realised how effective this was, I decided to apply it to other situations where things weren't going my way.

      There are times where it's not as useful, for example, in Behind the Green Door when I really did need something very specific, and you saw how much I struggled to make things happen when there was no room to bend.

      I plan my task LDs ahead of time, but I include as few details as possible - the aim is solely to drill the tasks into my head, and think about ways I might combine them so I can remember multiple tasks at once. I prefer to have a less detailed idea about what's going to occur, because then I don't feel the need to cling to any ideas if they don't work out.

      In terms of my character specifically, I would try to focus on my 'essence' instead of my appearance. I always identify DCs by their 'feel' rather than their look. Often I'll go through a whole dream with a DC who looks nothing like the person I know they're representing, but I can feel that it's them so I just go with it. I don't always look like myself in my own LDs either, which is a nice reminder that the physical representation doesn't matter too much.
      Xanous and CanisLucidus like this.
    7. CanisLucidus's Avatar
      Thanks so much for the thorough response! I'm going to try to focus on doing precisely that. This:

      In-dream, you've probably noticed that I don't just accept things as they are if it's not what I want - instead, I pretend they're already the way I wanted them, or I adapt my goals to incorporate whatever unexpected thing has appeared.
      is a crucial piece of the puzzle, I think. Because "going with the flow" is more a form of passive resistance or "nonviolent noncooperation" to put it in more Ghandi-esque terms.

      When I get irritated because something didn't go perfectly, it feels like resistance but it's really just weak acquiescence, accepting what the dream gives me as some kind of problem I'm now obliged to solve.

      I've had flashes where this kind of "dream jiu-jitsu" comes readily to me, but the majority of the time my first instinct is to fret. Thanks for the tips on how to improve my waking work so that I'll be ready to address these "problems" properly in the future. And of course gain more points!
      ~Dreamer~ likes this.
    8. ~Dreamer~'s Avatar
      I am expecting some more mega-points after all this smack talk, mister!
      Can't wait for tomorrow morning's brag sesh! I'll have some bragging to do, for sure!

      You're most welcome, I hope it helps.
      CanisLucidus likes this.
    9. OpheliaBlue's Avatar
      NyxCC, CanisLucidus and Xanous like this.
    10. NyxCC's Avatar
      Hilarious dream! Loved the mini and mega version of dreamer!

      The part where you checked the persistence was really cool too. Also funny and so realistic explanations with the FA.
      CanisLucidus likes this.
    11. CanisLucidus's Avatar
      Thanks, Nyx! I was glad that I remembered to throw in a little experimentation and science-y kind of work in there too. I did a lot of that in early LDs and it never fails to make for memorable moments. At the very least, it really gets me paying attention to the scene and the details of the dream mechanics, which is always cool. (And vividly remembered!)
      NyxCC likes this.