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    CanisLucidus

    Vanity at The Doppelganger Water Park

    by , 06-20-2013 at 05:37 PM (879 Views)
    Narcissism and botched summonings ahead. Still, every lucid's fun and this was a good reminder not to be too casual with details in dream control situations!

    Color legend: Non-dream Dream Lucid

    Lucid #111: Vanity at The Doppelganger Waterpark

    I have a false awakening. Faint morning light filters in through the window. I wonder whether it's too bright to get back to sleep. A bedside clock says that it's 5:00 AM. It seems too bright and too late to have a lucid dream. I remember the micro-lucid from earlier in the morning and feel disappointed that I didn't hit a real one. (I really did have a micro-lucid earlier, as well as an earlier false awakening.)

    I get up to use the restroom and notice that I'm not in my usual bedroom but rather on the first floor of a building -- a hotel perhaps? I feel like I'm awake, but the bathroom is just... so different. I'm dreaming.

    As I leave the bathroom, I hear Wife beginning to stir. She's muttering something but I can't make it out. The morning light makes it seem urgent to get started with my goals, so I phase out through an external wall, my head and shoulders passing through a window. I end up in a fenced, grassy yard with a circular stone table surrounded by simple stone benches.

    My strategy for this dream is to forget the meeting location for now and just try to summon NewArtemis directly. I walk toward the yard's open gate, holding my hand behind me as I go. "[NewArtemis], grab onto my hand." No good. I have the sense that I did it all wrong. Stop asking. I sort of try again but my level of intent is poor and nothing happens.

    As I exit the yard, I'm distracted from the summon by a mirror hanging on a brick wall to my left. I check my reflection and see that I'm wearing a pair of jeans without a shirt. I vainly check myself out and notice that I'm less in shape than I remember being -- torso a little smoother, face a little puffier. I start worrying that I've let myself slip in waking life and try to remember whether that's true. It suddenly occurs to me that this is probably the most pathetic, narcissistic thing I've ever wasted lucid dream time on in my entire life.

    I walk further along the grass until I come to a large, packed pool that's being rocked by gentle waves, almost like it's a half-activated water park wave pool. I notice my friend "SC" playing with a young child (too young to be one of his sons). About twelve feet to his right, I see another SC! The doppelganger smiles and gives me a nod of acknowledgment.

    As I continue along the pool, I see my high school friend "LM". And just as with the other friend, not far from her is another doppelganger. Again, the doppelganger looks my way and smiles. The smile seems genuine rather than threatening so even though I find it a little weird, I'm not too troubled by anything that I'm seeing.

    The water makes me think of Angel Falls. Okay, new plan: summon Art while on the move and dash to Angel Falls for Task of the Year. My hope is that if I'm very casual about the summon it'll just work. I reach my hand behind me and say, "[NewArtemis], Angel Falls is just up ahead." I feel a hand grasp mine and I look back to confirm that it's Art. But when I do, I see that the hand is sticking straight up out of the water. The geometry of all this strikes me as strange. How is their arm so long that they can still be submerged and grab onto me?

    As I'm thinking this, the person floats up out of the water, still gripping my hand. She's a complete stranger -- blonde, early 20s, fair-skinned, slightly heavier build. She's wearing a black one-piece swimsuit. "Who are you?" I ask, and her only reply is to half-smile and turn away. I notice that her teeth have a very mild yellow/brownish stain to them.

    "I'm going to change you into [NewArtemis]. Okay?" I'm not trying to ask permission so much as... explain what's about to happen? There's no reply. I look off to the side to make the transformation easier,
    but the dream ends before I can take this any further.
    Highlander, NyxCC, Micael and 2 others like this.

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    Comments

    1. NyxCC's Avatar
      Congrats on the Ld!

      It's interesting how much random moods (like vanity for example) we pick up during dreams and even when lucid we can still remain under their influence. Good job on not allowing yourself to ponder tooooo much on your looks and continuing with your goals.

      Your summon is working pretty good I think, so keep on trying.

      Now that thing with the doppelgangers sounds a bit creepy but if you were in a good mood that makes it bearable. Did you notice that OB had also a double of a work colleague in her last entry?
      CanisLucidus likes this.
    2. CanisLucidus's Avatar
      Heh, thanks for making me feel a little less embarrassed about the vanity. =) I'm mildly ashamed that I got stuck in that trap there for a bit but I'm just really glad the LD didn't end with me fretting about my beach physique.

      I appreciate the encouragement on the summon... maybe just a bit more care and detail is all that's needed. I've been trying to be very casual and almost arrogant about it, hoping that confidence alone would carry me through. But maybe abit more attention to detail is called for.

      Yeah doppelgangers always freak me out a bit but I didn't get as much of a malevolent vibe as I would expect. And no I didn't notice that Ophelia had a double of a work colleague!! How'd I miss that?
      NyxCC likes this.
    3. NyxCC's Avatar
      Ah, forget about it! There is actually a long discussion that I can begin on the topic of our dream behavior, but perhaps now it's not the time and we will have plenty of opportunity to talk about it in the future. Plus, I can also understand dream CL worrying about his looks, because my fitness schedule in the last three months has been as bad a my meditation schedule, and I do occassionally look in the mirror and ask myself some questions. This is for the RR&complain section of the forum now. But anyways, lets' just start everything from scratch again (I'm talking to myself here) and work our way upwards. No more complaints - forget about it!

      About summoning - I really need to practice this more to be able to give some workable advice. I had an non-ld with real-looking Xanous. But my stopping DCs in the middle of the street to check out if this might be Xanous is not the right thing to do for sure.

      But I've had some previous success with my special friend. Well, I just have some (non-sexual) feelings for him and summon him from time to time in non-lds as well as lds. And it looks like him and we talk, etc, just that he is far away and we haven't spoken in many years, so can't confirm if this is shared dreaming. I've used a close the door open the door tech once to summon him, the other times, he is just there and I become lucid....So maybe some dream incubation might work and mantra "whenever I dream X, I become lucid"?

      I guess the main point from my strange summon experiences are try to add some feelings - a unique feeling that connects you to that particular person.

      Quote Originally Posted by CanisLucidis
      Yeah doppelgangers always freak me out a bit but I didn't get as much of a malevolent vibe as I would expect. And no I didn't notice that Ophelia had a double of a work colleague!! How'd I miss that?
      Here it is:

      Quote Originally Posted by OpheliaBlue
      I was about to go in the mirror, when I noticed Kim and Nicole from work outside the window. I yelled their names and told them I was LDing. They ran over to the barn, but by the time they got there, they were 2 Kims instead. They looked kinda angsty and said something I forget. I just ignored them and went back to the mirror while I could feel them watching. I poked my head and torso through, but it was a really large room that was kinda dark.
      CanisLucidus likes this.
    4. CanisLucidus's Avatar
      Quote Originally Posted by NyxCC
      Ah, forget about it! There is actually a long discussion that I can begin on the topic of our dream behavior, but perhaps now it's not the time and we will have plenty of opportunity to talk about it in the future. Plus, I can also understand dream CL worrying about his looks, because my fitness schedule in the last three months has been as bad a my meditation schedule, and I do occassionally look in the mirror and ask myself some questions. This is for the RR&complain section of the forum now. But anyways, lets' just start everything from scratch again (I'm talking to myself here) and work our way upwards. No more complaints - forget about it!
      Nah, that's actually a very astute point! I tweaked my left shoulder a little bit maybe a week and a half ago and I've had to take a little break from lifting. So maybe you nailed why that happened! heh...

      Quote Originally Posted by NyxCC
      But I've had some previous success with my special friend. Well, I just have some (non-sexual) feelings for him and summon him from time to time in non-lds as well as lds. And it looks like him and we talk, etc, just that he is far away and we haven't spoken in many years, so can't confirm if this is shared dreaming. I've used a close the door open the door tech once to summon him, the other times, he is just there and I become lucid....So maybe some dream incubation might work and mantra "whenever I dream X, I become lucid"?

      I guess the main point from my strange summon experiences are try to add some feelings - a unique feeling that connects you to that particular person.
      That's really interesting. If your friend is into dream work as well, you'll have to check with him on all of this when you guys reconnect! Relying on feelings makes a lot of sense. Thinking of what the things you do with the person, what you talk about, that sort of thing. (For Art, I need to think about killing orcs! ) All of this implies taking more time and care with the summon, which is what has ultimately worked for me best in the past.

      Even these failures teach me so much. It is nice to know I can whip up a random DC in a hurry if need be, I guess!

      And thanks for the point to Ophelia's work friend's doppelganger! That is weird!
      NyxCC likes this.