false awakening

I've mostly had self awakenings more than lucidity in a dream .they always seem like series of dreams .like its as if It was one dream AFTER another and not me waking up multiple times in a dream like people usual feel about false awakening and I also realized that they were in series
But yesterday night wasn't one of them . see false awakening take two to three into the required dreams hours .but this dream . it took me exactly one dream.hour .
And I was lucid . in the false awakening
Let's say the first and the second level.
In false awakenings the second level come before the first . as like you have to wake up from one dream level to go to the another .and they seem seem like dream levels but they're not . they're series . I actually remember waking up for a second or to unconsciously .maybe just eyes open ajar but it definitely feels like series well not this dream .
I was in the first level . arguing . to tell everyone to get out of my room . I'm really possessive about my things especially my art stuff ( they cost so much man) and found Lil cousin sis ( okay I don't hate kids but they are monsters and look cute only from the distance) and she was using my costly ass paints on the wall I painted . so I started screaming and told everyone to get out . I knew that now my parents would come in, scolding because screamed at my sis . but they didn't . weird ..
I went back and I slept .
I woke up in the showers , because I love water and that's what I was thinking of in the first level of dream .
I was having fun and singing ..it was night and I was singing aloud . weird .no sound here . only me and the water pouring from the showers . I went to see my reflection and I was like wait this is a dream .and I then I said a lucid dream . started floating in the air and went through the mirror to a.parallel world , didn't go all the way . I also made it dawn instead if night . but for some reasome reason I was only limited to the room . and then I woke up back to the first layer of dreaming and it continued to where It had left off .no time had passed there ..and I WAS NOT lucid in that level . and then I woke up after sometime.

COMMENTARY NON-LUCID DREAM LUCID DREAM

Asleep: 11:45
WBTB: 4:04, 5:00, 7:30
Awake: 8:30
Techs: WBTB + MILD and SSILD
NLDs: 1 + a fragment
Lucids: 2

1. Fragment - Woke up with the image of drinks in champagne glasses

2. I had insomnia after last awakening. I did MILD and then SSILD to help me fall asleep. I'm not sure if this is an FA because I didn't realize I ever fell asleep till after. T said I was keeping her awake. At one point, I started typing loudly on a computer? She got mad and grabbed her pillow and said she was going to sleep in the guest room. She said, "I can't afford to not get sleep before work". After she left, I got out of bed to use the restroom and I brought my phone with me for light. The screen was very dim. I tried to adjust the brightness but it still wouldn't get much brighter. Then, I heard male voices coming from above me. But we live in a single-story house so I knew there couldn't be anyone else near-by. As I was leaving the bathroom, I thought both these things were weird so I did a nose-plug RC but I was still fully convinced I was awake. When I could still breathe, I rationalized it by saying that maybe I didn't hold my nose fully closed. I tried again. It still worked. I became lucid! Suddenly, the whole dream started to vibrate or shake. I tried to stay calm but I woke up and used the restroom.

3. (FA) Again, I had insomnia. Eventually I must have fallen asleep. I'm laying in my normal bed. Now, the bedroom door is open which is weird. I got up to check and "it felt like a dream". As I walked out of the room, I did a nose-plug RC and became lucid. I tried to remain calm. I walked a few steps in the hall, then remembered to try looking at the ground. The floor was our fake-wood. I then looked at the wall and saw a light switch. I got up close to it and it was very detailed and impressive. After a few more steps down the hall, I started to wake up. As the imagery faded, I tried to spin. I remained in a black void for a few seconds after which I woke up.

4. I'm watching a sci-fi movie that I've apparently seen before at an unknown house. There are cats roaming around. At one point, I let a cat in from outside and it starts hissing. I think to myself that maybe it is rabid. I let in another cat and it seems friendly but has long claws. It is playing with me, but comes close to scratching my arms several times. I remember one of my co-workers was present in the house. I then walk into a main area and see my mom, except she is black. (we're both white). Somehow I rationalize this as real LOL. And when I hug her I see she has a "new" tattoo on her back, in addition to one already there. It is for her mother (who is still alive). My mom would never get a tattoo!)

Notes - Today was a great night. Two lucids and the 2nd one was the longest I've had so far. I feel so confident and excited. I did experience some insomnia which is frustrating and caused me to lose out on some sleep. Also I find it funny how I missed my mom changing races and getting a tattoo.

I experience 2 lucid dreams and 1 false awakening

COMMENTARY NON-LUCID DREAM LUCID DREAM

Asleep: 12:45
WBTB: 3:30, 5:30, 7:30
Awake: 8:24
Techs: WBTB + MILD (and a little SSILD to help fall asleep during WBTB)
Dreams: 3
Lucids: 1

1. (FA) I "woke up" and looked at the time on my phone. I then decided to move my alarm one hour later for WBTB because of how late it was already. Then I woke up for real.

2. I am in a room with my dad and one of my parent's family friends, Jackie. It is night-time, during a WBTB. I am reading a night-time WBTB recording on (dreamviews?) which has notes from everyone's WBTB from that night.

3. During this dream, two people were present who I genuinely thought were friend's of T. I thought we had seen a movie with them. I even have memories of being at the movie theater with them. Upon waking, I know we've never met these people. T's two friends, who I apparently remembered us going to the movies with, came over to our house early in the morning. They dress 'uniquely', kinda metrosexual or hipster. (Trying not be offensive, I just seriously don't know anything about fashion lol) They laid down in our bed with us and we all tried to get some sleep. Then they're other friends came over as well. There were three of them, but I remember this one big guy. He came over and shook my hand while I was lying in bed. Then he leaned down and gave T an awkward hug where they were patting each other's backs for a socially awkward amount of time.

4. (FA) I "woke up" in my normal bed. I laid down for a second and then remembered that I should write that previous dream down. I turned over and grabbed my penlight, but couldn't find my tag notebook. I wasn't thinking clearly because I thought, "I wonder if that big guy knocked it down." I looked on the nightstand and the floor. Then I thought, that's weird my tag notebook really should be here. Maybe I'm dreaming. I did a nose-plug RC and before I even finished, I just knew I was dreaming. The nose-plug RC worked and I could breathe. But then, I felt total sleep paralysis lying on my side in bed. I couldn't move. My normal reaction SP took over and I tried to move my head/neck. I woke up.

Notes - I did a little autosuggestion before bed but that's it. I woke up a couple times during the night, once to use restroom and once to my alarm. I didn't do any induction technique during these awakenings. Then, T came home and got in bed at 7:30am which caused me to wake up. She also let the cats in. I laid there for a while and did MILD. Then I eventually got up to kick the cats out. I couldn't fall back asleep so I decided to try SSILD as a cure for insomnia. It worked. I fell asleep after a little while and had these two dreams, during the last of which I became lucid!

These are some rough notes I threw together. I may try to clean it up later and add some pictures.

Finish 30 minute WBTB and BTB around 430am *Several times I think I woke but didn't look at phone/time in order to give me best chance to keep going back in. Finally do look at phone at 637am and am dumbfounded at amount of lucidity and scenes and time lucid! Some waning of lucidity but often quickly recovered and seems like at least 90% of the time and experiences that I remember were lucid.

Letter tags: HMS HM_? House mall stars hands 2nd m? 6th letter tag? May be one of the scenes below.

Seems not more than 10 minutes of SSILD and I start with, what I told myself during one of the FA's, must have been an NREM lucid. It was short maybe 1 minute and very basic mostly dark but interacting with a woman. It leads to multiple FA's each one different. Several were in a busy house with lots of kids and a few adults. Hands clasp from IWL in bed become hands in bind by girl trying to free my hands. House party like. Outdoor patio girl, wife voice, both can have me! Later indoor house gathering (one of several house scenes) with an older lady still beautiful and I tell her I'll make her young again and morph massage her face and it works in the end with odd results along the way. When I finish I see a female, her niece it seems, with her back to us. She has long curly black hair and I gently take her and lead them both to a bedroom. Mall ladies sex and after a while of that I say I need to do the TOTY, car one sounds good. I try to form a car inside the mall main way but it never becomes solid enough so I look toward an exit and see a whole street of cars parked parallel, not the typical big parking lot you'd see outside of a surburban mall. I see a maybe late 80's Honda that has seen better days but it was the first car I really focused on. I open hood just from front of car but do reach my finger in for the typical final release lever under hood and open hood, it stays open and I reach in and grab the whole engine block and all and rip it out easily like picking up an empty cardboard box. I think about breaking the window with my elbow but I am able to just open the door. I decide keys will be under the visor and yes one key on small key chain tab. I stick the key into the on position and start driving like a maniac. Very quickly transitions from asphalt to dirt trail on a hillside area that brings back memories of bmx trails. I get to a top look out point and see 8-10 guys in bathing trunks just below me maybe 20 feet. Maybe they're heading to a hidden beach below. At first I guess a couple of them near the back of group look gay but as they gather it doesn't seem like anything sexual, just a bunch of guys who may even want a lone guy to beat up on. No worries though, this is my dream. I call down to them to look up at me and shoot off into the sky quickly. It becomes night and I float in the sky and marvelling at the stars. They look fairly normal but a beautiful experience none the less. Visuals fade after a minute or so and I spin in the air, still a black void, so spin few more and a FA. / some busy outdoor area at night sexual with several girls. Also at Mall and at house scenes. Unbelievable! I just keep going from scene fade to scene fade after early part where it was from FA to FA. Also Vegas casino hotel with wife she found which hotel, nice but great deal, lucidity fading, maybe gone for this final scene before waking. I am forgetting so many details. I was setting reminders in the new scenes and I have whispy memories of what those reminders were but still trying to grab them fully - I'm sure I haven't caught them all. Lots of solid, vivid dreamlets including snow falling on a couple in dark brown or black winter long coats.

COMMENTARY NON-LUCID DREAM LUCID DREAM

Asleep: 12:00
WBTB: 5:30, 6:30, 7:47 (maybe a few more times)
Awake: 8:30
Tech: WBTB + MILD, WBTB + SSILD
Dreams: 4
Lucids: 0

1. I am playing soccer in my friend's apartment. Everything has been cleared out of his main living area and office area. There is no furniture or anything. The floor is still the same fake wood. I'm not sure what we were using as nets but they seemed smaller than regulation. Teams were 3v3 although I don't remember who else was there. I remember scoring one goal where I got the pass up near the net, I paused, and then lightly tapped the ball in off the post. Andrewa said "I bet you could have been really good at hockey if you kept playing". I said "thanks".

2. This next dream is written in my tag notebook but I don't recall it now. The tags are "uber, dog shelter, library, rich movie star brought us food then I ubered. I'll update this if I recall it.

3. (FA) Woke up and checked the time. My phone said 6:29. Then I laid back down and did SSILD. I then woke up for real and realized my alarm (set for 6:30) had already gone off so it couldn't have been 6:29. The real time was 7:47.

4. I worked at an office or something. I decided to attend this weird cult building because they served free lunch. In order not to seem suspicious of just wanting free lunch, I would pretend to study their beliefs during the time there. When I was leaving on the 2nd or 3rd day of doing that, the cult leader followed me. I thought he was going to accuse me of just wanting free lunch, so I explained how much I've been studying. He said he knows, he's been watching me. But then he takes out a gun from a concealed holster and I again become afraid. At this point we're walking through a public parking log, but there aren't any people around. Suddenly I look back at him and he now has 3 guns, one of which is a machine gun? I again accuse him of getting ready to shoot me and he says no. (Memory Blank) Now there is a dog with a collar running through the same parking lot. The cult leader shoots it with a bow. I freak out. Then he gets in a car and attaches the dog's leash to the back of the car. As he starts to sadistically drag the dog behind the car, I run and leap on the dog to hold the pressure off it's neck. I also eventually am able to get the leash unhooked from the dogs collar, so it runs of frightened. (Memory Blank) Now the cult leader, several cult members, one of my co-workers, and I are standing in an abandoned parking garage-type structure. We are kicking this marble around, and it seems that if the marble gets passed you, you die. I purposely quick it slowly and easily to someone near me and he somehow misses. I'm worried, shouting for him not be killed. I freak out at this point and decide to try to escape. I let my co-worker know but he says he thinks we'll be caught if we try. Then I start running and I make a huge jump which somehow doesn't hurt me as I land softly. I run out of the parking garage to an area that is enclosed by a fence. As I approach it, signs say it is electric. I try one part of it and it shocks me (the feeling was really cool). So I run the other way and eventually find an area with a lot of people around and I feel safe. Then I wake up.

Notes: I still have a cold and I was exhausted yesterday, so I think I slept very deeply. I still did MILD and SSILD and my recall was good. I know it's only a matter of time till a lucid comes.

COMMENTARY NON-LUCID DREAM LUCID DREAM

Asleep: 1:00am
WBTB: several times throughout the morning
Awake: 9:15
Techs: MILD, autosuggestion, WBTB + SSILD
Dreams: 3 fragments
Lucids: 0

1. Fragmented dream. I remember being with my parents. My mother was experiencing bad memory loss/dementia. I noticed it immediately. When I brought it up with my dad while we were out of the room, he said that he hadn't noticed it. I realized he has been experiencing some of the same symptoms, only more mild. I remember my mom acting weird around all my friends as well. Like she didn't remember what age she was, or who she was talking to or anything. I have other notes written in my nighttime dream tag book but I can't read them.

2. (Possible FA) I believe this dream occurred after I woke up and did SSILD. I dreamt of doing SSILD cycles in bed. (Memory blank) I'm in Chipotle standing in line with my dad, but strangely I am doing SSILD cycles with my eyes closed while standing in line? I remember having to continuously open my eyes and pause the cycles to walk forward in line.

3. This dream is somewhat personal. It's a fragmented memory of a conversation between my girlfriend and I about an issue we had earlier in the evening. I'll keep it vague but it did provide me with a way to broach the subject this morning.

Notes: Due to feeling sick, as well as relationship issues, I wasn't very motivated last night. I'm happy to report I still did MILD before bed and woke up several times during the night. I did a small MILD during one WBTB as well as SSILD at least 1 other time. I did not get lucid but I did have a dream about doing SSILD cycles.

COMMENTARY NON-LUCID DREAM LUCID DREAM

Asleep: 12:45am
WBTB: 5:30am, 7:20am
Awake: 8:35am
Techs: MILD, autosuggestion, WBTB
Dreams: 3
Lucids: 0

1. (FA) I woke up at 5:30 to use the restroom. While trying to recall any dreams, I must have fallen asleep. I experienced a false awakening where I had just woken up and had to use the restroom. I stumbled into the bathroom, using my book light as a light (which is accurate to real life). It was hard to stand, and I almost fell during the act. Needless to say, my aim was poor. Then I walked back to bed and laid down. I felt one of our cats walking on my legs (we don't let our cats sleep with us anymore so this should have been a red flag!!). Then I woke up for real to use the bathroom. My aim was fine.

2. I was on a bridge with several people who I no longer remember, although I know that one person was a cast member from the TV show Homeland (Brody). I recall a scene where I attempted to army crawl under an obstruction because we were worried that the obstruction would be electrified or that during our crossing the electricity would be turned on. Once we got to the other side, there were cops and lots of people.

3. I am working in the restaurant where I currently work part-time. The time in the dream is 1:45am (which is way later than I'd ever be there in real life). The restaurant closes at 10:00am. The other closer and I are trying to get rid of our remaining guests so we can clean up and leave for the night. We are in the back, cleaning/sorting some items. When we walk to the front of the restaurant, we see that the managers have allowed another 4 tables to sit down at 1:45am!! We're obviously furious at this point. The first table I greet has a man and a woman, sitting on the same side of a booth. The man orders some weird drink that started with a K. I don't think the word made sense and I don't think it's a real drink. The drink menu had pictures and looked way different than our drink menu in real life. The woman asked for a white wine that was sour and had notes of "carrot" in it. I said I would check with the bartender. I walked over to the bartender, who was one of the bartenders from real life. She suggested one of our wines which I have now forgotten. I then walk over to the managers and start arguing with them. (Memory Blank) I walk lto the front of the restaurant which now appears to be a convenience store with aisles of items for sale? I don't remember anything after this point and it's possible that this is when I woke up at 8:35.

Notes - I had to fly this morning (private pilot) so I needed to get sleep. Since I've been experiencing insomnia the last few nights as a result of LD practice after WBTB, I decided to skip the practice this morning. I still did MILD before going to sleep and I still woke up twice last night and experienced a FA. I'm excited for tonight (Friday) since I can practice WBTB + MILD without worrying about what time I have to be up in the morning.

COMMENTARY NON-LUCID DREAM LUCID DREAM

Sleep: 11:45pm
WBTB: 4:00am, 5:00am
Awake: 8:52
Techs: WBTB + MILD
Dreams: 3
Lucids: 0

1. (FA) After T left, I fell back asleep and had a false awakening. I "knew" that T had left, and I heard weird sounds which I interpreted in the dream as meaning that someone was breaking into our house. (the sounds might have been coming from our real noise maker now that I think about it). I ran to the closet to hide/grab a weapon. After a period of time, I felt it was safe and walked out of closet back to bed. I laid down and woke up for real.

2. My memory is hazy on this dream. I remember being with a group of friends, although I don't believe I know any of them in real life. We went to some breakfast place, I got separated, and then I was running through the city in a towel. I kept ending up in ridiculous places like our professional baseball stadium. I would walk down some public tunnel, open the door, and suddenly I'm in the stands of the stadium. So weird that those types of things don't make you question if you're dreaming. At one point, one of the ushers started laughing since I was in a towel. I ran, and jumped down the rowls/levels of seats. I guess I knew I was "dreaming" at the last second, as I wasn't scared that I was dropping down hundreds of feet about to hit the ground. Of course, prior to doing so, I woke up.

3. Fragment - I'm in a foreign country with someone. We are retreating. We have satellite footage of a bomb being dropped into this country. It was dropped on a beach, at which time someone hit it like a volley ball into the ocean. Once under water, it blew up sending a water ball/explosion that didn't do much damage. Then it exploded again in a larger blast. And it exploded once more in an even larger blast, although it didn't seem to affect the men on the ground. At this point, I woke up.

This was a frustrating night. I woke up at 4:00am randomly, but went back to sleep immediately. I had my alarm set to begin going off at 5:00am, and then every 30 minutes thereafter until I was to wake up at 8:00am. I've heard of success with this technique on the forums and I remember years ago getting random lucid moments when "snoozing" my alarm in the morning while sleeping in or while taking a long nap. However, when my alarm went off at 5:00am I had to pee. After that I could NOT go back to sleep. I laid there for an hour repeating MILD, then relaxing, meditating, etc. Nothing. Finally fell back asleep around 6:30-7:00 when T left and woke up at 9:00. My motivation is intact, but it's days like this that test your resolve.

COMMENTARY NON-LUCID DREAM LUCID DREAM

Sleep: 11:45pm
WBTB: 2:45am, 5:00am, 6:30am
Awake: 8:00am
Tech: MILD
Dreams: 1
Lucids: 0

1. (FA) I woke up groggy and wrote tags from a recalled dream down in my dream journal.

I don't remember what tags I wrote, nor what the dream I supposedly remembered was. I need to be better about RC'ing each time I wake up to catch these FAs. Additionally, I only practiced MILD at 6:30 waking. Partly because I was very tired at 2:45 and 5:00 and partly because I didn't remember any dreams. However, I could have used a previously recalled dream so I will make sure to not waste these opportunities in the future.

I was in bed (in reality) but not really sleeping. At one point, I started hallucinating (with my eyes closed) about seeing our old cat, Sylvester. It moved strangely, and I knew he wasn't real. So it was a hallucination I was controlling it. He walked closer, and hopped onto the bed. I was now seeing a dream version of my bedroom through my closed eyes, and I was still in bed both in the dream and in reality. Sylvester walked over me the way cats do. For a second, I was convinced I had woken up and had somehow "pulled" the cat I dreamt up into reality. That belief was short-lived when I accidentally opened my real eyes - and my long-dead pet vanished in front of my eyes.

I was, once again, back at school. I wear, that place just won't let me leave. I'm in the classroom, and the rest of my former classmates are there too. Max, one of the guys who used to torment me, was trying to get under my skin again. And succeeding at it, but I tried to hide it. I sat with my head resting on my hands and subtly gave him the finger. They laughed. At some point I'd gotten up from my desk, and accidentally sat down again next to Ken, another guy who was occasionally tormented by the populars. He was in the "loser club", a group of 4 or 5 kids who were looked down upon by the popular kids. Even they wanted nothing to do with me, though. Anyway, I realized my mistake but tried not to make a big deal out of it. I grabbed my stuff from my own desk and sat down next to him.

I'm at some guy's house. He has an injured or unconscious woman with him, who he carries to a small room where he lets her rest and recover (he found her somewhere and carried her to his home, I think. *REDACTED SECTION* At some point, as I was slowly waking, a voice (or my waking voice speaking to my dreaming self) told me "dude, that guy is a serial killer - get out of there". I decided to escape the house, but woke up.

Another fragment that occurred *while* I was waking up. I was in bed, could feel my own body and see reality, but hallucinated that my phone went off. I picked up the phone and talked to a doctor. I asked about psychotherapy. The doctor said I had to see a professional for that. I asked who he would recommend exactly. At that moment, my waking was complete, and I realized I wasn't on the phone at all. I think I spoke that last sentence out loud.

Dream Fragment 1: I was in a creepy house. I could sense a ghost, and it scared the crap out of me. I woke up and was still freaked for a second before I realized that it was just a dream. o_o

Full Non-Lucid Dream 2: Warning, this is a bit nsfw, but it's what happened and I was not in control. :p I was getting some groceries and talking with the cashier at Walmart, and we both agreed that everyone should just get free membership cards. Does Walmart even offer membership cards? xD There were a few people behind me -- an African American lady, an invisible lady (I could sense her presence, or something), and I think a few other women. One of them -- can't remember who precisely -- started doing something physical to me that would be rather inappropriate to mention on a public forum and which would most certainly not happen in a public setting, and my dream self rather enjoyed it. Wasn't enough to make me lucid though. The weird thing is, I doubt that I would have been attracted to any of those people in real life. They were pretty generic, standard Wally World people. THE PEOPLE OF WALMART! Dreams can make you horny, I suppose. o____O

Oh, and in that dream, I actually had a false awakening. Inside of my dream, I woke up, and thought "Hey, I remembered a dream!" and immediately began writing it down in my dream journal. I also have a vague memory of there being a Nutri Grain wrapper beside me, when in actuality I hardly ever eat inside of my room (too messy). And then I woke up for real, and was confused because I thought that I had already written it down in my journal, yet there was nothing on the page.

Dream Fragment 3 (NOT COUNTING): My last note reads "Idk I think a 3rd one but got lost on the Z" I don't know what this means. xD But it was definitely one of those moments where you know you almost remembered the dream, but it just narrowly escapes you. D: Hence, I'm not counting this for the sake of honesty.

I haven't had an LD in a while. Hopefully tonight will change that. But then again, this is first and foremost a process that requires time and hard work to achieve. So we will see how this all plays out. I'm really going to make the effort to make sleep more of a priority in my life, but we'll see if I can pull it off...

25 Jan

Wbtb

I am falling asleep in a sort of FA. I am now sure that if nothing else works to induce a lucid, it will help me become lucid if I write it down on a piece of paper. light sleep.

I am now deeper in the dream and ascertain that my paper writing induction albeit done in-dream is indeed effective. I'm fully aware staring at the sheet of paper with the words LUCID written. My grandma comes in the room and starts cleaning the table, asking me a million questions. I know it's a dream and there's no point answering, so I tell her to let me concentrate. She refuses to acknowledge it being a dream and keeps on asking me stuff, so I have to move to the side to avoid being distracted.

I tk a number of small household objects, then tk the door handle and finally the door to the balcony open. I go outside, thinking that I have no idea what to do for points and regretting not making a more comprehensive list of things. The sky is mostly sunny, so I decide to darken it, although it pains me a bit to ruin a beautiful sunny day. The result is a greyer sky but not completely overcast. I also make a thunder sound in the distance.

Not sure what to do next, I opt for using some weird machine part help me get down from the balcony to the ground (as opposed to jump/flight due stability). There are couple of DCs being rather loud near the corner so I go check what's happening. Nothing too unusual, just a family walking and laughing.

I recall now I wanted to do the headstand challenge and look towards the street. At the moment the street's empty, but the cars are about to soon reach my target section, coming from the nearby street. Nevertheless, doing the headstand in the middle of the street seems tremendously appealing. I briefly wonder what's gonna happen once the cars start coming, but decide that I can handle it. Actually, the way I start doing the headstand is with my back to the cars - that in a way solves the problem (no seeing, no thinking, therefore they don't exist). Two DCs come distract me as I do the headstand. I scold one of them and tell him to assist me instead and help get my legs straight pointing towards the sky. I had reservations about being upside down in this posture and the dream collapsing but it doesn't. I stay a bit more, then get up.

We continue to walk down the street with one of the DCs. At this stage I already feel "memory flood" and inability to save/recall some of the details of the dream. At any rate, quite happy this dream already lasted longer than expected and keeps on going. I look over one of the buildings and see the sun shining again, now it seems closer to sunset. I really like how the sun moved like that during the dream, giving quite of a realistic feel of time. The sunset may in addition mean that the dream is coming to an end, I think.

I recall the basic totm of finding a present under the Christmas tree. A while ago we passed by a nice Asian food shop and lots of other items on a long street I can't recall. I decide to go back in that direction, since I feel it will be much easier to find a tree there. Indeed, in front of one cafe is a large decorated Christmas tree. To summon the present, I say to the DC, I clearly recall they were exchanging gifts in the cafeteria and and am sure they forgot one. I stretch my hand and without looking feel a package right underneath the tree. It contains what looks like empty jewellery carton box and a card. I become very curious and want to read the card although I feel the concentration may have a negative effect on the dream. I try to read the handwriting, which changes from well wishes, to random fortunes, to advertising. Finally, there is a small sheet of stickers for a board game.

The nearby Asian shop looked quite attractive, so I decide to go back and try some foods. In a small fridge they had really cool drinks made from fruits that don't quite exist and also are processed in extraordinary ways. Me and this DC whose apperances keep changing grab a small chocolate bar each. It melts easily and tastes really sweet. As we get out of the shop, I begin to lose lucidity. The DC now turns to boyfriend and we get into a discussion. The desire to get more of the cool drinks overcomes me and my awareness increases again, although not as high as before. To summon drinks, I call one of the girls who was working in the store, going a bit back to where we were before. Sure enough, the store appears, now at a completely different place and a different store, but that doesn't matter, it still looks pretty fancy and serves drinks. The girl that works there comes with a bottle full of freshly made exotic drink and a small glass of red juice. She spills the glass, but I am still able to have a try from what's left. It tastes quite nice. I wake up.

Ritual: I went to bed at 1am last night, early enough that I hoped to get some dreaming in. I'd had good luck with the "Dream Leaf" supplement last time, so took the blue tablet before bed, together with two tabs of bacopa and a vitamin D supplement (the latter unrelated to any dreaming intentions). I slept deeply and I don't even think I woke up for a few hours. I still have no clock in the bedroom since I've been charging my phone downstairs, but I estimated it was around 4 or 5am when I first woke. At that point I took the red pill and went back to sleep. I woke a couple more times but was disappointed that I didn't recall any dreams. Finally it must have been around 8 or 8:30am and I felt almost awake enough to get up, but I thought I would give it one more shot. I mixed about half a teaspoon of Piracetam in some water and swallowed that before going back to bed. That's when the magic happened. It was about 9:30 when I woke up again after a linked series of lucid dreams.

1. ???
I feel certain there were one or more fully developed scenes initially, but so much else happened afterward that I lost all memory of these earlier episodes when I woke. One thing I like about tasks is that they act as a focus for memory as well as intention.

2. Gifts under the Tree
I was in my bedroom and already aware of dreaming, and it felt like some scene had just concluded. The thought occurred: Didn't I mean to finish the gift task properly? I'd better get that done before I wake up or I'll be annoyed. I remembered that my error last time had been forgetting to look under a tree for the gift. However, I looked around and saw that there was no tree in this room. Rather than waste time trying to find a tree elsewhere in the house, I decided to brute force it and manifest one right in the room. My ambivalence about this inelegant solution nearly destabilized the dream, but I was determined to finish the task so I managed to hold it together, even though I had to do this by getting down on all fours and crawling across the room toward the corner where I decided the tree would be.

Everything had gone dark but I figured as long as I could still feel the floor, it was not too late to restabilize. The texture of the floor was distinct, hardwood, and I could feel the smooth boards with small grooves between them, so I focused on that until the visuals kicked in again. My sight slowly returned, and although the lighting remained dim, I could see an illuminated Christmas tree in the corner I was heading for. Is it lit with real candles? I thought, noting the especially warm quality of the illumination, and remembering the nineteenth-century images that had always captured my imagination. But then I remembered why we don't do this anymore: Isn't that a fire hazard? I felt a flicker, not of the candles, but of the dream nearly destabilizing again at my irrational concerns, so I forced my attention away from the lights and onto the area underneath the boughs. I was still on my hands and knees so it was easy to peek underneath.

There were three objects. Two were wrapped, one rather messily, but the last caught my eye because it was unwrapped. It was a single glove, and from the position of the thumb I could see that it was for the left hand. No sooner had I observed this than two more manifested, in different colors, also for the left hand. As I wondered about the possible significance (nothing occurred to me) the pile got larger... maybe a dozen left-handed gloves were now strewn under the tree. This was getting out of hand (no pun intended) and anyway I preferred to choose a wrapped gift, so I withdrew my attention from the gloves and looked at the other objects. The first two hadn't appealed to me, but now I saw a flat, rectangular, neatly wrapped item that seemed perfect, so I picked it up for a closer look.

As I tore through the several layers of wrapping and tissue paper, I came across small textual clues that made me think this must be a gift from my spouse. It turned out to be a book, a beautiful old volume bound in leather that looked like it couldn't have been published later than the nineteenth century. The title was printed in small stamped gilt letters on the front cover. It was something like Personalities of Note, and subtitled Pple of Our Time, where I understood "pple" to be an abbreviation for "people." The author was identified as Lord Lytton, a name that I knew I recognized from WL history but couldn't immediately place.

Turning the book over in my hands and admiring the beautiful cover, I discovered a library sticker on the lower part of the spine. I wondered what library had held such a fine book and looked on the sides of the closed pages where the name is sometimes stamped. The top side of the pages had been coated with gleaming silver pigment, further attesting to the book's quality, but there were no stamps on the outside. I found it inside the back cover: "Library of _______" (I can't clearly remember the name but it was a one-syllable word ending with "nsk," similar to Svensk or Minsk, but something else I think). I continued to look for a "discard" stamp or some other clue that it had been deliberately divested from the library's holdings. I couldn't find one but reasoned that it must have been; surely it wouldn't have been given to me as a gift if it was still a part of a library's collection, and anyway, ex-library books are very common these days.

I opened the book hoping to read some passages, but despite the English title and author, the text was unmistakably in Cyrillic. This was disappointing since I don't read Cyrillic, and I concluded that it must be a translation.

3. Vampire Interlude
I don't recall the transition, but found myself lying next to a blonde boy. I realized that I was a vampire and that also reminded me that I was dreaming. I fed on his blood and gave him advice on his sexual difficulties.

4. False Awakening
I found myself lying under my down comforter in a very plausible facsimile of my WL bed, and even though I was lying sideways across the foot of the bed, I didn't think it odd because sometimes I'll lie in odd positions when I want to relax a bit more but avoid falling back to sleep. I felt aroused and began touching myself, but then I noticed an odd feeling of displacement and realized that even though I could distinctly feel the pressure of my fingers when I flexed them, my hand was resting at my side and not actually in contact with any other part of my body. I correctly deduced that this was because I was not fully awake. Eventually I was able to persuade myself that if I was lucky enough to still be in the dream state, I should make better use of it, and forced myself back out of bed.

5. Explaining Massage to the Snow Lizard
I flew out the window and landed in heavy snow. Now that I was on my feet, I found that the snow was so deep I could barely push my way through it. I was actually enjoying this, because I've been disappointed with the quality of the snow in the WL winter so far. It was night, and I was walking around a vague dream version of my house, but the thick snow made me feel like I was in some deep kingdom of winter. Wondering what to do next, I tried to remember any of the other current tasks of the month or year, but I was having trouble coming up with them. I thought hard until one came to me: the massage TOTM. This wintry realm seemed like an odd place to look for a massage, but part of the fun of dream is improvising, right?

Movement in the air made me look up, and I saw thick-bodied, pale blue lizards flapping slowly through the air. Maybe I could convince them to do it! I beckoned them down, and two of the snow lizards landed and gazed at me curiously.

"I'd like you to give me a massage." I instructed. They looked back blankly. Either they didn't understand the concept, or didn't understand why they should comply. I worked on the latter angle: "I need you to help me! It's for a Task." I tried to make the word "task" sound very important. "Please just rub my back a little." I sat down and turned my back to the nearest lizard.

What the lizard replied was so peculiar that I repeated it to myself many times afterward, making sure I would remember the phrasing: "Mr. Cooper, could you please salute the Constitution? I mean, lift your shirt." I found it very amusing that "salute the Constitution" was apparently a local euphemism for "lift your shirt," though I had no idea why he addressed me as "Mr. Cooper," a name that inspires no particular resonance. I complied with his instruction and looked foward to the prospect of a massage, since my back muscles have actually been sore lately in WL and I've been needing one.

I should note that by this point I had already been dreaming for so long that I was starting to worry how well I would be able to remember the details, so I was actually carrying around my dream journal and taking notes. I recognized sadly that they would be unlikely to persist into waking (though I always, irrationally, hope that somehow they will), but I figured that the concentration of writing down details might help me better fix them in memory. I jotted down what the lizard had just said while I was waiting for the massage to start. I think the second lizard was looking on quietly the whole time.

The lizard wasn't doing anything, so I tried to instruct him in how to give a massage. "Stroke my back," I suggested. He limply touched it. We wrangled a bit but weren't getting anywhere, so I decided to try a different tack. I lay face-down on the ground and insisted, my exasperation rising, "Just walk on my back! Walk directly on it!" I remembered when I was little my dad would have me walk on his back this way, so it was a valid form of massge. I was afraid the lizard might be too heavy, but reminded myself that since it was a dream I couldn't come to permanent harm. But the lizard still balked.

I sat up again, trying to come up with a solution. I remembered shiatsu, how it uses chopping motions. I thought that might be easier for the lizard to master, so I attempted to explain it. Finally I felt something vaguely massage-like as the lizard patted me several times on the shoulders with the flat part of its front feet. (For the first time I contemplated the anatomical differences that might make this challenging for the lizard.)

"Great!" I exclaimed, pleased that we were finally getting somewhere. "Okay, now keep doing that."

But the lizard sounded like someone awkwardly trying to escape an embarrassing social encounter as he replied: "Ummm... it was nice to know you..." and disappeared into the night.

6. The Lonely Beauty of Dream
Somehow after all this I still wasn't awake. I could hardly believe it myself. I knew I should force myself awake at this point, I was juggling so much in memory, and had so much to write down—and the dream notebook I was still carrying was not likely to be much help, though I continued to jot down details.

But I didn't want to wake up. I was enjoying this too much, and wanted to see where else it would go. I was still next to the house, but the sense of winter was fading as I walked around the corner, feeling fully in my element and murmuring: "This is my domain." I walked into the house, which still felt like mine even though it had no resemblance to WL, noting how detailed it all was, even a bit cluttered, boxes of cereal on the counter. What should I do next? I didn't feel like attempting another task as I already had so much to remember. As I approached the front door, which was open on a beautiful bright day—it was no longer dark outside, and the trees were green now—I was inspired to try to see the dream world at its best.

"Show me the beauty of dream," I commanded as I walked through the doorway back outside. I was addressing the dream state directly now. I repeated this a few times, and indeed, the natural landscape around me was incredibly lovely. I walked to the edge of the trees and pulled down a fir bough to admire it. The needles were an unusual shade of purple.

I continued admiring the landscape until I was struck with sudden note of melancholy. Everything was so beautiful, but what good is all this beauty if you have no one to share it with? That was always the problem, wasn't it? Could this explain something about the kind of beings we are, why we choose to cohabit a shared dream despite all the inevitable conflict? I felt a hint of that distinctive sensation you get when you're stoned and think you've stumbled on some revelation of cosmic importance, but at the same time you realize that it will sound bland and foolish when you look back on it later. The sense of loneliness persisted, so I attempted to break through the solipsism, to summon something to me, to reach out and find some other cognition.

A spacecraft flew low across the sky, seeking a place to land. It was not an alien ship but clearly of human make, chunkily built. I don't think it resembled anything in WL but was probably inspired by films or games: the first thing I thought to google was 'mass effect shuttle' and the image results are actually about right. I was surprised to see, as it came closer, that the word "AMERICAN" was written in block letters across the side.

The shuttle settled to the ground and I walked toward the landing site. The hatch opened and a few people came out, walking in single file. The guy in the lead was wearing his suit, but no helmet. He was a dark-haired, middle aged man with a rugged face. I thought he resembled the character Group Captain Peter Townsend from The Crown, which made sense because we've been watching that show lately, and the character was a military pilot.

I wanted to signal my benign intentions so I held my hands out and up. The captain also held his hands up, although I noted that he did not let go of the rifle in his right hand, he just wasn't pointing it at me. I guess he felt wary and uncertain of my intentions. "I come in peace," I announced to reassure him, though it occurred to me that he should be the one saying that—I lived here. As we came closer I slowly (so as not to startle him) brought forward my right hand, inviting a handshake. He slung his rifle over his shoulder and did the same. I brought down my left hand to clasp his in both of my own, feeling warm and benevolent. "Be well," I said sincerely.

At that moment I felt the irresistable pull of waking draw me out of the dream. I hadn't intended it, but it was perfectly timed.