lucid

19.04.2010

No Driver! (DILD)

NON-DREAM DREAM LUCID

I just remembered this bad boy when I was in a car with a few mates earlier. I felt compelled to tell them about it, naturally they thought I was weird!



I was in the back seat of a car, behind the driver's seat. It was driving along a country road on a sunny day, passing plenty of large trees along the roadside. I glanced into the front seat. There was no driver! I was the only person in the car, which was going completely by itself. Of course I became lucid immediately. I was pretty damn aware here, I couldn't have let that dreamsign slide even if I wanted to.
"So obvious," I thought, as I leant into the front seat. I was in the mood for some minor destruction, so I grabbed the wheel and spun it hard to the left. The car veered off the road and hit a protruding root of a large tree, causing it to flip. That's the last I remember.

19.04.2010

Trying to Fix The Dreamworld (WILD)

NON-DREAM DREAM LUCID

A quick note from last night: I got some pretty powerful HI when I was going to sleep last night, only about 10 minutes after lying down. Somebody blasted a football at me and hit me square in the chest. I completely felt it, and my entire torso took a huge spasm. I was like,
"What the hell?" since I was nowhere even near asleep yet. I guess my mind just went off on its own for a bit.

This morning: I haven't had a proper, straight-up WILD for quite some time, but this morning I had two. I felt sleep paralysis after... I have no idea how long, and was riding it out comfortably. It came on like a light blanket being draped over me, starting at my head and finishing at my feet a split-second later. Then, I heard my brother come into the room. He was looking for something.
"You asshole, don't wake me up," I murmured.
"What's that John?" he said, and shook my shoulder to wake me. I was pretty gutted, but sat up to see what he wanted. Something didn't seem right. Then I remembered that this exact situation had happened earlier this morning, when my brother had come in looking for a sleeping bag. (He was going on a school trip and was only packing that morning) For (I think) the second time ever, I tried the nose-pinch reality-check. I could breathe perfectly. I laughed that I could have thought this was for real. I threw the duvet off me and got out of bed. As I left my bedroom, things went out of focus. The railing beside the stairs was fuzzy, and bizarrely, everything was upside down. As in, the floor was on the ceiling, and vice versa. I rubbed my hands together, which improved the fuzziness a bit, then set to work on trying to walk on the ceiling. I got down on my hands and knees, then put my feet up in the air. As I did so, I realised I had just completed the basic task of the month on Dreamviews, "Stand on your head". From there I tried to float myself upwards, feet first. I imagined that I was hanging onto the ceiling with my hands (it looked that way anyway), and was looking down at the floor. But gravity was being a bitch, and I couldn't make it off the ground at all.

I had a closer look at my surroundings, and noticed a yellow tint to all the walls. It occurred to me that I could be sleeping with my eyes open, and the yellow of my bedroom walls could be influencing my dreamworld. It was definitely the same kind of yellow. The more I tried to look at the yellow parts, the closer I came to awakening. Realising what was happening, I grabbed a door frame and desperately tried to stay in the dream, but it was too late and I woke up. My eyes had been closed.

19.04.2010

Bad Zombies (DILD)

NON-DREAM DREAM LUCID

I've always been of the opinion that any dream about zombies is awesome, but this one was scary! This occurred in the middle of the night, which is quite rare as my DILDs go, so my memory of it is terrible. I can basically just remember that it happened.

I was flying on a hanglider through a city. I weaved through skyscrapers, trying to stay in the air at all costs. Why? Because every square inch of the ground below was covered in bloodthirsty mutant zombies. It was a terrible, gory sight. Some zombies had grown into grotesque, tentacled abomnations, and they were all piled on top of each other in the street, there were so many of them. I was descending, much to my dismay, towards the horde. So I set my sights on a mid-sized skyscraper that I reckoned I could still make it onto the roof of. It was just ten or so metres beyond the reach of the monsters below. I landed and let go of the hanglider, which floated over the opposite edge. Now I was trapped, and becoming fearful. Out of nowhere, I reassured myself.
"Don't worry, it's just a dream," I thought. It was a revelation, to say the least, but I still felt like I was in a horror movie. I knew I shouldn't be scared, but I was surrounded by such an overwhelming mass of monsters that I still felt kind of powerless. I couldn't drown out their roaring. "But this isn't even real!" I said, out loud this time. I looked at my hands, two extra fingers. Rather than stay within the bounds of the dream plot, I tried to initiate a complete change of direction. Trying not to think about the beasts below, I turned and walked across the roof of the building. There was a door leading downstairs. I assumed if I opened it, I would be in a mundane but comparitively harmless office. I strode confidently over and turned the handle. No sooner had the door opened a crack, several thick slimy tentacles burst out. The zombies roared louder.
"Fuck this," I said, scowling. I woke myself up.

13.04.2010

No Tom, Just No. (DILD)

NON-DREAM DREAM LUCID

I might be on a hot streak here.

The earliest part I can remember is being inside a huge sports stadium. I had taken shelter in the dugout area from the coming destruction. The entire stadium was launched out of an enormous cannon and fired over a smokey, grey city. It flew over hundreds of tall buildings, and eventually hit the ground and skidded to a halt, crushing many more. My stomach was in my mouth the whole time. I was on a kind of autopilot, where there was a narrative, and I was following it like a movie. I climbed out of where I had been hiding and walked down behind one of the stands where a small "hoverbus" was parked.

I got on board, and pressed the ignition button. It chugged into life. The only real flight control was a black plastic joystick on the right of the dashboard. I gave it a waggle to shake off the dust and wreckage that was on its roof. I turned round, and saw a squad of guys trooping on behind me. There were only about ten seats and they filled them all. Somebody (I think their leader) mentioned going to the planet Pandora. His mission was to get to know the natives in order to make the planet easier for humans to colonise. One of the men asked if he would be going in armed, but he said no- it might create a bad impression. There were a few suprised whistles and a sarcastic "Good luck!" from the men.

There was a skip ahead in time here, and now we were flying at streetlight-height over the city. I was no longer the pilot, someone else had taken over. There was a moment when the conversation lulled, and I had a rare (in my dreams) moment of thoughtfulness. How did I get here? I remembered being in the stadium and being flung across the city, but before that, nothing.
"Could it be?" I looked at my right hand. Eight fingers. "No fucking way!" I laughed. "It's all a dream!" Everyone on the bus cheered and there were high fives all round. I saw the pilot raising his arm and I leant over to give him one too. Then I saw his face. It was Tom bloody Cruise, in my opinion one of the biggest douches in Hollywood, if not the Western world. He was wearing the gear he had in Top Gun, sunglasses included. His hand was still raised, but I left him hanging.
"No Tom, just no," I said to him with utter disdain in my voice, whilst shaking my head and giving him the finger.



I soon got too involved in the plot again, and ended up non-lucid, helping Barney Stinson steal cash registers from delapidated shops while the hoverbus circled overhead.

12.04.2010

Rambling Through Dreams (DEILD)

NON-DREAM DREAM LUCID

I had about 7 DEILDs this morning. Lay on my back the whole time. Even though I wrote down some notes immediately after waking up, I doubt I remembered them all. These were a new kind of DEILD for me- Instead of going for the usual "tactile entry", I focused my vision on an object or scene. I kept looking intently at the same object or scene until it became "real". Sometimes I wasn't sure if I had woken up or it was a false awakening, but I kept the rules in my head, which helped me tell the difference. If my arms were easy to move, it was a dream, simple as that.

The first segment was where I was sure I woke up. I spent a couple of minutes lying on my back trying to bat away a large fly that was zooming about. It's only after waking that I now realise it wasn't real.

For my first DEILD, I visualised the wall opposite my bed. I just stared at it. My eyes could even have been open, I don't know- it sure felt like it. A picture on my wall had changed to a calendar for some reason. I think it might have been a Simpsons one. It started flashing through lots of different faces, and there was something quite menacing about it. I didn't think about the scariness, I only took it as a reassuring sign that a dream had definitely begun. I was still in bed, so I tentatively tried to move my arms. I found I could, and quickly fell out of bed. I ran downstairs and out into the street. My friends Hugh and Darren were there. Hugh was carrying a bottle of Jack Daniel's, which he handed to me. We walked up the street to a petrol station, whereupon I took a giant swig from the bottle and threw it over my shoulder. I heard the smash and walked through the automatic doors. I pondered for a minute about whether I should try to do some of the task of the year, but all my lucids recently have been pretty short, so I thought there would be no point. Also, I was just stealing a few extra minutes sleep and expected to be woken up at any minute. There was a great-looking girl working behind the till, so I wasted no time in going at it with her. The people in the shop were staring at me like I was insane, and I became slightly self-conscious. What if I was merely super-drunk and not dreaming at all? A quick hand-reality-check allayed my fears, and I continued. Then the alarm went off, and shutters closed down on every door and window. I suspected that I might be trapped, so in a way, it was lucky that I woke up.

Still very relaxed (and maybe in sleep paralysis), I went for another DEILD. I looked closely an image which formed in my head as before, and soon found myself standing in some sort of facility. The walls were sliver-grey, and there were lots of people walking about in a hurry. I did a little experiment, and found that it didn't matter whether I had my eyes open or closed in the dream, I could see fine if I wanted to see. I did the experiment whilst looking at an old woman leaning on a railing of a balcony. Satisfied with my discovery, I strolled along the balcony, gazing out over the wooded area outside. It looked like the sun was going down. Along a bit, I found a table with benches around it. Sitting on one was a girl I know, who I plan to ask out soon. She was wearing a strange light-blue swimsuit. I sat down beside her and we began kissing. Soon I woke up again.

This time the DEILD transition was a bit different. I moved a little, then "fell" to my left, and ended up on all fours on a stony surface. I stood up and looked around. I suspected I might be in the wooded area I had seen from the balcony earlier. I started running through the trees and entered an area of ancient ruins which was pretty overgrown with plants. I thought about the strangeness of running in dreams again, and I chuckled as I automatically started taking deep breaths as I do when I run in real life. Was there any point in talking bigger breaths, or noticing breathing at all? The ruins started to look a bit like a multiplayer level in the Aliens vs. Predator game, the name of which escapes me. I jumped about 10 metres onto a stone platform to look around. There was movement all around me. I had no doubt that Aliens and Predators were the culprits, but I couldn't get a clear look at one. With a screech, an Alien dove at me, mouth open and arms outstretched. I caught in in mid-air by its neck, and proceeded to perform one of the more brutal execution moves from the game on it. Then I noticed that I had a predator's blades attached to my forearm. I extended the blades and started admiring them, but I was jumped from the left by another alien. I swung round and delivered a downwards blow with my blades through the alien's skull. It cracked like an eggshell. I woke up again.

I was having so much fun, I decided to try to go back there. I don't think I managed it, but I had a short lucid where I played a sniper in Call of Duty.

08.04.2010

Breaking the Spell (DILD)

NON-DREAM DREAM LUCID

This is the only fragment I can remember from a night which was absolutely full of dreams.

I had made an enemy of an evil wizard. He put me under some kind of spell which basically put me in a dream state- I think to make me less of a danger to him. I was running up a snowy path to the wizard's castle, when I thought,
"Something just doesn't seem right about this." I did a hand reality check and realised I was dreaming. However, I didn't go to the next level and work out that the world outside this dream was still another dream. When I stopped what I was doing and wondered if this was the wizard's doing, his face appeared in front of me in a spinning, levitating mirror. It looked at me intently, and seemed pleased with me. Then I woke up back into the original dream level.

06.04.2010

Rumble in the Jungle (DILD)

NON-DREAM DREAM LUCID

This started with me on a bus. Should really have noticed the dreamsign. I was on my way back to a picnic in the grounds of my old school, and it was raining. I was worried because I had been told that bagguettes and other sandwiches had been left out in the open air, and I didn't want them to get soggy from the rain. I was on the bus with two of my brothers, who told me it was time to get off when we were beside the estate near my house. We stepped off and started running. In reality, my school is nowhere near there, but in the dream it was just around a corner. I burst through a gate and skidded down a gravelly hill to the picnic table, which was out the front of the school.

I got into a conversation with a girl from my class who turned up while I made a sandwich, and the next thing I knew, a lesson had started outside. Lots of people from my year appeared from nowhere and sat down at other picnic tables which had appeared around mine. I sat beside the girl I had been talking to. It seemed to be a geography lesson, and although I hadn't been paying attention to the teacher at all, she asked me,
"So John, what else do rivers do that hasn't been mentioned so far?" I improvised,
"Uh... meander, and flow towards the sea?"
"Exactly," She said. What can I say, freakin genius. I put my head down on the desk so I could talk more privately with the girl beside me. When I looked up, we were inside a tent. Something registered,
"This isn't right..." but it wasn't enough to turn me lucid. Everyone was going outside, so I followed them. Now we were in a jungle. It was quite beautiful. There were really tall trees, and vines wrapped around some ancient ruins.



Some friends and I went exploring. We were laughing and talking when we stepped out from behind a tree right into the path of a giant panther. It stopped and stared at us, making a low grumbling noise. The rest immediately ran. I had it in my head not to make any sudden movements, so I just stood there. After a few seconds the panther lay down, and I tried to sneak off. I was trying desperately not to stand on any twigs, and I ended up floating ever so slightly between steps. I noticed the abnormality and became lucid. I levitated over the ground and made my way back to the tent. I floated in, showing off my moves, then plonked down at a table.

My classmates were doing some kind of experiment using a candle, but I had no idea what it was. The candle went out, and I thought I should try and make fire to light it again. I snapped my fingers, expecting a flame to just magically appear, but it didn't. I pondered, then tried a different tactic. Cupping my hands around each other, I tried to force heat into the space between. After a few seconds I had a peek, and saw distinctive waves of heat. It was working. I kept it up, and soon fire was bursting from between my fingers. I used it to light the candle again, then looked at my palms. There were two tiny burns on the heel of each palm. I laughed, then woke up.

The first thing I did was look at my hands. The burns were still there. I was really excited for some reason, so I ran out of the tent and flew around the trees. Some music started playing. It was very fast, and was perfect for running around in a frenzy, as I was doing now. I ran into the giant panther again, but stroked it like I would a cat, and it purred. After that I woke up for real.

05.04.2010

Super Paralysis (Note)

NON-DREAM DREAM LUCID

Morning after a night out, once again. I didn't manage to get lucid in any dreams, but I did get a serious blast of sleep paralysis. Absolutely exhausted, I was sleeping on my back. I'm not sure if I came out of a dream, or I was maybe just really relaxed and forgot where I was for a while. Either way, I realised I was lying in bed, but couldn't move at all. My arms were by my sides, and I tried to lift them but they were completely dead. I actually tried really hard to move, just to test the power of the paralysis. It was total. Then I opened my eyes. I'm almost positive the room I saw was the real room and not a hallucination because nothing was "off". Light levels were consistent with the real room and everything was in the right place. I had a pretty good view because I had like three pillows under me. I couldn't see very clearly though, which is what makes me suspicious about whether or not I was hallucinating a view of the room.

Anyway, I thought I shouldn't waste this great opportunity for a WILD, but I was so insanely exhausted that I just fell asleep unconsciously.

30.03.2010

Zombieland (DILD)

NON-DREAM DREAM LUCID

Hmmm... I didn't realise this one was so long when I was typing it out. I'll put some pics in to break it up a bit.

I was woken up quite early in the morning, and went back to sleep naturally after 10 minutes. If I can't be bothered WILDing, just falling asleep again after waking is much easier and works almost as often. I think the short time of being awake revs up the logic centre of the brain, making it far easier to spot dream signs.

I was in some sort of small holiday complex. I "woke up" in the swimming pool. My head was leaning against the side, and I was still wrapped up in my red duvet- which wasn't actually all that wet. I was extremely groggy, and couldn't really move. I could feel that I was wearing my jeans though, and thought,
"Shit what if my phone gets wet? Aha!" All too easy, point to me. For some reason, the groggy inability to move stuck with me, and I had another false awakening.

I woke up beside the pool this time, it was as if I had fallen asleep on a deck chair. The pool was indoors, with a glass roof. I was in my swimming shorts, so I jumped straight into the pool. There were a few people I knew swimming around too. I hopped in an inflatable yellow dinghy and someone pushed me around for a while. Later, I was informed by one of the reception staff that a letter had arrived for me. (What's this, 1970?) She stuck it to the wall with a tack and went back to the front desk. I got out of the pool, dried myself off and went over to read it. I got the general gist of its content, which went something like, "Sorry we can't make it, but we gave our tickets to our two friends, you'll like them." Apparently it was from someone I knew who wouldn't be coming on holiday. I spent absolutely ages trying to read the names of the people the letter was from, and the names of the people who were coming in their stead. Every time I looked at it, it seemed slightly different, and I would notice new things. It was also pretty high up on the notice board, and I couldn't reach to take it down. A girl I know called Emma came over and asked what was wrong. I told her that I couldn't read what the hell was on this letter, and asked if she wouldn't mind having a go.
"Sure," she said. "Lift me up." I put my arms around the top of her legs and lifted as high as I could. She unbalanced me when when she reached out for the letter, and we fell. She landed on top of me, and I broke her fall. I found it weird that I wasn't even winded, even though her knees had come crashing down on my chest. She laughed, then kissed me before informing me that I should be getting to work. Apparently this was one of those holidays you work during to afford. I put on my roller blades and left through the front door of the complex. I made my way downhill, past what looked remarkably like the sea near my house, and arrived at a restaurant. Apparently I was a waiter. I rolled straight into the kitchen like a ballet dancer, to the cheers of the chefs and other waiters. I stored my roller blades in a locker, and there was much banter about the state of my hair. Before we headed out to wait tables, the head waiter made sure we all smelled great, by squirting a huge cloud of Davidoff: Cool Water aftershave which he made everyone walk through.


This was what the holiday complex looked like, only bigger.

Just then the owner stepped into the kitchen and called for silence. He informed us of the terrible news that there had been, I quote: "An uprising of the undead." The chefs and waiters let out cries of alarm and disbelief, but I smiled and said,
"Awesome." You can never have too many zombie dreams. I folded my arms and waited to hear the specifics from the restaurant owner. He said that the plague had begun several hours ago, but it had only now reached this area. Apparently, all the area's rich residents had been evacuated to safety hours ago, but we had been purposely left behind. He went on, "We are the..."
"Cannon fodder?" I interrupted. He looked furtive for a second, and I knew I was right. There were various moans of "Oh no," etc. from the staff, so I turned to them and said,
"Have you ever seen Shaun of the Dead?" Most of them nodded. "Well it'll be like that, only more fun." With that, I headed outside, ready to get laid in there. I looked up the road to my right, towards the holday complex I had come from, and hovered up to my head-height. I decided I should go back there and try to help my friends, so I started flying in that direction. I was going pretty fast, faster than I usually manage when flying unaided. I passed hundreds of zombies. They were emerging from the sea to my left, and staggering up the beach onto the road. I saw humans getting bitten and immediately turning. It seemed this was a particularly virulent strain of your standard zombification virus. (Think 28 Days Later) People would get bitten, or some infected blood would land on their exposed skin, and right away they would double over, screaming viciously. Their eyes went completely bloodshot, and for some reason, their gums started bleeding. I kept up the pace, but more and more zombies kept chasing me. I wasn't going fast enough to lose them, and was such an easily visible meal (flying at over 6 feet), that I was basically drawing hundreds to me, who joined the mob on my tail. As I flew, I concentrated hard on a sentence, and sent it out to everyone in the area telepathically. It told everyone I knew to meet me at the holiday complex. I heard the sentence booming in my head, and I had a good feeling that it would work. I wanted to fight off some zombies with a bit of company. I zoomed up the hill to the tall front doors of the complex, and found them locked indefinitely. I tried to break them down but they were completely solid. I turned round slowly, to face a semicircle of zombies that had formed around me, cutting off all routes of escape. I took up a fighting stance and they started coming at me. I didn't pay attention to faces or numbers, I stepped from zombie to zombie, breaking necks and punching clean through chests. Neck breaking was by far the easiest move, so I used it the most.



There was a lull in the action. They had stopped attacking, and were now just staring at me, snarling. I heard a voice calling me.
"Help! John!" It was an old friend of mine who I no longer like. He was waving at me from within the crowd. He forced his way to the front and ran over to me. "Thank God!" he gasped. Something wasn't right about him. He looked incredibly tired, and wasn't moving his lips very much when he spoke.
"Hang on," I said. "Let me see your teeth." He shook his head, so I grabbed him and had a look for myself. His gums were unmistakably bleeding (like the rest of the infected) and as soon as I saw them, he growled. He was just pretending to be clean to get close to me! I wasn't having this. Since my hands were already inside his mouth, I tore his head apart by the jaws. It really wasn't pretty. In fact I immediately regretted it- the popping and cracking sounds were bad enough, never mind the sight. I threw down the pieces and glanced behind me. Emma from earlier had appeared in front of the door, along with David Cameron, leader of the Conservative Party. Why the hell was he there?? I'd had enough of killing zombies for now, so I took them both by the arm and floated them onto the roof, where I reckoned there would be a skylight of some sort I could use to get inside. I had to imagine they were both nearly weightless to get them to leave the ground at all. From there it was just a matter of floating myself up and dragging them behind.

Sure enough, there was a skylight which I was able to kick open. It was dark inside, and instead of the reception and swimming pool I had left, there was now a winding corridor with hundreds of black doors. They all had labels on them, but I couldn't read any. I was helping Emma and DC down when the front door burst open. It was Voldemort, and he had an army of zombies behind him.
"Leg it!" I shouted. We ran through the maze of corridors with Voldemort firing spells after us, but never quite catching up. I picked a random door and opened it to throw Emma and DC inside. It opened into an entirely different place- maybe an office building. I shut it behind them and turned round to face Voldemort. He didn't engage me personally, preferring instead to send zombie after zombie at me. I reached into my pocket and pulled out a wand. Not knowing many spells, I made some up on the fly. They were all complicated latinate words, which all seemed to work. Unfortunately I can't remember them at all now. When I had the chance, I jumped through the door I had sent the other two through, and slammed it behind me. I imagined these doors worked in the same way as doors opened by the "Keymaker" in The Matrix- Voldemort would not be able to follow. I glanced around the cubicles, but couldn't see any sign of life. Out of nowhere a woman ran up to me begging for help. I recognised the bloodshot eyes and bleeding gums of a zombie instantly, and pointed the wand at her.
"Avada kedavra," I sighed. (The killing spell) She dropped like a stone. David Cameron and Emma decided to make their presence known, and stood up from behind a desk.
"Just wait till I tell parliament about this!" Cameron said.
"Obliviate," I replied, with the want pointed at him, thus wiping his memory.
"Thanks," he said dozily.

30.03.2010

Iron/Bat/Super-man (DILD)

NON-DREAM DREAM LUCID

There was a very interesting storyline running throughout this dream, although I can only remember part of it.

I was like Superman, in that I was an alien sent to earth at birth, but in my time as a superhero, I wore a black costume very similar to Batman. It included a chest-mounted weapons dock/jetpack, which gave me flying abilities like Ironman. The earliest part I can remember is having a fight with some half-assed villain in the middle of a gravel hockey pitch, at night. (The villain looked a bit like Shooter McGavin from Happy Gilmore) In the struggle, he managed to unclip my jetpack, and put it on in an attempt to escape. Faced with a situation where I was about to become powerless, I became lucid.

I've noticed that I do this quite a lot. If I'm being overwhelmed by monsters, or can do nothing to "save the day", I usually turn lucid automatically to take advantage of the god-like powers it affords me. The lucidity is never quite "top-notch", I would be hard-pressed to remember any tasks of the month/year and I usually just go along with the plot of the dream because it doesn't take much effort.



The villain was about to take off. I adopted an arrogantly masculine stance (pic above) and laughed triumphantly.
"It only works for me you stupid asshole! Biometric contols!" I had made this up in my head just there now, but the certainty in my voice seemed to have made it so. The bad guy bashed every button desperately, but to no avail. I jumped him from behind and wrestled him to the ground, taking back my jetpack. I clipped it back on quickly, and looked at the HUD. My vision was now slightly tinted with orange, and I could see some Chinese letters flashing across the bottom of my view. The flight controls were located on two handles which sat just on top of my lower ribs. It was a little bit like a roller coaster harness in design. Right then, I noticed the ground below me was starting to light up slightly. I assumed the sun must be coming up, but I was wrong. Shooter McGavin started shouting.
"Look! It's a meteor! We're all doomed!"
"What??" I turned around, and sure enough, there was a fireball in the sky. I activated my jetpack by squeezing a trigger on each of the two handles, and hovered waiting to see where it was going to land. It roared over my head, lighting up the whole area and leaving a burning smoke trail behind it. I squeezed harder, and took off after it. I thought I should be going faster. After all, Ironman can fly at the speed of sound (I think). I instinctively felt around for a "boost" button, and found one on the front of each handle. I pressed them both hard, and immediately shot forward at a crazy speed. My head was thrown backwards with the initial accelleration, but I quickly got used to it. I could still see the meteor in the distance, and I was gaining on it. I noted that this was probably the fastest I'd ever flown in a lucid dream, and I was worried I might destabilise the dream like this. Luckily though, I was deep enough asleep for the g-force not to disturb me. I don't know what speed I flew at, but I estimate I was flying over about fifteen large houses per second, if that's any indication. The meteor hit the ground ahead of me, and I landed beside the crater. It had broken open an entire street, and busted water pipes were spraying everywhere. I don't really remember what happened next, but I lost lucidity, and ended up on the run from the law.

Me and my (very) Irish accomplice managed to evade the police and escape down to the beach. (We were apparently in a coastal holiday town) The "beach" was no more than big black rocks covered in seaweed. We spied a tiny fishing boat resting on some high-up rocks, and ran over to it, hoping to escape out to sea. When we got there however, we saw that it had been converted into a pub! Instead of a steering wheel there were draught taps for Guinness and Carlsberg, and the boat itself was actually cemented to the rocks. The bartender shouted something about a storm coming, and all the patrons left. Most of them were grizzled old sea-dogs. I didn't look closely, but I could have sworn one of them had a wooden leg. We stepped inside once it was empty, and closed the shutter-like doors behind us.
"This thing will never sail," I said.
"Sure it will, just wait till the water gets high enough," he replied. After a short wait, huge waves started crashing over the rock wall which sheltered the boat. Sea water leaked in through the floorboards and washed around my feet. Luckily though, no more come in, and the water outside only pushed the boat upwards. At last, it broke free of the concrete, and started floating. We cheered. My companion somehow got the engine started, and the pub/boat chugged out into open sea.

After a while of being battered by the waves, more water leaked in, and came up to my waist. I remembered my phone.
"Shit!" I took it out of my jeans pocket and wiped it off. It was fine. I stuck it inside my hood for safekeeping. Can not believe I missed the "wet phone" dreamsign again!

27.03.2010

Zoo Party (WILD)

NON-DREAM DREAM LUCID

I had a good night's sleep last night for the first time in like a week, and woke up at 12pm. Having not managed a WILD for a good while, I decided to have a go. I didn't really have a technique in mind when I started, I just got comfy on my left side and let my mind wander. Visualisations came quite easily after 25-ish minutes. They behaved kind of like a dream, but I wasn't actually asleep yet. I put myself into a random situation (which happened to be a trip to the zoo with friends) and watched the scene play out. It was like a very vivid daydream, but it had dreamlike qualities. People around me had conversations and did things without any direction from me. I stood and watched for the most part, occasionally touching something, but never speaking (because I could still feel my body and was not yet in SP). I watched for a good while, doing small things like stroking a koala and intentionally avoiding some tarantulas which had gotten loose. It was an odd vision-daydream, not entirely controlled by my conscious mind. Kind of like the little dreamlets you get as you fall asleep, but often catch with your conscious mind and get shocked out of- except it was lengthy, and my conscious mind was involved every step of the way.

As the narrative progressed, I wound up at a crazier version of my school formal from last year. It was here that the daydream solidified into a proper dream. My guess is that SP finally kicked in here, and my mind had a "dream" premade, so I went straight in. There was a significant step up in both vividness and physical integration.
"Finally!" I said, and gave high-fives all round. I went straight to rubbing my hands to anchor myself, then walked around saying hi to people I knew. I had originally intended to do part of the task of the year, but it had slipped my mind in the excitement.

There were psychadellic disco lights flashing all around me, and it was a little bit difficult to see. Well, no more difficult to see than if I was in a club, but I'd like a bit more clarity from my dreams! I went a bit mad and tried to organise a huge orgy with all the best-looking girls from my year (what's a guy to do), but I stopped for a second. It all seemed incredibly realistic, and I thought about the possibility that I really was at a formal, and just really wasted. I thought back, and remembered what I thought to myself as I lay down in bed earlier,
"Until I'm getting out of this bed again, nothing is real." This comforted me, but also made me think of my real body lying in bed. Realising my mistake, I ran around trying to grab something, but I was in the middle of the dancefloor and miles from a decent surface! Raging at myself, I was pulled out of the dream.

23.03.2010

Floating Down to the Beach Once More (DILD)

NON-DREAM DREAM LUCID

At last I've broken my dry spell! I had to really concentrate to become lucid in this one though. Even weirder was the fact that I thought I woke up and wrote this down in the middle of the night, when in fact it was just a false awakening. So now I can't remember it in nearly as much detail as I should.

I was at my old primary school, which was situated above a cliff path leading down to a beach. (Not in real life) It was a warm, very sunny day, and the beach was packed out with people. There were even people lining the path the whole way down. I was leaving the school wearing boardshorts, so I decided to head down there. I was jogging briskly, and dreaming sprang to mind. I remembered that if I was dreaming, I would be able to do massive floating jumps, and glide my way down the hill. My first jump was quite large, and it took me over the heads of some guys working at the top of the road. I became a bit lucid, but I didn't fully appreaciate that I was merely in a dream. I continued downhill (I think I was meeting friends down there or something). My gliding became quite strange; I seemed to fly like a frisbee. One of my flights took me out over the edge of the cliff, which was pretty terrifying! But I told myself that If I kept floating I would end up on solid land again, and that's what I did.

I don't recall much more after this, but I'm pretty sure I got on a bus dreamsign! which took me back uphill to a holiday house where I was supposed to be staying with my friends. I went inside, and found that it was the same bunch of dudes I had been to Portugal with last year. I was talking to a guy called Adam, then Brian came in. It was here that I spontaneously decided to do the hand reality-check. At first, it looked like I had maybe seven fingers. I was like, "Whoa, guys I think this might be a dream." However their disbelieving reactions were enough to make me have a second look. This time there was no question. I meticulously counted nine fingers on my left hand. I poked each one as I counted it, and all of them had feeling in them. I was a lot more lucid this time than earlier. Everything seemed almost too real to be a dream though, and it was hard to hold on to the lucidity. I got out my phone (I got the correct model this time) and tried to call somebody, but I woke up!

Luckily, I had the presence of mind not to move, so I did a lazy DEILD. I didn't even bother visualising anything, and I was soon back in. As soon as I was in, I did a few leg stretches to anchor myself. I can't remember what happened next at all.

13.03.2010

Sprinting (WILD)

NON-DREAM DREAM LUCID

It's weird typing this now. A minute ago I was sprinting continuously for about ten minutes. I can't actually believe I managed to WILD this morning. Conditions were less than perfect. I'd already had a good night's sleep, my blinds were open (letting in bright light), and my bedroom door was open (letting in a loud conversation and piano playing).

One thing going my way though was extreme drowsiness. For the third time in my life, I got trapped in sleep paralysis as I woke up. I wrote about my last waking episode in my very first post on Dreamviews (it was what led me here). I knew where I was, and the position I was lying in, and basic things like light levels in the room. I could also hear a conversation going on downstairs. -I've written down the main points of this conversation and I'll go check if what I heard was real or imagined after I type this up. It just felt like I couldn't force myself to emerge to full wakefulness, like forced laziness is the only way I can describe it. Mentally, I was trying to move, but all my limbs seemed to have lost their juice. Anyway, having missed out on lucidity in countless dreams last night, I thought I might as well use it to my advantage.

On my first attempt, I could gradually see the inside of a car. I was in the back seat, and it was driving along a road I know well. The funny thing was, I could still feel my body, and I couldn't tell if my eyes were open or closed. I opened my eyes a bit and could see slightly clearer, but I'm almost sure my real eyes opened too- they just weren't sending any input to my brain.

I woke up and the sleep paralysis broke. I rolled over and tried again. Quite quickly this time, I had a false awakening in my own bed. I can't be sure if I was still hearing conversations from downstairs, or my mind just invented a likely conversation to go along with the "awakening". I went downstairs and left through the front door as my mum was letting out whatever visitors were in the house. I'd love to know if their actual departure and my dream line up. I started running down the street, doing long floating jumps over bushes, people and cars. I thought about the task of the year, but the only one I could remember off the top of my head was "Give fire to Early Man". I didn't think I could hold the dream together long enough to do anything that complex, so I decided instead to just do some random exploration. When I got to the bottom of my street I turned right onto the larger road. But instead of the road I expected, I was surprised to find myself back on my own street- about a mile back along the road.
"Oh well," I said. My mouth still wasn't cooperating fully. I took off sprinting. The exertion really helped anchor me in the dream and made things around me clearer. I saw some unidentifiable roadkill at the side of the road, and then a Tesco supermarket which definitely isn't there in real life. It was in the position of an old industrial site. I was still sprinting, and actually taking deep breaths. I'm not sure what the point of that was, maybe to make the scenario more realistic, or to keep my heart rate down or something.



I got stuck behind a crowd of people outside Tesco. During that time, I decided to get out my phone. In my dream, I was wearing my dressing gown (which I guess I assumed I was wearing in real life, but wasn't), but I reached beneath it expecting to find my jeans- which I did. I felt inside the pocket, and pulled something out. I actually laughed out loud at the result. It looked like some kid had crudely nailed together several pieces of wood to make a giant replica of a phone. There were no buttons or a screen. However, there was a hole in the middle of it. I poked about inside and thought I felt something. I whacked the side of the big phone, and my ancient Nokia 3310 dropped out. It still had the green cover I put on it the last time I had it (in like 2002). When I tried to use it I woke up.

These are the subjects of the conversations I heard. I'll check if they were real and report back.
green lights
fireplace
Scott Joplin (composer)
orange

EDIT: Turns out they were talking about Scott Joplin, but the others were my imagination. Thinking about it, there were definitely some images associated with the others, I should have guessed they were made up.

11.03.2010

Tattoos (DILD)

NON-DREAM DREAM LUCID

I was running through a school I didn't recognise, trying to find a class I was late for. Earlier on in the dream, I had gotten several tattoos all over my body, and I was still only wearing my boxers. I had Bart Simpson on the back of my neck, A Xenomorph tramp stamp, a large Predator's fist blade down my left side, I need to play less of that game! and the lyrics to some emo song on my right side. I found my way into what looked like a "Technology" corridor, and something told me I was in the right place. I rounded a corner and saw some people I vaguely knew heading into a room, so I followed them. I became worried because I didn't have any books with me, and I was also in boxers, but then I realised everyone else was in the same boat!

Later on in the class, I was invited up to the front do some presentation. I walked calmly up, said hello to the class and stopped. I had no clue what I was supposed to have prepared! "What the hell...?" I murmured. I did a reality check. I looked at my left hand, and it was warped beyond recognition as a hand. One of the fingers had become a piece of wood on the end of a green string. I was dreaming! That explained a lot. I remembered then that I didn't even go to school any more, this whole scenario was made up. Unfortunately, the lucidity I got was not very high-level. I ended up showing off my tattoos to the class. They were all impressed.

I exited the portal right next to the koi pond, which was where I had expected to emerge, I looked around and saw I was alone. There was no one waiting there right now. Maybe I should wait around for a bit? I felt the dream slipping… I was going to wake up… but there was so much left to do. I also wanted to see how long I could make this dream. I focused on Allura's method of time dilation, and the slipping dream stabilized.

I looked around the koi pond again, everything looked more vivid now. I was by the koi pond, and I didn't see any sign of anyone else there with me. I remembered that Blake was going to meet me there, but I didn't see him, and wasn't I going to meet someone else here? Was it Yuri? I didn't think so due to our inverted sleep schedules, I know time isn't linear, but somehow the idea of dreaming with someone who won't have their dream about me until after I had already posted my part of the dream seemed like asking for a paradox… So who was it? Miss Maya from Mortal Mist? That sounded possible, but I didn't remember making any actual plans to meet, my intention had been to read some more of her dream journal to find out more about her inner world and her dreams, but I have been so busy with my job and homework and school and journaling and… and… There was a lot to do! What was I doing hanging around here? I had to get going!

Next I wanted to complete the task of the month, which is to ride a unicorn. Stardust is a winged unicorn, so there would be no problem there, and it would be fun! I opened a portal to my inner world, focusing on getting to wherever Stardust happened to be, then I went through into a wide grassy meadow. There was a nice breeze blowing across the tall grass, and Stardust was grazing in the meadow with her wings folded neatly back, the feathers on her wings glistened in the sun, her pure white coat was contrasted by her flaming mane and tail which were literally made of fire, her single horn reflected in many colors and looked razor sharp on the tip. Such a beautiful animal… After briefly admiring her, I walked over to Stardust, she greeted me with a friendly nuzzle, then a bit of a nip, I got the idea she was annoyed at me for not visiting more often. I climbed onto her back and we took to the skies!

Riding on the back of a winged unicorn, or I guess Stardust is a pegasus and a unicorn combined, was a wonderful sensation. Even though her mane looked like flame, it didn't burn me as I leaned forward and held onto Stardust's neck as we flew through the sky, watching the landscape of my dream world below me, the fields, the forests, a town that looked like a pleasant neighborhood… I could see my own house down there, it doesn't look like my waking life house, but somehow I still recognized it. I had just flown by when I realized there was someone outside of my house… I urged Stardust to circle back and I got back just in time to see Walms disappear into the house. Was he looking for me? Good timing, I just happened to be here! I landed in front of the house and dismounted, patting Stardust on her muzzle before I approached the house. I opened the front door of the house, nothing in here is locked since the shield keeps the undesirables out, and I looked around the living room. No sign of Walms. I looked through the house, it isn't very large, so that didn't take me long, but no sign of Walms. Damn… he must have woken up. I could wait for him to come back, but I wasn't sure he would come back, so I thought maybe I had better move on to my next goal.

So now I wanted to share either a DDO dream or an Oblivion dream with Tigress, the main idea is for both of us to remember the dream. So I focused on locating Tigress with my next portal, from there we could go to a DDO dream or an Oblivion dream, or maybe she would already be involved in something cool and I could join in. I focused for a bit and finally the portal opened, I went through it…

And I exited in a desert, it looked like the southwestern area of Arizona, somewhere in the Sonoran desert definitely. Since Tigress lives near me IWL, and I live in the desert, this didn't surprise me, it was just that Tigress was having a dream in the desert. I looked around to see if I could find Tigress anywhere, but I didn't see anyone at first, so I started walking around until I finally spotted someone. There was an aged Indian shaman here wearing a hat and looking at me with a very intense gaze, I wondered who that was and why he was here while Tigress didn't seem to be. Since the man seemed so focused on me, I walked over towards him… I recognized his energy. Somehow, instead of ending up in Tigress' dream, I had ended up locating don Juan…