memorable

Ritual: WTB 12:30am, woke 7:30 with first DILD. No techniques, hadn't really intended to get lucid, but I was wearing a Jawbone fitness tracker on my wrist to bed for the first time. It's a bit tight and I think the unfamiliar sensation served as an anchor for consciousness.

DILD (eventually), "Hong Kong Apartment": I am in Hong Kong with my husband, staying in the apartment of someone unknown to me. I'm curious who this guy is and why we're at his place, so I'm attentive to my surroundings. It is a one-bedroom apartment and the layout feels familiar; I figure it must be a common floorplan here. The first thing I remember is being in a small room of unclear function, a study maybe, and looking at a plaque on the wall. It depicts a Chinese character, the archaic version of that character, and the pinyin transliteration: sōng, corresponding to the English word "page"—not the leaf of a book but the job title. From this I suppose that the young man who lives here must be serving as a page in the Hong Kong government, in the same way that there are pages in the US Congress.

My husband is talking to me, and I'm vaguely following his words but not entirely sure what he's going on about. I'm still trying to figure out why we're here: does my husband know the guy who owns this place, or is this some kind of Airbnb arrangement? Meanwhile I'm trying to wrap an enormous porkchop—the size of a prime rib steak—that I have for some reason. It is fully grilled but no one has eaten it yet, and I'm not hungry now so I want to put it away. It had been wrapped in butcher's paper but I'm having trouble re-wrapping it, and this distracts my attention for some time as I end up having to use a piece of foil to supplement the paper where it is torn. As I finally wrap the porkchop successfully and go to put it in the fridge, I see that there is fresh lettuce in the fridge, and I've also noticed dirty plates on the counter. I had assumed the apartment's owner was letting us stay because he was away somewhere, but these details make me think he must be currently living here and could walk in at any moment.

I know my husband needs to leave for some meeting or event, and our conversation is delaying his departure, so finally I say in exasperation, "Get out of here already!" Right after he goes out the door, I worry that he might have misunderstood my tone of voice and thought I was angry, so I opened the door and called after his retreating form, "I didn't mean to speak harshly." Meanwhile a girl with short, curly blonde hair is walking from right to left in front of the apartment, and I think she might be someone he had just been referring to—at the time I even recalled her name, something with the initials "J.S."—so I gaze at her curiously. She looks back at me with the self-conscious but indifferent air of someone wondering why a stranger is staring at them. It seems like it would be awkward to start a conversation so I go back inside.

Alone in the apartment, I look around at the decor. There are a lot of hand-carved wooden animal figures, and they remind me of a set that I bought in a museum shortly before Christmas, but couldn't figure out who to give them to. They seem to match this guy's tastes... maybe I should give them to him, in thanks for the loan of his apartment. It seems like a nice gesture so I plan on it. In the center of the main room, which has an open floor plan connected with the kitchenette, is a wide square column that is hollow inside to serve as storage space. I note with interest that there are a number of oversized books here. One of them is at least four feet tall, and the title on the spine reads Disney as Orientalism, accompanied by some Disney-style graphics. I make a mental note that later I'll want to pull that one out and flip through it. It's so big it won't fit on a table—I'll have to do this on the floor! It is the largest of the books in this closet, but none of them are small. Several others are about three feet tall with matching red covers, and I see that one of them is about Shanghai. Books of this size must have cost a fortune... this guy must be doing well here. I wonder if it would be rude to read his books without asking permission first, but figure there's no harm in it.

I wonder how I'll explain my presence if this guy shows up while I'm here by myself, since I'm still not clear on who he exactly is or why I'm at his apartment. In fact, this question starts to bother me, because it seems like I should have a better explanation. Of course, it's always possible that I'm dreaming, but... I want to discount this at first, since it seems to contradict what I'm experiencing from this environment. It is so detailed, lifelike, and stable, it really doesn't feel like a dream. But I make myself take the time to think this over more carefully: if I am actually dreaming, that would explain a lot, like why I had a porkchop, something I almost never eat, and the difficulty I had wrapping it. It would explain why I am in Hong Kong with no idea why I am here, and why I find myself in the apartment of a guy I don't even know. I don't use any techniques to RC, I just think it over and gradually recognize the illusory nature of my surroundings: indeed I am dreaming!

So now what? Normally I would apply myself to some task or other, but I had specifically made a point not to do so this time, if I got lucid, because I'm facing too much work today to spend hours writing up my report. So my plan was not to do anything specific, but simply to contemplate and enjoy the dream environment. (For some reason I had the idea that this would save me time writing things up later, although that is proving not to be the case!) I walk toward the back wall of the apartment, which is completely transparent, and look outside. It is still night, but there is a well-lit open-air bar just below, with a stream running behind it. There are a surprising number of people down there, and all seem to be relaxed and enjoying themselves, like guests at a resort. I sit down to watch the scene, while thinking back over what I've just experienced. I'm still impressed by how detailed and stable this dream was. For instance, that Chinese character on the wall—it was so clearly articulated, even though I don't think it was one I've ever seen before, and I strongly doubt it's even a real one. I wished I had looked at it more carefully, and focus on reviving the mental image. I think can remember the top elements of the modern version of the character, but I'm vague about what composed the bottom, which was complex, and I had not studied it closely at the time. The archaic version was simpler, and I can remember it much more distinctly. Concentrating on this inadvertently wakes me up.

Interlude: After writing the above account and going back to bed at 8:45am, I certainly didn't intend to get lucid again, given that I've already spent a lot of time writing when I should be working, but I never want to rule it out. I ended up having several FAs, the later ones bringing on a very long bout of lucidity, in which I just wandered around exploring rather than working on specific tasks. There would still be a lot to write up but given time constraints I'll have to keep it brief. Woke for the day at 10:15.

FA: I was in the bathroom thinking that I should make a more consistent effort to recognize those little discrepancies that might make me notice I'm dreaming, like I did in the last dream, without realizing that I was actually dreaming at that very moment.

FA/DILD, "Trail of Smoke": I hovered for a long time on the border between sleep and waking and enjoyed observing its ambiguities. For instance, there was a point where I was convinced I was immersed in dream visuals but hearing everything perfectly accurately from waking life (I was probably wrong about this). I caught at least one FA and was pleased after my failure to catch the last one. Then a long dream followed where I was basically lucid the whole time, but also knew I wouldn't have time to write it up in much detail, so only certain episodes that were especially interesting stand out clearly in my memory. I really can't take the time to include them all here, but the last scene was worth mentioning:

I am wandering through a dream environment typical for me, a labyrinthine enclosed public space, and having just seen someone smoking on a magazine cover, I now find myself smoking a cigarette. The smoke doesn't dissipate completely but lingers faintly in the air along the path I have walked, like that memorable scene from Donnie Darko (2001). It looks like I could potentially trace back the smoke and rediscover all the places I have visited in the course of this long dream. This makes me wonder: how big is the dream world? And the answer seems obvious: there are no boundaries, it is as big as mind itself. Standing in that world even as I recognize its boundlessness, I feel a sense of awe.

I gaze at the glimmering smoke trails and murmur, "All the places I've been are like a trail of smoke that follows me."

Non-lucid, Lucid, Comments

.../I have to take my flight back to my current city. I'm with my brother and I'm telling him how different it is when I fly alone. There's one minute left before the plane takes off and I'm still in the waiting room when I tell him if I were with my wife she'd be stressed like hell. I see the plane is about to take off and thinking how are they doing with my package. It doesn't matter, I know I'm inside that plane before it takes off.

There's a jump back in the sequence of the dream time and get back to something about a disgusting guy who I ended up murdering for the second time. I have a knife covered in blood in one hand and a tea spoon in the other. I feel the urge to get rid off both of them but I must be careful because of I start to see police officers everywhere. I clean the blood from the blade with my tongue, I don't want to use anything else because of it may let clues. I hide the knife under the sleeve of my jacket and the spoon in the pocket. I get inside a sort of pond under a roof. The water seems to be deep and dark enough in some places. I throw the spoon there taking care that no one sees it. I see an adult woman sniffing around. I think she may be a detective or some. I hesitate to throw the knife. I think I must find a better place to get rid off it. I see some officers started to dig on some of the ground near the pond. Definitively I want get out of here but I don't want to call their attention. I still feel the blade with my arm. I wonder if the sleeve is funny shaped because of the knife. I follow a guy who did something similar but he doesn't seem to be worried at all. He tells he got rid off the knife near his neighborhood which is far away. We are drinking wine and vodka. I'm drinking my bottle of vodka while I'm still thinking about a place where I could leave the knife when a thought flashes in my head: "Hopefully when I wake up all of this stress will be over". I realize what it means and feel slightly stupid for the waste of time. I still have the knife in my hand but now I don't care about where I could let it. I finish my bottle and let it on the floor. A dwarf starts to follow me. I get into a store and stab him with the knife. I hear some DC's screaming. I don't care and let the knife in his back. I go out of the store thinking about what could I do now? I remember there are some lucid dares. I remember the dare about the alien invasion! I wonder how could I do it. I realize there was a weird mountain in the dreamscape which I didn't pay much attention. It's like a pyramid covered with pines. Now I see it looks like a huge Christmas tree. I think it could be the alien mothership. Then I wonder how could I accomplish the dare. I think what about a telepathic communication? I look in the back of my thoughts to find the invasion was already taking place but we humans don't have to realize about it. I "feel" they are infiltrating their people already. I send the message to stop it. Now? How could I know they have already stop it? I think this task requires a lot of imagination and I don't feel I have enough time to see a proper "war" taking place. I think I may give a try to another task when I see an athletic guy jogging on the road I'm about to walk. He could be one of the aliens I think! He keep on jogging. What was the other task? Now I remember, it sounds easier to perform! "Be a good person with the duck of the smile" (No idea where this one came from). I start walking on the road towards a forest when the whole dream starts fading out/...

March 7, 2015 First WILD!

Fell asleep at around 12:30AM

What i did before I went to bed, and during the day:
I watched inception before bed, in bed, and went to sleep as soon as the movie finished. I drank Bed Time Tea by Yogi tea company at around 9:00PM. Spent most of the day doing a lot of nothing. I was stressed in the morning over a bad test and missed assignment, and homework made it worse. I got better though. Spent a lot of the day building on a Minecraft server. I built a tower that was an educational center to learn a little bit about lucid dreaming. I read Sageous's WILD guide earlier in the morning.


The Preparation to Dream:
First successful WILD! also not only that but my first WILD attempt. Tonight i had a boost in confidence. I told myself It had been too long without a LD and assured myself tonight I will have one.I Woke up at about 4:40AM without any alarm and got out of bed to get a drink, use bathroom, ect. i only stayed out of bed for about 10ish minutes, and got back into bed. I was assuming i was going to fall back asleep after about 20 minutes or less, man was i wrong. i laid motionless on my back other than an occasional itch or two that disrupted me. i laid for a while and started meditating trying to get myself to sleep. i counted my breaths and paid attention to them carefully counting up and down from 10. I would start getting images in my head, "dreamlets" forming and playing out, but for some reason i would immediately snap to an awareness state and wake up a bit. no matter how hard i tried to make myself sleep I kept snapping to a state of awareness no matter how lost in thought I felt. I thought 20 minutes had passed since i last checked the clock at about 5:00AM, and saw to my disbelief it was 6:00AM! i had a few disturbances by people awake at 5:30AM for some reason and that added to it but i was up for an hour and 12Mins. I finally rolled on my side feeling somewhat defeated by my inability to sleep and promptly fell asleep, only i didn't just go to sleep.

The Dream Experience:
I thought i had merely past to sleep, there was a slight gap of nothingness. Next thing i know i was dreaming, in the beginnings of transcending into REM, stuck in place and was pretty sure it was sleep paralysis, as i have already experiences countless times. I heard a lot of strange sounds out of my control, and some scary vivd images. I instantly had awareness kick, like it had done all night while awake, and I knew I Had somehow made it! Right away 4 undead corpses were headed for me whilst still not able to move and they scared me at first until i told myself this is my dream I have no reason to be afraid. I finally gained mobility before they reached me, and i put my hand on them one by one and made them instantly vanish because i did not want them here.
I Paused for a moment, i had to think of what i wanted to do and did the first thing that came to mind and i immediately started to fly, but was very excited and almost lost it, my vision became gray and blurred, however, while still in the air I quickly started to rub my hands together in the dream bringing it back and successfully did so. when I landed it still had a blurry effect, also I don't know how to land from flying well yet. I wanted the scene to change, but I could not. I was in a very very dark, night time scene in a suburban neighborhood. flying over the few areas i did it was just a lot of houses, separated by white fencing, and plenty of trees. It was so dark though I could only see where the there were street lights and house lights, but there really was not any streets yet, just houses crowded together. I wanted to make a sunny scene but couldn't, I tried appearing at a beach but also could not so I just stopped trying. In fact other than making the zombies disappear I couldn't really change anything else. My mind was thinking very quickly, there was soo much i wanted to do but just could not do all at once. I would have one idea, then instantly jump to another. One thing my I tried to do but could not, due to not being able to summon DC or change the scene was go into "caveman mode". I knew its what would happen eventually but it didn't get to happen. I tried to find a DC to interact with. searched a few places here and there. I think i went into a few houses but honestly cannot draw any scenes in my head from them. One thing that did not surprise me until i awoke was one particular scene. While i was looking for the DC i wanted to see, I ended it up my old neighborhood from when I lived in North Carolina. Now i have not seen this place in years, nor have I recalled ever dreaming about it in years, yet here it was. Not everything was exact obviously. I went to a neighbors house there, and it still had the brick and concrete steps i remember as a kid (probably from falling on them once) and I saw my little brother and asked if he knew where this DC was. He said no in a confused manner. I looked out back at the houses and noticed more had appeared out in the darkness. I got up and went out into the street and thought what I wanted to see now but got too far lost in thought and lost control of the dream.

Lucidity is Lost, Regained, but too Late:
Next thing I see, I am already in another scene. I am at my grandmothers house in Connecticut, non-lucid now. i look out the front door and see 3 dogs that look like mine and let them inside, except another group of the same kind of dogs also comes in. i spend the next few minutes trying to get the ones that are not mine back outside. I almost get it and then i have another sense of Lucidity and become Lucid again, unfortunately i become lucid because i notice one thing, the dream is about to collapse. Though i think quick and go to rub my hands together fast before it is gone i am too late, and that thought of rubbing my hands transfers from the dream world to the real world and i wake up rubbing my hands together in real life! It i now about 6:25 AM.

I Fall asleep at about 6:50AM again and sleep till 7:52, 3 minutes before my Alarm to get up for my first Karst HydroGeology Field Trip. I only got around 5-6 Hours of sleep this night. I was trying hard to fight sleep on the way back during the van ride.

Goals and Progress:
about 25 minutes of dreaming and about 20 of them were Lucid! One of my goals was to have a 10 minute LD, and I Passed it. This was my first WILD attempt, and what a success in the dream world it was, it made the long painful night of fighting to go to sleep worth it.

Backlog: 26 Feb

I struggle to do a wbtb, stay up around 25 mins but sleepy and fall back to sleep immediately, wake up like 1/2 hr later with no lds.

Bathroom and back to bed, focus on having an ld by holding my gaze fixed ahead behind my closed eyelids. This seems to do the trick and I appear in a new scene immediately as sleepy as I am. It's mid day in the center of an unknown European looking city. I make some movements to adjust in my dream body. There is something like a scarf obstructing my vision and I struggle to take it off. I wonder if I don't pay any attention to it if it will disappear. The DC right ahead also has a scarf and is trying to show me how to take off mine. I finally swipe it to the side like a flock of hair and pay it no more attention.

I look around thinking what task to undertake, remember three, discount the next totm although it is also possible to do here and decide to go for Percy's dare: center of the Earth. I enter a building and head down the side stairs which should lead towards the basement and ultimately the center of Earth. On my way down, the stairs transform and become much wider and made of fancy stones. Like large flat stones in a hexagonal shape. It should be dark but the walls and the stones are lit by some inner blueish light like an inside moon, which makes them even more interesting. Behind me, I briefly see that one of the DCs from the street has turned into The Thing from the fantastic four and is following me. He seems more like a companion than a menace and I'm glad he is coming with me just in case there is something else down there. I continue down the path but the dreams suddenly ends. I try a deild and briefly see a cloudy scene that looks like a continuation from what's ahead but I lack enough focus to hold on to it and fully wake up.

Backlog: 18 Feb

Yet another time where I couldn't make myself do a wbtb. Went to bathroom and took some lecithin in the least.

Slight alertness and not immediately falling asleep, but not quite a wbtb.

Fragmented recall:

At some very low level of lucidity, I see these DCs walking backwards, in a way I am playing the forward and backward in time by thinking about it, it's kind of subconscious (but I can relate my attention to that). Then, I decide I want to control back my own movements and go in the middle of the street to jump back and in time. My back jump doesn't quite follow the right trajectory so I jump forward and try to reverse the movement. Some cars are coming but I know it's ok.

Other stuff happens and get distracted and lose my lucidity. I then have major issues with gravity, in the meantime my awareness goes up. It's super strange it's like I am weightless, floating up and can't stop the movement, so have to hold on to a street pole. For a while, I am like a balloon going up no mass whatsoever. I get lost in thoughts about posting about gravity in lucid dreams and that I am having this weightless problem. Thinking seems to distract me from the issue and I acquire normal weight and am back at street level.

It's a nice day in some foreign looking town. I remember the candy store task, but at the same time feel that am running out of time. There is a street store with an indoor as well as outdoor section just ahead so I hurry towards it. The outside section has all sorts of nice sweet stuff like sweet rolls, mini panettone, etc. The indoors section sells more candy-like things. There's a DC working there and I tell her to quickly give me the strangest candy and she hands me a pack full of roasted coffee beans with sugar. Not exactly what I was hoping for, I make a mental note and wonder about the taste. Just about to consume them when I wake up.

A time travelling dream scenario with semi random elements. I see my friends as their younger selves and pay attention to one of them. His present self now appears in front of me and I tell him what I saw.

Fragments. Awareness gradually goes up as I discuss another time related change of personal in this cafe ahead. What's notable is I see myself in the mirror as a completely different person.

Can't remember more details but as my awareness gradually increases I detach myself from the situation and just continue walking around with no goal in mind. I end up in some sort of underground/tunnels that look a bit game like (think dwarf city, castles). The tunnels are averagely lit. My eyes tell me I've taken the wrong fork but I become more confident continuing ahead. I feel I am losing lucidity so just for the fun of it, decide to self assert and shout out loud that my body is asleep at this moment. I continue down the tunnel.

Slight apprehension as I feel something coming - just round the corner is a DC with two weird looking creatures much like wyverns. I pass right between them, they pay no attention to me. At some point in the tunnels I remember the candy store task again. Right ahead is a closed retro door and I think: "Why not, a candy store could be just behind it, think about this purposely and go ahead". I am happily surprised to find that the room indeed turns out to be a magically looking candy store. It has lots of colorful items, gemstones and candy, looks very fairy talish. No DC is working here, so I just grab the nearest weird looking small glass bottle full of gem-like looking candy.

Cute little aquamarine opaque pieces of this gem candy mixed with some sesame/flax seeds. I quickly pour them down my mouth making sure to empty the whole little bottle (meanwhile wondering did we have to consume the whole thing, remembering the bottle of wine task). I feel relieved at this point that I am able to properly chew them, taste them and not wake up. They taste really nice, like a caramelised sesame bar. I enjoy the moment a bit longer before the alarm wakes me up.

Think there was other cool stuff but can't recall.

It all started in a nice old house with me and a couple old friends I knew in waking life. we were all just talking about anything and fooling around. even if it was non-lucid. I could tell it was very heart warming just to be around these people. As usual, it was mostly girls since I guess it's my dream sign to have more than one girl as sort of the main plot of the dream.

As time goes on, weird things started happening in the house such as moving objects and one of my old friends (we will call her Ally) goes missing. I go to find her while everyone stays in the room to be safe. I find her with this guy

So I end up fighting him and at first lose horribly because he's strong as hell. And as he was about to drop her off the house, I turn to near the equivalent of half man half wolf with blue skin and dark blue hair with hairy sideburns and sharp teeth, Claws and all. I charge at him with such ferocity that even he was surprised. We have this true big battle while the others come in to see me changed and they become worried and shocked.

As time goes on, we become so weak that it starts to get very hard to continue. However, as muscular bound as he is, he finds the strength to pick me up and drop me on his knee, finally putting me out. Ally runs to me but the beast tries to take her. However, the others all take him on, and since he is so weak he cannot deal with them all at once so slowly but surely goes down as well. Everything fades out.

Next thing you know, I wake up with my head on Ally's lap with everyone with pure glee that I'm okay. I see the bandages on my stomach and Ally hugs me and everyone happily watches. I sat up afterwards and I began to make it comical again. We all start talking in funny accents and we then decide to leave the room. The dream then finally fades out.

Next dream was short, bitter, and sweet. It started with me and the same friends as before at my house in a cookout. We were downstairs playing games and seeing who can best each other. Ally, had to go up stairs to see her mother and the others decided to go with. I stayed downstairs and I think I started to meditate. In a short while, her mother starts screaming and hollering at people for hanging around a bad crowd (us ) and I go up stairs and see my mother watching and others began to cheer up. I head back downstairs and sat on a chair, and soon after (we will call this girl Kitty) and the others come down stairs along with Ally. Ally plopped on my chest still kind of crying saying it was horrible. I began to cheer her up and Kitty wasn't surprised that I heard all of that.

I told Ally to wipe her tears and before the dream fades out, she gives a nice smile at me.

This dream was sort of nice but sad. can't really remember the details but we were in a school building I guess and people were leaving or graduating. One girl in particular that I knew (Yuki) was leaving and me and her had a very long hug. she looks at me and kisses my cheek and heads out with her parents. I go to the bathroom to see my boys in the bathroom talking how one of them had sex with this awesome looking chick. (The hell did that come from?) meanwhile I'm sitting there kind of saddened by Yuki leaving and the dream fades out

The last dream I was lucid for only a minute and I shouted clarity and everything was clear. I plugged my nose and I could breathe. sadly I could walk a few steps before it dissipating.

Very heartwarming dreams. kind of made me happy and sad because these were high school friends I hunged out with a lot and miss. But yeah, hope you liked the read

First dream

I entered my old school building. I was invited to a party for graduates. I was going down the crowded corridor, and went down the stairs. There were two security guards - a man and a woman. They were wearing blue uniforms. The man had short, bright hair and somewhat square chin. The woman had dark brown hair made into a pigtail. She was quite attractive. They were standing near the entry gate, and everyone that wanted to get inside, had to go through it.

I moved towards the gate. When getting close the security officers tried to make me a hearing test by pushing a pencil deep into my ear. I felt strong pain, and went through the gate. After a few seconds I had troubles with hearing. All I could hear was strange noise, and I felt that I have something inside my ear, even though they took the pencil back, as they were doing the same thing to everyone passing by.

I decided to catch up with the rest of my present class, even though most of them weren't even studying there. They ran inside the sports hall, when I was checking if the cloakrooms changed. I remembered a room with showers. Entering it I saw only an ordinary bathroom. Suddenly a teacher appeared and told me to take the chainsaw operator suit, and go to the sports hall.

I changed my clothes, and entered the building. It was really tall building. I saw some gigantic posters hanging on the walls. The teacher appeared, and told me that I'm going to take a ladder, and take them down.

Second dream

It was in unknown future. I have put on a protective suit, and went to an elevator platform. It was dark all around. Lamps were giving really bright light. Everything was made of steel, and heavily wired. I stepped onto a platform, and pushed the lever. I looked at gearwheels moving, nad giving a squeak of rusty metal. I turned around and waited until the elevator moved all the way down.

After a while I saw a huge antechamber, it was a dome. I could see the outerspace through the window, but it was just a black, empty void. There was nothing over the horizon, only darkness. I look at the middle of the chamber, and see a weird spires pointing at one point. They were wired to an electrical box with a lever, standing close to me. I push the lever, and a strange rotating disc of purple energy appeared in the middle of the room. I came clsoer, and stepped into it.

Then I found myself back in the room with elevator platform. This time however, there were two construction workers. They were talking, but I couldn't hear what they were talking about. I stepped onto the platform, and pushed the lever. Then I heard one of the construction workers: See this guy? It's third time in ten minutes he's using this elevator! The second one said: Yeah, I heard about a girl that was doing absolutely the same! I turned around on the platform, and drove to the huge antechamber with portal.

I came closer to the electric box, and came closer to the portal. Just when I was about to step into the portal, I realised that I was doing the same all the time. Whatever happens after I go throuh the portal makes me go back to the starting point.

Am sat on a bed in what looks like a hotel room. My friend P is walking about in a fit of worry, saying this and that about all sorts of problems. As I sit and listen, I at some point realise I'm dreaming. I then interrupt her constant talking by saying, "P! Sit down, I've got something to show you!". She sits down next to me. With my left arm on her shoulder, I show her my right hand and then flip it, which then causes two of my fingers to become joined together by more skin. "We're dreaming!" I say. 'This is a dream?!' She says.

Now in this dream, I genuinely believed that this person was actually the dream body of P, so that we were sharing the dream together. I thought that by realising it was a dream, I was helping her to have her very own first lucid dream!

I then do some stabalization by looking around the room and shouting "stabalize lucidity!". I wonder if P thinks it's weird for me to be shouting that, but think that she'll have to get used to it if she wants to lucid dream.

I start thinking what I can do to show her how amazing lucid dreams are. I step onto the balcony, which is actually what looks like a window cleaner's hanging ledge. I swing it from side to side, knowing that this would normally be incredibly dangerous but that I'm safe in the dream, shouting out "this is all a dream! I'm really asleep in Sheffield!". Now if only I had stopped to think about what I just said, I would have realised P was a dream character and probably become more lucid!

The scene then changes to the garden of the house where I grew up. P is sat on the garage. I then decide to try do some earth bending as I remember that we watched the Avatar series together, so she'll love this! I stomp the ground with a wide stance which lifts a chunk of earth out the ground, which I then punch away from me. It worked! I did it a few more times, feeling joy at the fact that I was actually earth bending!

'She'll love flying!' I think. I lift off and try to do a somersault. This is quite disorientating! I land and feel I probably shouldn't do that again as it might make me lose dream stability. P is at the edge of the garden, looking a bit at a loss. I say to her, "You can go wherever you like! Do whatever you want! Try flying!". She does it little jump. "You've just got to really believe you can fly" I tell her. Then very suddenly I black out and am awake. I do a nose plug test just in case, but alas, I am actually awake!

Ritual: WTB 11:30pm, WBTB 5–5:45am. Took supplements (l-theanine, alpha-gpc, piracetam, bacopa), did about half an hour of relaxation/breathing/counting on my back. Toward the end had brief series of vivid hypnagogic images (close up of eagle's head, view of a forest) then snapped back to full wakefulness. Not worried, this always happens. Turned on my left side to fall asleep. Woke with dream at 6:30am, so I had probably been asleep for about fifteen minutes.

DILD, "Time Stop": I've just finished a multi-course meal at a nice restaurant and I'm standing a the bar afterward, where the proprietor is offering me a special drink. While she prepares it, I notice that I can barely stand, my legs are crumpling under me, and I stagger as I try to regain my balance, hoping no one will notice. I kneel at the bar, which is low enough to accommodate this, to disguise my inability to stand. This is so embarrassing... am I drunk? I think back and don't understand how that could be, since I've only had ordinary wine pairings with my meal. Then I realize the truth: ohhhh... that incredible heaviness in my legs, that's just because I'm falling asleep!

I'm relieved to understand what is going on, and also impressed that I can think so clearly about the fact that my real body is falling asleep in bed without disrupting the dream. I decide to go on with the narrative that is playing out because I really want to try this drink. The bartender sets an unusual glass in front of me. It is shaped like a particular wooden table made by Isamu Noguchi circa 1941, but with a semi-circular indentation on top for the drink. It is made of hollow light blue glass and the interior is full of crushed ice, to keep the drink cool. The whole thing is very small, like a sake cup, and the indentation looks like it holds less than an ounce of liquid.



I try the drink, which is a clear liquid, pleasantly bright and floral in taste, in flavor a bit like St. Germain but lighter-bodied and not so cloyingly sweet. I complement the bartender and ask what it is made of. "Catfish liqueur," she replies. I'm impressed! I wouldn't have guessed, as the taste was not the least bit fishy. Another girl asks how the drink is made, and narrates as the bartender shows her: "So you mix it with that blue stuff, then top with..." I look at the bottle she's indicating. It is a gallon-sized jug made of translucent plastic containing a clear liquid. It reminds me of those extra-large bottles of Heinz white vinegar, but the shape of the bottle is more like that typically used for laundry detergent. There is a graphic of naturalistic forest trees on the front of the bottle which makes it resemble the cover of a nature magazine. The brand name clearly reads: "Gesuckt." From the name I assume it is a foreign import, probably German, and wonder if I can buy it at any of my usual grocery stores.

My earlier thought about "fishiness" has now taken the form of a chunk of sardine or mackerel that I discover lodged between my gum and upper lip. I reason that it must have come from a dish I ate during the meal earlier. I prod it out with my tongue and finish chewing it. Meanwhile I'm walking away from the bar toward the restaurant area. There are a lot of people in the room, which reminds me—hey! I could try the TOTM again, see if I can do it properly this time.

"Freeze!" I say loudly, but people keep going about their business. I remember the difficulty I had with this last time, and it also reminds me that I'm supposed to be stopping time, so I switch wording. "Time stop!" I command. I say it a few times, still not getting much result, so I decide an explanation is needed, addressing the room in a loud voice so that everyone can hear. "I said 'time stop!' That means everybody stops moving. Time stop! Time stop, everybody!"

I look around and find that everyone has frozen in place. Okay, this is better, I seem to have gotten the point across. Now I'm supposed to put someone in an embarassing position. I didn't plan ahead for this, so I'm going to have to come up with an idea on the fly. My gaze falls on a stout old lady in the middle of the room. I walk over and unbutton her light blue jacket and white blouse. Inside, she's wearing a pink bra, and I'm relieved to see that it has a front closure, so I unhook it and reveal her breasts. I hope I'm not being too mean, but remind myself that it's just a dream so there will be no lasting harm.

Now I have to get everyone moving again. What's the opposite of "time stop"? I try some variants: "Uhhh... go. Start. Start moving." This works, but meanwhile I had taken my eyes off the old lady to check whether everyone else was back in motion, and when I look at her again, her clothes are already back in order and no one is reacting as if they had seen anything unusual. I chide myself for not paying closer attention. I'd better try again.

"Time stop! Time stop!" This time the DCs react much more promptly, like they're getting the hang of it. Okay, what should I do this time? I look around for ideas. Among a group of people in one corner are two meathead-looking guys. I go over and start posing them really close together, much closer than a couple of straight men would normally be comfortable with. As I move and angle their bodies, I notice that it doesn't feel so much like time has stopped as that they are just playing along while I reposition them, and there's some difficulty, maybe even slight resistance, as I lean their faces together as though they were about to kiss. Finally I get it just how I want, so that their lips are almost touching. Then I step back a few paces so that when I restart time, I'll have a clear view of both their reactions and the people around them.

This time I restart the scene with more confidence, like I'm getting the hang of this too. "Okay, renew!" I command, punctuating the signal by clapping the first two fingers of my right hand into the palm of my left. It feels like being a movie director.

I watch closely as people start moving again. I was hoping the two guys would either react with comic embarrassment or, even better, be overcome by a latent attraction and really start kissing. Instead, they simply draw away from one another without any expression or commentary, and no one around them takes any visible notice. I'm disappointed with the blasé behavior of all these DCs, but I have to admit it makes sense: they're projections of my own mind, after all, and I'm fairly blasé myself most of the time.

Observing a dog walking through the room, I momentarily wonder if I should try again, but the lackluster reactions of the DCs has sapped my motivation, and I feel that I have adequately performed the TOTM. I wonder if I should wake up and write... but the dream seems stable, and I'm reluctant to end it earlier than I have to. However, I'm aware how easy it is to start forgetting the details if I don't record them promptly, so I do the next best thing and start verbally recounting my memories of the scene, to help fix them in mind for later. As I'm doing this I end up waking anyway.

Interlude: From 6:30 to 7:15am I record my notes and then return to bed, going to sleep with no further techniques. I wake up at 8:30am from another DILD.

DILD, "Sphere": The plot has been going on for a while but I don't remember much detail from before I become lucid. I'm sitting on the toilet in the bathroom of a house that belongs to a male friend I've been hanging out with for most of the dream [!WL]. I feel guilty when I notice that I've almost used up all his toilet paper. I tell myself that I should really stop giving into the urge to use the bathroom when I'm dreaming. This isn't waking life, where it actually makes sense to go if you feel like you have to. In a dream it's completely pointless, a waste of time, and kind of gross. If I'm doing this, it's because I'm too caught up in the idea of a physical body. I'm reminded of something Sageous wrote in the forum, how he doesn't really have a body in dreams anymore. I should work on getting less attached to mine.



I get up and go over to the bathroom sink, studying my reflection in the mirror. It's actually a close resemblance, as far as I can tell through the mask that covers most of my features. The mask is reminiscent of the one worn by Michio Ito in his 1915 "Fox Dance," though mine lacks the long snout and doesn't cover my mouth. Also my eyes are clearly visible through the sockets. The fact that I am wearing a mask does not strike me as odd, and instead I ponder what to do about my body. I don't think I can eliminate the idea of it all at once, so it might be best to proceed in stages. What's the most radical distortion I can think of? I know! I'll become a sphere.

I keep watching my reflection as my face starts swelling and widening. It looks disturbing at first, like obesity or an illness, and I have to focus on making my whole body expand, not just my face. Not only can I witness this happening in the mirror, I can actually feel it. As I become rounder and rounder, I remind myself that there is no reason a sphere should only see out of two frontally positioned eyes. I should try to expand my concept of vision to include the area behind me. This only partly works: I'm now getting visual feed from what seems like the opposite side of my sphere, and can perceive the rim of the tub and a bit of the floor and shower curtain, all very close up. However in the process I lose my frontal vision, and as I try to experience both visual fields at once I become disoriented and start rotating in place, which makes sense given that I'm a sphere with nothing to stand on anymore. The disorientation gets so bad that I'm afraid it might disrupt the dream, so I let my body snap back to its familiar structure, satisfied that I had a reasonable success for my first try.

I look back in the mirror to check my appearance again. My reflection looks like it did before, and I'm still convinced that it is just like waking life—although in retrospect I realize that my dream-self had a brunette bob rather than the shoulder-length brown hair of WL. I'm still wearing the mask and want to look at the face underneath, so I take it off. There are more layers of mask under the first, and I peel them off one by one, until I'm finally just wearing glasses, and take those off too. Finally my face is uncovered, and I am satisfied that it is a good likeness. I notice an unusual vividness to my eyes, which are sparkling and happy, and I am pleased with my appearance.

Stepping outside, I realize that I'm still carrying my glasses. Should I just throw them away? I feel a natural reluctance, but remind myself that it's a dream, it doesn't matter. Then I reason that I might want to use them later: this could be a good trick to improve focus if the dream gets hazy. Sure, I could always manifest a fresh pair, but that will be easier if I condition my expectations by saving these now. So I slip the glasses into my jacket pocket.

What should I do now? I'm in a great mood and have no particular task in mind, so I decide to explore the dream world. Perched alone on a grassy hillside I see a strange building, very gaudy, with red roofs under a gold dome: it looks like a cross between an old McDonald's and a sultan's palace. I realize it is a restaurant of some kind and head over there.

I'm still feeling unusually happy and excited as I walk in, so I pump my fist and go "Woo!" My enthusiasm has been making the people around me more friendly, I notice, and remind myself that I should try to be more like this in WL. The restaurant is small inside, like a cafe, with a several tables and a counter where I go up to order. Despite the counter it is not a fast food restaurant: the menu consists of about six innovative dishes printed on a small square of white paper.

"What's the tastiest thing on the menu?" I ask, then realize I have a craving for spicy food and ask, "I mean the tastiest spicy dish."

"The D-4," replies the server. I check the menu and the description lists this as a big steak dish, which sounds too heavy and will take forever to prepare, so I look at the appetizers instead. There are only three listed, but two of them sound like they consist of just three pieces of fish, served nigiri sushi style. The fish that interests me looks like langoustine, but with the soft, ribbed texture of monkfish. The server tries to warn me that it's a very small dish, but I say, "I know. It looks like someone has already left one here," pointing to the piece sitting on the menu.

I put in my order and take a place at a small table, then get up to think this over. Can I really commit valuable dream time to sitting down for a whole meal, even a small one? Shouldn't I be doing something more productive? Maybe I should just leave. But I consider that the experience might be interesting, and I can even try to combine it with a task—the circumstances are ideal to work on summoning, something I've always struggled with.

I walk back over and tell the server, "Actually, I'm here to meet somebody." I pull out my phone, wondering who to call among the characters I've tried (unsuccessfully) to summon over the years. But then I notice that someone is already sitting at my table, so I go over to see who it is. I've never seen this guy before: he looks like he's in his twenties, with straight, mousy-brown hair and thin, very pointed features.

"Hi, are you here to meet me?" He nods.

Okay, I think, rolling with the circumstances, this could work. I'll meet someone new, like a blind date. "What's your name?" I inquire.

"I'm Denny, a crass ass." He looks bashfully down at the table.

This odd term rings a bell. Didn't I, much earlier in the dream, long before I got lucid, meet a guy named Paul who used the exact same term for himself? What an oddity; I don't think I've ever heard that term in life. What could it mean?

"Did you say, 'a crass ass'?" I ask, enunciating clearly. The young man nods.

"Why would you call yourself that?" I am genuinely mystified.

"It's what my friends call me."

Unfortunately I woke up before I could find out anything more!

I found myself being hold down by these colorful drawings of people. They were making something and one of the stick looking figures made me eat a brown looking pint size pill. After swallowing it the stick figure push me through a painting and I then found myself in my mother room. I began to feel very odd, my body was beginning to shake uncontrollably. My eye site became distorted. I tried putting on glasses to see if they would return normal but I quickly notice that I was seeing better without glasses for once. My head soon began pounding to where I being held against the top of the ceiling by an unknown force. Though it all stop once I look through the large window. It was completely covered in thick fog. I knew exactly what this meant and I race downstairs to see my brother and mom about to close the door. I told them let me go outside. I open the back door and saw how clear and wide spread the landscape was from the clouds. I yelled yes, and close the door. My mother ask me who am I? I chuckle batman.

I had a great lucid dream this morning. I had awakened at 3:30 and was having trouble going back to sleep. I thought about trying to do a WILD, and I even starting counting and relaxing, but after a while it seemed obvious that I wasn't tired enough. The last time I looked at the clock was 6:30, and I felt myself start to drift off to sleep (this is one of the few mornings I can sleep in like this).

Dream:

I found myself looking into a mirror. I wasn't happy with what I was seeing. My stomach was all deformed and hanging really weird (it looked a lot like the stomachs of people who have lost huge amounts of weight and the skin just flops and hangs). I was trying to figure out what could have happened for my stomach to look like this. Then suddenly it hits me. The mirror. I always look different in dream mirrors. I must be dreaming.

Yes! I was finally lucid dreaming again.

I already knew what I wanted to do. So much to do...

The first thing I decided to do was to practice being Poet Anderson. I found that I was upstairs in a house that was supposed to be mine, but in retrospect, I am totally unfamiliar with it. It has never been in my dreams before. I ran out of the bedroom and saw Jeff who was just coming in. I shouted out, "Can't talk now...I'm dreaming!" I leapt down the staircase without touching a single step, and out the front door.

I was Poet Anderson. I ran until I came to a high retaining wall and flew over it and down to the street below. I jumped up again and landed one knee, pulling my gun. I totally had this. I was feeling one with Poet.

Then, the unthinkable happened. I felt myself wake up. I couldn't believe the dream was over when it had barely just begun.

I found myself talking to Daniel. I was telling him about my lucid dream. I lamented with him because he had told me how in recent lucid dreams he had been having he had been walking up too soon as well....only to find out later that it was only a false awakening. I had told him (in a recent real life conversation) that he just needed to get into the habit of always doing a reality check each time he thought he woke up.

Somewhere in the middle of this conversation with him. I realized that there was a good chance that I had just had a FA. And as soon as I thought that I knew I was still dreaming. I was excited and told Daniel that we were lucid dreaming. I said, "Let's do finger lasers." There was a poster on the wall, and we pointed our fingers at the posters. I expected to see a laser light come out of my finger. But I didn't see anything. I concentrated harder. I felt like I could hear a faint hum. I looked again at the poster we were pointing at. I could see little lines starting to burn across the paper. I felt satisfied. Even though I could never see the laser, I knew we had been able to create them because I could see the damage they were doing.

At this point I remembered I wasn't done being Poet. I ran outside again and practiced leaping about and drawing my gun. I noticed at one point that I didn't actually have a gun. But I figured it was okay. I would work on that detail later. Right now I wanted to be comfortable with the moves. I also tired to practice making myself transform, like he does in the film, when the Night Terror comes and the black wraps around his body. I couldn't quite get that right. The best I could do was turn my arms a black color. I wasn't too worried about that either. There was time for special effects later. Right now I wanted to make sure I was fast and agile.

After doing this for some time, I decided that my dream was going to last long enough to do a Task of the Month. I thought I would start with the easiest one--walk into a random house and sescribe what was inside.

I now found myself next to some apartments. I saw a door near me on the ground floor. For a second I felt a little timid. But I told myself that it was just a dream and that it didn't matter. So I turned the doorknob and boldly walked through the door. I found myself in a small living room. There were several couches that were full of people....several older Navajo women and quite a few children. One of the ladies saw me and good naturedly joked how surprised I must be about walking into a house full of brown children. But I decided to act like it was no mistake at all. I smiled and , "Hi, how are all of you doing.?" And I smiled down at one of the children that was standing near me and asked her a question. I was able to put everyone at ease. We talked a few minutes. I don't remember details of the conversation. But by the time I left, we all felt happy.

I then found myself in what looked like an alley. There were more doors in a building next to me. I decided to do this again. This time as I opened the door I found myself in an old motel room. in front of me sitting on the edge of a bed was woman who looked to be in her 60s and was either Navajo or Mexican. She was smoking something. I tried to talk to her, but I soon saw that she was totally out of it. She never made eye contact or responded to me in any way. She looked quite messed up. I also noticed that there was some kind of white plastic thing in one of her nostrils.

I kind of got the creeps just being with her, and I knew that we wouldn't be having any sort of conversation, so I left.

This time I saw that I was walking through storage units. I kept walking and found myself in what looked like an outdoor mall. I suddenly remembered that I wanted to find a radio so I could listen to new Angels and Airwaves music. There was junk laying about everywhere, but I couldn't find a radio. I could see people walking around, so I shouted, "Will somebody please turn on a radio!"

And at that I heard a radio go on. But I was just hearing voices. I figured that after the talking they would play a song. I walked on.

I then found myself inside of a very large sports store. There were bikes hanging from the ceiling. The ceiling was 3-4 stories high, so there were a lot of bikes hanging. I jumped up and hung from one of the lower bikes. While I was hanging I looked over and saw this black guy who looked to be in his late 20's. He looked at me with a little smile and said, "Let me show you how this is done." and he jumped up and grabbed a bike and then proceeded to start climbing the bikes. I got quite excited at this little challenge. I knew he had no idea who I was, and that I was going to beat him miserably. Haha...this was going to be great. I then pulled myself up with ease to the next bike. I looked over and he was slowly but quite steadily moving his way up. I was impressed. SO I picked up my pace. I started moving up the bikes so fast that I was barely gripping them. I was mostly just gliding my way up. The ceiling, I noticed was higher and there was further to climb than I had originally thought. I continued to climb. I then looked over and the guy had almost been able to keep up with me. I was only a little faster. Finally I got to the top and grinned at the guy just below me. Now I was going to show him who I was. At that, I let go and jumped all the way down (at least 5 stories). I landed confidently and took off running out of the store.

I remembered that I hadn't heard the radio. I saw that I was still in what looked like a cluttered outdoor mall. I still couldn't find a radio. So I shouted, "Does anyone here have a radio with them?"

I suddenly saw Emily, she was pulling a small radio out of her pocket. I said, "Yes, Emily!" And promptly woke up. And this time I really was awake.

It was 7:03.

At first is started out as normal, just me relaxing with family and talking with my brother. then things slowly started to become weird when my brother started to hear voices in different rooms. I began to follow him in the living room and I heard a women voice but couldn't make out what she was saying. Our parents saw something move and we decided to go downstairs.

There was an air mattress setup and I jumped right on top of it and my brother did the same. My parents went to sit on the chairs talking about if our house is actually haunted or not. Then things actually really started to move. What has happening? still sort of hazey, But I remember correctly that me and my brother were grabbing clothes cause we were ready to leave and there was this hyper futuristic vacuum cleaner cleaning the walls by itself

We sat in the kitchen, contemplating the situation and I hear my dad talking about a same ordeal at his old job that his friend got possessed by a dead guy named Bloomenberg. Some teen then comes and gives us these paper cards to use technology at this place we were going to since our house was under attack by ghosts.

I became lucid when I went into the living room and plugged my nose. I ran downstairs and my family was sitting in the dark. I saw a tablet and turned it on and there was all these girls on screen, one of them I think was younger Miley Cyrus (Hannah Montana). I began to use my abilities and touch the screen and they can definitely feel it as they start to move around and laugh.

The screen later turns into an empty theater hall and many people slowly started to fill this big room. I then go inside it and started shooting lightning balls all over the place and people began to amaze at this sighting. Disney Characters began to show up as well such as Donald duck. The dream ended when my brother came and ask how the living hell I was doing all of that.

Became lucid last night. It was night time and I was in my yard, the only light was coming from a pair of headlights from a jeep. I could tell it was a jeep from its Grill. I don't know why I didn't think to change the lighting, but whatever, I was just happy to be lucid again lol. I tried to make my black lab bigger so I could ride on his back. Didn't work, but I was able to make myself smaller to accommodate the situation. I wonder why I was able to change my size, but not the dogs. I was able to summon people though. Tried to feed one of my enemies to him but he's just too good natured of a dog to hurt anyone. Dang it lol. My ex appeared, he pulled into my driveway and scooped me up just like he use to. Ah! It was pretty great lol it was short but great
I had a hard time staying lucid, I need to work on that. I'm really wanting to try WILDing but I'm scared to death of the sleep paralysis. I need to quit being such a chicken lol

I'm eating a nice meal with my spiritual guide and a couple other people at our table. We're content, and enjoying what is before us when suddenly we look over and see the Dalai Lama at the very next table with some of the high ranking Tibetan leadership around him. The Dalai Lama makes a scary face at me, and then they take our picture with me looking all scared. I'm a little embarrassed, and regain my composure. But they didn't want a nice picture. The Dalai Lama laughs and turns back to his table. For some reason, I don't think he likes me. My spiritual guide looks at me and I know that it doesn't matter if anyone likes me or not, no matter who they are.

After messing around with magnets, and having a mixed drink, I'm driving down the street with my step brother. There's no one on the road, and we're cruising along at around 40 mph. We both spot something coming right at us up ahead in the road. It's moving fast. I slow down in case it hits us. Bigger than our car, it is a massive wolf. The head of which is a good 5 ft long, and really really big. He bares his fangs at us, and turns his head as he runs past us along the road in the opposite lane.

Feeling very vulnerable, even in the car, the road gets too snowy to drive on, so I have to get out and walk if I want to make it home. It also gets really steep. Apparently, I'm crossing the continental divide over the Rocky Mountains to get to some town in Colorado. But man is this steep, and with snow up to my chest, it's really hard to push through it. I see a few more of these beastly wolves all around me, just off the side of the road, watching me slowly make my way up the road. I get the feeling that they are guiding me, and probably won't eat me. Just probably though, so I keep my eyes on them. Luckily, I have a towel with me, so I use it to lay on, pushing the snow down to make it easier to wade through.

Since this might take me a while, I put on my hat and mittens that were in my pockets this whole time. The wolves watch me to do. I nearly lose sight of the road with so much snow, but see a massive wolf laying down in the snow ahead of me, so I walk toward it. Or to my death, but it's not like I can out run them anyway. To my left I see a few snow mobiles and four wheelers abandoned in the snow, just lightly dusted with fresh snowfall, but still with the keys in the ignition. Several of them are still running.

I think about stealing one, but decide against it. I bet whoever owns them would be pissed to come back and find it gone. So I walk past them. The road disappears, and I am looking over a 300 ft cliff. But in actuality, I'm just standing on some snow that is packed into the branches of a huge tree with snowmobiles stuck in it. Before I get the chance to even think about how this situation might have happened, unusual as it is, I feel the snow start to give way. I run toward the tree and grab onto the trunk as the snow and machines fall to the ground far below. I hear the tree start to crack apart too, so I grab a falling branch and swing down on it to the midway point of the tree. I feel incredibly lucky to have survived that, and now bear hug the trunk to slow my decent as I slide straight down the icy tree.

Landing hard in the snow, the tree starts to tip over toward me. WTF! I run super fast and dodge it while also noticing some people on the opposite side. I decide to see if they need any help, but I'm going really fast the opposite direction, so I drag my feet stopping like a hockey player, just with a 40 ft slide. Just in time though. As I stop, I notice a fence around the whole area where the tree fell, on the outside of which are a lot of those massive wolves. Just a whole lot more menacing and vicious looking than before. Growling, barking, and drooling, they give me the deathliest stares I've ever gotten from an animal. I bet if I had crossed that fence I would've been killed. Luckily there is a small town here that has some sort of magical wolf boundary or truce. Seems like a small town from Alaska.