task of the month

25 Jan

Wbtb

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

I woke up and I could see my room through my closed eyelids. I got up and tried to jump through the floor into a void, but my body felt heavy and I was only able to jump halfway through the floor. A dog I live with, a Chihuahua mix, came into the room and dragged me out of the floor. I asked her to give me a massage and she asked me what that was. I said it was where rubbed my body to relax me. The dog took three long strokes with her head against my stomach and I woke up.

DEILD-I woke up from a dream and I tried to make the ocean appear. Instead, grasslands appeared which I was now flying over. I saw a stampede of cattle and heard western music playing. I tried to land by the stampede, but just before I did, I woke up.

DILD-I was somewhere where I saw dolphins jumping out of the water. I jumped into the ocean to swim with them. I recalled Sensei's suggestion of stretching my limbs to get on one but I couldn't get it to work. I grabbed the dorsal fins of one of the dolphins and got on its back to ride it. It jumped out of the water and back in. So fun! I jumped out of the water again and stayed in the air for a couple of seconds before I woke up.

DILD-I see blackness behind my eyelids. I hear a voiceover say "We are now flying over east Afghanistan". I hear a drum. I am now in a plane which is flying over a beach. "We must crash into the ocean" the voice over says. Yay! I eagerly wait as the plane sharply drops and crashes into the ocean. I make it out somehow and could feel something spiky covering my head which hurts a bit. I try to look for a reflection of some sort to see what it is. In the confusion, I now find myself in the lobby of an airport where I find a reflection near some pay phones. I see my hair is spiky and wet but nothing is on it. I look around and find an attractive young lady, a short blonde. I ask her to give me a massage and she accepts. I turn around and feel her hands rubbing my back. I enjoy this for a bit...it feels nice! I decide I've had enough and try to make out with her. She resists and pushes me away. I decide to let her go and she walks away from me to talk to a couple of other girls. They are not as attractive as they have too much makeup on. I try to transform into a dolphin. I don't make any progress and I wake up.

01/17/2017
Dream Fragment One
Untitled
All I remember is that I woke up to some guys coming into my house, like they owned the place. I think they were supposed to be of some relation to my landlord and his son. They pretty much just made themselves comfortable, as if they were going to be staying for quite some time - one of them posting up in my windowsill and just gazing reverently at the outside world. I also remember that I was on the second floor of a two-story house.


Dream Two:
"Pencildragon"
(Lucid)

I was at some outdoor carnival or festival, held out in some rural field at dusk. Munching on cotton candy while I walked, I spontaneously realized that I was dreaming. Immediately, I was surprised at how much I could smell and taste the cotton candy (I have very few experiences with tastes and smells in lucid dreams), and even though the dream already felt very clear and grounded, I decided to take a few moments to touch my surroundings, running my hand along the wooden frame of a wooden kiosk nearby. Raising my free hand up in front of my face, I saw that my fingers were very wavy, which was a bit at odds with the solidity of everything else around me.

Quickly, I tried to think of what I had planned to do with my lucidity once attained it, before I'd gone to bed. I remembered the 'Tasks of the Month' and that I wanted to try the pencil task (which was to "ask a pencil to draw something for you"). I turned back to the kiosk, expecting to find a pad and pencil there, in which I could do the experiment. Sitting atop the counter, I found a pad and a few, loose, colored pencils. I picked up one pencil - blue, I believe - and set it in the center of the pad. Without speaking, I attempted to "will" the pencil to draw something for me. The only thing I remember, about the actual process, was the pencil moving back and forth and making a few scribbles, but it ended up drawing a (quite simplistic) dragon. (One of the art pieces I have been brainstorming on, in waking life, has been a dragon. I haven't yet drawn the final draft, but I did draw a dragon thumbnail, about a week ago).

Satisfied that I had completed the task, I took to the air and flew away from the carnival to do some exploring. While flying over the wide, green fields of the early evening countryside, I looked below me to see an actual dragon, roaming around the landscape and idly blowing plumes of fire at random. It had sort of a cartoonish, video game feel to it (I had been playing PlayStation VR, before bed - no dragon games, though), and felt as if it was just a manifestation of the dragon that was drawn on the paper. I decided not to bother with the creature and continued flying over the field. I don't really remember anything afterward.

I haven't put any focus on WILDs in quite some time but was motivated to mix attempts back in the last 2 nights, but only after doing my MILD to increase chances of my fairly trusty DILDs if the WILD fails. At BTB I do location-aha-MILD first, followed by face to face, clear view release and some REM eye movement simulation (4 eye sweeps behind closed eyelids). The face to face and REM simulation are found to be the most efficient method of losing the feel of my waking body. I get a good number of color and pattern HH's, followed by some that resemble objects and people, followed by dreamlets. At those first two stages I was able to use a technique of "reaching" for additional senses related to the items more than just the visual: primarily tactile and temperature, but sometimes sounds and smells that match with the visual. I didn't remember to try taste. For the third stage where I was getting dreamlets I found that I had to become more passive it seemed because I was finding my senses return to my waking body or perhaps within an FA. I didn't test it, assuming FA's and decided I did need to be more passive during these dreamlets, perhaps wrongly. I know passive is generally recommended but since I have a fair bit of experience with WILDs I feel more inclined toward the active side of the scale. Anyway, I end up in an FA and then an actual waking or FA where I go for a WILD.

I am naked in bed with my wife and for some reason my mother in law is there and I seem to be semi-lucid at this stage but as more people arrive I seem to drop below semi-lucid and get caught up in the dream. I see this commercial anti-bacterial spray I have looked for in the past and ask the guy where he got it without a good answer. I either wake or have another FA in my normal bed/scenario and go for a DEILD but feels more like a WILD with HH's and back to reaching for additional senses tied to the HH visuals. After some fading in and out of HHs I get a more steady one that looks most like a cave opening at first and imagine some cooler air emanating from it. It develops into a a vague looking canyon and then to a canyon formation like you might see in Arches National Park with a double arch entrance to a canyon opening where both "arches" were relatively flat on their top sides but the bottom "arch" had an arch shape to it whereas the top "arch" was also relatively flat across the bottom as well. This was all in a brightly lit daylight scene once the arches formed. This morphed from more of a natural formation to something purposely built like you might see in a sci-fi set on a canyon-like planet. I want to go there but it seems my dream body is still forming so I use intent with my eyes to start moving in that direction and I reach for the sensation of the wind on my face and body and it feels like a slightly cool breeze and I am now flying in my dream body. As I get to the canyon "entrance" I land due to the low clearance and find my self alternating between walking and crawling in a very cool scene that seems a lot like a dry cave but tons of light coming in on the far side that I want to get to and also light coming from the side I came in on. It was a very cool place to explore, but I love caves and canyons. It also reminded me of some of my favorite lucid dreams like the wall and childhood "treasures" found on the beach of the grassy sea (posted in my DJ on DV somewhere a good ways back). As I get to the end of the low clearance I fly up and out to the next bend in the canyon and think of one of the TOTM's and decide that an alien spaceship will be the right around the bend but nothing is there. I then decide it will be at the top of this canyon wall to my left and I fly up to the top of it and there it is a huge mega spaceship with an outer shell that is made up of many circular metal panels with lattice work in between, perhaps 100 circular panels on the side of the ship that I can see. I fly into the lattice work and I feel myself being pulled further into the craft with a fade to darkness at first but soon after a bright long and fairly wide hall appears that looks like a mall with humans walking around and a food place to my right. Perhaps the scenario is that the dream aliens created an environment where I would feel comfortable but I proceeded to treat it just like any dream scene. I tried to slow down one lady passing by, but she seemed in a hurry and I look ahead down the hallway/walkway of the "mall" and see a tall beautiful lady that looks slightly not of this world with her unusually big and stunningly attractive eyes.
(eyes were wider and bigger but this is close)
After the experience with the previous lady I made sure I would be able to stop her in her tracks by creating the back story of: "Finally we are reunited! It has been so long!" grasping both of her hands face to face and giving her a big wet kiss. I feel myself getting rather excited but I remember to calm down. I think of another TOTM, the pencil one and tell her I have something to show her and reach in my back pocket but coming up empty handed. I then ask her if she has a pencil and she pulls one out of her purse and I try to float it in the air in front of me and it disappears. I then walk over to the food place and ask the guy behind the counter for a pencil and he gives me one. I see an order stub on the counter and float the pencil with the tip touching the paper and tell it to draw something and it starts doodling. It looks like nothing more than a toddler's drawing but as I look closer, it looks like it morphs into words on the order stub. I wake and quickly use the bathroom in order to get back to dreaming, this time RCing to make sure I'm actually awake. I jot down a few keywords from the dream and a few quick drawings of the canyon arches and the alien craft lattice work and go back to bed, forgetting to write down the words that I remembered.

After playing with HH's for a while and deciding to doze off, I get a dream where the wife asks me where one of the bills is and if it has been paid. I said that I think I filed it already but I can check on the computer if I paid it. At the computer, the keyboard is missing and I ask my wife if she's seen it but then I find the keyboard unplugged and sitting on top of the computer desktop tower. I feel someone tugging on me in darkness and I realize I must have fallen asleep, maybe in front of the computer. Either way I treat the tugging as HHs not waking life and a scene forms where I am at an office elevator and a woman is asking me for directions. Already aware that I am dreaming I decide to see where the elevator takes me just like in last night's lucid, with a little excited anticipation. I don't remember anything but going up in the elevator before waking up needing to pee again and I decide to get up for the day.

15-Jan-2017 - 2xND +2xWILDs - Fly rocket to Mars, build and animate red dust man, fly saucer to Pluto, fight aliens, sink into black hole, meet PvsZ plants, make hotel hall tables and guests fly and disappear

ND#1: (3:10AM) I am playing with my son, I sit, he's laying on my legs, I spank him to make him laugh. Do WBTB

ND#2: (est.5:30AM) Fragment; something to do with military aircrafts, and also money exchange between Russian and Hungarian currency (?).

Wake up 6AM, attempt WILD, success

WILD#1: (6 AM ~1hr)
Poor recall of beginning. I meet a nice blonde girl who is very keen to have fun, who am I to refuse it ?
After that, I am in my tower. On the right wall I notice two paintings I didn't remember. I focus mostly on the one on the left. I memorize its details, very white skin girl, red lips, brown hair, blue dress; looking left, surprised by something not visible in the picture; brown blurry background. Also the right picture is a girl, skinny, I did not capture much detail.

I exit the room, which is now the girl's room at my uncle's house. I cross all the house, go outside, see the house, garden, tank, go out of the gate. I take a cableway up the mountain, then a lift down to the main crater. Lift has glass walls. When it reaches the magma lake, I open the door and walk on the lava, it's very liquid.
After this, I decide it's time to focus on tasks.

I am looking for a spaceship. I find a rocket like THIS , near a platform. I use the walkway to enter it. I take the seat; it's looking upwards, to a black sky spotted with stars. The rocket leaves, I see the movement of the stars around me. After some pretty dull space flight, we land on Mars.
I descend the rocket, and see the red planet around me, lots of dust, rocky mountains few kms away; it's totally deserted.
I take some red dust and create a red-dust-man, complete with red-rock eyes and nose.
Then I use some white light power with both hands on it, it becomes alive.

I ask the red-dust-man, since he knows the place, where can I find anything interesting. It points to a nearby area.
I reach what seems a "cars cemetery", although cars are very new, I notice some big white SUVs, and more.
All of them are parked nose-down in the very short slope of a large depression.

Then I notice a partially buried white disc. I know it's a flying saucer, although it's very small, like 30 cms. The top is made of white metal, bottom is black plastic. The bottom has few mumbered buttons and the instructions to make it normal size. I press the buttons in sequence, the disc pops open, it's now a proper saucer, 15-20m diameter. I use the catwalk to get inside.
The interior has many instruments, monitors, button panels, "flying" touch screens and more.
I notice a twisted violet / black basin, from which I pick am object having same color patterns. It envelops my right arm. I understand it's a kind of armor. Since it looks cool, I put my other arm in it, and I get both my arms and my shoulders covered by it.

A guy comes inside. He's wearing a sort of space uniform, light gray, I notice a small crescent moon drawing on his chest so I now he's a teammate.
I ask him to take care of this room, while I look for the pilot deck. I notice two curved staircase going up, I use one and find it.
The pilot panel has many cluster of buttons and instruments, I click random stuff and we take off.

Another space travel, this time I am heading to Pluto. To quicken things up, I activate hyper-speed. The black starry space becomes blurry for some seconds, then it turns back normal, we arrived at destination. We descend on the planet, it's dark and grey and empty.
Once I take few steps on the gray dust, from the ground emerge 4 or 5 grey Alien-like monsters.
I use the purple alien bracer on the closest one, three tentacles fly straight into its body, which shrink, like sucked by the inside, evidently dead.
I use my left arm on another alien, which dies in the same way, plus tentacles emerge from my shoulders, killing a third one.
The remaining aliens disappear, most likely they dug back into the ground.

I say to myself that this was too easy, and my dream immediately proves me wrong.
An enormous crab-like monster comes out of the dust. I imagine it has been called by the survivors.
The giant alien crab immediately attacks me with its legs, I evade its attacks and jump on one of its leg. I draw my sword and thrust it down deep into the leg, cutting part of it away.
I avoid another attack, jump on another leg, this time I thrust my sword at the junction between the leg and the body, severing the entire leg.
I jump on its body, it's very hard and bumpy. I use pirokinesis with both my hands on its body, which hurts it.
Then I somehow get stuck by my back on the body. I free myself, get up and attack it again.
I can't recall the end of the fight, but I survive, so I must have won

I return inside the flying saucer.
I want to get sucked into a black hole, so I fly in space looking for one. I find it, it's a dark mass of black. I observe it for a bit. I see things getting sucked in and disappear leaving no trace.
Then I decide it's time to receive the same treatment. I lower engine power, and the black hole starts sucking us in.
When I get on its border, everything becomes black (of course!)
I also become bodyless.
In the blackness in front of me, I notice some patterns. Small speckles of light start appearing. I recognize in one of the light patterns a couple of eyes. Then another set of eyes. I think I may be seeing phosphenes for the first time.

Then another dream scene forms around me. I am in a PvsZ garden, with square grass tiles and plants, peashooters, sunflowers, coconuts and more.
I am where the house is, so I see them from the back. I want to look the plants from the front, so I walk among the plants, then turn around.
It's nice, the plants are staring at me. I plant some, like an exploding jalapeno, which leaves a trail of fire, I remove some others.
I also plant a smiling green jalapeno which stays there.

I decide I want to fly, I jump up in the sky, and fly above an autumn landscape, many yellow trees.
Recall stops here, but dream may have continued a bit.
Wake up 7AM

WILD#2: (7 AM ~20 min)
I decide to attempt WILD again, it goes through, I enter a dream almost immediately.
I am in a hotel room, door is open and I see two happy girls with light colored dresses walking from right to left.
I decide to just follow whatever the dream will present me.
I get out of the door, look right, just a short empty corridor, so I follow the girls to my left.
After awakening I notice this hotel looks like a Marriot I've been at in Nov

The girls enter an elevator, doors close before me. I phase through the wall and door into the cabin. We go down.
Elevator doors open into the lobby. There are many people sitting, drinking and talking. I decide to do the same and just have a seat.
I look around me, everything looks very stable. I decide it's time to spice things up a bit, and I make some tables, chairs and people lift and float up in the air. I also decide to make few of them disappear, just for the fun of it.

Poor recall after that.
A fragment of a warmly lit dining room with a Christmas tree, and some big plastic (LEGO-like) french playing cards on the ground.
A fragment of rubbing hands for stabilization in an industrial environment.

Then me kicking something / someone, my WL right leg does the same and I wake up, 7:30AM

14-Jan-2017 - 4xNDs +2xWILDs - Three transforms, fly car, telekinesis house, gift LEGO, more...

ND#1: (est.2AM) I am placing plants from PvsZ, and carpets as well

ND#2: (3:10AM) I am with my wife abroad, it seems Korea. We are in a small hotel room, there is more people with us (colleagues?) We discuss something with those people, then they go away; when me and my wife remain alone, we love.
We go to the airport, there is a dark central corridor, light turn on when we approach; I look for the sensors, and don't see them. Near walls there are many metal frames depicting rockets and spaceships, with relevant space mission names. My wife comments about huge fuel consumption.
We stop by a gate, there is noone else around.

Wake up 3:30, do WBTB and write above dreams

WBTB/WILD#1: (3:30AM) Failed - I do not succeed in directly entering a dream, but manage to get lucid afterwards

LD#1: (OBE-like, 4-6 AM) I am standing in my bedroom, wife is sleeping. I don't want to wake her up, I pick my phone from the high drawer and go to dining room. It's dark and even if I wish more light, everything stays dark. I turn on the phone and do something with it, can't recall what

ND#3: (4-6 AM) I am driving my car, I have passengers, most likely my parents, surely my uncle R
I recognize the road, before a uphill I strongly accelerate and feel the pressure against my chest. After the uphill, I turn right

LD#2: (4-6 AM) I am in a city, a dark road. On a wall, suddenly a light appears. I notice a woman wearing just bottom underwear, entering a secret door rotating. I run towards it, and manage to get in through the breach before it closes.
I find a square room, strongly lit, many work benches at the center, seems like a laboratory. The woman is working at one of the benches. I approach her naked body, and molest here. She does not oppose resistance, so you can imagine the rest. Details snipped. Lucidity fades afterwards

Wake up 6AM, do another WILD

WILD#2: (6:30 AM) I put more effort and focus in this one, I successfully enter a dream
Since it's a very long LD, I've split into sections

Part I - Lucio Dalla - Caruso
I am in a hotel hall, I recognize it's the beginning of Lucio Dalla / Caruso song video (his most famous song perhaps; listen it, it's a wonderful song ) I have watched couple of weeks ago.

As in the videoclip beginning, "Bad boys" is playing, LD enters from the right and approaches the hotel reception desk.
Unlike in the videoclip, though, I get close too, and turn off the radio playing the song.
LD gets room key (a classic metal key), for room number 410, I ask him if I can accompany him in his room to talk (important precisation, as he had made outing as gay). He unlocks the door, I open the door and let him pass, I enter the room.

I sit in a chair. We talk about himself, I compliment him for his great music, he goes to the bathroom, from the door I see him washing his hands while we talk. In the meantime I pick up two cherries from a bowl on a nearby small round table. I tell him I am sorry he's dead, he looks sad too.
Then I ask him if he can sing "Caruso", he does, and I undergo an incredibly strong emotion I cannot describe in words, I shiver violently and for long time while I listen him sing. Interestingly, as much as I like the song, it has never provoked anything remotely like that IWL, but I know it's going to be very different from now on...
To thank and greet him I kiss him on both cheeks, I am sensibly taller then him

Part II - Transform into a squirrel
I approach the window, the sun is setting in the bay. There is a tree near the window. I jump and grab the trunk with both my arms, and legs too. Then I climb on a branch. I attempt squirrel trasformation. My viewpoint slowly descends closer to the branch, then I feel my legs get bigger. It has worked. I start running and jumping on branches, even belonging to different trees.

I find a hole in a tree, I enter it, there are many walnuts inside, it's a true squirrel lair. Inside the hole, I think that it would be funny embracing my own big, soft tail, I do it, it feels good ! Then I pick a walnut and I ponder that I am clueless on how a squirrel would open it.
I use my big middle tooth on the central fissure, and I manage to open it. I eat the nut inside, chomping it happily (no taste, though)

Then I think about the "phase through object" task, I pretend knowing there is a branch on the other side of the trunk, then walk through the trunk. As a small squirrel, it takes some time in the blackness to exit on the other side. When exiting, something strange / new happens. I feel like my eyes get "stuck" in the trunk for a split second and get farther away from me than normal, then come back normally with the rest of my body.

Looking down, I notice a cartoonish-looking wolf on the ground, I chew the branch which falls on the wolf's head
It gets upset, and it becomes a normal, dangerous-looking wolf; it howls, and suddenly a pack of wolfs is beyond my tree. Now I am scared (I chose not to use any dream power to get out of this). I run and jump on branches until I get to a tree close to a small, low house with a low, fenced perimeter wall. The wolves are close, but running fast I descend the tree, climb up the wall and run through the small space between wall and metal fence. I am now safe in the garden of this house.

Part III - Materialize car, fly it. Floating island. Unwrap a Xmas present and gift to my son. Telekinesis whole house
I become human again. Wolves are not there anymore. I exit the garden through the gate. I am in a classic American residential zone with low houses well apart from each other, wide road. No one is around.
I decide to attempt "Advanced summoning": I go for a car. I look to the road close to the pedestrian walkway and wish to make a car appear at that spot. It materializes in front of my eyes almost all together; some smaller parts (e.g. headlights) appear a second later.
When the car is complete, I look at it. It looks like a Corolla-ish, it's dark grey. I don't like the color, and recolor it in red instead. It comes out a bordeaux red, which I don't like either. I wish it a bright red. Now I like it. I open driver door, sit inside and drive it.

I accelerate the car alot on the empty road, until it eventually takes off. I am flying a car on this urban landscape, slowly gaining altitude.
I see something floating in front of me. It's a small rocky island. From the distance I can only see something white to the left and a tree on the right. When I get there, I have some troubles landing / parking the car. When I can finally get off the car, I look around.
There is a small house, just a white cube basically, a tree and very little else.

I open the door and enter the building. There is a Christmas tree with several presents under it. Yay ! This wasn't expected !
I pick a 30cm gift, it's wrapped in red paper with golden ribbon and go outside. I slowly and purposedly open it, as I want to enjoy the surprise of what I fill find inside. I remove the ribbon, open and finally tear the paper. It's a mid-size LEGO set ! It has a small yellow excavator and two minifigures. I notice how the model looks small compared to box size. I wish to gift it to R, my son.
I summon him in front of me, and he appears. I kiss him and give him the box, which makes him happy. Then I tell him to go, as I have to venture further. He fades out.

I go again to the town below (how ? flying ? can't recall) and decide that I can attempt the "Big telekinesis" on a house. I point one to my right, perfectly similar to the others I saw before. It is also fenced and has some children playground, for sure a swing. I also look for an empty spot to land it on the other side of the road. (Interesting: I feel my eyebulbs move side to side as I do this)
Then I focus on my target house. I raise both my hands in front of me. As I move them up, the house with surrounding wall and all the dirt below rises up. I notice the dirt is wet below, and look at the hole I created in the ground. I take note to explore it later.
I raise the package like 10 meters above the ground and move it across the street in an arc.
Then I kinda drop it on the empty spot. The big dirt mound below the house does not allow it to lay flat, it is pending to my right. I try to adjust it but I am not successful. Then I go to the big hole in the wet ground. I explore it but I find nothing.

At this point I ponder whether to keep the dream alive or just go to sleep.
The dream environment is totally stable so I decide to go on.

Part IV - Transform into a fish
I walk around, looking for a river. I find a small torrent, with super transparent water and a rocky bottom.
I stand with my feet in it. I find my feet are naked, they feel cool.
I attempt transforming into a small fish. Similarly to what happened with the squirrel, my viewpoint descends until it's just above the water level.
I also experience something hard to describe, a sort of dizziness, as my head changes position in relation to my body.
Then I am underwater. I see the water surface above me, just below me rocks and floating algaes.

I swim forwards swaying the lower part of my body left and right. I try looking at my pectoral fin, but find it's too short for that.
I swim for some time, hoping to reach the sea, but the river is too long. So I decide to use a sort of super-speed to quickly reach the sea.
The scenery moves very fast around me, then I reach river's estuary. I follow a random branch then a small drop, then I am in the sea.
Below me, dark, bottomless water, to my back a flat rock wall going down.

I decide attempting to escape a big fish in this form, so I think it's safer staying close to the rock wall.
From the dark water in front of me, a pointy nose appears, approaching at high speed; it's a shark.
Its first assault ends up as a hit on the rock wall. Then I swim upwards, he attacks again, and I manage to fly fast enough to escape its bite.
At its third assault I see its hige open mouth in front of me, and I cannot escape. However, its open mouth hits the rock wall, and it cannot close it on me. Ouch ! That was close !

I decide I had enough. I look for a gap in the rock wall, find it and swim it inside quickly. It's totally dark inside but I can swim anyhow. The channel makes a sharp upward turn, I follow it until I see light above me. I emerge in a small pool on the ground. I jump out and become human again.

I think I am missing only the last transformation and pulling the sword out of the stone to complete my personal goal.
I open a "zip" portal to my tower, it comes out purple inside. I enter it and find myself inside the tower.

Part V - Transform into bird, pull sword out of the stone
I approach the window, and easily transform into a small bird (transformed into eagles and dragons in the past)
I fly up lighty, see a tree, land on a branch with my small legs, then hop on my legs towards a nest on that branch. I sit inside, there are some eggs.
Then I fly up again. It's a relaxing flight. I am looking for the city where the sword is

I end up flying above a big city, with yellow lights.
There is a small garden with the anvil and the sword in it, I land there and return human again.
I look around and it's looking a bit too cartoonish for my taste.
I wish more realistic buildings around me, a high fence around the garden, everything appears; two guards appear, in medieval dressing with halberds.

I say aloud that I want to extract the sword from the stone, one of the guards laugh, but some people crowd around the garden.
I go in, then use both my hands and some force to pull the sword out of the stone.
I raise the sword above my head and say "I am your king now, people !"
Then I look at the sword. It looks beautiful, with a broad blade and a golden curved hilt.
I say I will now use this sword in my next dreams. I sheathe it on my back.

Then I take some time to return to my body, wait for some dizziness to pass, then wake up and move to my side.

ND#4: Some discussion with my sister V

ND#5: Forgotten

Wake up at 8

I had a lucid dream this night! I did the SSILD method, and after a while fell asleep with a couple of sycles again. Than when I fell asleep, I apleared in the same room again where I'm sleeping, but than with a different layout, and bigger than our house normally is.

The dream wasn't super vivid at the beginning, and I could wake up pretty fast if am not careful in the dream. I did a nose RC to be sure it is a dream, and it was! I was really happy but tried to stabalize the dream to shout "stabalize!" but it didn't work very well... So I tried to spin, and that worked a little better. It was like I really was awake. Now, it was night, and I wanted to make it day. My mom woke up in my dream, and suddenly my father was there too. I said to them that I was dreaming, and I can control this if I believe in it. So I shouted, "light!!!!!" "make it day!!" at first it didn't work. So I tried the switches from my bedroom to turn the lights on, but that didn't work either. So I tried to believe more in my control, and shouted again to make it day, and that worked finally. It became a sunny day

I did a RC again, to prove that it really is a dream...becaus it's so hard to get a ld, and now I am here, just standing in a dream! I tried to keep myself aware that am dreaming, so that I don't forget it. My dream was not stable at some time, so thought of some stabalize methods I read at dreamviews. Someone said to crawl. So I tried that, but it became even more blurry. Almost waking up like. I didn't want that. So shouted, "stabalize!" again, and spinned. It was luckily more vivid. I opened my bedroom door, and saw that the wooden floor whom is normally darkbrown, turned in lightbrown. The corridor became much bigger... Our house has became bigger. It was really cool I tried to change my appearance, but that didn't work lol. So I decided to try it again later. I suddenly walked into a hairdresser, and decided to cute my hair a little there. After that, there were some weird men. Me and my sister read some weird documents, and it was probably forbidden to read them, because it where secrets. My sister continued to read them, while I already saw some shady people walking towards us. I tried to get my sister to flee with me, but she continued to read them, and it was already too late to run. They already stood before us. They took the documents from my sister's hands, and took them with them. They looked at me a bit scaryxD but I decided to leave that, and walked away with my sister.
At the end of the dream, I wanted to try flying, because I am really difficult with it. I never manage to fly. Even though other people could. So in the living room, I practiced flying. My sister sat, and watched me. I jumped and it didn't work so well. (is it really, because I find it hard to believe? But if I can turn night into day, tan I can also fly. So I believed in it as much as I could, like I did with my other things, and jumped in the air. I could fly a little, but floated pretty fast to the ground. Maybe I have to think of happiness, and a lot of believe, and than I can fly? Peter Pan said so in the movie... So I thought of a lot of things that makes me happy, and believed in it. It worked! I could fly, but....I soon woke up after I managed to fly, and it was already morning at that.

It was a fun experience, and I hope to do more in my dreams!!!❤❤❤❤❤
I defenitely try SSILD again.

Ritual: After a year or so of initial successes with galantamine, back in 2010–11, it had stopped working very well for me to the point where I hardly ever use it anymore. But last night after going to bed late (around 3am) and waking up just before dawn, I still felt heavy enough with sleep that I thought I might give it a shot. (Galantamine is a stimulant, so the main risk is not being able to get back to sleep.) I took one of the red pills from a bottle of "Dream Leaf," which I had nearly given up on since it had never worked for me before, possibly because I only tried it long after I had gotten "over" galantamine. I know the red pills contain galantamine from the distinctive effects, but I must say that it greatly bothers me that this supplement neglects to identify the presence of galantamine on the label, or even on their website, much less clarify the actual dosage. In fact, I would go so far as to call this obfuscation shamefully irresponsible and borderline criminal. Galantamine is a powerful substance that should never be given to people without their knowledge. So for ethical reasons I dislike this particular supplement and definitely would not recommend it, but galantamine is galantamine, and on this occasion it actually worked. Woke and wrote at 9, so I'm a bit underslept with a slight galantamine hangover, but it's been so long since I've had this sensation that I'm almost enjoying it.

I've always found galantamine dreams a bit superficial, but that's not always a bad thing. My recent attempts to force dream events to unfold in a detailed and realistic way, in the name of quality, often prove counter-productive. Sometimes a little "cowboying" is necessary to get the job done, especially in the inherent instability of the dream environment. So tonight's dreams were ultimately successful, but not exactly Masterpiece Theatre.

WILD, "Fading Gift": I was lying on my back in bed, and recognized I was in dream even as I started making elaborate sweeping gestures with my hands, but continued gesturing for a while to increase my sense of motor control. At one point I closed my eyes and scratched my scalp, and I was amazed that the sensations felt exactly like like waking life. "I am the dreamer," I murmured a few times, as if to fix the idea in mind.

I recalled how often I make unnecessary difficulties for myself at this transitional stage and told myself that if I was already dreaming, I didn't need a ton of preamble before getting out of bed—I should just get up. So I did, and it was fine. I've really been wanting to do the "finding a leftover present" TOTM, so I started looking around the room. (As has become typical lately, the room did not resemble my bedroom in WL.) I looked under the dresser, on the table... nothing so far. I felt a slight contradiction in my mental outlook: on the one hand, the best way to find the present would be to expect or even to will it to be there, but on the other hand, since it was a present I wanted to be surprised rather than force the issue. So I allowed myself only a vague expectation and kept looking. I found a wooden cabinet much like the one in my office and when I opened the door there were a few presents on the middle shelf. The first two I noticed, very small objects, I rejected as not quite right. Although they were loosely covered in wrapping, it wasn't taped down, so it looked like they had already been opened and then put back.

I kept looking and on the left side of the shelf was the perfect gift: a wide cylinder about six inches high wrapped in red and white paper with a red ribbon rising vertically on four sides to form a neat bow at the top. The paper looked familiar at first so I studied it for a moment, but it was not any pattern I've seen before. It consisted of thin white lines on a red background, but they were awkwardly curving and abstract, like an elaborate doodle.

Just as I started to open the present, I felt the dream begin to fade. I moved quickly, trying to open the box in the little time I had left. When the top came off, I plunged in my hand and felt... tissue paper. I was almost awake now, and as I reached past the tissue paper I felt like I crossed that indiscernable border between dreaming and waking consciousness. Or maybe it is not so indiscernible: what had just disappeared was my sense of touch, without which the dream had lost its tangibility. Vision lingered a little longer, and I saw my hand pull out a thick gold chain the length of a necklace, sparsely ornamented with tiny flowers that were each composed of four thin petals of white enamel. I was dissatisfied, however, not only with the gift itself (I don't care much for jewelry and this was definitely not my style), but with the fact that the dream was fading so fast that I couldn't determine to what extent dream imagination or waking imagination (not that I clearly understand the difference!) had determined the nature of the gift.

I went back to sleep, resolving to try to get lucid again and complete the task in a more satisfactory way.

DILD, "Elephant Ride": I was lying in bed but felt uncomfortable, realized I was still wearing day clothes, including a bra. Ugh, had I passed out last night? As I removed it, I noticed it was a lacy underwire thing that didn't even look familiar. I wanted to get back to sleep but the television was on loudly, so I tried to find the remote to turn it off. There were four or five remotes on top of the dresser, and I pressed the power button on all of them but nothing worked. On a couple, the image would cut out as though it were turning off but then come right back, and other remotes had no effect at all. Fine, I'll pull the damn plug, I thought grumpily, but the TV was mounted on the wall and on closer inspection it seems the wiring was concealed behind the wall. I settled for muting the volume (at least that worked) and turning the screen to the side, which accomplished little but expressed my annoyance with the device. [Possible source: I just got back from visiting my mom, where the TV was on loudly in the mornings, making it hard to read or work.]

I headed back toward the bed, but suddenly realized I must be dreaming. That would explain the difficulty I just had with the televisions, at least! And with the realization came the memory of my earlier lucid episode and my dissatisfaction with the TOTM I had attempted. I was pleased with the chance to try again.

Looking around, I soon spotted a wrapped gift on the bedside table. It was a small square box, around two inches wide and one inch high, made of that shiny gold cardboard that is common in gift boxes, and wrapped with a red ribbon. I started to untie the ribbon and realized that I was wearing gloves. At first I thought it an oddity, but quickly understood that it was just the dream's way of representing the slight awkwardness I felt in my fingers as I tried to complete this fine motor activity. I considered pulling off the gloves but recognized that it would just be a pointless waste of time, and decided instead to ignore them. At least they were thin gloves, and didn't impede me that much in my attempt to open the box. By the time it was open, they were gone.

This time I was very pleased with what I found in the box. It looked like a single confection of some sort. "Perfect, I love food!" I thought to myself happily. I pulled it out and looked it over. It was not very distinguished in shape, light brown in color and vaguely round, but a bit lumpy. There was a darker spot in the center like a piece of chocolate. [Possible source: I've been eating my mother's Christmas cookies, which have a spot of apricot jam covered with chocolate in the center. They have a much firmer texture overall than this one did, though.] The surface was dry but felt a bit pliant between my fingers, a sort of rubbery texture.

I bit into the confection and found the mouthfeel similar to what the outer texture had led me to anticipate. There was just the hint of a thin crust, and then the inside was soft but chewy. It reminded me of mochi but was firmer and easier to chew. At this point I was analyzing it with the idea of possibly attempting to recreate it in waking life. I knew that it would have to be based on glutinous rice flour. However, the overall taste was lightly chocolatey and fruity. I looked where I had bitten and distinctly saw raisins, both black and gold. There were also pieces of another fruit that was harder to identify. It had faint striations that reminded me of the fresh jackfruit I had eaten last night in WL (so that was probably the source), but this had the texture of a dried fruit. Can jackfruit be dried and baked into cookies? I couldn't say. If not, I thought that dried apricot might work just as well. The taste could have been either; it was hard to tell with all the other flavors going on. I finished the confection and found it very satisfying. If I ever do manage to recreate something like this, I'll have to post the recipe here!

I felt that I had now completed the TOTM satisfactorily, so what next? I looked around the room, and wondered if I should just leave through the door and go exploring. But somehow that is never very satisfying; I usually get better results when I am pursuing a specific idea of some sort, even when the results are not what I expected. The dream felt reasonably stable, so I wondered if I might attempt one of the TOTYs. I recalled the "riding" theme, but unfortunately, I hadn't looked at the list lately and couldn't remember the specifics very well. There was a window here... maybe I could summon a bird and ride it through the night sky? That sounded fun, but I didn't think it was on the list. The only one I could clearly remember was the elephant ride, because my studies have given me such a distinct impression of how elephants were used in battle in pre-modern Siam. I had always planned to try that one, but how do I get from my dream bedroom to pre-modern Siam?

I tried to remember the transportation spell from Harry Potter, but the command wasn't coming to me. All I could recall was "flue" something, and anyway there were no fireplaces in this bedroom (unlike my WL bedroom, which does have one!) I decided my best bet was probably the window. I knew you needed to mount an elephant from someplace high, so if I could summon one over, I could probably just descend from the window directly to its back. Then once I was on the elephant, it would be easier to get to Siam. On the way to the window, I felt impelled to opened the middle drawer of the dresser as I walked past. It was nearly empty, with just a few stray pieces of clothing... but in the far right corner was the gleam of gold. It was a pile of chocolate coins! You know the ones, disks of chocolate wrapped in gold foil stamped like currency. These were a few different sizes. I realized these might come in handy if I ended up having to buy the elephant, so I grabbed a handful and put them in my pocket.

I opened the window and felt the cool night air. The window was on the second storey, as I had anticipated, but looking out, I actually recognized that this looked nothing like my house. To the left, I could see a garage door extending perpendicularly to the wall my window was in. The house appeared to be painted beige. Across the driveway, which ran next to this wall to meet the garage, there was a wide grassy yard bordered by trees. I looked up at the night sky above the trees to see if there were any familiar constellations, and immediate recognized Orion. Of course... it seems anywhere I go, I see Orion, even in a dream. He was at an angle, almost on his side, just over the treetops... but not exactly the same in WL. At first I counted four stars in his belt, instead of the usual three. The more I looked at it, the more stars accumulated, but only in certain areas, so pretty soon Orion appeared to be wearing not only a belt, but also a brassiere, which amused me, and a crown. The crown had spikes pointing upward, like the common representation of crowns in modern iconography, but matching spikes adorned the brassiere and belt. At this point the whole shape of the constellation was getting a bit thin and stretched, and while I'm sure these transformations could go on indefinitely, right now I needed an elephant.

I knew my husband was in the next room, probably working, and even though I suspected this was dream logic, I hesitated to shout lest I annoy him. (Though I suppose it is still reasonable not to want to annoy the dream husband.) So I tried to summon the elephant quietly. Nothing happened. After trying for a bit without results, I decided to take a more dramatic approach. I stepped through the window and jumped, setting my intention for there to be an elephant down there, so I could land on its back.

There wasn't. But the results were promising nonetheless... from unconstructed dream space, I managed to conjure something plausibly like the interior of a palace in Siam. It was a bit of a hack job, without much detail, and I confess the throne was far too low (must not have been the formal audience hall), but it was sufficient for my purposes. There were various ministers standing around (another embarrassingly inaccurate detail; no courtiers would stand in the presence of the king in early nineteenth-century Siam! Good gracious!) and the king was on the throne, but a bit vague. My initial impression was that he resembled the recently deceased Rama IX, but that troubled me because I was going for an earlier era. I tried to make him look more like Rama III, but it wasn't working very well, so in the end I just didn't look too closely. At any rate, the king was vague enough that he didn't quibble when I handed over my handful of chocolate coins and requested an elephant. I didn't feel like getting into complex negotiations; I just allowed myself assume the success of the transaction and walked away.

As I exited the interior of the palace and momentarily noticed the bright sunlight reflecting off the whitewashed arch of the doorway, I felt a flash of familiarity. Of course, I thought to myself, This must be the Grand Palace, I've been here a few times. I let my memory conjure something akin to the elephant-mounting station I remembered observing there, and walked over to it. There was no elephant there presently, so I waited for someone to bring it around... and started getting impatient. No one seemed to be doing much, or paying attention to my repeated request. They must not understand English, I considered. I'll have to try it in Thai.

"Chang!" I shouted, the Thai word for elephant. "Ma nee!" I realized how rude I must sound: while "ma nee" would probably be correctly understood as "come here," or, given the contextual clues, "bring it here" as I had intended, it was a terribly rough and simple way of speaking. It was the sort of thing you might say to call a dog. I hadn't even appended a perfunctory "kha" at the end. But then I started wondering what level of politeness would be proper in this situation. I was in the palace, which made things more difficult, because royal Thai is another ballgame altogether. But what was my own social standing here? In speaking roughly I was assuming a great deal of authority... maybe that was not so bad in this situation. Fortunately, I saw my elephant being brought around before I was able to go too deep down the rabbit hole of Thai honorifics.

It was a disappointing elephant, by any standards... not only small but kind of flabby and soft, a cartoonish cross between a real baby elephant and Dumbo. Moreover it was completely unadorned, with no harness or howdah. I momentarily wondered if the lack was due to an inadequate mental impression of what a howdah should look like? But no, I could picture it clearly enough in my imagination... it just wasn't on the elephant. I guess that's what I get for being rude to the staff. To add insult to injury, they didn't even properly lead the elephant to the mounting station—though it was probably too small to get on from there anyway—they just dumped it on the stairs, where it crumpled over weakly. On the bright side, this made it easy to clamber up on its neck, so I did so and prepared to forge on.

I knew I had to enter a battle, so we promptly exited the city. I had thought to do this properly on a magnificent war elephant with a howdah and a driver and four soldiers to guard the legs—I've seen plenty of paintings and movies of proper war elephants in action—but instead I was alone, bareback with no weapon, on the most pathetic elephant I've ever seen. But at least in dream there was no risk of actually falling in battle, so I figured I could make do.

We had barely gone past the city walls when I saw the invaders approaching from the jungle. That wasn't much of a stretch; it seemed like Ayutthaya was always under attack. (I had originally envisioned myself in Bangkok, but had already slipped back to an earlier era more appropriate for elephant combat). The invaders were on horseback, I noticed, and I was relieved to see that they were only coming in ones and twos, given that I was going to have to take them on alone. They had long black hair and Asian features, and naturally I assumed that they were Burmese... until I got close enough to swing at one and saw the pointed ears. Elves?! Last night I was playing Witcher II and Pillars of Eternity, and the portrait of Aloth in the latter game closely resembled these invaders, but I wasn't sure why they were showing up here. Also, I'm fond of elves and felt loathe to fight them. Fortunately, our combat was more play-acting than anything. I had a good mental image of the kind of long-handled glaive I should be wielding, but though I swung it toward the elves and they gamely mimed being struck, the weapon did not visibly appear in my hands—and I was thankful that it drew no blood.

So I marched forward on my pathetic elephant, going through the motions of bashing the elves (elves?!) with my invisible glaive, while they went through the motions of being knocked aside, until the jungle started to coalesce into a new kind of space, a kind of wide passage under an increasingly low ceiling. The texture of the ceiling interested me, and from my position atop the elephant I could reach up and just touch it. It was covered with a kind of thick cloth, like a yellowish patterned felt, and I reached into the seams between two pieces and felt something hard and smooth. I pulled it out and found an object streaked with yellow and brown that resembled a wild bird's egg, but it was too hard and irregular, so I thought it must be a stone. I slipped it into my pocket. The felt overhead was gaping at the seams so I grabbed it and tore it off, revealing a kind of wide hatch with a knob for a handle. I wondered what it might be concealing so I pulled it open... and found the dream space deconstructing, muffling me in a soft blankety texture. Instinctively I tried to protect myself by putting the stone I had just found in my mouth, but I was still being enveloped in the stuff. I tried to pull at it with my hands, and as my fingers sank into it I was struck by the familiarity of the texture, like coarse sheep's wool—not the clean feel of a fleece, but the dirty, oily texture it has when it is still on the sheep. That was the last thing I felt before waking.

11-Jan-2017 - ND#1: Hawks vs Antelopes, The worrisome hotel + WILD: Lilliput Theater, Plane flight + ND#2: Car slides on ice

ND#1: I am travelling with my colleague L, through an area with red/brownish dirt hills; he tells me some hawks and antelopes have been fighting here (!!!) Some hawks have taken antelopes away, some antelopes have ground hawks (!!!) At one time I get off the car and pick the body of a hawk; it breaks down in my hands (!!!)
I wonder if this makes any sense or it could be a dream. I look at the digital clock in my car, and it consistently reads the same time 21:12, then 21:13 after many checks. The rest of the cockpit also looks good. I find it strange that it should be dark but it's fully day, but I attribute that to not adjusting the clock properly after last reset. Near miss, but I am more aware the rest of the dream, very good recall

I reach an hotel; I look for restrooms, find them in a floor below ground level after many poorly lit corridors with several turns.
First restrooms I find are not good enough, I find a second one. They look dark, but when I approach the orinal, I also notice two steel carts with corpses on them (!!!) I read these are the "Halls of the Dead". I do my business very quickly and go away, the place looks unsettling

I find an elevator, I ask to a woman passing there if this will take me to the lobby, she says "Of course !", showing a convincing body language that says "Why do you even ask ? It's totally obvious"
I reach a salon which looks like a lobby and bar, there are many round tables, many women sitting there, some wear old-fashioned clothes (19th century maybe)
I notice a girl very shabby looking, brown skin, sitting in such a way that some parts that should be hidden are visible instead (!!!)
None of them seem caring I am there or having an intention to interact.
I make another tour of the salon then go away. I wake up, it's 4:30 AM

WBTB/WILD#1: (4:30AM, est. ~30min over 1 hr of time)
I start from previous dream. I find two more corpses in a dark corridor; For a moment I think about investigating, but immediately abandon the idea
At the end of a corridor I reach a theater with many chairs. I proceed beyond the curtains
I lay on the floor and imagine myself tied up by ropes, which happens. Around me appear many small men, mostly wearing gnome-like hats
<JUMP>
I have troubles reaching outside, I always find another wall or floor. When I succeed, I fly up on the landscape, until I find a small airport.
I land, there is a small old plane, with only a central propeller. I sit inside, clicl buttons in the cockpit, then draw the cloche towards me and take off. I fly above the scenery, which unfortunately is not very interesting, trees and hills.

When I try some tight air tricks I cannot pull them off. However, large maneuvers work fine
After some time I see another small airport below me. I make an appropriate wide maneuver to line up with the runway.
When I get very close I remember the final part of the task was not actually landing but opening a time breach
I act very quickly. The time breach opens in front of me, consisting of a "hole" in the reality, covered by a cloth with many stamped analog clocks of varying size. Oh well !
I fly inside the hole with the plane
I immediately find myself grounded, in a field with many plants from PvsZ, mostly green peashooters, tall about same as me.

From there I walk away and visit more places, houses and shops, trying to find a Christmas tree and some forgotten presents for TotM
Last house I visit, owned by a bearded guy, has a Xmas tree, but no presents

More short fragments, forgotten

ND#2: Recalled while driving, by a strong sense of deja-vu

I am driving my car, A and G are passengers. We've just got out of a place we've been for a whole day (FDM)
The road is covered with ice, and when I carelessly drive at normal speed, the car slides forward
My passengers don't seem too worried.
I break and the car keeps sliding, then reducing gear and accelerating I recover the car
I make a U-turn and drive in the opposite direction, finding the place where I had slid earlier
I say after such long time inside I thought the ice had melted

Apparently, the queen is moving next door. And her estate.
I check next door, and a huge beautiful estate is there dreamily. I stare in absolute awe. I some how 'zoom in' and I am in the queen's bedroom. The queen mother and father lie there. The king is about to die. He hands the queen a red battered book, and dies. The queen mother looks like the 50 year old queen, but the queen herself looks 90. The queen mother gets out and proclaims, 'I shall never despair! I am the Queen Mother!'

WBTB

I am moving to New Zealand, and my home is being emptied. I reach the airport, and there is a grey alien spaceship. I ask myself, 'What am I doing?" I become lucid after approx 5 reality checks. I remember the other tasks, but the dream is too fragile. I touch the ground to attempt to increase vividness, but to not much effect. I see the spaceship, and remember advanced ii and hop on. The interior is like a passenger planes, but the ceiling is glass and see-through. The seats are a vanilla colour, and the controls look relatively easy. I fly it, encountering a few obstacles, which I MAY type up. I land easily, and I am in New Zealand. Out of sheer exhaustion, I vizualize losing lucidity.

DEiILD/WILD after natural awakening

OBE style exit. Get out of bed, open my room stores and window and jump while watching my hands to keep senses engaged.

I arrive at the 0 floor and find an open hall. I enter it while still trying to stabilize and deepen my senses. I try to remember TOTM and the first i decide because i think it will be easiest is to find the christhmas present.
So, as i turn back i see a christhmas pine and the present in a red wood box.
I open with and there's another red box inside, something like the marioskas. Some impatience arises, as i find this will become an infinite regression lol. The last box had only, yeah, ahh... money. The coins i have saved during the year or so, you know the coins with the lowest value we carry in the pockets and gather at the end of the day, don't know how it is called in English.

Then, i go outside and begin singing that i am lucid and don't give a fuck what dream characters think, then faded and could not DEILD

6-Jan-2017 - ND#2: CD duplicate for dad - WILD: Gangster, Massage, Draw a dove, Engine-less Ferrari - ND#3: V.completes puzzles

ND#1: Forgotten

ND#2: My dad listens to a CD very often, he fears he could ruin it. I tell him they are very resistant, they can last decades if well kept, but suggest him to make a duplicate and listen to the duplicate, we can do it on tape or, better, on another CD. He is not very convinced.
Note: Upon reflection, the scene could have taken place at my Grandma's house, now sold (!!!), but I am not totally sure

WBTB/WILD: (7AM, est. ~20-30min)
I do many things while waiting for the dream to stabilize, can't recall most of them because I slept alot after the LD

I am in a city with low buildings and no people around, on a large road, it's fairly dark. I look for a place to get a massage for TotM, in the far corner of this road I see a lighted sign, I walk towards it. Once I get closer, I see the sign has many chinese ideograms, and on the right the italian words for massage. I enter, find a small lobby with seatings and a reception. Behind the desk, a nice girl, to which I ask for a massage, but with strict conditions: it has to be an Asian girl, with beautiful face and a nice body, she has to practice the massage naked. She says no problem, they can provide
I enter a small room, quickly remove all my clothes, lay prone, but my mind cannot easily reconcile it with my real body sleeping supine, so I lay supine in the dream, too
The girl comes in, thy have really respected my wish, she's very beautiful, looking from Thailand with bronzed skin
She massages my legs and I feel the touch on my real legs, it's nice. When she moves to my arms, I don't feel it
After some massage, we take the chance of both being naked to, well, you can probably guess it
<JUMP>
I just exited the building, recall another TotM, stop a passer-by DC, ask him a pencil to draw something. He gives me a yellow pencil, I take a small notebook and draw a dove, with nice shading, its wings spread. After that, I kinda pick it up from the paper, it flies away.
<JUMP>
I am in a city, it's full day, I am dressed like a 30's gangster. I need an information, no one of the people around me knows, I think about asking to the shopkeeper on the opposite side of the street
I launch a grenade inside one of the windows, the shop explodes, I wait a bit, the shopkeeper comes out crawling on the floor
I ask him the question, he answers. I think about TotY, which I need to do again
I turning right into an alley, there is a 30's car, I open the hood and see it has a big engine. I lift it, it's heavy. However, on second thought, I don't like this particular car
<JUMP>
I am in a parking lot. I wander around until I find an intersting car. It's an old Ferrari from the 90's, like the famous Testarossa) , again I open hood, remove its engine, this time I remember to remove wheels, too. I start from front left, I pull it towards me, removing it, the car front hits the ground. Then I remove all the other wheels, and each time the car hits the ground convincingly, until it lays flat on the road

Then I enter it, sit at driving seat, turn the key, the car starts moving very slowly, like a crawl. I wish it to gain speed, and it happens
I am now driving the car fairly fast in San Francisco streets, uphill, then I take a slow and cauotious right turn, then the road goes downhill, the car takes speed, until I find another right turn, I slow the car down, turn right, but the left side bumps the building

ND#3: I am in the dining room, the Xmas tree is misplaced (!), there is my mother-in-law, looking at V, my daughter, playing
She has completed some puzzles, which are laying on the floor close to the Xmas tree. I notice that two of the puzzles show the same image, in yellow and light blue colors, but have different sizes
I move to the kitchen to discuss with my wife how good she is at completing puzzles (my daughter actually likes doing it)

31-Dec-2016 - WILD - Walk in the enchanted forest

WILD: From a portal I reach a forest. The trees are very tall, they have very few leaves, all packed at the top. The trunks are smooth-ish, wide, slightly conic (akin baobabs) and show with many light-blue specks, which glow in the dark (it's night)
After walking some time in there, a tall humanoid alien walks by to my right. It's got blue skin, black hair braids (Avatar-like)
I stop it, it's a female, her name is Athala. I ask her to ride me on her shoulders, which she does without any problem. The sight is nice from up there. We walk some more, we perform some kind of "activity", then no more recall.