task of the month

Total sleep time: 8 hrs

Pre bed: Q10, probiotics, and cup of green tea (no problem falling asleep after yesterday's insomnia)

Other stuff: The guys had a planned event for today morning, so my chances to get some decent sleep and lucid were minimal, and yet...

Recall: As soon as I woke up, so did my bf and realized he's really late, started running around and talking to me as I tried to remember and write down the dreams. Took me a while to finish that.

Dream1: My parents have abandoned our home, and the place is falling apart. I go to the restroom and try flushing, but there is no water. It is because there was a leakage, so they have stopped the water. I wonder why don't they just fix everything instead of leaving it like that. My mom appears and says it is time for us to go.

On our way out we see an older friend of ours and ask her how she is doing. She replies very briefly, so I ask her about her son, I actually say the wrong name, but in the dream that's his name. She then begins a very long story that I don't feel like listening to, and I regret ever asking her. I tell her to send my greetings to him although I could contact him myself.

Soon her son/my friend comes by and we are drinking apple juice. As I pour myself some juice, I notice that there are insects like a dead yellow ladybug and some insect eggs the jug, and decide I won't be having any more juice. My friend is a bit offended that I don't want to drink the juice and we now have to throw it away. I leave the building, he remains to deal with the juice, but will join me later.

I am on the street, I hear music and I see native Americans perform at the end of the street. The come to the front, wearing traditional costumes. I also see some bright spots with different colors about half the size of a person above each of them and assume I am seeing their aura. I enjoy the show, they sing and perform some stunts. When it is over, I notice that I am the only person clapping hands so I feel a bit embarrassed. Why is nobody applauding? I conclude that if you do applaud, you are supposed to leave some money, and as I check my pockets I find that I don't have any.

Dream2: My bf is negotiating with my dad about a place we want to visit. Actually I have not told my dad about this so it gets a bit awkward. We postpone the discussion for another time and my dad is on his way home. He is taking a bus, and I am looking at the back of the bus, expecting to wave goodbye. He finally looks back and I see that he is talking to a friend of his, and there is also some unknown woman that he is friends with.

I suddenly find myself sitting on the backseat of the bus, and two of my friends are also sitting with me there. We propose an explanation that this bus is very spacey, so when we thought we were outside, we actually never left the bus. Ok, but we need to get out, especially that we know that this is a travel bus, and won't be making any stops until it reaches its destination. We go to at least try to inform the driver we need to get off.

As we move forward, we are in some kind of a building, but in our minds, we are still in the bus. Our goal is to reach the reception, so once we reach it, we will be able to leave the bus. The building is very strange, I am looking at some building plan, trying to navigate and find the way out. There are lots of doors and lockers, it looks really puzzling. I remark that everything looks so strange, it almost feels like in a dream. We continue looking around, I see some women working there as janitors and ask them where the reception is, but they can't help us.

One of my friends comes up with the idea that we need to inject ourselves with a time travel serum so we can escape this place. We prepare to do so, we have some syringes, the green time travel serum and start injecting ourselves with it. I get the largest dose, the serum is visible on hands, and our veins get extra green.

I am on some unknown street, and we have succeeded in changing the course of events and going back in time. I look at my fingers and notice that the knuckles have swollen, my fingers are bent in a very painfully looking way. This is strange, but I remember that some portion of the serum was in contact with my skin, which is what have caused this temporary side effect.

I take a brief moment and contemplate about time and what has changed. I look at a clothing store and I see that a guy that used to do something else before we changed time, is now famous and has his own label. I wonder about my memories because things have changed, would I know what has happened. I answer to myself, that I wouldn't but everybody else would have the new memory in place and I will learn what happened just as if I am listening to the news, that way I will get updated.

Dream3 DILD TOTM: I think this directly followed after our time travel. I enter in a room and notice a very old TV of a known brand and something that looks like a retro computer. The brand of the computer is also there, but it doesn't look familiar. I am in uplifted mood and say to some DC friend of mine. "Now we are going to have a look, have some fun reading the brand name and see if it changes". I stare at the logo, try reading it and expect to be normally able to read it.

Instead, I have difficulty focusing on the letters and it finally hits me! I really did not expect to become lucid today, but anyways I am happy about that. Oh right, once again time to concentrate on the tasks. My mind is a bit hazy, so I think I need to set the room for this, looking around for the items I need. I turn way too much and it feels more like spinning than looking around. I expect some mythological creature to just pop up while I do this, and mistakenly to see an egg as well. Nothing of the kind.

I notice at least five DCs sitting down, their backs facing me, as if they are all working on their PCs. I begin shouting, asking them to help me set the room and everything I need. Nobody is paying any attention to me. I become upset at this and finally decide to tell them they are not real. No reaction, their backs are really stiff. I repeat this again as if I am insulting them with those words. Finally, a girl with dark hair and vampire teeth answers back. I can barely hear what she is saying, she repeats it again " Oh, I am bla bla with fear". Bla bla is actually some m-word that does not exist at all. You are what? I ask her again. I repeat the strange m-word a few more times, trying to memorize it. It works but I begin to forget the dream. The vampire girl starts to laugh, and makes me laugh too. Overcame by happiness, I am able to control the DCs in the room and everybody bursts out laughing.

The dream fades and I am back in darkness, in my bed. I feel tired and heavy so no point to DEILD. I want to get up to journal, but fall asleep instead.

Dream4: I am in a classroom, and recognize at least one guy from school there. He is trying to tell me something, pointing at him, then at me. Me and him? No way, I tell him, then I realize that he is just pulling my leg. He continues with this strange stupid behavior and now tries to match a friend of his with another classmate of mine. These guys are crazy... (end)

I wake up, my bf wakes up, the whole world wakes up, and everybody is rushing around as I try to hold my dream memory and write it down. Finally TOTM!

#178 - 4:13AM - WILD/DILD - 1 of 3

I focused on my face and body and fell away very quickly. This WILD was very different as I had no vibrations or OBE like experience. I watch the dream form and find myself standing in the kitchen. I feel really wobbly and the scene variies in darkness and clarity. I lay down on the kitchen counter and wait for the dream to finish forming. That was a bad idea because I fall straight into a false awakening.

The bedroom light comes on and my ex-wife was out of bed. She is holding needles and tubes that look like something from the plasma center. She is totally freaking out and goes on about taking two hydros and a B6. I ask her, "what are you talking about?"
Then she tells me, "I took all of the hydros and I have a drug test in the morning for school."
I feel confused. She's already been through the police academy but I guess she has some other class. I realize the implications of a cop failing a drug test but I am so tired that I just want her to stop whatever she's doing.
As if she was reading my mind she says, "Do you think I like having to do all this?" She holds up the large needles and tubes and continues rambling.
I interrupt her, "Can we just talk about this in the morning?"
Suddenly she stops talking and, while holding my son, gets back into bed.

Seeing her with my son brings me back to lucidity. This is just all wrong and I feel a little sick to think I was still married to her. I remind myself that the woman next to me was not her. I feel very relieved at this and at this point I thought I had really woke up and maybe I did. I'm not sure. I go for DEILD but it seems that it came way too easy. I feel vibrations right away and then quickly fade. I focus on the back of my neck and they come back but only briefly. The transition was so quick that I was fooled by another FA.

I see a light from a TV on in the room. There's a strange half partition with a 'window' next to the bed. On the other side is a large old TV and brown leather couch. My bedroom is so totally different than waking life but I catch on to none of it. All I can think was this messed up my DEILD and I need to turn it off.

I walk over to the TV. Even-though it looks like random words and images I recognize it as stats on my current Galantamine and DMAE levels. I paused at the TV for a moment looking for the remote but it's too dark to see by the light of the TV. Suddenly the lights came on (Thanks dream) and I look around. I see the bed and the lump under the covers on my wifes side. Daisy our dog is perched on top of her. I think about all of this for a second and let out a "Pffft" sound. I fell dumb for falling for this FA so easily. I rub my hands as a reality check. It feels vivid but a little numb like always. Yep that feels right. I open the bed room door and step out. I notice that I am coming out of the wrong side of the house. I can see the living room and the dining area but I am right next to the front door. Suddenly the lights go out. I say to the dream, "Light's please." Nothing happens but I hear a loud shushing sound coming from the table. I turn and find a working light switch. I look at the table but no one is there. I say, "Who's there?" I want to shout and scream and whatever it is but my throat feels blocked.

I am answered by another loud shushing sound but now it's coming from the bedroom behind me. Then the door starts to close and it pushes hard against me. I feel really scared now. "Who's who' who's", is all I can say. I feel like my ability to speak is fading away. I push hard on the door and get it open enough to look behind it but there is no one there. I feel really creeped out. But I'm laying on my right side not my left. I decide to bail rather than let the dream turn into a lucid nightmare and bolt out the front door.

Outside, there is daylight but the sky is overcast and gray. I'm fine with that. At least it's not dark I remember my task to summon Falkor and fly to China. I walk into the street and begin whistling. I try the two finger whistle like a cattle rustler but it sounds like too much air and is faint. I try several different styles of whistles but none of them sound right and I eventually settle on calling him like a dog. "Falkor, come on boy. Faaaallllkor!" I wait with full expectation but I don't see him. I tell myself to keep moving while waiting and calling. I know the dream always fades into something else or I wake up when I am too idle. I look to the southern sky behind me. There is a red star and a wide white streak. I tell myself that that is Falkor and ignore the red star. After a second I see the white streak begin to move like a fish swimming in the sea. I wait with anticipation as I see him begin to take on more detail and slowly work his way toward me. I notice that my feet have become painfully cold. Am I bare foot? No. I remember that I put my feet out of the covers when I rolled over during my WILD. I try to move my feet back in the covers and continue the dream. I feel like I was successful but at that moment, I suddenly and with out warning wake up.

Lucid False Awakening

Last night was the worst sleep I've gotten in months, yet ironically it was my third and longest lucid, and I completed a Task of the Month!

I found myself in a gorgeous ski-lodge/ hotel, made completely with polished redwood and hardwood flooring. I was living there, alone, and my bedroom was bare save a neatly made bed that was only dipped on one side - a subtle hint that I no longer had, or had never had, a girlfriend in this dreamverse. I was a writer, and my study was cluttered with handwritten pages and crumpled failures. Surveying the seen in a relaxed yet depressed mood, I suddenly heard a hiss behind me.

Turning quickly, a found a dead and zombie-like little girl with a red headband hissing and coming towards me. Still calm, I thought, this couldn't really happen, and suddenly my mind fought to gain lucidity, reaching a hazy stabilization. In waking life I was asleep with a nightmask on, and that carried through to my lucidity, making a weird, half-blinded effect. I tried to wipe my eyes, and peel away the mask, but to no avail. The dream began to collapse around me and I woke up. Looking around I saw my girlfriend on the top bunk in a bunkbed next to me, sleep walking and threatening to tumble over the edge. I called out to her several times, yet she still carreened over the edge into my arms. Wait, we are sleeping in the same bed in waking life... This is a false awakening!

I was instantly sucked back into my previous dream, and this time the beautiful red wood lodge with its gorgeous support beams and white trim reappeared. The sensation of whooshing into lucidity was euphoric and unlike anything I've felt in a while. I heard a hiss, and turned to see the little girl back behind me. I told her I didn't have time for her, waved my hand dismissively, and she disappeared. I turned to hear yet another his, and this time it was a floating tiger head. I dismissed this as well, and turned to get my bearings.

I was in the main lobby, with two giant glass skylights. Without thinking, I lifted off the ground and flew out one of them into the air, and landed in the untouched forest outside. My stabalization was still perfect, so I took a moment to remember the tasks of the month. I remembered laying an egg, but then I recalled Ophelia's story about thinking she had pooped herself and I decided to try a different one . As I remembered that the basic one was to tell a DC they were fake/ dreaming/ in a dream, a hefty latino woman came into view on a path that wound its way through the forest. I ran up to her, intent on telling her she was dreaming, but she began to undress.

"Uhm... Anyway, did you know that you're in a dream!"
"Oh shut up!" she grinned, removing more clothes.
"No really, you're a figment of my imagination!"

Still grinning, she ignored me and embraced me, now without pants on. She wasn't beautiful by any means, so I was a bit hesitant.

Luckily, my girlfriend bumped me awake as she turned on her side, and I woke up, totally euphoric, and wrote it all down.


WOOO! SO AMAZING!

Technique: Total sleep time = 8 hours. I was woken up unusually by my Dad coming and asking me if I wanted to play golf. I went back to sleep for a ten minute snooze before waking up to play and had an amazing lucid! I seem to have most of my lucids late in the morning, especially when I am snoozing before I actually get up.

Results: Color Code: RL/Comments - Non Lucid - Lucid

Dream One: Humpty Dumpty

I am in a car driving down town. I remember my Dad had just come over to ask me to golf. How did I get into the car already?

I start to think maybe this could be a dream but I’m not sure. I look around... everything is so realistic and I just can't tell if I am dreaming or not. (I need to remember to RC in these situations!)

I decide that this MUST be a dream because in real life it wouldn't be so difficult for me to tell if I was awake or not. I accept that I am dreaming.

OH NO I think, this is just going to be another short FA so I will probably just wake up in another minute, not really enough time to do anything…

NOOO I WILL NOT WAKE UP! I remembered my technique to engage my senses in the dream to stabilize. I focused everything on the dream, I tried to deny that there was any reality outside of what I was experiencing. I was not afraid of waking up because there was nothing to wake up to, what I am experiencing is RL now. It worked!

The dream stabilized, it became so vivid!

I stop the car and get out in the middle of the road. I was going to yell at someone to see if they were real or not but was afraid I would look stupid (For some reason I am afraid of my DC's judging me. Like they will see me doing something silly and think I am acting foolishly. I need to get over this). Oh well! This is a dream!

I remember I wanted to do the TOTM!!! And I am finally having a stable enough lucid to try them!

I remember the one about telling a DC that this is a dream.

I raise my arms and stop a car, it is a man on his way to work in a suit. I yell at him:

"Your in my dream, this isn’t real!"

He looks at me like I’ve lost my mind.

Oh well... did the task don’t really care about his response.

A man walking across the road grabs my attention. I decide to follow him to keep the plot moving while I am trying to remember the other tasks... I cant remember the other tasks…

He goes into a breakfast dinner. There are some other people in there. I still couldn’t remember the other tasks. This is such a good lucid I could have done an advanced task!

I remember something like I wanted to turn a DC into Humpty Dumbty? And have an adventure with him, was that a TOTM?

Oh yeah! I have to lay an egg! I remember I was going to lay an egg, and then pretend it was Humpty Dumpty and go on an adventure with him!

I reach around me and act like I am wiping my butt and pull out an egg!

I am now holding in my hand an egg I just pulled out of my butt... everyone in the store is looking at me, did you just pull an egg out of your butt?

I decide the egg isn't good enough to turn into Humpty, I look at the DC I followed into the restaurant and yell:

"Bam! you are Humpty Dumpty! ... Nothing changes... BAM!!! You are Humpty Dumbty!"

Oh well not working…

I decide that the egg is going to have to suffice for my Humpty Dumpty and because I am getting board because my dream control isn't working I am going to keep our adventure nice and short.

I hold Humpty up and throw him at the DC who refused to change. It cracks on his face and he falls to the ground wiping egg off of his face.

I decide that is adventure enough. Yay TOTM DONE!!!

Moving on

As I was leaving the dinner I did a restabilize attempt because I wasn’t sure what would happen when I left the building. When I refocused my senses on the dream again I started to have one of those moments when everything because SUPPER HYPER FOCUSED and you spend a bunch of time looking at something that seems amazing in the dream but is just stupid in real life. The grout in the tile started to glow orange and the whole room started to almost, glow, with vividness. I didn’t want to get stuck looking at the dinner, I was ready to move on, so I ran out

I run through the door to get back outside,

I want to try to get to a “real world!” like Hyu!

I wanted to try his teleportation technique of imagining your leaving the world you are in, and going to a new one that is “real”. One of my dream goals is to have a persistent realm with recurring DC characters.

I try to fly upwards to leave this world, nothing. I am firmly planted to the ground.

Oh wait! His technique does not actually involve flying, you just see your conciseness rise out of your body, like an OBE, and fly away.

So I start looking down like I am going to float upwards and see my body bellow me.

It doesn’t work… but I do start flying upwards really fast!

I fly all around for a couple minutes, I am trying to gain altitude to leave this world. I still am trying to teleport.

But I realize I can’t gain any more altitude without a point of reference, so I start expecting to see the whole world bellow me like I was in space.

Dream transition

I don’t know how I got down but I am back outside the dinner still trying to teleport. All I managed to do by trying to concentrate on leaving the dream is to destabilize the plot and I can tell the dream is starting to fade. I try to restabilize again but it doesn’t work.

It kind of felt like I was about to teleport for a while, but I was unsure and my doubt was causing it to fail.

I remember my most important dream goal! I want to meet my dream guide!

I can feel the dream fading quickly now, I yell out:

"DREEEEAAAAAM GUIIIDE!"

And right when the dream is failing I here someone in a car across the parking lot shout back:

“Yes?”

I want to see her! It was a women! I want to see her so bad! But it is dark around her car and she is taken by the instability and the dream fades.

I wake up and can’t believe I just had such a good lucid. I immediately right it down! That stability technique was amazing! This was going to be one of those thirty second FA experiences but I was able to turn it into a full dream!! Go me!

Analysis: Expectations play such a strong roll in dream control for me. Next time I am trying to teleport, rather than focusing on what I am trying to leave I am going to focus on actually going where I am trying to get. Also, after reflecting on it I am sure that if I had been able to meet the "dream guide" that answered me in the parking lot it would have been just another boring DC. I need to change my expectations that when I meet my dream guide they will be smart and act like a "normal" person would!

I am SOOOOO happy that I finally managed to have a decent lucid!

#177 - 5AM - DILD - 2 of 2

I don't quite remember the dream before but it was a sex dream with my wife that turned into a FA where I realize that I am just humping the bed. I don't care it feels good but my face is buried deep in the pillows and I wonder why I can breath. I think that I should be having trouble. I roll over. Check for signs of a wet dream. Clear. I do a nose plug but it fails or I think it fails. I become lucid anyway because I recognize how dream like this all is. I get up and walk into the kitchen. The light is on.

I see someone that looks like my mom in the sun room. She spots me and hides in a dark corner. I think of the task again. I say "Hey. Hey you." She wont come out. I spot a pitcher of water by the sink and I take it up and slash her. Her only reaction is now she has the mop bucket and shes coming around into the kitchen to splash me back.
I laugh at her and say, "You're not real."
She comes into the light and looks like a very creepy version of my mom. She forgets the bucket and answers, "That's insubstantial and inconsequential." She rattles off a bunch of other big words that my dreaming mind didn't catch (I have trouble just trying to remember the first part of that) then says, "My Aunt warned me about you. You're a maniacal energy draining vampire." The dream starts to fade and I need to stabilize. So I follow her suggestions and throw myself on her to suck, not her blood, but her energy. As I do so the dream fades. For a Breif moment is see blue energy entering my mouth as I suck in. Then I bite but not hard enough to draw blood. Then nothing.

I have another false awakening but this time I put more thought into the nose plug. I cleanly blow out and laugh a little to myself. I'm very pleased that I didn't fall for the FA.

This time I walk into the bathroom and through to the other bedroom. I am still having doubts that this is a dream and I pause at the mirror. My face looks blurred and distorted. Ya ok I really am dreaming. I laugh and continue. The door makes a realistic sound and I slowly tiptoe past my sons crib into the living room. That that point I hear him cry out both next to me and in the other room. I for a moment the dream fades and I can feel myself in bed. I focus and wait a second. I feel my feet plant back on the floor and I continue out the front door.

I notice the porch light is on and its dark outside. I run into the street and see a car parked with tail lights lit up. (I forget the other task of finding Falkor and am still hung up on DC's) I shout, "Hey wait!" and run up to the driver side of the car. The dream starts to fade again but I focus on feeling the car and it slowly comes back as I continue with the dream. The window is down and it looks like someone is in the passenger seat but looks really comatose. I feel the driver seat and realize it is empty. Now the dream comes fully back. I can hear music on the radio. The seat is gray fabric and the engine is running. I decide this car is waiting for me and suddenly want to "drive" to China for the TOTY. I excitedly jump in the driver seat and floor it.

I drive around some slightly familiar roads and then the dream starts getting too dark. I try flipping on the brights but it didn't help. I say to the dream. "Clarity please." Nothing. I say with more certainty, "It's daytime."

Suddenly the scene switches to a view of some kids in a back seat riding along in the daytime. I focus and the view come around back to my POV and the road vividly visible in daylight. I don't worry about who's in the back seat. I figure its just more extras. Looking around I notice the terrain had changes significantly. I ask, "Is this China?" At that moment I see some palm trees. Then, I come over a hill and see a surreal scene with mountains coming right up to a beach and a blue ocean. I looks crazy but beautiful. I think, It's the beach maybe I'll do the Australia task. The road ends now and I drive over small hills and through ditches. When I some to sand and water I flip a toggle switch in the car and say, "Boat mode." Now the dream fades buy I can still hear the music on the radio. It's like some electric guitar instrumental but it sounds familiar like a theme song to some old sitcom. I hold on a bit longer and visualize being out on the open sea. It comes into vivid view just for a second and then I am hopelessly wide awake.

I was in a jim. Jumped and did exercises. i don't remember why i knew that its a LD. May be because exercises were easier then in real. I went outdoors. it was foggy, but i saw silhouette of a hill. I erased it and fog went to its place. Only few trees was on its place. I turned around and saw other mountain. i erased it too. Then i erased multistory building. I was proud of myself. It was real goal! Then i remembered about additional task of the month. I'm good at beheading, so i desided to cut my head. I went to construction site, found a projector - it gave my shadow on the wall. In fact when i became to think about the shadow i immediately had it. I looked at my shadow and it became a mirrow, so i looked at myself. I draw a line on my neck - tried to move my head - nothing. I pushed a button on the neck and put off my head. i had it in my hands and looked at my face with open eyes and absolutely natural Then i put my head on my neck back and as i didn't remember any tasks - went to the real.

Ok. I was floored by this. But first, my routine. I went to bed a little after 1am (bad I know, but I knew I could sleep in). And I had my mind on the lay and egg TOTM for days now. Woke up at 7am for the kids, then it took me at least an hour to get back to sleep. I woke up again, then fell asleep again. As I did, I thought about that egg..

I drifted off, and was suddenly aware that I was at work, in the PFDS department. I saw a woman walk up to me, and it hit me that I had just fallen asleep like 2 seconds ago. (note: This is happening to me more and more lately. Instead of WILDing seamlessly from awake to lucid dream, I'm losing my awareness for a few seconds, while the dream forms itself, then I quickly realize that I was just falling asleep in my bed a few seconds ago. No vibrations or HH that I'm aware of. Just a super quick DILD. No complaints.)

Anyway, I fell the dream slip a little upon awareness, so I just focus on the woman coming up to me which helps. The lay an egg task bursts into my mind, so I ask her point blank, "Hey, wanna watch me lay an egg?" She stops and says, "Ok..?" I pull my pants down just to my knees and squat. I push but not too hard (some of you members brought up the accident thing and apparently it crept into my dream, spanks a heap!).

But then I suddenly woke up (or so I thought). I was lying on the bed on my side, facing Danny, and I felt my pants fill up with something warm. Oh shit. I said "Oh no, I just tried the egg task and I think I crapped myself!" I told Danny. He laughed and said he didn't even want to know. I felt so embarrassed, but at the same time, it didn't really feel like poop in my pants. More like, wadded up cloth. So I reached down the back of my pants and felt what seemed to be some wadded up material. I pulled it out and it was a purple t-shirt with Disney characters on the front, dressed in Halloween costumes. At this moment, I believed that I had somehow carried something from my dream into reality. Danny asked me what the hell it was. I just said forget it and tossed the shirt onto the floor, feeling really confused. But then he got up and took it, and when I asked what he did with it, he said he threw it "over the ledge." Ledge, what ledge? Suddenly he was a black man, WEARING the shirt I had just laid. And our bed was suddenly a table with weird food all over it, that I was furiously trying to sort through. All this confusion finally reached a hilt and I questioned my reality.

I'm still fucking dreaming. I pooped a shirt but it was still in the dream! I looked at black Danny, and the second basic task popped into my head:

Me: Hey, I'm dreaming and you're a character in my-
Him: SHUT UP!!!!!
Me: Heh, ok you're a dream character and this is MY-
Him: No YOU'RE A DREAM CHARACTER!!!!!!
Me: No, YOU are a character in MY dream dumbass
Him: *pinches the spot where his nose meets his forehead, as if he has a horrible headache*
Me: Careful, this is where my DCs' heads usually explode. *I makes gesture with my hands of an exploding head*
Him: *jolts in surprise, but head doesn't explode*
Me: Hehee, keep the shirt*

Ok there's more, stay with me folks. I walked away, and got to this "ledge", which was an open stairwell like in a mall. As I was just about to descend, a few guys were coming up the stairs. The one in front looked like a young Baldwin - extremely delicious. The two behind him said something to the effect of "Yeah, he's new, and is the guy in charge now." I just grabbed his shirt and pulled him into a kiss. I could tell he was inexperienced, which just made him hotter. We were making out hard, and it was like the rest of the dream environment was gone except for him. He just seemed so hungry for this, which was such a huge turn on.

Spoiler for WARNING: sexually explicit:

It wasn't long before I unbuttoned his pants, ripped my own off, and began banging him on the stairs. The kissing was incredible, incredible incredible... I couldn't get enough! In a few moments, we were on soft, silky grass outside, sparking in the sun. But I was getting really really bored wtf! So I asked him if he wanted to turn over and try it another way. So he turned over on his belly and I switched to a dude. But he vanished. This ticked me off because I was a dude, and pretty hard too. So I grabbed the first DC near me, who was a really pretty blonde woman with long curly hair. I turned her over and starting doing her, but again... nothing. I felt nothing. I got up and started wandering around, remarking on how this dream was pretty long for a lucid. I didn't think about any more goals, I just wanted to wake up.

Spoiler for WARNING: sexually explicit:

So I did.

* I didn't really say "Keep the shirt" but I wish I had! I thought it added to the humor.

This WILD was amazing. Very vivid and realistic, rich content, successful summoning, and a Task of the Month success (plus a failure.) Forgive the length of this entry, but the dream was 25-30 minutes, and a lot happened! (Edit: After further review... best LD ever.)

Color legend: Non-dream Dream Lucid

Lucid #90: The Night of the Weredog

I experience a sharp transition that feels like a short fall face-first onto a paved surface. My arms are splayed out over my head and I can't move. I can see just a bit and it looks like I'm on a basketball court at night, but I'm afraid to open my eyes more to look around.

I'm totally paralyzed. I'm conscious and aware but for some reason can't move, and I think I'm experiencing something similar to REM atonia. I know it's all in my head, though, so I start peeling my dream-arms out of this fake physical body by rotating them forward into the ground using thought rather than my muscles. It takes a little effort, but eventually I feel this set of "dream-arms" separate out and move independently. Soon the rest of my dream-body follows and I'm able to exit completely and get to my feet.

It is a basketball court -- four of them in fact, all arranged together in one giant rectangle. I'm alone on this court but teenagers are playing small, informal games on the other courts. The courts are surrounded by concrete stands and a metal railing. For fun, I stunt-jump off of the metal railing and land back on the court, then see Wife approaching out of the darkness. She's dressed for bed and looks groggy. "You're still up?" she says. "Shouldn't you get to bed?"

"Shhh, it's okay," I say. "Go back to sleep. I'm having one of my dreams." She nods, yawns, and wanders off into the darkness. False awakening averted.

I roam around the basketball court for a while before regaining focus on my goals for the dream -- summon NewArtemis and have her do the werewolf tranformation for Advanced Task of the Month. I put my right hand out for the handshake summon and look away, pointing my gaze over my left shoulder. I don't feel anything at first, but I'm relaxed about it. I know it'll work if I just give it time. I imagine the sensation of a hand pressing into my palm, and then slowly, vaguely it takes shape. After a few moments, I give the "hand" a squeeze and it squeezes back.

Without looking, I check for a forearm, probing all the way up to the elbow. "[NewArtemis], is that you?"

"Hey! Yeah I'm here!" Cool, I think, but I want to be sure the summon's really solid before I look. I check the DC's arm -- quite thin, but it's there. I reach her shoulder and I'm a little worried when it just feels like bare skin.

"So before I look... uh, what's the story with your clothing situation?"

"It's fine, I'm dressed!" she says. "Come on, quit worrying so much!"

Slowly, I turn to look. I'm shocked to see that I'm shaking hands with a short, middle-aged woman in a blue business suit. There's about a half second of sudden blackness and then a hard scene transition -- now I'm shaking hands with NewArtemis (no longer the businesswoman and back to her usual DC appearance) on some beachside boardwalk at night. Success! "Told you!" she crows. "Let's go!" She sprints past a burly, mustachioed man eating an ice cream cone, heading toward the sand. I follow, flying to keep up.

As she reaches the beach sand, she notices that I'm flying. She looks annoyed. "You know, I can't seem to get my flying to work right now." I notice that I'm unable to fly more than a few feet off of the ground. I try a Hulk jump and can only manage a measly 20 feet or so. Seeing this, she tries a Hulk jump of her own and manages about 50 feet. "Ha!"

There are some dunes along the shore and we practice competitively Hulk jumping up and down the dunes as we continue along the water. After doing this for a bit, we come to a long line of black-robed cultists standing at the top of a dune in a long series of rows, torches in hand. They're droning and chanting, obviously in the middle of performing some dark ritual. There are probably 50 of them in total and I think that this looks like a perfect place to go for the "mythical creature" Task of the Month. "[NewArtemis]! Do your werewolf transformation! These guys are just begging to get eaten by a werewolf."



She looks doubtful. "I'm not so sure," she says. "Isn't this just a bunch of college kids doing a fraternity initiation?"

Just as she says this, one of the "evil acolytes" flips his hood back. He's a friendly-looking blonde guy with a goofy smile. "Hey guys! Sorry if we freaked you out! We're just a bunch of college kids doing a fraternity initiation!" (He uses her precise wording.)

I sigh. We continue for a little while longer, coming to a well-lit swimming pool. "Maybe we should go ahead now and do your werewolf transformation while we're thinking about it," I suggest, and the moment I say this, she changes fast into a big, black dog, bounds ahead of me, and leaps joyfully into the pool! She splashes playfully in the pool for a while, panting and grinning.



But as she kicks up more water, the playful splashing turns into thrashing and now the black dog has turned into my 3-year-old son and he's sinking fast. I'm still aware that it's a dream so even though I badly want to pull him out of the water, I don't feel as freaked out as I would in waking life. I dive into the pool and even underwater I can hear my son calling to me. I can see and breathe without any trouble and I swim to the bottom of the pool, scoop him up, then fly back out of the water, landing poolside to tend to him. He seems unharmed and the moment I set him down, he runs off into a nearby grotto.

I follow my son into the grotto, a low-ceilinged cave with a shallow pool of water, partially bricked walls, and some form of dim light that reflects off the water and plays across the cave ceiling. I find that my son E has changed back into NewArtemis in human form. "Sorry about the pool thing, man," Art says, rolling her eyes. "Hey, do Task of the Month on these DCs!" She gestures at a family of tourists that are exploring the grotto. (The task is to tell a DC they're not real and see their reaction.)

I'm impressed that she reminded me of this. "Good idea! Hey kid," I say, addressing a boy of about 11, "you're not real."

"Nuh-uhh..." the kid counters, looking cross and uncomfortable. Okay, that should be good for a Basic completion, but I'm looking for more.

Now I address a bearded man in his mid-60s, who I assume is the boy's grandfather. "You're not real. This is all happening inside my dream."

"Nonsense," the grandfather says, "you're not real. I'll prove it." He flicks me on the left arm, looking proud of himself. I counterargue by levitating him a couple of feet off of the ground and setting him back down. He blubbers for a moment, then looks off at one of the cave walls, mentally processing this existential crisis. I feel a little bad for him.

"[NewArtemis], you should do this too, get those Basic wings," I say, only partly joking. She doesn't respond, and when I look over, she's changed into a man in his late 20s, short-haired, prematurely balding, and slumped against the wall in fatigue. He mumbles something about how long the dream has been and how tired it's made him. I throw the guy over my shoulder and carry him out of the grotto. When I set him down outside, he's turned back into a tired-looking NewArtemis. "Are you okay?" I ask. She says that she is, but everything has started to feel wobbly and unstable.

Suddenly, the whole scene rocks and something pitches us forward. We both yelp and I fall flat on my face, my hands flailing out in front of me. I'm semi-paralyzed and the scene has gone dark, but I've managed to grab onto NewArtemis' left ankle where it feels like she's wearing some kind of thick winter sock. There's a loud rumbling in the background that sounds like an earthquake. "I can still move!" yells NewArtemis over the noise and she drags me slowly forward across some kind of rough gravel. My face is smashed down into the gravel so I can't respond. She keeps hauling us forward for about 15 more seconds before the scene collapses into...

...a false awakening in some unknown house. Mom is here and I excitedly start telling her about the incredible LD that I just had, going over as many details as I can recall. She tells me to keep my voice down -- my son R is sleeping in the next room over. I apologize, continuing the recollection in a softer tone of voice. After a while, this scene fades, too, and I'm awake.

Wow what a night. I woke up at 5am and didn't go back to sleep until after 8am. This may very well be my longest WBTB that led to a successful DILD, not counting the times that I actually GOT UP early, then took a nap later in the day.

Anyway, the first thing I remember is being in a nonlucid where Danny was taking me to work in the morning. We were running just barely ontime, so I was a bit frantic. When I got out of the car, I thought Danny was helping me get some of my stuff out of the trunk, but he just vanished. I was like ffuu thanks alot. So I grabbed everything myself (including my shoes which I hadn't put on yet in the rush). I got to this ramp(?) that led to the bakery. I just dropped everything to the floor, trying to get my bakery garb on. (Oh yeah, and before that, I thought I saw Danny at customer service, but it wasn't him). Anyway, at that moment I realized that I had the wrong shoes. They were my privos instead of my nonslip work shoes. FFuu again. So I got my cell out and was going to call Danny and ask him to go home and get them for me. Then 2 of my bosses came down the ramp and looked at me like "Wft loser" and i just said" OK I'm hurrying, I just gotta find Danny!" They just walked off looking disappointed. I got my cell, and was looking through the contacts. All I remember at this point is massive device failure. I couldn't find Danny in the contacts. Then when I found his name, I couldn't find the call icon. I was suffering over this shit for a few moments, when I thought to myself that this HAS to be a dream. Too much stress and nonsense! The weird thing at this point, was that I didn't "feel" lucid, but I thought I'd try to kick my feel up and do a little low hovering flight, just to test things. And sure enough, it worked! I was weightless. Oh Lord JESUS thank god I'm lucid haha!

I took to flight with all my stuff gathered up in my arms, and was going to fly out the front door and go find Danny at the car maybe. Then I remembered I still hadn't done the food TOTM yet! I looked at the stuff in my arms and realized that there were some groceries there, including a bunch of green onions. I just bit of a huge hunk of the green parts, and they tasted crisp and spicy, just like they should. At this point I thought since I'm at work anyway, and right at the produce section of Whole freaking Foods, I should have a feast! I walked by the fruit stands, and noticed a displaced cookie case that should have been in the bakery. A giant, soft-baked chocolate chip cookie with marshmallow chunks stood right in front. SO I grabbed it.. god, it was still warm. I shoved about half of it into my mouth, and it was heaven. Chocolatey, melty-marshmallowey, ewey gooey warm sweet deliciousness. I started just going glutton all over this cookie, when I noticed it was making the dream unstabilize. I thought of Alyzarin in her recent food lucid (if you're reading this ALy, I owe you one), so I thought to calm down, and shift my focus. This seemed to chill things out. This next part is VERY sexually graphic. You've been warned.

Spoiler for EXTREMELY Mature Content.:

I felt so triumphant, which usually leads to a wave of randiness I reached down and my boy parts grew on command. I hadn't done this in a lucid in a while, so I just belted out "Oh YEAAAAH baby, here I come!" Why am I such a dickhead in lucids when I'm a dude? Anyway, there were a ton of people passing by in the produce section, but no one looked good. I remember specifically a tall, gray-haired old man. Nooo thanks. Then I noticed a young woman with soft curly brown hair in a flower-print dress with a matching purse, sitting on a stack of crates by the apples. She looked pious and virginal. I said something really crude, I can't remember what it was. I'm sure it was something along the lines of "Hey baby wanna f---" Anyway the crate she was sitting on put her hips at about hip level with me. She agreed to have sex with me, so I started unbuttoning my jeans. All the while she was talking to me, saying things like she didn't really know how to do anything, I just ignored her. What happened next was the most vivid lucid sex I have ever had. By vivid, I don't mean really all that pleasurable or satisfying, rather the details and the length and the regular 5 senses were really increased from what I'm used to. I was just going at it, and she would moan when I did extra things, like bite her neck, or when I put her boob in my mouth. I remember feeling like this wasn't really doing much for me, but I just kept going, since the dream and my lucidity was hanging on so well. I would push her upper body back and go faster, then I would pull her back up into an upright sitting position on the crates and go slower, kissing, sucking, giving HER all sorts of pleasure, but my dick just kinda felt numb. I finally felt the dream begin to fade, so I just let it. I basically got what I wanted from the dream, if I wanted to get off I could do that manually irl when I wake up lol.

Key: Notes/Comments Nonlucid Dream
Lucid Dream
I was going to try a WILD, but it was way too loud, so I instead did a MILD with a mantra of "I will realize I am dreaming." I had some REM rebound from lack of sleep from the night before.

Dream 1, Nonlucid Dream

I was in a city like San Francisco, except it was cleaner. This asian guy had this big staff with colorful bubbles in it. I acquired the staff somehow. I realized that the staff had magical powers. I pointed it toward a car and a white light flew from the end of the staff to the car: the car grew in size. Eventually some guys came up to me, they were like "Give me that staff of yours" and so I shrunk them. Later this girl came up to me and said, "The staff of gods! You can grow things, resurrect people, and kill people!" I walked around 'San Francisco' and I dropped my staff at one point. It rolled under a car. I went under the car and noticed that the colorful bubbles, which looked like bubbles, had spilled out. I used the staff to suck them up somehow. Someone called my name, though, and I forgot the staff. The dream sort of 'skipped' at this point and I was in a car driving with my mom. I think she was driving to work. I realized that I had left my staff at the city, under the car. I said,
"Oh no! I left my staff under the car! It has magical powers." My mom gave me an annoyed look.
"Staffs in real life don't have magical powers," she said.
"It must have been a dream then," I said.

Dream 2, Lucid Dream

I was at my school. Two boys were following me around. They said, "I can't believe she doesn't realize that this is a dream."Then, of course, I became lucid. I'm dreaming!I thought, shouting it in my mind. I forgot to stabilize, but I DID remember the TotM. I took off running, and found the nearest person I saw. His name is Nate Yu. I barely know him in waking life, but he goes to my school. I ran up to him. I was confident he would give me a lump of coal when I asked.
"Hey, I need you to give me that lump of coal you're carrying around." I got this idea from CanisLucidis' dream journal post. He nods, and pulls out of his pocket what my dream thinks to be a lump of coal. It's got some black, like coal, but it's connected to some sparkly, rough, silver rock that's more pliable, like clay. "Thanks," I say. I squeeze the rock in my hands, but instead of getting a diamond, I got a boring rock. I ran off, still squeezing the rock, but eventually I gave up and threw the rock on the ground. I thought of making coal materialize at this point, but I decided I'd try asking a few more people first. I went to where there was most people: the lockerrooms. I ran over screaming, "HEY, IF ANYONE HAS A LUMP OF COAL CAN THEY GIVE IT TO ME PLEASE?" Everyone just looked at me oddly and continued what they were doing in the lockerroom. I noticed that the boys were also entering the girls' lockerroom along with the other girls. Eventually I gave up and ran off to these 3 boys. I was also thinking of some of my dream goals I also had. I asked them, "Hey, can I have that coal you're carrying around? I can turn it into a diamond." They looked at eachother, considering it, and the middle boy nodded and handed me a lump of the silvery rock instead of coal. For some reason it seemed like the 'coal' was used like a drug in this dream. I squeezed it into a diamond shape, but no actual diamond. They started to look angry. "It's okay, it's okay. I can make it into a diamond like they have in minecraft." I tried again. No diamond. The boys looked even more angry, but instead of beating me up, like I thought they would, they ran off. I turned around. I could hear my 5-year-old stepbrother Gabriel screaming in waking life. He's going to wake me up!I thought. I could hear my brother trying to quiet him down. The dream was blurry and extremely unstable now. I ran my hand across the nearest wall, and it felt real as one would in real life. Then, thinking of a post on dreamviews about 'making out' with the dream, I dropped to my knees. I felt super disconnected from the dream by now when I said, "The ground is going to taste like strawberries instead of the ground." I licked the ground. It felt rough, like the ground would normally, and it tasted like a juicy strawberry. Then his screaming started again. I decided that he would inevitably wake me up anyway, so I decided that I'd try my first DEILD. I exited the dream, and then I kept my eyes closed when I woke up. Almost immediately I heard the 'vibrations' (which, to me, sounded alot more like blood rushing through my ears.) I freaked out because this is my first time hearing them and started flailing my leg around in an effort to wake myself up. I kicked myself in the morning for not tolerating the vibrations

Total sleep time: 7 hrs, still tired

Dinner: 2 Eggs plus other stuff
Prebed: 1 1/2 Glass of soy milk

Fragment1: I am some kind of adventurer, like Indiana Jones, a man as well. I am about to enter a bunker, when the doors begin to close. I don't want to be stuck inside so I roll on the floor and escape through the exit door just before it closes sliding from above.

Dream2 short DILD: I am in a familiar yard and there are loads of mattresses all stacked together, a pile as high as the third floor perhaps. I am initially sitting on top and trying to balance. I then get down and on the ground there is some red liquid which is toxic and contagious? A Rottweiler is under the influence of this red liquid, he is ranging mad behind a glass window, people are watching him, he is deadly dangerous. I try to quickly move away, pass by it, and find myself on the street. I go in the wrong direction, the street looks slightly familiar in the dream, I have no idea where I am, but confidently go in the direction which I assume is the right one. I begin to speed move on the street and become lucid. I continue speed moving, trying not to hit some people and two German shepherds in front of me. Memory gap...perhaps I woke up?

Dream3: In a store and have the feeling I have been here before. I want to pick up something I have ordered, but it looks like they couldn't deliver because they don't have my address. The old lady behind the counter takes out a piece of paper and shows me that the address is missing. As I am trying to fill out the address, it begins to change, but I am filling out a non-existent address anyways and that does not seem odd at all. I then see that they are selling a special tea to make you lucid. I am so happy they are finally selling those things and want to buy a pack. I also want to get a fancy facial lotion but become distracted, so I forget about it.

Fragment4: Another store, this time I am looking at coffee mugs, wondering whether to buy one. There is also a beautiful teapot and a guy is trying to pour water in the tea cup, but it doesn't quite work. One of us is actually biting the teapot, can't remember who it was.

Dream5: In something like a museum, similar to a place I have been before in another dream. It also resembles a bookstore and they are selling drawing materials, I wanted to buy these so that I can begin painting with color. Further ahead there are two guys wrestling. They are playing a strange game, as if they are anime characters, and one pretends to hurt the other and the other pretends he gets kicked in the butt. I think of how good they are at doing this whole thing, this requires a lot of skill.

A semi-familiar girl comes to me and wants me to be her partner in this strange game, but I can't do it, so I turn her down. She then takes out a napkin with something written on it. I just see the first few lines: DEILD and SxxEILD. So she is into lucid dreaming? I ask her what her nickname is, I am assuming she has a DV profile. She looks kind of offended and as if I have crossed some privacy line. She takes back the napkin and walks away.

Dream6 DILD, TOTM: I am with my friends and boyfriend and it looks like we are doing some laundry. We are inside some place maybe public laundry, maybe store, it is rather empty, just us there. We go out on the street and hail starts to fall. I also see some lightning. I then look at the sky and see some indescribable lights there. They take the form of many invisible airplanes. There is also some thunder-like sound. I tell my friends, " And you didn't believe about the end of the world, well here it is!". I look in the sky again, something like a small sun, looking menacing to me.

Strange things in the sky, I may be dreaming. I become aware. I still feel threatened, what if this is real? No, it's a dream! I tell myself. Ok, it's a dream, but this thing is in the sky, let me get out of there. I turn around the corner, and continue on my way but the dream begins to fade. I continue walking and start rubbing my hands, but I don't feel them so much and that worries me. They actually feel kind of numb (but not paralyzed). I see a DC woman and desperately try to cling with my mind to her, I ask her to help me, I try to engage her, but whatever she answers I can barely hear.

I think I may have quickly DEILDed at some point, but it was more like a mild dream fade and then back to the dream, no time in the void. I turn back and see that the thing in the sky is taking a lot of space now and it reminds me of the war of worlds machine. I turn my back and think that if I go far away from it, it may not notice me or just disappear. I continue on my way, it is of course a dead end street. I even stumble on some steps of this dead end street, shortly wondering how did I manage to do that? I begin climbing a fence and cross to where there are some houses. I enter one and find myself in the kitchen. I notice something interesting there, can't remember what. I go in the other room, and concentrate on a DC that is watching TV. " Tell me about the situation, what is going on with this thing outside?" I then remember that I don't need to stay here and want to change the scene.

There are now three DCs in the room. " I need to change the scene, will you help me?", I ask them. A very helpful and enthusiastic DC takes the initiative " Sure, I will help you, guide you, where do you want to be?" happily replies the man. I initially think "Angel Falls" but then I remember I wanted to finish TOTM first. So I glance at the floor and start looking for coal. I see a large black object and take a piece of it, but it turns into a backpack and the piece in my hand is useless. I turn to the DC woman on my left. " Quickly, give me a piece of coal" , she hands me a brown black pointy piece of a coal. I place it between my fingers and it feels like rubber. I begin pressing it and try to shape it into a diamond. I shortly close my eyes and the dream begins to fade. I am annoyed. " Turn to diamond, turn to diamond", I have to have positive expectations, I remind myself. I look into my hands and finally a diamond shaped crystal is there. The way it is faceted reminds me of a crystal glass my grandma had. Still holding the diamond in my hands I start thinking that I have everything I need to do the four-in-one task in this room with the DCs. Then the dream fades and so does my overall ability to concentrate.I wake up and head for the journal.



Comments: Wow! Finally got that diamond, not quite as I expected or planned the whole thing, but still... and with April almost over, I think it's time for me to relax and call it a month!

Edit: Wrote down this entry, everybody left and I decided to go back to bed because I felt tired. As usual I was taking my time relaxing in bed when bf decided to give me a call. I told him that I am tired of being woken up, and decided to get up since our guests will soon be back from their walk.

Lol! This whole situation is getting ridiculous, but then I have to ask myself "Perhaps this lack of sleep and constant disruption is keeping me on the edge while at the same allowing for some REM rebound to occur?" The truth is I have had 7 LDs since our guests arrived, so I probably should turn my coal complaining into a diamond gratefulness? Whatever the reason, thanks for the great month!

Three Nights Ago

#1 - Guilt-Free Food!! [DILD]

I was with high school friends and random people in a large mansion watching tray after tray of food be prepared. A large dish was placed in front of me with an assortment of snacks on it. As I was staring at it I suddenly became lucid and came to an important realization: guilt-free food!! I reached out and started grabbing everything that I could and shoving it into my mouth. First I remember tortilla chips and guacamole, then chicken strips and ketchup, followed by cupcakes with icing and sprinkles, and something else too but it's hard to remember now. The flavors of all of these foods seemed correct, but there was a significant drawback to it all. I had the flavor, but not the physical sensation of actually eating. It made the experience seem less realistic or satisfying, and I decided that I should try to focus on that whole process next time.

As this was all going on I had the feeling that the dream was starting to lose stability. All of the other people in the room began to chant "the burning bridge in Bethlehem", oddly enough, and I started repeating this along with them to keep the plot going. However, it only worked for so long and the environment ended up falling apart.

#2 - Summoning Practice, Again [DILD]

I was wandering through a high school, not necessarily one of the ones I went to, looking for my next class or something of the sort. I spontaneously became lucid and started talking to people in the hallways and opening doors to practice my summoning. The first person who came to mind was this girl who I met in my physical education class in senior year and always found attractive, and I would expect her to be behind each door or actually say out loud that she would be but it didn't quite work. However, there was a girl behind every one and with each try it seemed to resemble her a little more and I would feel them up a bit before moving on, getting particularly distracted with the last one's rather plump posterior.

After that I gave up on her and decided to call out for an old friend instead, and the door I took looking for her led me into a large and empty office. At that point I lost what I sometimes call the dream "chatter", this sort of ambient non-sound that tells me that the dream hallucinations are still running in full force. Without it the scene lacks realism and begins to collapse in on itself, and that's exactly what happened despite my best efforts from that point on.

Last Night

#1 - Meeting The In-Laws [Non-Lucid]

There was a family party going on and my family had somehow joined with a new "step-family" and this absolutely horrible woman was my new grandma. I was eating my dinner around a table with her and some other people and she picked up a bag of fucking dog turds and put some in my food. She had a really nasty attitude too, but I can't remember what made me think that now. Eventually I walked away and started talking to my cousins about how awful she is and they agreed, and then I met into a new step-cousin, another one of the woman's grandchildren, and she said that they always have to put up with her crap. She starts telling me something about her and her brother run some company that owns the building we were partying in and she had vouched for him for something at one point but he used her support to snatch part of the company out from under her.... I don't know, it was confusing, but she was showing me these computers she uses to remote control salad bars and other things with high-tech interfaces. That's about all I remember about that, though. And at one I definitely walked back to the new grandma's food when she stepped away from the table and spit in her rice. Hehe.

#2 - Flexible Walls [DILD]

I was at a party with some high school friends that I've still kept in touch with, and one of them gets me and few other girls to sneak out the front door with him and tells me that he's going to make a dash to his car and take off. I follow him down to the parking lot, and apparently the party is taking place in this large apartment building with some kind of event going on on the ground floor. There are celebrities in fancy suits and dresses all over the place. I follow him to his car and the other girls get in with him and I start to joke with him about something, but I can't remember what exactly. He laughs and rolls his eyes at me as he pulls out of the lot with me still hanging on the window and threaten to say that he has speed in his car with all these cops and celebrities around, very loudly. He freaks out but I was just messing with him anyway, I knew he didn't have any and I just wanted to pay him back for brushing me off and I know how paranoid he can get, but he's pretty much straight-edge. He stopped and started begging me not too, but I just laughed and said no one would care in the middle of all this commotion anyway and he drives off.

I walked back to my own car, which was not my car at all and is very pink, but there were some creepers following me. For some reason I went to the back right passenger door and unlocked it manually, and I could tell that they were waiting for me to auto-unlock all the doors because they were standing over by the driver door. They all panicked since it wasn't going according to plan and I started trying to close all the doors and windows in time but one of them got in the door I unlocked and grabbed a few things, but aside from that I was able to shake them loose after a little bit of a struggle. I decided to re-park my car somewhere more in the middle of everything and go back to the party. As I was walking back I saw some celebrity in a dress looking at me from a distance and I had a momentary feeling that she was Hayden Panettiere, who oddly seems to be something of a dream sign for me and who I've become in both lucids and non-lucids, but I got distracted easily and didn't pursue it. The last thing I remember doing outside is looking at my phone and seeing that it was, I believe, 5:27 PM. I thought to myself that my friend was acting oddly for having left so early.

Next thing I know I'm back in the building and I'm either walking into or already in the elevator back up. There are metal walls on all sides and this is where I become lucid. The first thing I did was sort of make my hand stiff so that my thumb and all my fingers are pointing out in the same direction. I firmly pressed them up against a wall to see if I could push it back at all, but I wasn't expecting to be able to. I used to do this to try to phase through walls before I figured out a much better way to do it, but I did remember that back then after enough pushing the walls would start to bend back some. I backed up and had both of my hands in the same position now and pulled them back to put my all into this, and then I lunged them forward at the wall. There was a loud banging noise and the whole thing bent back pretty far and stopped, then bounced back and forth until it balanced itself out again and became a solid wall. I laughed at this and started doing it over and over again to all of the walls and the ceiling. However, I realized that I was getting too into this rather than continuing the plot of the dream, and I phased through the elevator doors to try to get out of them and into some hallway, but all it did was cause the dream to fade to black and I was unable to retrieve it successfully.

Finally -- Advanced Task of the Month!

Color legend: Non-dream Dream Lucid

Lucid #87: The Diamond

I'm driving somewhere in California, preparing to merge onto the freeway. Some guy in a Hummer blocks me from merging in, though, even steering his behemoth vehicle toward me so that I have to run off the road. I wind up on some semi-abandoned, crumbling old road, following one other car. The road's filled with enormous potholes and huge slabs of the road jut up at crazy angles. The other driver and I steer carefully around these chunks as best we can and I'm very worried that I'll break an axle. I think that this is all cause by California's ever-present budget woes.

The road ends at a marina but the other car has vanished. I get out of the car and sit by a wooden railing, pouting about my problems. As I look down at the water, I see a little girl crash a jet-ski into a dock, fly over the handlebars, perform three perfect back hand-springs, and walk off as if nothing has happened. I'm impressed by her athleticism and very relieved that she wasn't hurt.

There are narrow wooden walkways leading in a couple of different directions, but none of them are wide enough to fit a car. I need to keep driving but I don't want to leave my car here. I think that if this was a dream, I'd just go jack one, Grand Theft Auto-style. This thought makes me critically question reality and I realize that I'm dreaming!

I leap to my feet and take flight, soaring high enough to see the top of a nearby apartment building. There's a huge pool party on the roof of this building, lots of DCs milling around, and I decide to check it out. I discard the "Great Wall of China" Task of the Year for now and decide that I'll do the "make a diamond out of coal" Advanced Task of the Month.

I look for the DC who seems most in charge and central to the storyline of this party scene. A girl that's seated in a beach chair nearby seems to be the focal point of the scene. She's mid-20s, black, very cute, and three or four of her girlfriends stand deferentially around her as they all talk. While it's not an exact match, I notice that she looks a bit like Stacey Dash.



As I walk up to pseudo-Stacey, she and her friends turn to look at me. I say, "I'm going to give you a diamond." One of her buddies, a brunette holding a slender glass of what looks like champagne, laughs at this.

"Are you serious?" asks "Stacey".

"Totally serious," I say. "It's for a task. You just need to hand me that lump of coal that you're carrying around."

"Sure, take it!" she says, handing me a peach-sized lump of coal. Whew, glad that worked, I think to myself. Stacey and her friends watch me, intrigued. I give the coal one quick squeeze, imagining that it immediately feels sharp and hard like a diamond. I open my hand and yes it's a diamond! There are some lumps of dusty black coal-crap on it, but I quickly brush them away, revealing a sparkling, golf ball-sized, round cut diamond.

Her friends murmur appreciatively and I hand Stacey the diamond. "Aww, it's so nice!" she says, smiling appreciatively. She holds it up to the sunlight to admire it then stands up and approaches me. "Hey, will you help me out with a question that I had?" she asks.

"Sure. What's up?" I'm very intrigued about what her question is.

"What's the difference between..." she begins, pointing toward herself and circling her finger as if to indicate "me" or "all of me". Her voice trails off and I quickly wind up in the void. The excitement of TotM and the anticipation of the question get me too wound up, though, and I wake up before I can use the void to travel anywhere.

I buckle down for DEILD but I feel like I'm not going to fall back asleep. I try to really let go, and after waiting for a bit, I slip back into a non-lucid dream: "Stacey" is in a dark, wood-panelled office, seated across from a severe-looking woman in her 50s. Stacey is visibly upset and says, "You have no right hire someone else to ghost write my story! How can you do this to me?"

The lady, who I think is her publicist, is unsympathetic. "Not everything is about you." I wake up.

So I finally got the coal TOTM! Then I attempted the drawing one, but it didn't quite work. Anyway, HORRIBLE night sleep, ended up having to call in sick today. As such, when I was finally able to sleep when the house was empty and the dogs were quiet at last, it was about 8am.

I had a really super fast WILD. I wasn't trying for it, I just wanted sleep. But one quick round of really faint vibrations and I felt myself in my bed in a dream, all tangled up in blankets. I slowly tried to disentangle myself but woke up before I could finish. I went back to sleep and had a FA where I had gotten up and went down the hall, but it was the hall of some other building. And I remembered in that instant that I had JUST woken up from a short LD, so yay I was getting a second chance! I thought of the coal task right away, and continued down the hall. Fortunately it opened up into my livingroom. I knew that all I had to do was go into the backyard by the grill, and grab a piece of Kingsford coal from the bag. Only one obstacle: the sliding glass door. If I open doors or even phase through them in LDs, most time I get a scene change. SO I just quickly opened it, and sure enough, I ended up in a random room that doesn't exist. I saw a second door that went outside, so I imagined that my grill would be on the other side, and it worked! Only it looked more like a piano. I didn't see a bag of coal, so I opened the piano grill hoping to find a semi-used piece of coal inside. Nope, just piano keys. I imagined that o nthe other side of the grill would be a bag of kingsford coal, and sure enough, there was a bag of coal (the 365 brand from work, fine by me!). I grabbed the first piece which was stuck to another piece, so I separated them and kept the smaller of the 2. I held the coal in my left hand and covered it with my right, and stepped into the sunlight. I wanted to see my diamond sparkle in case it worked! I saw the sun illuminate my hands, and I thought to myself "how realistic this lucid light looks." I pressed my hands together as hard as I could, and I felt the coal disintegrate immediately. It almost felt like watery mud. I pressed very hard and imagined heat helping me out. I finally felt something hard like glass amidst all the mud, so I opened my hands and blammo! There was somewhat smoky colored diamond, cut into a big fat emerald cut. I took it in my right hand and held it up to the sunny sky to see it sparkle. When I did that, a giant image of the same diamond appeared in the sky, and even took on the smokiness. Once that happened, the diamond in my hand was no longer smokey. And it was suddenly princess cut. A big, sparkly, maybe 4 or 5 carrot diamond. Man I felt proud. I just held my diamond in the sunlight, looking at its giant smokey twin in the sky, thinking "yeah, that's enough for now," and woke up.

I went back to sleep and this time I was walking down the hall at work. What's with halls all the time? Oh well, give me time to walk and think and realize I'm dreaming lol. Anyway, again it hit me that I was just in bed, and I knew I had called in sick to work, so I shouldn't even be there. I bumped into my boss who said, "Well, since you're here you can go ahead and work your shift if you're feeling better." I just said, "Nah I've got other stuff to do," and I left. Now Chris was suddenly with me. I thought about the drawing task, and then I noticed something new: we were walking home, like we used to when we all lived in the apartment in Dallas. We were approaching the train station. Chris started taking off really fast, and it was starting to get dark. I panicked a little and called after him, telling him to wait up and not to run off, but he wouldn't stop. Then I just said, know what? fuck it, I'm doing the TOTM (HAH! +1). I attempted to draw with my finger on the side of the train station, when I remembered that my dream body had just come from work, and I always carry a pen and a sharpie in my pocket at work. I reached in my back pocket and found the pen! I was about to draw on the building, when I noticed to my right that there was a blank post-it note on the wall. Seriously? Is it my birthday? So I thought fast and drew a comet, with motion lines behind it, crashing onto earth. Then I looked up at the sky. It was dark now, and I could only see stars and a few wispy clouds. Then I saw a tiny illumination behind one of the clouds, and it got brighter and larger. Then something the size of a ping pong ball popped out from behind the cloud, and landed on the street in front of me, then bounced away. This happened a few more times, and each time the light behind the clouds was even more intense, suggesting that THIS time it would be a comet. Yeah right. When I finally got tired of watching ping pong balls, I just caught up with Chris and walked to the apartment. Danny had just come home from the grocery store, and was unloading groceries in the kitchen. He asked me to help him, and I started to. Then I said, "Nah, I may try the drawing task again," and left. I looked up at the sky, and there was a giant red Snoopy constellation in the night sky. I willed it to turn into a comet and crash into earth, but then I woke up.

Well poopananny then. But yay, a diamond!

This was a a very vivid, pleasant lucid dream. My Task of the Month attempt didn't succeed, but it was a beautiful experience nonetheless. Also, this is the third time that my dad's DC has hinted to me that I'm dreaming and finally I listened!

Color legend: Non-dream Dream Lucid

Lucid #86: Rock Candy

I'm standing at the door of a lakehouse with Dad, recounting an extraordinarily vivid dream from earlier in the night. I lean against the doorframe, looking out over the water. "I can't believe how much of this stuff you remember," he says. "And then that whole 'vivid dreaming' thing you do."

"Yeah," I respond. "It's actually called 'lucid dreaming'." It hits me that this is all a dream. I step outside to a wooden walkway, leap over the railing and take flight over the lake. "I'm dreaming right now!" I shout over my shoulder.

"That's amazing," I hear him say as I cruise away over the lake. I pass through a cypress canopy and get high enough to survey the lake. The lake stretches as far as I can see, its surface criss-crossed by dirt paths that are decorated with beautiful marble archways.

I land on one of these paths and walk along for a while, enjoying the serenity of the moment. I pass a bulbous, bright blue flower that's the size of a basketball. Its petals ripple gently in the sun and give off a glow that looks like a bloom effect you'd find in a video game. Just before I come to a marble archway, I find a pile of rocks and think of the Task of the Month (find a piece of coal and change it into a diamond.)

I dig through the rock pile, hunting for coal. The closest thing that I can find is a black, rectangular hunk of glassy, volcanic-looking rock. It looks too crystalline so I get the bright idea of crushing it into coal by popping it in my mouth and chewing it up. I bite a hunk of the rock off and begin to chew. The taste is amazing! It's like a homemade raisin bar with just a hint of chocolate. I'm immediately reminded of the goodies Mom would bake when I was a kid.

I wander the paths for a long while, contentedly passing under the shadows of archways, walking by strange, brightly glowing plants, and happily biting off pieces of this delicious black rock. I feel immensely pleased with what I've created for myself and unmotivated to change anything.

Eventually my path takes me to an ancient-looking stone wall. Oddly, there is a working escalator alongside the wall, and I board it, curious where it leads. As I ride up, I pass many people that I know, most memorably my friend DX (who I recently saw for the first time in over a year.) His short hair has been replaced by an enormous ball afro. We swap greetings, but the escalator quickly moves us past one another.

At the top of the escalator, I remember Task of the Month and spit out a bit of the black rock to see if it's coal-like enough to work. Unfortunately, it's more like slightly sticky, finely-chewed glass. I look back at the escalator and see Fedora, a guy that I used to know in college but was never friends with. I say, "Fedora, go ahead and give me that piece of coal you have." It works! Fedora hands me a perfect lump of coal and I get to work on squeezing it. It's becoming smaller and smaller, and I feel like a tiny diamond is beginning to form. Fedora demands that I give him the diamond when I'm finished since it's "his". I'm about to tell him that this is fine when the dream gets really unstable.

I prepare to DEILD, and it goes black. I'm very aware of my body now, almost awake. I release all awareness of my body and try to let the dream take me under. Apparently I let my self-awareness go too, because I'm shortly back in the dream, but no longer lucid.

I'm standing about twenty feet from the escalator talking with my friend The Schwartz and another person that I can no longer recall. "So what went wrong?" asks The Schwartz. I walk them through the last portion of the dream in detail. As I'm describing what happened, I see an attractive stranger in her early 20s eyeing me. She smiles and waves me over. Excited, I begin walking toward her but suddenly feel super guilty. I remember that I'm married and feel like a dirtbag. Then I remember that I'm dreaming and feel awesome again. The stranger smiles and turns away, an older guy (her boyfriend?) draping his arm over her shoulder and walking away with her. I start thinking about Task of the Month again, but the dream fades...