task of the year

The second of two lucids from playing Myst at WBTB.

Color legend: Non-dream Dream Lucid

Lucid #123: Walking Backwards

I'm walking by a pool with Dad toward a pile of towels on a beach chair. He asks me how to get really lean for the summer. I'm going through some long-winded explanation and he keeps asking the same really basic questions, apparently understanding almost nothing I'm saying. I wonder why he's so slow to grasp what I'm saying but then realize that I'm dreaming.

Dad has vanished and I'm standing alone by the empty pool. It's long and skinny, like a stretched out Olympic pool. I fly over it toward a doorway on the opposite side. I walk through the doorway into a busy two-story mall. I decide to allow myself a couple of minutes to walk around and take in the sights.

I pass a few stores, turn a corner, and suddenly feel a jolt of fear that the dream won't be stable. I start narrating out loud: "I'm having a really stable lucid dream." I rub my hands together, continuing to narrate out loud to the DCs passing nearby. "And now I am rubbing my hands together. You cannot forget to do that shit!" I yell.

I remember wanting to get to the Colosseum and expect to see an Exit sign. There it is, on my left, near a bank of doors. I walk toward the doors when I spot my friend "Chia" approaching me with a sort of vacuous grin on her face. "Hi!" I say. She repeats it back: "Hi!", still grinning, but her face is sort of morphing into a stranger's face. It's not stable.

I tell Chia that I'm going to the Colosseum and that I'll talk to her later. She nods, and rather than turning away, she walks backwards, not looking where she's going. She's walking near a support column that for some reason is covered with awful stuff like barbed wire and Orcs Must Die-style wall blades. "Watch where you're going!" I say, really feeling distressed. But she just smiles blissfully, circling around the column and out of sight.

Okay, back to the task at hand -- Colosseum. I head for the exit doors, shoving the door open with the crash bar, expecting to wind up in one of the tunnels under the Colosseum. The next hall is a tunnel but it still looks like part of the mall. As I'm deciding what to do next, I'm thrown into the void.

In the darkness of the void, I clearly sense my dream body. But when I try to rub my hands together, I can't make it happen. Awareness of my physical body starts to creep back in. I keep trying to move my dream hands but I'm not getting any response. After attempting this for a while, I finally wake up.

I tryied playing some Myst during my WBTB and it seems like it had a serious influence on my dream content and possibly my lucidity.

Color legend: Non-dream Dream Lucid

Lucid #122: Myst

I'm walking through an underground chamber with smooth stone walls and a very high ceiling. I hop up onto a ledge and start walking along it when it occurs to me that I'm probably dreaming.

The environment looks very sharp and my awareness feels high. I take the time to assess the visual quality of the scene -- it's completely lifelike. I walk on the ledge, which wraps around the entire room before leading me out through an exit door.

I'm in a narrower hallway now. There's a low tunnel on my right and I decide that it will lead me to the Colosseum for Task of the Year. As I'm watching it, though, I feel like the ceiling of the tunnel has gotten lower. Before I can dismiss this idea, it totally takes over and the tunnel's floor and ceiling close together, sealing it off completely.

I move on, passing through another broad, high chamber like the first one. This leads into a rougher-looking tunnel that cuts back and forth several times at 45-degree angles, very different from the clean, precise right angles of the earlier rooms.

The tunnel opens up at the end and I can see what looks like the inside of a baseball stadium. It's not exactly the Colosseum, but I feel like I can make it work. I manage to get just into the stadium area but the dream ends.

On August 5, 2012, 7:12 a.m. I recorded a dream that made no sense. There were 2 shirts that had dates on them: July 25, and another date that I forgot. 2 days ago I had a dream of me and a friend (Akundo) and he was sad and needed cheering up, so I gave him a big hug I woke up, called his sister, and she ended up telling me that his birthday was in a couple of days (July 25) I kind of freaked out and couldn't tell whether or not his birthday had anything to do with the dream that I had a year ago that made no sense. I met Akundo in February 2013. Coincidence or not? I need interpreting...

These were the most realistic non-SSILD false awakenings I think that I've ever had. Made for a fun series!

Color legend: Non-dream Dream Lucid

Lucid #121: Barefoot

I'm dimly aware that I'm dreaming in some scene that I can't remember, and as I become lucid, I'm thrown straight into the void. I hang on for dear life and start rubbing my hands together like crazy. It feels solid and realistic and pretty soon I feel comfortable that I'm anchored pretty well into the dream.

Right away I remember that I want to get to the Colosseum. Like the previous dream, I want to build the Colosseum scene from the void. This time I choose to do so by constructing the Colosseum's inner stone wall. I reach my left hand out and yes, it feels like it's dragging along stone. I walk along this wall, dragging my fingers upward until they reach a... ceiling? No, that's wrong. I deny the ceiling's existence and after a bit my fingers keep climbing until they reach the wall's top.

Now I'm feeling the top and side of the wall with both hands. It feels very realistic now, and the scene comes sharply into focus. I see that I'm rubbing some isolated piece of stone that's standing in a modern-looking, well-lit library. It's very cleanly decorated and only sparsely populated with bookshelves, and two spiral staircases lead up to a second floor. I see a couple of friends standing around. Near a table is "AJ", and standing across from her is "LS". Neither notice me. Further away I spot an extremely attractive female stranger (Asian, mid-20s, long hair). I suppress a strong impulse to approach her for "that thing" and instead turn toward the glass door, phasing through to the outside.

Outside is a plaza with a broad set of bricked steps leading down to a grassy area. At the top of the stairs to my right, two teenage girls are seated at a white metal table having a meal (lunch?) "Which way to the Colosseum?" I ask them, and one girl points immediately across the plaza, swallowing like she has a mouthful of food she wants to down before speaking. "Thanks!" I say, and start flying in that direction. I get high enough to spot a distant tower and a tree-lined street nearby, but the sound of a wet sneeze over the baby monitor sends me into the black. I keep my eyes closed, trying to DEILD, but I hear Wife groan unhappily, and now I don't think I can get back to sleep.

I open my eyes and find myself lying in bed in our darkened bedroom. (False awakening.) I get out of bed and reach over to grab my journal, expecting my Kindle Fire to be on top, but it's missing. Where the hell did it go? I step into the master bathroom, close the door so I don't disturb Wife, and try to flip the light switch on. Instead the fan comes on. I try the other switch. Fan again. Come on, what the hell? I'm going to forget everything. Both switches at once, and still no light, just the fan. I hit the nose pinch and blow through. Amazing.

I go back to the bedroom and it's brighter now. Wife's missing, and the shutters are open. I leap up, phase through the window, and perch on a dream balcony that's outside. The balcony overlooks a courtyard far below, very much unlike the geography of our real house. I fly out over the courtyard, soon coming to a forest of extremely tall trees. The trees are like pines that stretch far into the sky, coming close to touching the cloud cover. I think that if I can just get over these trees, I'll be able to look down at a huge chunk of the landscape, spot the Colosseum, and fly there for Europe Task of the Year.

I fly higher and higher, trying to crest just over the treetops. I get close to the top but keep feeling resistance. I know that it's mental, so I keep shrugging it off, insisting to myself that I am flying higher each time. I approach a cloud and do this flailing little grasp for it. For some reason, I briefly see stars and get the sensation of my heartrate increasing. This takes me straight into...

A false awakening in our bedroom. I look at the clock and see that the screen's completely dark. I nose pinch and blow through. I approach the window, phase through, and hop out onto a ledge. I'm over another courtyard (this one with a pool), and about 3 stories up, suddenly feeling very nervous about attempting flight. I just became lucid. Am I sure? I hit a secondary nose pinch and make sure that this feels vaguely like "dream gravity". I think about the phase and the multiple nose pinches, and decide that I should be okay.

I'm still nervous, though, and when I jump, I float to the ground rather than fly. The landing's soft, and I'm sure that I'm dreaming, but I decide not to push it with the flying just now. I walk around the pool, scanning the crowd for a while, seeing many familiar faces -- my friend "The Dragon" and his wife, my father-in-law, and a couple of other friends that I can no longer recall. I walk past the shallow end of the pool, past where some kids are playing some game with a ball. At the edge of the courtyard is an ivy-covered archway that I'm planning on walking through, maybe turning it into a gateway to the Colosseum.

I remember to try to summon NewArtemis. As I pass by the stairway out of the pool, without stopping, I extend my hand toward the pool, and say, "[NewArtemis], are you ready to go?" It works! Art emerges from the water, walks up the stairs, and hops out of the pool.

Her voice is faint, but as she walks along she says, "Don't want to wear shoes. Don't like to wear shoes."

I don't know what to make of this, so I just go back to my stuff: "The Colosseum's right through here. You ready?"

"Yeah!" Her voice is still faint, but much more enthusiastic. As we approach the doorway, the dream ends.

Color legend: Non-dream Dream Lucid

Lucid #120: Raiders of the Lost Colosseum

I'm an Indiana Jones type of character. I'm in a huge stone chamber, deep underground, sitting on a platform on the arm of some strange metallic device. The device appears to be some kind of scale, with two arms extending to the side, my butt planted firmly on the left arm.

There are square receptacles along each arm and I'm holding a square-shaped block. I'm somehow supposed to fit into the right spot in order to make the scale balance and unearth some kind of treasure.

It occurs to me that I might be dreaming and I quickly decide that I am. I'm fascinated by this device, though, and want to keep playing with it. I try the little square block in a couple of different receptacles, which seems to lower and raise the platform I'm sitting on. After doing this for a bit, I blank out and go into the void. It's pretty sudden, and I lose track of my dream body.

Now I'm seated at my kitchen table, semi-lucid and slightly confused. There's a weird cord hanging down by the back door like something that would go with a set of blinds. I don't recogznize it, and I realize that I'm still dreaming.

I phase through the door into the yard. It looks like my yard, but the sky is orange and the fencing around my pool is missing. There's a strange ripple in the water of my pool, and I walk toward it to investigate. When I'm a few feet away, though, my vision goes black and I wind up in the void.

I'm determined not to lose my dream body this time, so I quickly lick my right hand, then rub my hands together. (Why lick first? Nobody knows.) I poke at my jaw, chest, stomach, and weenie. All are present and accounted for, and I'm satisfied that my dream body is intact.

Now I want to get to the Colosseum. I drop down to one knee and rub my right hand in the ground, expecting to feel Colosseum sand in my fingers. Immediately I do. Now I recall that in the past I had imagined a gladius (ancient Roman sword) in my hand and started swinging it around to transition out of the void. I decide to do this again.

I feel the weight of the sword in my hand as I whirl it around like a crazed chimp. I can hear the noise of a crowd all around me now and my vision's beginning to form. It's still blurry, but I know that I'm heading in the right direction. The momentum seems to give out at some point, though, and I wake up.

Angel Falls!! Finally on the scoreboard for Task of the Year!

Color legend: Non-dream Dream Lucid

Lucid #119: Angel Falls

Wife and I are driving in a car through a field. Somehow, we believe that we're experiencing her brother's future and what will become of his life. The mood is relaxed and exploratory -- we're journeying with of a sense of curiosity rather than concern or foreboding.

I veer off on a path that goes to the left. "Not that way! The zoo is this way!" Wife grabs the wheel and yanks it back so that we're going straight once more. We follow this dirt path for a while before emerging onto a suburban street.

Somehow we're now pushing a big lawnmower rather than driving a car. The left side of the street is taken up by an angry-looking giant while the right side is littered with "doggy clean-up bags" that are filled with poop. Wife thinks that we should steer toward the poop bags and I think we should head for the giant because the poop will be too gross on the lawnmower wheels. We're not sure what to do, and as I examine the situation, I realize that this has to be a dream.

I'm slightly unclear on what happens from here, but I know that I was lucid for a good while, flew, found our 4-year-old son "E", and lost lucidity. Much later I'm walking through a train station with E when I remember how recently I was dreaming and realize that I still am. "[E]", I say, "I'm dreaming."

"That's a lucid dream!" he responds, and hops a little bit.

"That's right, buddy," I tell him. "Come with me outside. Remember that you can do everything that I can do." (I'm speaking to E, but mostly trying to remind myself.) I'm holding E's hand, and together we start flying toward the exit. A few DCs glance at us as we fly, but most ignore us. For no reason in particular, my flight momentum cuts out, but I focus on the street outside, thinking, We're out there now.

Now we're moving through the air again. I hear a DC shout "No!" and a hand grabs my ankle. For a moment this slows us down, but I think Bullshit, we're flying just fine... and right away we're moving perfectly again.

We land outside on a peaceful street scene. It's cobblestoned with no cars, just pedestrians. A river runs through the center of the road, running past the obelisk of a town square on our right, flowing toward a bay that's on our left. We follow the river, which grows broader and flows under a bridge before ultimately joining the bay. I decide that this river is perfect. This is the place where Angel Falls will be.

I turn back toward the distant town square and shout to the crowd: "This is Angel Falls! It's right here at the end of this river." And I unironically add, "Watch meee!"

From behind me I hear the thundering of a massive waterfall. Now when I look back toward the bay, everything looks strange. The original river is standing still, almost like time has stopped. But now there's a second, wilder river running right beside it. The bay has dropped completely out of sight, like we're at the top of a mesa. E and I fly over the calm river toward this new river and I can see it -- the top of an enormous waterfall! This is it!



I land close to the waterfall, realize that I'm no longer holding E's hand, and look for him. I want him to come with me, but I won't wait long. I'm too desperate to complete this task! Fortunately he's just behind me. "[E], hurry!" I tell him. "We're going over this waterfall!" He doesn't hesitate, scurrying up to the waterfall and leaping off in a clumsy-looking froggy posture. I plunge over the side, just behind him.

I'm freefalling now, soaked and yelling with excitement. I'm speeding toward a vast, green valley below me. I make no attempt to control my descent, move, or do anything apart from enjoy the sensation of falling through this curtain of water.

Suddenly I hit a pool of water below and instantly enter the void. I can still feel water all around me and for a moment I think about trying to reemerge. But no -- I did what I wanted to do. Time to wake up.

Pre bed: 100mg B6

Dream quality and recall: Dreams were vivid but recall was challenging due to the fact that I continued sleeping after the lds. It took me a while to journal the lds and by the time I did, the non-ld memories almost vanished. Still, taking into account recent busyness, heat and other distractions, I am very happy with the results.

Early dream fragment: It is the 5th of July and I am watching lots of fantastic long-lasting fireworks in the sky

Early dream fragment: I am doing dumbbell exercises, it feels really good

WBTB: Was very sleepy but made an effort to review the tasks. Said a mantra a few times, then fell deeply asleep.

Dream: I enter grandpa's room and discover that grandma has forgotten some kind of a diary she kept hidden behind the door. I wait until she is not around and peek in the diary to find out it is actually my diary. So, I had forgotten it in 2007 and she hid it and has been reading little bits ever since. This is terrible because this diary fully describes my views, plans, etc. I want to take it back home, but my mom comes snooping around, so I have to be careful not to attract her attention.

Fragment: I am with a classmate going to a class meeting. We stop in front of a building.

LD1: For some reason am in someone's store that resembles an outlet of a totally unknown brand. I spend some time checking out clothes, mostly interested in pink and purple ones. There is a cardigan I like but it turns into a net? Classmates are also there, I am trying to get their attention. A woman working in the store comes to bring us what looks like orange juice, but she claims it is beer. My whole class is gathered around something like a long table and we are having a drink. I first wait for everyone to get served but soon notice that some are already drinking. I feel drunk. Other classmates tell the story of a girl with the same name as mine, about how she lived in some city where women are emancipated. I think this refers to me, but later find out that they are talking about another classmate because they say her family name.

I turn to one of my best friends and say to her that we better leave the place and go outside. I am not sure what we did there but I am overly bold and become lucid. I turn back to all the guys from my class that have been passively following me and say some things to them I don't any longer remember. I recall how long this dream has been going and have very little time left, so decide to hurry up. The scenery around me is absolutely beautiful. We just left a lone building and there is only grass around, hills, trees. It seems like fall is just beginning, the colors are very pleasant to look at.

My brain is more asleep than usual and the only task that comes to mind after looking at the scenery is flying to angel falls. (which is so totally CL!)

I lift off and do some maneuvering that I can't exactly recall. I keep on flying over some fantastic hills, but I just feel this is going to end very bad because I have no idea where I am going and I am in the air for too long. (Also my expectation was set very deeply on a subcon level).

I decide to land and end up facing what looks like a small waterfall. There is water pouring over some rocks just in front of me. While I know this isn't what I am looking for (too small), I go as close as possible to this water falling down the rocks, trying to feel the water on me as the dream fades away and I end up in the void.

I spend some time in the void, just waiting there. (I couldn't remember any advice as what else to do, but that was fine)

LD2:It's a bit hard to remember what the first image was that I was looking at here but I am lucid from the start. It is an open area, with lots of vegetation again. I try three tasks, not fully sure about the sequence of but mostly likely in this order.

I look around and see some hills and trees in the distance. Once again it is all very beautiful and this makes me happy. It also reminds me that I was headed towards Angel falls. The vegetation makes it just perfect for the task and I stare there and day dream for a very short while. I feel like I want to rush forward and just get there. However, I just passed a few DCs and I remember I had another task I wanted to do "ask a DC".

I turn to this overweight mid-age woman and she makes some kind of word-like sound like "nah", I ask her where my phone is and she says "outside". This cannot be possible, as I know the phone must be somewhere at home, so I object and ask for further explanation. She says something else that I can't exactly remember but it means that this the answer. I am not satisfied with the answer she gave me, so I look around and there is another DC woman more or less the same type, but different face. I go to her and she makes exactly the same word-like sound like the other one, I find this very strange. I proceed to ask her about my phone and she just answers "but didn't you already ask". Well, yeah, but I want to ask again, and it is none of her business, just tell me where the phone is. I am annoyed with her and start some senseless explaining. After a while, I give it up and move on.

Still in the same place I decide to do the fireworks task and look around for some fireworks to swallow. The problem is that I am not in a room where my mind easily makes all kinds of objects but in the greenery and there's only grass and some small bushes there. I somehow remember I can do a summon from my pocket. I have the memory that my pockets are currently empty but still decide to search in my pocket. It is indeed empty but I manage to scrub something there, I hold my fist tight for a second and then I expect to see a mini-firework in there. Unfortunately, it is just a purple brown pill. I become confused thinking I really had this pill in my real pocket and that's causing the problem. Anyways, I concentrate on the pill, trying to make it look at least a bit like a firework but in vain. Somewhere after this intense concentration the dream fades.

I don't remember anything from the void here anymore.

LD3: I appear in some kind of public building restroom, still lucid, where I am looking myself in the mirror. I feel some pain in my tooth and have a closer look. Yeah, something is not quite right there and that worries me that I might actually have done something to my real tooth. I vaguely remember Penny talking about tooth dreams, and try to ignore the issue. Yet, I keep on checking myself out in the mirror until I zoom in to see and feel my entire row of teeth in a painfully twisted position. Dreams can really get crazy, I think to myself, remembering how Checker's fingers were twisted or something like that.

Finally, I brake my teeth fixation and walk around, trying to exit the restroom. Slightly worried that the dream might destabilize, although there wasn't an indication?, I decide to rub my hands and see if anything feels different. I remark that everything feels absolutely normal, and rubbing my hands on this occasion does not feel different from waking life. I also remember to jump a bit supposedly to stabilize, but it's more like some mischievous act of fun. I jump a few times, although cautiously as I don't want to destabilize the dream by losing the sense of my feet while mid air.

Trying to leave the restroom, I walk around in this building, but get lost in a maze of corridors. I go back, then try again and end up in some creepy looking corridor, lit by a single old bulb, shining bright. The whole place looks like from some kind a cheap movie scene and I don't like it at all. I don't want to be there. I get paranoid, staring at the corridor which turns to the left and soon some kind of a non-human thing is summoned by me.

Before he even has the chance to move closer I know that the only way out of this place is to phase through the wall in front of me and I do so.

I immediately end up in the void, but am still a bit paranoid that this thing might follow me into the next dream. I try to reason this whole situation, that he doesn't exist anymore, and feeling with certainty that once in the void, it is over. From then on, I remember to concentrate on Angel falls and on appearing on top of it. I do my best to create sensations that I am there.

I don't remember what happened, I just found myself in the next scene.

LD4: My memory gets even worse as I fall deeper into sleep. I am on the street, facing some building. My concern at this point is recall. I realize that I have been having dream after dream with no opportunity to journal. I try to remember how many lds so far, four, try to recall some details as I feel they will be lost. Using either my fingernails or some other object, I write down the number of dreams with a key word next to each to help with my recall once I wake up. This whole task is extremely difficult and towards the end of the process I begin to hear non-lucid dream thoughts interfering in my head.

Soon I lose lucidity as a Heroes of Might and Magic scene develops in the building in front of me. There are the two players' armies and obviously mine has been defeated because I didn't send reinforcements, while the other player did. The armies look quite 3D life-like with the largest beast looking quite scary.

NLD: Someone informs bf about his dentist and that some kind of refund is due because he did the dental work in a hurry. Tom Wilkinson is the dentist.

NLD: I am in a tram, there is a strange looking skinny old man in front of me. He is dressed like Gandhi, also has some kind of flat drawers on his chest, as some sort of a medallion. We talk for a short while and unfortunately I can't recall more detail anymore.

Soon the dream ends and I am in my body semi-conscious and extremely sleepy. For some reason my physical body decides to change position, so my legs move. This is what wakes me up a bit more and I decide it is better to journal before I forget everything.

Color legend: Non-dream Dream Lucid

Lucid #118: Water Slide

I'm walking down the central aisle of an airplane when I hear a voice to my right: "Hey [CanisLucidus]! Check out this view!" I look to my right and NewArtemis is waving me over and pointing at the window. "Have you ever seen Los Angeles from the air before?"

"[NewArtemis]!" I take the middle seat and say something about the last time I flew into LA. I talk about how it's been a long time since I was there and ask her what she's doing in LA.

"Same thing you are," she says. "The gymnastics conference." I feel like this is totally unexpected and don't know how to respond. Why don't I remember this? Since when do I care about gymnastics? Art points out the window again. "Look, that's the Staples Center!"

As I'm checking out LA through the window, a flight attendant makes an announcement that the plane will be landing shortly. Art stares at me pointedly, not saying anything. "Am I supposed to be doing something?" I ask, not following what's going on.

"Are you just going to leave your son all by himself while the plane lands?" Now I'm sure that my 2-year-old son "R" is all by himself several rows back. Panicked, I run toward the back of the plane without saying goodbye. When I get back to my row, I see some guy in the window seat and R crawling around freely on the middle seat. The guy turns to me and says something odd, and I wonder whether this is all a dream. As soon as I ask myself the question, I know the answer.

I look out the window again, and the plane is on the ground now. Passengers are starting to stand up at their seats and in the aisle. I stand up in the aisle myself and say, "[NewArtemis], come back this way. I'm going to Angel Falls." Almost immediately she slips past some guy standing in the aisle and appears near my row. I start narrating partly to her but mostly to the dream itself. "Okay, this plane took us right to Angel Falls." We walk through the doorway of the airplane and down a short set of stairs covered by a canopy.

"Can you fly?" I ask her. But I correct myself: "You can fly." And she floats past, bouncing along the canopy ceiling before reaching the end and floating up temporarily out of sight. Now I hear the roar of a waterfall and I'm feeling really excited. I start flying, too, and I wind up bouncing along just like she did before I break out into the open.

The waterfall is there, but it's really just a waterpark slide sitting on an open stretch of runway. The ride's about 30 feet tall, quite steep, and looks like fun. It's got a banner stretched over its exit with its name... something like, "_____ Raging River _____", with a couple of words I can't recall. Art and I fly over to the top of the slide, me just slightly in front. It's 4 "lanes" of slides right next to each other, and I take the 2nd from the left. I think that Art wound up further behind me in the same lane. I reach the bottom, zooming past a couple of portly kids in lanes #1 and #3.

As soon as I hit the bottom of the slide, I hop up again, expecting Angel Falls to be in front of me. And indeed, in front of me is the top of a huge waterfall. This one's got a banner stretched over the top of it, too: "Angel Falls". But it's still some kind of ride, not the real waterfall. It's close. A very impressive, realistic (almost scary) ride, but still a ride. I shout something back to Art about how this probably doesn't count. She says something I can't remember and indicates she's still here.

The dream still feels really stable and vivid, but I'm reluctant to waste any time, so I leap over the waterfall feet-first. Immediately I'm drenched and in freefall. After a few seconds of that, I land smoothly on some kind of big, steep plastic slide and travel along it for maybe another 20 seconds before things flatten out just a bit and the slide takes me underground. I'm still moving at a good pace but no longer at the crazy speeds of before.

The slide flattens out and broadens, and I slide past a few other riders that I'm sharing the slide with. When I feel myself slowing down, I find that I can sort of spin on my butt and gain a little speed. One DC that I pass asks me how I'm doing this and I tell him that I'm having a lucid dream.

After a while, the slide narrows and finally ends. There's a long line of DCs waiting to exit the "ride". I think about whether I should wait in line, then remember that I need to still find the real Angel Falls. I'm thinking about how to do this when the dream ends.

This one was a lot of fun, in large part because it was the first time I managed to really modify terrain in a major way. I still can't believe that I fell for the last false awakening, especially after catching the others.

Color legend: Non-dream Dream Lucid

Lucid #117: Carving the Coasts

I'm standing on a bus, blathering some false memory to the other riders about how a friend of mine was on an episode of Friends. I suddenly realize that I've missed my stop by miles, we're in the final bus terminal, and everybody's getting off. A middle-aged bald guy hands me a bunch of coins, including a JFK half dollar and a weird coin with a hole in the middle of it, and announces that he's paying everyone's bus fare. I hand the coins over to the bus driver, who takes them all. Once we're outside, the bald guy asks for his change and then berates me when I say that I gave the driver everything.

I feel like an idiot and everyone's staring at me, so I slink away and walk outside, wondering how I'm going to get home. On the corner I see a gang member carrying a pistol and wearing a blue bandana face mask. He jumps out from behind cover and starts firing at some unknown enemy. I think that this must be a really bad neighborhood and that I'd better get out of here. I look up at the sun to figure out which way is east, but notice that the sun's too low in the sky for the brightness of the day. The sun self-consciously moves higher in the sky to match my expectations and I realize that I'm dreaming.

I'm walking by an apartment complex with a little playground filled with grade school kids. I start flying to look for Angel Falls and one of the kids says, "It's Superman!"

"That's right!" I say, and start "bah bah baahhh"ing the original John Williams Superman theme. I decide that I want to hear the real thing and immediately my subconscious produces the original soundtrack (or close enough to convince me, at least.) I fly off, the Superman score playing in my head and filling me with nerdy confidence.

I come to a broad river with some low hills along the water's edge. I fly along the river until I come to a coastline, proceeding along that for a while, looking for Angel Falls. I start eyeing those low hills and think about whether I could turn them into Angel Falls. As I do this, they start growing taller, and I find that I can raise and lower the height of these hills just by thinking about it. Something seems to stop them from getting up to full mountain height, but I can still get them high enough to impress myself, at least. I keep flying along the coast, building the hills taller and watching as the occasional small waterfall even erupts from the side. These waterfalls are all pretty modest, though, and not nearly high enough for Angel Falls.

As I'm happily traveling down the coast and raising the hills up to the sky, a group of elderly people that look like tourists start flying in front of me, way too close, and blocking my view a bit. The tourists are pointing at the hills and reading some kind of guide book, and disturbingly, one of them is only wearing a diaper. I maneuver past a couple of them, but the old man in a diaper won't get out of the way. I say, "You want to land," and he immediately banks to the left and drops out of sight. Satisfied, I continue flying and trying to make the coastal hills climb higher and higher. I can't get enough of watching this! As I'm raising one set of hills really high, I start to see water cascading off of it, and I think that it's going to turn into Angel Falls. As I look up and up, my perspective suddenly clonks onto its side and I'm pitched into the void.

I rub my hands together to make sure my dream body's ready to go, then I try to find the floor. I imagine my hands rubbing against the smooth rock of a river bed, but the sensation I feel is different. More like cloth. Soon I can see out of my left eye, but only in a small circle. Right eye's still blind. It looks like I'm laying facedown on our comforter -- false awakening. It's morning and I'm alone, laying across the bed.

I get up and check myself in the bedroom mirror. I've got a bunch of blankets and sheets and stuff wrapped around me. I put my arms out so they can fall to the floor. I look just like myself except that my eyes are filled in with black and these dark wisps of smoky electricity-looking stuff are crackling around my head. Overall effect: badass. There's still something wrong with my right eye, but I just tell myself that the blankets are gone and I can see fine. Pretty soon, I do.

There's a new door in the wall of our bedroom, and I walk through it into some kind of sunroom. (This is strange since our bedroom is on the 2nd floor.) My friends "Leroy" and "Leroyette" (husband and wife) are here working on some kind of art project with a bunch of strangers. Everyone's working away with scissors, paper, and cloth. I call out, "[Leroy]! I'm having a lucid dream."

"Here, let me get the door," he says, undoing a bunch of strange locks on an external, glass-paned door. I step outside and there's a small waterfall, about 15 feet high, going in a small garden. I'm wondering how to turn this into Angel Falls when the scene goes dark right before...

I have another false awakening in my master bedroom. The door to the sunroom is still there, and I head through it again. There, again, is Leroy. This time I try undoing all of the locks myself. There are an unbelievable number of curtains, locks, and shutters covering the door, and I'm finding it really frustrating to mess with them. "I don't recall your doors being covered with this much bullcrap," I whine. Leroy chuckles and tries to help me. (Apparently I thought this was his house, but it doesn't resemble any room in Leroy's home.) "You know, I could have just phased this whole time. Sorry, man!" I phase through the door onto a grassy lawn, jump into the air, and start flying again. After flying for a short time...

Another false awakening, this time in the sunroom. Embarrassingly, this one fools me and I'm non-lucid. An overweight bearded guy in his 20s is dressed in a wookiee costume (sans head.) He's complaining about how girls are always too interested in lucid dreaming. Don't they understand that stuff is just fantasy? He puts the head of the wookiee costume on and poses for a photograph, doing his best Chewbacca cry. Cameras flash. The dream ends.

I had two good lucids last night. I have been using the SSILD technique and the more I practice it the more I enjoy it. I use it as I am falling asleep to help me relax and sleep well. Then in the morning the same technique sometimes leads to WILDs or really vivid non lucid dreams.

This morning I woke up and was very relaxed. I new that if I stayed still and cycled I could probably get a lucid dream so I gave it a shot. In less than a minute I was in a dream.

The transition was very natural and extremely easy, I did not force anything.

I am hovering over a large city. There are many skyscrapers on the horizon, and they all have red tile roofs. I realize that the dream is unstable and I don't have a dream body yet.

I try to stabilize the dream by rubbing my hands together and focusing on my senses.

Immediately I am teleported to the ground. I guess getting my dream body meant that I wasn't supposed to be hovering anymore.

I am standing on a red tile roof. It is not a skyscraper though, it is just a regular house in a neighborhood.

The dream feels pretty stable now so I start running along the roof. When I reach the edge I matrix jump to the next house. I realize that there are no DCs at all in this city. I am completely alone.

I keep jumping from rooftop to rooftop looking for some people. I try to remember one of the TOTM, I might be able to earn my wings if I can remember what they are.

All of a sudden one of the houses that I am about to land on slides out of the way as if it is trying to avoid me and I land in a crowded alley full of DCs! Just then I remember that I was supposed to hug a DC and describe their reaction.

I see a women walking to me through the crowd. She is tall and very fit. She is wearing a red Star Trek uniform and has three small horns coming out of her forehead arranged in a vertical line like the girl Naomi Wildman from Star Trek Voyager.

She notices that I am watching her. It was kind of obvious because the crowd has started to part and flow around me because I was standing still just starring at her.

I realize she would be a great person to hug

Stupid dream control or powers or whatever but right when I thought to run and try to hug her she knew what I was about to try and starting shaking her head no. I looked at her smiling and started shaking my head yes...

Then I started quickly walking towards her. The crowd was parting around me (thankfully not getting in my way and blocking my goals). She was still shaking her head no but was not making any movement to try to get away.

As I draw near to her I slow down and approach her very cautiously. Then I slowly raise my arms out to my sides and make the last step to bring her into an embrace.

She is no longer shaking her head no but she raises her arms up and folds them across her chest as a reach my arms around her.

I just give her a quick friendly hug and then release her.

She shrugs her shoulders as if to say that wasn't really that bad and then turns around and walks away.

As I watch her go the dream fades.

Yay Basic TOTM I Done!

Then I had another lucid but I am running out of time so I am just going to short hand this one.

As I wake up from my last lucid I still feel tired so again I lay still and start to cycle. Within a minute I see another city scape start to form in front of me.

As I try to form my dream body I am teleported to a beach. I run into the water imagining that it is very cold and that I can feel it clearly. It works and the dream stabilizes.

I start walking the beach people watching. There are a lot of sexy women out on the beach sunbathing and I am not shy about enjoying the scenery.

I go back into the water and am playing in the waves. They get bigger and bigger until one is large enough to hit me in the face.

In anticipation I close my eyes, big mistake. That is the first time I have ever closed my dream eyes before, a very trippy experience!

I am now in a black void and I don't know how to get out. I am not afraid at all. I just am disappointed that I lost the dream.

I try to visualize the beach were I just was and start cycling using the SSILD technique.

It works and I am back on the beach. I am underwater being rolled against the sandy bottom by the big wave that just came in.

I stand up and want to try to complete another task. But I can't remember any more of the TOTMs. I do remember a task of the year though about going to the Colosseum in Rome.

The dream is starting to get foggy now and my recall is crap so I'm not sure what happens after that.

Oh yeah and this.

I have a lucid fragment, I'm not sure what dream its from.

I am walking down a street and notice that a building is on fire. I can see the flames through the broken front window.

I decide to try and use a dream power so I throw my hand up and imagine a swirling blizzard coming out to put the fires out.

It works! I see like a tornado of cold wind and snow come out of my hand and slam into the building. It puts the fire out very quickly.

I walk up after to inspect my handy work but now the building looks brand new like nothing has happened at all... Hmmm disappointing.

I just wanted to mention that because it is the first time I have tried to use a dream power like that.

Also, Dang I could have so easily done basic TOTM II! I was on the beach and everything! Oh well...

Color legend: Non-dream Dream Lucid

Lucid #116: Dive Bomber in Darkness

I'm walking out of the lobby of a hospital, some important errand on my mind. When I head through the bank of automatic doors into the night, I'm confronted by a huge crowd of reporters and spectators that are hanging around like something important is about to happen. Is this a dream? Yes.

Looking into the crowd, I see my high school physics teacher, "Mrs. C". I walk up to her. "[Mrs. C]! I know that you've been waiting, like, forever for me to go on Draw Something. Sorry about that. How have you been doing?"

"Oh, that's all right!" she says. "My wife and I have been doing great." This is strange -- Mrs. C has a husband, not a wife. He even came by the school a couple of times.

"Well it was good talking to you," I say, and I step back from the crowd a bit, thinking about my next move. I remember wanting to go to Angel Falls so I decide that'll be my goal for this dream.

But just as I'm making my plans, I notice that one of the reporters standing nearby is extremely attractive. She's about 30, probably half-Asian, and lightly freckled. I start thinking very sexy thoughts before catching myself -- if I approach her, I know for sure that the dream will only head one way (and not to Angel Falls.) I back quickly away, my mind still going sexytime. The reporter stops speaking into her microphone, looks directly at me and says, "I think I love you."

I put out my hands and kind of wave them around. "No! No, you don't! I'm sorry, that was my fault!" Immediately she returns to what she was doing, forgetting all about me.

Okay, Angel Falls. I scan the horizon but there's nothing to really use. I could just start flying and try to work from there... As I'm planning, I start thinking about the good-looking reporter again. Okay, I really need to get out of here...

I allow myself just a moment to imagine that the top of Angel Falls is right behind me. Then I fling myself backwards as if I'm jumping off of a cliff, imagining myself going over the falls. There's a weird moment where I'm stuck upside down, my head sort of embedded in the sidewalk. After a couple of awkward seconds like this, I wind up in the void.

I rub my hands together, then imagine that I'm falling along the falls. Almost immediately I feel the spray of water against my face and arms. I point myself facefirst at the ground, arms tight to my sides. Air rushes past my skin as I gather speed. I feel myself going faster and faster, air filling my mouth. I keep "falling" like this for at least 30 seconds, and the sensation is so awesome that I don't even mind not having visuals.

I feel amused that "Angel Falls" is so incredibly high that I can skydive like this from it. I wonder how long this can go on. Even though I'm enjoying myself immensely falling through the darkness like this, I know that I need visuals to complete the task. I try to focus on what this should all look like but the intensity of the rest of the experience has me a bit distracted. The dream ends before I can make it all come together.

Color legend: Non-dream Dream Lucid

Lucid #115: Sandwiches for Skeptics

I DEILDed during this dream and wound up really scrambling the beginning. Pity. Anyway, I think this was a DILD. I remember something about a prison, finding my way through an office building, and being attacked. Somewhere along the way, I find Wife and my oldest son E. My memory becomes very clear here: It's morning and I'm walking through an empty, gray city with Wife and our oldest son E. I hold E's hand as he bounces and scampers beside me, pointing and jabbering excitedly.

We pass under a bridge and walk up a sloped street. All around us are gray vacant lots, brownstone tenements, and the occasional piece of newspaper carried on the wind. The one swatch of color is a bus stop to our left that bears a beautiful ad for Arby's. Below the Arby's logo it reads, "Sandwiches for Skeptics".

I find this very amusing but also really unlikely to be the new Arby's slogan. I tell Wife that "I'll have to google that later" but she doesn't respond. I run my fingers over the sign, appreciating its detail. There are even some air bubbles underneath the paper as if it wasn't pasted down all that carefully. I take my time with this, thinking that it can only help to draw me into the dream.

Task of the Year occurs to me. I'm fired up about going to Angel Falls, and I imagine that it's out there, just past the vacant lot and a row of buildings. As I do, I see little sprays of water coming up from over the tops of the buildings. I'm amused that the "graphics" for this water are absolutely terrible. The little puffs of water look like repeated, low-resolution particle effects with no animation.

Okay, enough thinking. Time to fly. I consider summoning NewArtemis to join us but then remember that I need to stay focused -- I'm already trying to bring two DCs with me. A summoning is pushing my luck too much. I take to the air, still holding E's hand, and his reaction is surprisingly subdued. From the ground below, I hear Wife say, "Oh okay... bye, guys!"

"Just follow us!" I shout back to her.

There's no reply, though, so I focus on flight. Looks like it's just me and E now. As we fly high enough to look over the tops of the surrounding buildings, I see that the entire city rest atop a huge mesa that rises high above an ocean. At the edge of the mesa I see a waterfall -- Angel Falls!

The Falls are a long way off, so I focus on flying faster and faster. We get up some good speed, but the dream is starting to feel thin and insubstantial. All I can think to do is speed up, but I'm not fast enough. We're still about a quarter mile away from the falls when I feel the sensation (real or imagined) of my eyeballs moving around and I'm awake.

I relax and go for a DEILD. I quickly enter a new dream scene, flying again, but this time as an observer with no dream body. I'm on a long, spiraling slope built out of stone blocks. The sides are unwalled and I can see that this tower stretches far above the clouds. I slide smoothly upward along the slope, making at least 3 full revolutions. I'm aware that I'm dreaming but I make no attempt to exert control. I'm content to just know where the tower leads. I keep spiraling upward and either lose lucidity or slip into the darkness between dreams...

Date: 15 May

Pre bed: 400 mg valerian, 100b B6

Total sleep time: 7hrs

Impressions and Recall: There was my usual for B6 sense of aggression seeping through parts of the dream. After waking up from the lucid (after 5 hrs of sleep), I decided to take key notes and review as not to wake myself up. I got pretty excited and the internal dialogue turned on full power, resulting in about an hour of insomnia. After that I fell into deeper more unconscious type of sleep with a decreased recall capability. I had another lucid from which I remember only a part, I continued sleeping after it was over and had an non-ld.

Fragment1: Some kind of posts on DV that had to do with PennyRoyal.

Fragment2: At home, my parents have gone somewhere and I am in my room cooking some strange pancake/calzone thing that looks and tastes delicious. I have to leave some for my grandma.

Dream3 DILD TOTY attempt: I am in a room which feels familiar, three women are sitting around the table, and I am cleaning up as if after a meal. One of the women has some tempting white green chocolate cookies, I am secretly planning on having a few after the women are gone. Another female DC comes in and starts behaving really aggressively. She demands all the attention, looks me in the eye with hatred and begins complaining to one of the women in the room. I have the feeling that they will start a fight with each other, so get out of there fast. Her hostility feels kind of fake, and at this point the memory of the B6 effect for me reaches my subcon on a subtle level.

I find myself on the stairs of a building and lots of aggressive gangster type boys are all around me. One of them is particularly evil, feels dangerous. I become lucid on a distracted level, realizing this is a dream, but unable to do anything about the guy. I am trying to move away but it is really crowded on the stairs, I think somebody pushed me, and I end up in a niche on the wall. The wall is not really wall but something liquid that sucks me in. As I move forward in this thing, I achieve a better clarity of mind and am fully lucid and in control. There is a single task that I feel the urge to do now, go to Angel Falls. I remember CL’s advice to try to feel the floor, so I move my fingers, touching the empty space and feeling small grains of sand and pebbles. The dream idea was to be on top of Angel Falls, but in the water, so in addition to my feeling the floor, I begin to make swimming movements with my hands. The wall is already liquid and it is like a white pinkish sinking sand made of rubber-like substance. The whole world has disappeared and it is just me and the wall and I feel a closer to the void, afraid that the dream would destabilize and disconnect. I am swimming forward and nothing happens for a while, but I decide to keep on swimming. At some point the whole environment changes and I find myself looking at a flower, submerged in water.

I look at the dark purple flower and marvel its beauty, noticing every petal in detail. I look around, and see that I am in the middle of a pond/lake that stretches as far as my eyes can see. At the same time, mixed with this image I find myself in my old room, where all this is taking place. I focus on the surface of the pond which looks like a silver mirror reflecting the clouds. I then notice that this pond is covered or rather slowly begins to cover itself with lotus flowers. Bright yellow and magenta lotus flowers are everywhere I move my eyes to look. I feel happiness upon witnessing this beautiful sight. The dream is extremely vivid and stable. Needless to say, I am somewhat distracted by this, but keep gliding on the surface of the pond in the direction of Angel Falls. This doesn’t work too well, I am still within the confines of my room, looking through some glass that distorts the view from outside, which is the view from my room with strange rainbow-like effects. A bit like looking out during a bus ride. It looks like my room wins the battle between the two layers of images, gaining more detail.

Soon the water level in the room goes down and with it my lucidity. I struggle to restore the water level with intent, but non-lucid already. I manage to briefly do so, but then I see the floor and the water is retreating. There is also mud everywhere, the furniture is falling apart. I become concerned about the state of my old room and wonder how to clean everything. [end of memory]

After the dream ended, I had a brief awakening, noting to myself about the lucid, but then fell asleep again. I heard some kind of bell-like sound, I guess a type of HI, that actually woke me up. After reviewing the dream I had 1 hour of insomnia. Then - deeper sleep and less memorable sleep.

Fragment4: Having to share the bed with relatives, I preferred sleeping on the ground.

Fragment5: Some more beds, family friends.

Dream6 DILD: I am in my hometown, in a familiar park and am lucid. I see a few dogs around, mostly small ones and larger one (no idea what breed) captures my attention. I keep looking at it and feel my emotions reflected in the dog. I observe it a for a while, the dream is stable, I am happy. By simply looking around, I unconsciously summon more dogs of different smaller breeds. I find this cool. [end of memory]

Fragment7: I see and talk to a politician I don’t like.

#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 am going to post the notes i took apon waking for this because the full thing i wrote was lost and havent had the time to rewrite it all.

Cult leader in room. Vince Vaughn and another an Irish man. Leader was like I know two of you have killed to be here and one of you has faked it. Then he make the Irish man open up his pillow case. No knife = no kill so the cult leader killed him. And a family of four pulled up to the abandonded underground fortress. He would probably kill them too. Mom and dad sent us to this camp but it was in Europe it was hardcore. We had nothing. They too us to get naked in a room with another two brothers. They have us bed ad we did it. We slept. The next day they allowed us to go into the city. We did. We found so much money over four hundred. When we got home I had to take shirt off money in all my waist. I tried hiding but main guy took it. Took four hundred. Went to bed next night he had people over. Went on like this for a while. Mom and dad finally came but they were the people. Then told us we went there a lot as kids. We were outside on the farm land scooting out on these cliffs with dirt riffs we got down to the bottom and went to this very modern art museum. Uncle ray was looking to buy a tv there. In uncle rays house. Actually while we at art thing auntie Cathy left a video cry for help on the security system. So I went over to Florida house. She took me and we hid fast bc they all came in but it was partiers. Then this witch came through the door and auntie Cathy was the only one who could defeat her. The witch made the group of partiers chant some thing that would make the house start on fire.

if you would help me in decoding this it would be of great help. it is a very important dream. thank you, -reed