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Looks like I'm starting to get some of my old frequency back. I often stop practicing somewhere at this point, either getting bored or lazy or burnt out, or something. My goal this time is to keep practicing past the point where I'm starting to have decent success, and see how far I can go.

Stabilize (Lucid)

Lying in bed, I do a nose pinch and can still breathe. I decide that I’m dreaming but it feels as though I’m not quite asleep. I want to get up, but I don’t want to wake myself up in the process. I think about the “opening your dream eyes” technique, and I think I try to apply it. Anyway, I slowly try moving, and it seems like I’m still dreaming. I slowly move my arm to pull myself up out of bed. My arm feels odd and kind of tingly, as though I were sleeping on it funny. I figure that I can work with that, though. I make my way out of bed, and stand up. Things seem real-ish. It is kind of dimly light in the room, like early morning. I push my hair out of my eyes. Then I sit down on the floor and concentrate on stabilizing the dream as I had planned to do before. I repeat “stabilize” over and over a few times. Eventually, however, the dream fades out slowly. I can see a little bit of something still, but think at this point that I’m waking up and what I see is from my eyes opening just a little bit. I open my eyes all the way, but that wakes me up.

Tried to turn on the light above my bed, but it wouldn’t turn on. Neither would the lamp on the stand next to my bed (which isn’t there any longer in waking life). This is a dreamsign, so I did a nose pinch RC, I think. Then I became lucid. I remembered to stabilize, as I had planned. I felt the back of the couch that I was laying on. The dream might have faded at this point, but I think I held on to awareness and things came back. I tried the light above my bed again, but it wouldn’t turn on. I might have lost lucidity but regained it at this point. I think I felt the couch again to stabilize, but I also licked the chest by the couch that acts as another night stand. I realize that sounds weird, but licking things seems to help stabilize dreams for me. I got up off of the couch. It was dark in my room, and the lamp wouldn’t turn on. I directed the dream to give me more light, using verbal commands. I was holding the lamp as I did this, and at first I got a flash of light from the lamp. I might have continued my demands a time or two, but at any rate the room lightened up.

I decided to go outside, and wondered if I should phase through a wall. I decided to try for the door, a little worried that I might lose the dream before I got there. I made it though, and opened it after saying something about the Dream Base being on the other side (hoping it would be there when I opened the door). However, when I opened the door I didn’t see the Dream Base, as far as I could tell. It wasn’t exactly my usual surroundings though – more trees, and more parklike than the urban area I live in. I then said something like “Dream Base on the right”, and turned to look. There was a large building there, looking kind of like it was made of light colored brick. It might have just been part of the college campus or the parking garage that is there in waking life though.

I then tried to fly, possibly to search for the Dream Base or to help stabilize the dream. I picked up some gravel so that I could feel it and help to anchor/stabilize the dream. I tried flying, but was having some difficulty getting off the ground. Jumping didn’t seem to help...I think I lost the dream somewhere around here.

It's been a while since I last made a DJ post in here. Mostly because I didn't think many people would be interested in my usual dreams. I got out of the habit of lucid dream efforts, but in the past month have gotten back into it. Here are some highlights from the past month (not everything, just a couple of things I thought were more interesting):

Sunset 9/3/22

This one was interesting partly because I think it was based on someone else's dream.

There are people who mostly live inside (a place by the sea, I think). This is because an enemy has come along and is fighting against them. As long as they are inside they are safe. However, they do seem to go out in the evenings, about the time that the sun is setting. Someone asks why they do this at all, since if they stayed inside the whole time there would be no reason to fight at all. The reply is something to the effect of having to live like people, and not give up. Or, that’s what life is about. This enemy seems to have left them alone for quite some time, but after 100 years had returned. A bit like Attack on Titan. I was thinking this to myself. There is some anime-type guy fighting, and at some point he decides he is going to try to fight against death itself. Or at least that’s what I think. The place where these people are located is under a big force-field type dome, and there seems to only be the one little section with an atmosphere, which is where they live...

...Maybe the same dream, maybe earlier or later. We are in a Church, I think. There is a prize being offered to the person that names the sunset. People are chipping in a lot of money, and the prize is up over a hundred thousand dollars. When the person came around for my entry though, I think I just called it something generic like “sunset”. Also, I was supposed to give my telephone number or something, and I didn’t do that. Later, someone asks if we gave answers that were likely to win, which she thought involved several parts of a code-like response. I “wake up” later, thinking that I should have named the sunset something like “rose pink and cherry blossoms” or something like that. That reminds me of a song, and I hear people a floor below me singing it.

Movie and interesting time stuff 9/7/22

Watching a movie about war, or something. It has to do with communists. Somebody is a hero, but I don’t quite understand what’s going on because I haven’t really been watching the movie from the beginning...

...There are three guys that kind of look the same. Actually, they are the same person, I think, from three different times. There is a fourth guy that is watching them from a vehicle. Eventually they meet up, and this is also the same guy. They have a friend with them, and I think the new guy finds it quite amusing to see his old friend again, but the latest addition to the group (I think) decides that they should leave him behind. They stop somewhere, and the friend goes inside to check on something, and the four identical people leave him behind.

Time Travel Cabinet 9/9/22

Walking somewhere, trying to get away from a woman that can control minds. As we walk, one guy realizes how pretty the woman was, and kind of misses her. This seems to be related to the flowers on some plant. The woman catches up to us, but we jump into our time traveling cabinet/space ship before she can get us. We have escaped her by allowing our minds to be controlled by some other people, apparently. The woman warns us that these other people are violent. We reply that these specific people aren’t. Our ship takes off, and I try to hold the door closed without running the risk of falling out myself, I think.

Lucid in an opium den 9/12/22

I took more detailed notes this night, which may be helpful for others so I'll include them. Another note: I don't encourage drug use!! Especially not opium, or its derivatives.

4:10am – Woke up a few minutes ago. I had a lot of coffee yesterday, and I wonder if the melatonin I took is wearing off. Anyway, I’m having some heartburn and having some trouble sleeping at the moment, so I will hopefully make this into a WBTB. Drinking some baking soda water now. I don’t recall too much of dreaming prior to this, except that I dreamed someone was coughing as I lay on my left side experiencing indigestion.

5:05am – I’m going to try to go back to sleep. Hopefully it won’t be another night of difficult sleep. I might start cutting back on caffeine. I might also take some valerian, since it seems to help with the waking-sleep transition. Maybe I can WILD. Remember to stabilize, then go look for the Dream Base. Maybe I can make a portal to get there. Flying might work too.

11:15am – I did not get back to sleep until about 8:00. Woke up again just a few minutes ago.

Opium Den (lucid)

Running around a town. I think my friends want to go to a strip club, but I don’t want to go. I’m lucid! There are tunnels in the city that go down, possibly underground. There are opium dens down there, as well as at least one normal store (like a cell phone business or something). I run down one of the tunnels, and go into one of the dens. There are people sitting around the den on benches, and a man to my left that seems to be managing the place. I decide that it might be fun to take some opium and see what happens, since I’m dreaming and it wouldn’t hurt.

I go to the manager, who (if I remember correctly) gives me some challenge that I have to pass before he will give me opium. Then he shows me a box with a bunch of little containers in it, and I select one that looks kind of like a decorated egg. I walk over to a bench, opening the container as I do so. There are a bunch of grains of “opium” inside, along with little tweezers that you are supposed to use to take out the grains.

Sitting down, I try getting out a grain or two with the tweezers. This proves to be more difficult than I expected, but eventually I get some into my mouth. Pretty soon, I find myself overcome with a pleasurable, relaxing sensation. I relax into a sort of stupor, reminiscent of the feeling I had a couple of days ago while listening to a lucid dreaming hypnosis script...

I don’t quite remember what happened immediately after this. At some point I had an experience where I took a small laptop or ipad home from somewhere (the University perhaps?) and decide that I should return it. I was apparently lucid on some level - not enough to realize that there wasn’t much point in taking back the laptop, but enough to realize that I could fly there riding my guitar. I go flying up into the air, finding myself above campus near the library.

Trailer Trouble 9/14/22

In a camper trailer. There is another trailer being built nearby, which I think is too close. I notice something wrong with a little hole on the outside, apparently it is on fire. I go out to look at it, and see that it is sparking even when it is not actively burning. I unplug some things from it, which then involves me running around to at least three different generators and unplugging things...

...(not sure if this is the same dream) some villains are trying to attack. I try to drop rocks down on them from above...

...(still not sure if this is the same dream) villains are trying to get into the trailer. I think they succeed, and take someone hostage(?) They take them somewhere under water. It turns out that they can breathe while they are there...

...Meanwhile, back at the trailer (I think) we’re getting thirsty. There doesn’t seem to be any water. But then Dad goes up on a hill, and after following him I find that he is still there with at least one other guy (I think) next to a deep hole that they dug. At the bottom of the hole is some muddy water. I wonder why they don’t dig the well deeper, but apparently the water level doesn’t change, or doesn’t get any cleaner, or something. There is a shallower hole nearby that also has water in it. Yay! I think there might be a dog there too. They offer me a cup of filthy water. If you let it set a bit, the mud goes to the bottom and the water is sort of clean...

...But look out! The worms are coming! Big worms. Apparently, man-eating worms. We go back to trailer (unless this happened earlier and this is afterwards, but I’ll go with the hypothesis that this is in order of events). The worms attack. We fend them off somehow, although I think at least one person is dragged away. Or maybe that was the second time. The worms attack again, bigger this time...

...Inside the worm, it turns out that these aren’t actually worms but machines that look like worms. There are people inside, tramping down some long industrial-looking corridor. Some people have drowned in there too (I forget what the deal was, but I think a bunch of water got in there earlier somehow)...

...Somewhere there was a bit about Mom (I think) trying to convince me that I should study underwater worms. There are two options, worms on land, and worms underwater. You get to scuba dive to see the underwater worms, but they look kind of scary to me...

Sick Cat and Donald Trump 9/19/22

Someone has a dead, or dying cat. It’s on a flat plate, like a large microscope slide (the animal is flat too, and almost microscopically thin). They are trying to get some help. Someone comes along and gets involved. It seems that the cat can be helped, but they need a place where they can put it for a while. This person decides that Donald Trump might be willing to lend his condo. They go up to a posted sign that has a number you can call if you need to reach the president, and call him. I go outside, reflecting that Donald Trump would probably be willing to help out...

Had a brief lucid dream 9/20. Then took a little break from journaling. Started again today, and had this dream last night:

Lucid at the apartment 9/28/22

Walking towards the back of the property where I currently live. There is another house to the left, and the Front House to the right. It seems to be set up a bit like the house at C- used to be. The back house isn’t in its normal place. There seems to be another large building back there, but it isn’t the back house. I think to myself that this might be a dream. I say something to myself like: “This is probably a dream, sir.” I do a nose pinch RC, and find that I’m dreaming. I think for a moment about my goals, and remember that I was going to try to find the Dream Base. I think to myself that I had at least one other goal, but the only one that came to mind was the Dream Base. I recognize this as being an artifact of dreaming – it seems a little difficult at times to remember things from waking life clearly. Anyway, I look around for the Dream Base beacon, and I think I see a light or two in the distance. They look like regular lights though, like a building or cell tower. But then I apparently lose the dream. Unless it's an FA or the Void.

01/10/2022

Took some valerian before bed for oneirogenic effects. I also took ibuprofen for a headache and diphenhydramine to help me sleep. I had many dreams besides this, but don't have a lot of time to record them right now.

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Dream Control

I am upstairs in a Church/hospital combination, I think (if this was the same dream). There is a bridge-like structure, and a woman laying on top of it. She disappears when I try to find her...

...At some point I'm trying to make her reappear by looking up and away, and then back down again with the expectation of seeing her. I'm able to make people appear, but they seem to be a little different than what I expect them to look like.

I wish I could remember more of this. I have a vague memory of making other things appear, and I suspect that I might have been lucid. I just don't quite remember.

I had an interesting experience last night. It was very close to a WILD, I suppose:

I was laying in bed with my eyes closed. I was close to falling asleep, and I think I was experiencing some hypnogogic hallucination. It was one of those situations where I'm in bed with my eyes closed, but it's like I can see what I would expect to see if I was awake. So I see something in front of me, maybe one of my arms/hands as though I were laying partly face down. I know this is a hallucination, so I focus on it. I know that I have a waking hand, but I concentrate on a "dream" hand and moving it into view. Eventually I succeed in this, but I don't remember much about what happened after that.

An interesting excerpt from a dream a couple of nights ago:

...I'm on a beach at some kind of camp. I'm talking to a girl on the opposite side of what seems to be a small boat. She says "what's the difference between night and day?" To which I reply "well, at night I can have lucid dreams".

Didn't become lucid.

Last night's dreams involved a bit more blood/gore than usual. I have had these kinds of dreams after taking valerian or vitamin b-6, but I didn't have either last night. I did take 50mg of Benadryl, which might have had something to do with it. Or it might have just been a fluke. I don't remember seeing anything more gruesome than usual during the day.

Should have been lucid

I'm somewhere, there seems to be a lot of people around. I see a glass case with a sign inside that says something involving the word "dream". I look suspiciously at this, thinking it looks a lot like something from a dream. I do a nose pinch reality check, but for some reason I'm having trouble. The trouble is either that I can't pinch my nose all the way closed, or there are too many people around for me to want to stand there holding my nose, or something. Anyway, I give up on the nose pinch (for pandemic related issues, I avoid touching my nose in public, obviously). I pull out my phone instead to look at the numbers, I think. Now I'm having trouble reading what's on my phone. But I still don't become lucid at this point. Whether or not I eventually did, I don't remember.

Bloody Murder

A story/movie plot (?) involving vampire-like things. Or maybe just a murderer. I think there is some bloody scenes. This may or may not be a part of the dream fragment involving popcorn:

Popcorn

I want to buy some popcorn. Someone else (my mother?) and I are in a concession stand/store where many different kinds of popcorn are being sold. I'm putting together a bag of various flavors, and I think I decide to do mainly cheese flavors. There seems to be some disagreement with the shop owner.

Rotting corpse

Something about having a dead body laying around. I think about how people move dead bodies outside (or bury them maybe?) and how that might be because they start to attract worms and such after a while. There are some gruesome scenes of maggot/worm/bugs infesting a corpse.

Bought a paper notebook yesterday to keep by my bed. This way I can take notes during the night, which I think is helpful for the earlier dreams. The following is what I wrote during the night: "Couch, tent, airport, East Japan, apples, to be Sol, old dusty Santa Claus". Below is an elaboration.
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Couch

I'm trying to find a place to sleep for the night. There is a couch, with three cushions on it, that I should be able to fit comfortably on...

(maybe part of the same dream) Now I'm in a tent getting ready to sleep. I need to change , at least my shirt. I want to be sure that I can change without people seeing me, and look around to make sure that I'm concealed well enough.

East Japan

We are at an airport. This might have started out being my University campus, but somewhere along the way it becomes an airport. We travel across this place, and arrive at a section called "East Japan". I didn't know that there was an East Japan, but here we are. We go into the building, and my brother and I make some joke about whether people in Japan prefer being called "Japs" or "Nips" [sorry if this offends anyone]. Then we set up a display of some kind. My brother has a display, and I have some construction displayed that I put together. Kind of hard to describe what this thing was - it was small, and had two longish things sticking out.

[Interesting side note - this evening I was trying to see if there were any swimming pools in my area open at night, so I started typing "all night swimming pools". As I started typing "all n-" the Bing search suggestions popped up with "All Nippon Airways" - which is the largest airline in Japan.]

Fragment

We are eating apples from trees. There is a section of the trees that has some tasty apples, but are a little bug-eaten as wild apples often are. I find this spot, but also walk elsewhere. Some other people find this spot too, and refer to it as the - something ["neural center"maybe?] They are referring to decay in the apples and surrounding branches/wood.

To Be Sol

There is a female robot-alien thing. Someone has her held captive. She eventually finds a way to defeat the person holding her captive, but now she is alone against a whole lot of robot-aliens outside the door where she is. It looks like this might be the end. However, she finds that she is able to fight against her enemies. Maybe not defeat them entirely, but they haven't succeeded in defeating her either. They shoot back and forth through the door and around obstacles. They start changing their positions to better shoot and hide. As they do so it becomes apparent that the character of their race is becoming one of war. This isn't necessarily bad, because I think before this they were mostly machines with no identity of their own. Now they are a warlike people. The phrase "this is what it means to be Sol" is present, either in my thoughts or vocalized by someone. Sol is the name of the robot-alien race.

Old Dusty Santa Claus

We take a dog to see Santa. The dog looks a lot like Scooby Doo. When we get to the place where Santa is, we find a mostly empty room with an old, shriveled, dusty Santa Claus sitting in the corner. He is bent over, with his head mostly in the bag of toys, as though he is rummaging around trying to find a present. This is a lot less glamorous than we were expecting, and I don't even know if this is Santa or just an animatronic decoration. There are people in the next room that seem to be having a nice time, with nice looking presents. We go over to visit the old Santa, and I think the dog is sniffing at the bag/Santa expectantly for a present. Santa doesn't say anything, and might not even notice our presence. It's like he's gotten too old and senile to be particularly aware of his surroundings. Or else he's still rummaging in his bag trying to find a present. It seems a little pathetic.

Something is brought into the room, temporarily obscuring our view of Santa. It's like a rack of luggage or something. When it passes, Santa is gone! We don't know where he went, but we wonder if maybe he got inside the luggage and left. This situation strikes me as being really funny, and I wake up laughing [it still amuses me to think about].

The detail of my dreams (or dream recall) appears to be improving. I'm remembering things people say more frequently. There also seems to be more variety and depth to my dreams. This might be related to my conscious effort to pay more attention to people in my waking life, decreasing my medication, sleeping better, dream journaling, or just paying more attention to my dreams in general.

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Some scenes

Sherlock Holmes…

Someone that appears to be Jesus is talking to a little girl who is going to Church. He refers to her Bible and says “just don’t hurt anyone with it”. This makes sense to me, since some people seem to misuse Christianity and hurt others. But later, this character seems to be studying a Bible and not understanding all of it. We wonder how it is that He wouldn’t understand His own Book. So maybe this wasn't Jesus?...

Visiting Uncle D--. He is getting old, but he seems to be doing pretty well health-wise. We're at the top of a staircase.[note: this Uncle passed away a few weeks ago and I attended his funeral)...

Using the bathroom in the basement of my old house. My Dad goes downstairs and asks me what I’m doing. I guess I’m embarrassed to tell him that I’m using the bathroom, so I say “I’m filming a horror movie. It will be the 2nd scariest movie ever made!”

My Dad says “OK, have fun,” or something like that. I feel a little guilty for lying to him...

A woman with a wooden leg. Actually, it looks like this leg has been fashioned out of a table leg. She seems to be walking around on this better than her old artificial leg though...

[note: I quickly made some notes on my dreams when I woke up, so the following might be a little difficult to understand. I think it's all part of one dream. I feel as though there were a lot more to this.] Pastor D--, ruins (tunnel?), house, they’re trying to get people to leave the house so that they can look for the treasure. Something sci-fi. Another planet perhaps? But something happened during the Middle Ages, at which time treasure was hidden...

Cat…if you interact with the cat you learn something, I think…

[note: this part is me making notes now from the fragments that are occurring to me. Again, it might not be very coherent.]

Building...don't go outside?...Carriage in the canal. Overturned. Carriage is now canoe-like. Bodies beneath the carriage/boat...

...bodies, I think [what about them?] People dressed in historic clothing...

Went to sleep probably between 12:00-1:00. Woke up around 8:00 or a little after. In the evening, I listened to a lucid dreaming hypnosis audio file. I also watched a couple of LD videos.
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Mexican Restaurant Birthday

Running late... I arrive at a Mexican restaurant. Someone is playing Mexican music on a TV or computer, or something. We appear to be celebrating my birthday. There are some tasty looking things. I move on to desert, and someone tries to distract me. While I am busy either eating or dealing with the distraction, I can hear people singing "happy birthday" in the background. I realize that they are probably bringing me a surprise cake.

Sure enough, they bring out a "birthday cake". This doesn't look like a normal birthday cake. It's mostly brown in color, and there is only part of a cake. Nonetheless, I express my admiration for how big the frosting layer is inside the cake...

Lucid in Puerto Rico

I'm walking down a street in Puerto Rico. It is a location that I visited back in June on a missions trip. In this dream, I live there, but had been a part of the missions trip. I'm reflecting on how different it seems now that the "trip" is over. I still live in the same hotel, but I don't go to the same rooms. I don't spend time with the same people. I don't walk down the same roads.

I think to myself something about the hot tropic sun. Then I think that I should take advantage of this climate while I live here and get outside more. But then I remember that I don't live in a tropical climate. Wait a minute...This is a dream! Now I remember the hypnosis audio I was listening to the evening before, and "hear" the voice asking "are you dreaming?" I'm pretty sure that I am, but I do a nose pinch RC anyway. What should I do now?

I decide to play in traffic! I am standing at the edge of a busy road. I notice that, even though this is a dream, I still have an instinct to try to dodge vehicles when they are about to hit me. I try to overcome this urge and walk in front of cars and let them hit me. I don't know if any of them do. I remember one car that either drives right past me or goes through me and I see it continuing down the road as though the driver never noticed me.

Intrigue

Some kind of intrigue going on. There is a girl who is going up against an antagonist. She plans to go alone, but is willing to take volunteers with her. Nobody seems to want to help. I volunteer. She explains the plan to me, which involves me recording things with a video camera. I tell her I don't have much experience with that, but it doesn't really matter. The recording is more of a cover, I think. We are supposed to be journalists.

Or maybe we are journalists. At least, I think we become journalists. Or she does, anyway. We go on our way. Our mode of traveling seems to involve sliding very fast down a hallway. She is faster, but I'm catching on to this mode of travel. Along the way, we are discussing journalism. I'm explaining that I think journalism should be objective, and not write their opinions into their stories...We get to the end of the hallway

She takes a job at a company that I think is owned by the antagonist. The villains catch on though, and while they have her distracted I can see that they are moving a bunch of things out of the building. Documents, or something. It would have incriminating evidence contained in it, I think...

...There is another girl here, who plays the trumpet. I play the trumpet too, and we talk about playing a duet. Sounds like fun, so I think that I will go (either to get my trumpet and change into some required garment, or just to change). I think on my way out I'm trying to pretend that we know what the antagonists are doing, and try to give the impression that their plan won't work. Personally I feel a bit doubtful that my companion knows what she is doing. I go somewhere and try to change into a long skirt/towel/half-toga thing. It's way too long, and I end up changing back into my normal clothes...

Is this the same dream? I'm not sure, but it kind of makes sense so I'll put it here.

I apparently realize that I should get back and help my friend with whatever it was she was going to do. I'm on the campus of my old University now. There are a couple of newer buildings, one of which is a bank or credit union, or something. I see a building that I haven't been in for a while and think it might be fun to cut through there. But then I decide that I should not waste time but should get back to helping my friend. Eventually though, I do end up cutting through a building.

This building has swimming pools in it. While I'm there, I check out a sign with the pool hours to see if I could take a swim there later in the evening. Then I try to continue my way, but start to get a little turned around looking for the exit. I walk into a room with a swimming pool, and try to find the way out on the other side. But this doesn't seem like it is going to lead where I want it to, so I try to walk back toward the door I came in by.

I walk around the edges of the pool. There is a girl (possibly a lifeguard) sitting in a chair to my right and a man swimming in the pool to my left. I turn a corner. There appears to be water covering the floor here. But when I step on it, I sink deeper and deeper and realize that there was no floor at all but that I just stepped into the swimming pool. I climb back out, and see the hallway that I was looking for.

I continue my walk, now rather soaked. Oh well, my clothes will dry out. I finally find my way out of the building...

Again, this may or may not be part of the same dream, but it makes sense

...The wetness of my clothes makes my limbs feel heavy while I walk. Now I'm in a wheelchair. I think I'm also eating something. Anyway, I finish whatever it was and wheel over to a trash can to throw it away. Then I continue on my trip back. The ground is sloped downward slightly, and I try to take advantage of that to pick up some speed with my wheelchair. At some point, the wheelchair becomes an office chair with wheels. I'm gaining speed now, and come to some steps. I'm able to ride the chair down these without falling. I come to another set of steps, and do the same. There are a bunch of people when I reach the bottom. I'm going pretty fast now, and run into a guy that is sitting on the ground. He falls over, and I'm a bit concerned at first that I hurt him. I turn and look at him, but after a moment or two he seems to be getting back up and is OK...

...Finally, I make it back to the place where my friend was working and trying to defeat the antagonist. It kind of looks like things are coming to an end though. I go into the building at try to find her. having trouble remembering the details at the moment

Fragments

...I am on my way to a bathroom. My brother is too. I'm a bit disappointed because I wanted privacy. My brother is in the bathroom washing his hands. Something about hand washing. There are also plants growing in the bathroom. There is a nice sunny spot in here...

I slept better last night. Asleep probably around 1:00, awake by about 8:00. On the advice of my doctor, I cut back a little on my medication. I also had less caffeine during the day and evening.

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Apple Cider

I have two apple trees. They aren't very big, but they have a decent amount of apples on them. Somebody comes along and offers me $13 for all the apples so that he can make apple cider. After some thought and talking it over with my mother, I decide to accept the offer as long as the man picks the apples himself. He harvests the apples, even ones that aren't completely ripe, and puts them into a big bag. Then he hooks up some kind of device to the bag that pours out apple cider through a spicket. The man gives me a little display that he made with some things related to our transaction. He has also autographed it. I mention to my mother that I had thought about doing the same thing before (buying apples from the neighbors to make apple cider).

Time travel and an assassin

Someone has killed my friend B--. I'm discussing this with someone, and mention that I don't know if I will go to the funeral. I don't remember exactly why I don't want to go to the funeral. Part of the discussion has to do with the fact that my friend is African-American. I'm trying to say to this other person that I don't like to segregate people into "black" and "white".

I have the opportunity to go back in time to just before my friend was killed. We are at some kind of an event, and he is up front near the entrance. I go and talk to him, and realize that he doesn't remember anything that happened after this (since this is now the past). I watch out the front door for the man that is coming to kill him. Somehow I'm going to try to prevent this. Somebody - possibly called "Dr. C -- (I don't remember the full name, but the letter C stands out in my mind) shows up. He's the one that I think is going to try and kill B--...Something about going upstairs...

Some fragments

A woman and her mother in a car. One of them gets out (I think the mother) and the other one pulls her back in. Or else she tries to pull the other one out and gets pulled in...

...I have a statue-thing beside my bed in this dream. I seem to learn that this is related to Judas Iscariot, who "had the dubious honor of" something I didn't quite figure out. Now it seems like kind of a grisly thing to keep next to my bed...

...A place with a lot of fire. Kind of Hell-like, but I don't know that it is Hell. There are creatures that live there. Something about escape? Escaping the creatures?..

...An esports game. Sort of like a cross between a battle and a soccer game...

...Kids high up somewhere. In order to escape where they are safely, they need to get on some planks that are attached to ropes and swing/slide out. But they have to be very careful, or something painful happens. They start there escape, but something goes wrong. Instead of facing the painful thing, they let go of the board/rope and fall toward the ground...

...In a house. The house is oddly shaped, a bit like a quonset hut with shingles. I'm looking for someone, and wander around outside...

...Talking about Gomer Pyle USMC with someone. I'm thinking about how I like the fact that he is always a nice guy in the show...

...I have a white sailor's hat. I like to wear it, and I notice that over time it is starting to take on the characteristics of my favorite hat when I was around 11 and 12 years old - a white golf hat similar to the one that Gilligan wore on Gilligan's Island...

...I'm talking with someone about Covid. They don't think it's too bad. We bring up some statistics about it, which look like a weather forecast map. There are colors on the map to show how many cases there are in some places. A nearby town has a huge amount of cases...

It was another rough night sleep-wise last night. I have been pushing myself recently to get some work done, which has resulted in much caffeine and less sleep than usual. I was asleep by midnight, then woke up sometime between 5:00-6:00, had tea and breakfast and studied the Bible, then went back to sleep for about 45 - 50 minutes between 7:00-8:00.

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Gold and elevator

I am in a building with at least one other person. We are in an elevator. There is gold hidden somewhere in the building, and the elevator is part of the search. The elevator can go to floor 5 and floor 1. Maybe other floors too, those are the ones that I remember. Floor 1 seems to be a basement. I think the gold is probably hidden halfway between two floors, but I'm not sure how to get the elevator to take us there. At some point I call the elevator. I think it is on floor 1 below me, but it passes me going up before I get a chance to get on (there isn't a closed door at the moment, an I was just going to jump in - this might be inspired by the "tree elevator" in the Myst computer game.) Somehow, I think I get back in the elevator. We go to the 5th floor and look around. Then we go to floor 1. The doors open, and my companion looks out. He tells me that it is frightening out there. Someone is orchestrating this setup, and I think it was a prank to make floor 1 look scary. I don't look out, not wanting to be scared.

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4:45pm - I just woke up from a nap. I slept for probably about two hours or so, although I didn't notice exactly when I lay down. Attempted a WILD. Had the following dreams:

More Gold

People are finding gold somewhere around Georgia. I am surprised by how much they are finding. There are a couple of little nuggets, and something else that I don't think is gold. Someone is advertising that you can go there and find gold, and says something like "and you can donate to charity".

Fragments

There are vultures somewhere. Somebody is sharing the "fact" that vultures often have another, smaller bird with them that acts like a bodyguard...

...A girl named Victoria White. She has darker skin color, apparently African-American. It seems to me that there was more about her that I don't recall at the moment. [I have been trying to pay more attention to people in my waking life, including focusing on names. It is unusual for me to remember someone's name from a dream.]

Awake until about 5:00am. Two cups of coffee in the evening, trying to get ready for a meeting and a presentation today. Worked in the lab until at least 2:00am. Up again after 9:00am.

Not much time to write this morning. Just some notes, hopefully I will fill them in later.

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Working in the lab

I am working in the lab. Somebody stops in. They point out a candle thing. Has to do with a vent/tunnel. In case of emergency, can crawl through there.

National Park

Walking with a dog (or dogs). Cop, I think. Dogs seem to smell something. Cops looking for something. But they looked where the dogs smell something already.

To national park. Railroad tracks. Dog senses train coming. Dad goes down one path, I decide to join him. A-- and M-- go on another path. Mom goes somewhere. We make it across tracks before train comes.

Fragment

A girl is going on a "date" with her cousin. Not really a date. I don't know why they call it that.

Snail orchids

People carry around these things that look like large snails. It is customary to make fun of your snail, I think, and tell others something unflattering about it. But I think these are also called "orchids". There is one on the ground. It has kind of purplish foliage (it's more plant-like now). Apparently, if you touch it you get a residue on your hands that makes other things you touch taste or smell like - rotting apples, maybe?

I had a decent night's sleep last night. I hadn't been sleeping well for a while, which might have been contributing to my boring dreams. Last night's dreams were a little more engaging. At least, I felt more engaged.

Bedtime around midnight or so, 1.5mg of melatonin.

It may have been a mistake to look at my phone before journalling. I seem to have forgotten some details. Maybe they will occur to me throughout the day.

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Spices

There is some kind of rack - rows of spices are hanging on it. The spices are also people. When one pulls a lever at the side, the spices lower a notch. The lever is pulled as a repercussion for something - it's a prison of some sort. Some of the spices are nearing the bottom. What happens then? That doesn't seem to have been figured out yet. Do they let people go? Or are they executed?

Spider fragment

There is a spider... Was this also the dream with vampires?

Vampires

A vampire woman. Maybe two of them. A guy also. I walk down a hall, there is a door on the left. I enter the room. I think there is a picture on the wall of some interest.

Interesting fragments

There is a group of us. Some kind of an adventure. Going upstairs. We need to sneak past some people. I think that works. Something about blood samples?...

Something else about a girl. They put some balloon like things on her head...

Archaeology and seminar

Doing archaeology amidst a wooden platform, like a porch. I dig down, gathering dirt. There is brown broken glass, and some metal pieces related to a fireplace. Further down, I end up in a room with fireplace tools.

There is also a seminar going on. It is packed, and it's hard to find a seat. I sit down at the right side of the room. I notice at least one girl is still wandering around, but she eventually sits down.

There is a board, with a bunch of notecard-like things on it. Part of the board is covered by a dark, semitransparent cover. This is to be removed as the talk progresses. The guy is talking about somebody named "Ron Trzcinski". To me, the person talking sounds like Ron Trzcinski from The Original Mattress Factory.

At some point I realize that I left the hole I was working in uncovered. That doesn't seem safe. I go out to try and find something to mark it with so nobody steps/falls into it and gets hurt. I go into a trailer, or shed, or something, and find some "Wet Floor" signs. I go back out to the archaeological site/deck. There are some people doing construction there. I set up one of the signs over top of a hole. The other sign seems to have turned into a table or something. That still works, so I put it over top of another partially-filled hole.

Someone mentions that they are giving gifts to people associated with my friend A--. I have been in a small group with him, so I go back up to the seminar room to try and get a prize. I vaguely remember something about balloons. There is also a table with some books on it, one of which is labelled "semi-nudes".

Cleaning up

We are moving a bunch of things. This might have been part of the seminar dream, I'm not sure. We are, at one point, in a large barn-like structure. Some women are pushing posts suspended from the ceiling down a track, trying to remove them I think. I feel a little annoyed, because it seems like they are trying to show off how strong they are. I look for something heavy to do myself.

One of the heavy things involves loading a riding mower in the back of a truck (I think). There are a couple of piles of junk like this...

...There is also a collection of wooden slats. These go with other wooden objects that they fit into...

I think my friend A.V. from my old Church is there. Or maybe she was at the seminar.

Riding in a car

I'm in a car. I think my Mom is driving. Although it seems to me that she is on the right side of the car (which is unusual because this is the USA). Anyway, we are driving south toward my old workplace (a common motif). We are going to St. Clairsville, and I think to myself (or say out loud) that I like that town. I seem to enjoy being there, and I feel as though there is some cognizance of the fact that I was complaining yesterday evening about having the same dreams over and over - this being one of them. Not being lucid, it was as though I was thinking to myself "this isn't so bad".

We get off at an exit, and turn right around to get back on the road north. There is a lot of construction going on around us.

OK, let's try this again...

Edit: I think I will start including more waking thoughts here, as they relate to dreaming/lucidity. Readers may skip this part if they find it boring (not that you need my permission anyway!)

I'm trying to get back into lucid dreaming. I just posted a message in the forums asking for help getting into shared dreaming. I consider myself an open-minded skeptic when it comes to that sort of thing. I don't know if I have seen enough evidence that it's real, but I would kind of like to. Either way, it seems like a good way to get back to work on my lucidity.

On that note, I realize that I have difficulty maintaining self-discipline and even interest in lucid dreaming for long periods of time. This might be due to various factors. For one, I become discouraged when my lucid experiences are short, or seemingly boring. Also, I find the journey of learning to lucid dreaming and dream exploration to be lonely. I will be thinking about lucidity, mulling it over in my mind (I ruminate a lot), and start to feel that the dreamworld is a lonely place. I also start to feel unmotivated and wonder: What good does it do anyone? If my actions don't matter, what's the point?

But then I read dream journals of more proficient oneironauts, and long for the epic adventures and inspiring interactions that they have in their dreams. My dreams seem so mundane. And so lonely.

Enough of that...

I spent some time this evening reading Man of Shred's dream journal. I was particularly intrigued with the Jamie dreams, and the waking-life story that surrounds them. I feel for those two. I really hope things turn out well.

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Dream Updates:

I have fallen out of the routine of dream journalling. Here are some things I remember from recent dreams (not necessarily last night):

Archaeological site

Archaeological site...I'm assigned a place to work at the top of a large pyramidal mound. I'm a dit disappointed because that means I'll be working with really old stuff before this area developed a lot of culture that I find interesting (I don't know why the old stuff is at the top, seems to conflict with the Law of Superposition)...Someone takes a shower, we do something that we try to hide before they get done...

Old elevator

I think that I have dreamed about this more than once. It's an old elevator, almost what might be thought of as the ruins of an old elevator. There is a floor at the top with some old museum-like things. You can go down. I have a feeling that it is related to Quaker Square somehow.

Other recurring motifs

A large building, or set of buildings...you go upstairs and there is a hallway to another business...

Roadside places where we stop for food...

Going back to one of the old colleges...

Airport...

Paths behind my grandparents' old house...buildings off to the north (is that the right direction?)...

Something about going somewhere on a boat. I am trying to decide on a room for the trip. I see that they have a deck for scuba diving, and think that would be a neat place to stay. They apparently have sleeping quarters here. When I look more closely, I see that instead of rooms we have chambers in which we have to stand – kind of like some stasis chamber in a sci-fi show. It doesn’t look very comfortable in real life. I then start to wonder if I will get seasick. I’m already beginning to feel a little bit queasy.