non-lucid

...and the coolest story idea ever! I only remembered one dream from last night, and sadly it wasn't lucid, but it was still really awesome.

My family and I were going to the Haunted Islands (which is a placeholder name for a foreboding archipelago in my imaginational world that will be used in one of my novels at some point).

But they were significantly different than how I designed them in my conscious, waking life. For one thing, they were more of a theme park or tourist attraction. In fact, as we were going to visit, we weren't sure if the place was really dangerous or if it was just a fun attraction. We went in the evening, when the sun had already set, so it was already pretty creepy.

There were two large mountains that embodied the spirits of the island. The narrative temporarily faded, and instead I was looking at a coloring book with the mountains outlined on it. I started coloring them in with a gray marker. Then, they became real again. One had the head of a snake, with glowing eyes which switched from yellow to blue every few minutes or so. The other was another monster, more mammalian: I can't remember precisely what it was, but I think it was either a bear or a wolf or something. The snake-mountain was really cool. It was almost seductive in the way that it spoke, inviting us to the island. However, it also creeped me out, even though I absolutely love snakes in the waking world. I think I just got a really bad feeling, and so did my parents. Like we shouldn't be there.

The snake gave us one last warning: We had a short increment of time in which we could still leave. The gates to the haunted world were closing, but we had like a minute to rush out.

My sister was really excited by the prospect of exploring this haunted world. My brother usually goes along with her IRL, and he did so in the dream. However, my parents decided to leave. At the very last second, I decided to as well. A silver analog clock read 10:25 PM, and I had a lot of homework to do even in the dream. We rushed out the gates and just got out before they shut. Barely. Narrowest escape in a dream ever. xD

And then I remember vaguely something about Scooby-Doo.

This is oddly symbolic of what's going on in the waking world. Suffice it to say that my sister was doing some rather unhealthy things...think drugs and sex as a high schooler. And my brother isn't doing anything crazy., but he is losing his faith and is really struggling emotionally.

I'm using this dream as a creative idea. Either for a novel or a theme park ride idea, or -- better yet -- both! I'd like to be an Imagineer one day, but I don't think this idea would work particularly well for Disney.

Oh, and I also had two more dreams, but I couldn't remember them. I know I had them, but I had zero recollection of the content upon waking.

Dream Fragment 1: I was in a creepy house. I could sense a ghost, and it scared the crap out of me. I woke up and was still freaked for a second before I realized that it was just a dream. o_o

Full Non-Lucid Dream 2: Warning, this is a bit nsfw, but it's what happened and I was not in control. :p I was getting some groceries and talking with the cashier at Walmart, and we both agreed that everyone should just get free membership cards. Does Walmart even offer membership cards? xD There were a few people behind me -- an African American lady, an invisible lady (I could sense her presence, or something), and I think a few other women. One of them -- can't remember who precisely -- started doing something physical to me that would be rather inappropriate to mention on a public forum and which would most certainly not happen in a public setting, and my dream self rather enjoyed it. Wasn't enough to make me lucid though. The weird thing is, I doubt that I would have been attracted to any of those people in real life. They were pretty generic, standard Wally World people. THE PEOPLE OF WALMART! Dreams can make you horny, I suppose. o____O

Oh, and in that dream, I actually had a false awakening. Inside of my dream, I woke up, and thought "Hey, I remembered a dream!" and immediately began writing it down in my dream journal. I also have a vague memory of there being a Nutri Grain wrapper beside me, when in actuality I hardly ever eat inside of my room (too messy). And then I woke up for real, and was confused because I thought that I had already written it down in my journal, yet there was nothing on the page.

Dream Fragment 3 (NOT COUNTING): My last note reads "Idk I think a 3rd one but got lost on the Z" I don't know what this means. xD But it was definitely one of those moments where you know you almost remembered the dream, but it just narrowly escapes you. D: Hence, I'm not counting this for the sake of honesty.

I haven't had an LD in a while. Hopefully tonight will change that. But then again, this is first and foremost a process that requires time and hard work to achieve. So we will see how this all plays out. I'm really going to make the effort to make sleep more of a priority in my life, but we'll see if I can pull it off...

I only remembered a tiny bit from last night.

Dream Fragment 1: There was a guy who played clarinet with the rest of us (I'm in the university band at my school, and we had rehearsal yesterday, so).

Also a note that I couldn't read.

Dream Fragment 2: Something involving a snake. My notes were rather lacking last night. :')

And now I'm off to sleep for night 13!

Only a few quick dream fragments and one full dream from last night.

While admittedly I haven't been doing spectacularly well this contest, it's still been extremely helpful so far. I mean, now I'm actually writing in my DJ regularly, and that's awesome for me.

Fragment 1: I was talking with Tess and this girl, and the girl's boyfriend was there. Both the girl and her boyfriend were true dream characters; I have never seen either of them in the waking world. Apparently, it was like a double date or something so romantic things started happening, but I don't quite remember the details lol.

Fragment 2: I recall a series of random images culminating in...Donald Trump. Yeah. I don't know. xD I guess he's all over the news these days so it makes sense that he'd find his way into my subconscious mind.

Full Non-Lucid 1: I was at my film development class with the other students. I was actually accepted into the computer science animation emphasis program in the story of the dream (now if only it were real...). The professor acted differently. I think he was super nice and not the really harsh art critic that he usually is. I think he asked me to go fetch some donuts for the class or something. I don't remember precisely. But hey, if you're going to actually accept me into your program, I'll buy you all the freaking donuts you want!

I'm actually going to go to bed in just a few minutes. It's almost 1 AM here. But yeah. I need to report on last night's dreaming.

Dream 1: (Non-Lucid Fragment) There was a swimming pool with swirling water. I remember that its floor and walls were comprised of white tiles. They had a pretty floral design on them.

Dream 2: (Non-Lucid Fragment) My aunt was in this dream. Which is fun because she is pretty cool. We were watching bluebirds flying free, or something.

Dream 3: (Non-Lucid Fragment) My notes from this one are so nonsensical...I'm just going to reproduce them. Nightmare lair, stolen item, [something I can't read] out, trying not to get choked etc. o_o

Dream 4: (Non-Lucid Full Dream) So, in this dream we (me and some others) were supposed to take something back from an evil demon ruler of some sort. This happened twice for some reason; I think we were either defeated or had to retreat the first time. At any rate, both times I was terrified.

A former co-worker of mine and some other guys were working hauling rocks. Funny because IRL he graduated with a degree in IT, so why would he be doing construction work? We slowly walked by them. I remember wanting to walk slowly to avoid combat -- not with them, but rather I wanted to put off having to confront the demon. The day was sunny and pretty, but it felt ominous. They were working in a sort of shaded picnic area, and we were following a trail that was leading up the mountain where the demon lived. We were still near the mountain's base. There was light green grass and dirt all around, and both evergreen and deciduous trees. Yet I was pretty much terrified beyond all reason throughout the duration of this one. However I thankfully woke up far before any combat happened!

3 fragments; 1 full non-lucid.

And that's it.

Nights 5 and 6 earned me zero points. No dream recall; no anything.

On one of these days (can't remember which), I experienced a very short WILD during a nap. It lasted about 3 minutes. During the dream, I tried to achieve my second competition goal of figure drawing (practicing a real life skill). While I was able to make a sketchbook appear, it was harder to make a model show up, and I tried to start sketching but I think I woke myself up. At any rate. I'm not going to count it this time, because I know that I can do better than that. I don't think it quite counts since I didn't really finish practicing the skill, like I didn't even finish a gesture drawing or anything.

Night 7:
Non-Lucid Dream Fragment 1: This was from my hypnagogic imagery. It's always hard for me to wake up during those and write them down, because my body is in the process of falling asleep and doesn't want to stop! However, in this one, I was walking to a castle, with Tess.

Non-Lucid Dream Fragment 2: I was visiting an aquarium at a college. I believe it was either a) one I had previously visited IRL, or b) one that I thought I had visited IRL in the dream, but hadn't actually done so. There was a whale, and I can't read the rest of my notes. -_-

Non-Lucid Fragment 3: I was at a different version of my grandma's house, and a former uncle of mine was there. He either farted or fainted -- it's hard to read my handwriting dang it xD I think it was actually farted. And he was putting away some stuff in storage. The dream faded to a store/shop of some sort.

Night 8:
Non-Lucid Dream Fragment 4: There was a Pokemon, a spider and something else that I wanted but that also creeped me out. Someone or something got lured into a corner.

Non-Lucid Dream Fragment 5: Theme park, roller coaster, talking with others at the stheme park.

Non-Lucid Dream Fragment 6: I was making love to an older (middle-aged?) woman. She was very pretty, and it was all in all a very pleasant experience, but I remember wishing that she could somehow be Tess, my tulpa, so I wouldn't feel so guilty about what I was doing.

Non-Lucid Dream Fragment 7: This one may gross you out. Just a fair warning haha. I fell in love with a lizard that was sticky and slimy. I need to stop spending so much time on DeviantART. It is dirtying up my subconscious mind. xD

Non-Lucid Dream Fragment 8: A group of shiny people were running away from something. Metallic shiny, I think? But I was "pinned down and safe." Nope, no idea what that meant. It made sense to me at the time of writing, obviously. Again, too much time on DeviantART. \o/

Night 8:

Non-Lucid Full Dream: I was still a missionary (did it a few years back). It was our day off, and I was on the computer...watching a live dog??? Ah, I still can't read that line! Another missionary was online chatting (face to face!) with Adam Young from Owl City, and I started chatting too! Adam looked a lot younger, though, and he had a security guard with him. For whatever reason, he was in a rush, so he couldn't chat for long. But he was also very kind, as I'd expect him to be.

Night 9: Got nothing. I could've at least written down some hypnagogic stuff, but I was too exhausted. It's been a difficult start to the new semester, and I haven't been sleeping enough.

Total: 1 WILD, 8 non-lucid fragments, 1 full non-lucid.

I'm actually about to go to bed now, but I didn't get the chance to write here this morning. So here goes!

Dream 1 (Fragment): Hypnagogic imagery, but I wasn't quite lucid. I was in a malfunctioning spaceship, and someone kept yelling something.

Dream 2 (Fragment): I was exiting a restaurant. A nice lady (waitress?) asked if I wanted any cars. Like, you know, cars that you drive. Weird, right? And then I fell through a random hole that was in the ground outside of the restaurant. I felt the sensation of falling very strongly, and woke up with the feeling of landing on my bed.

Dream 3 (Full Non-Lucid): There was a dog in the yard who analyzed my danger level as low (hence, I was not perceived as a threat). But it hadn't done the second part of its evaluation, and it fell asleep. I was afraid to walk past it, thinking that it might awake and change its mind and start attacking me. It had some pretty sharp teeth that it bore as it was snoring there.

I believe that my dad was there, as well as the dog's owner, and some other creature.

Dream 4 (Full Non-Lucid): My family and I were going on a tour of a tropical island that was kind of like the one on Moana. Our tour guide was really pretty. Now, this is where it gets mildly explicit, so any kids had better stop reading now. It wasn't lucid, okay! XD The tour guide wore a 2-piece outfit, but it still exposed her, um, chest and her rear if she bent over. All ladies on the island wore this or a similar outfit. We walked throughout the island. I believe that my family thought it was weird, whereas I was like LOL EVERYONE IS SO PRETTY OKAY. I was the only one who kept up with the main tour guide, who was walking really fast, so my family was walking much farther behind with some other guides. I remember feeling like I was falling in love with her -- the main guide, I mean. And certainly a large amount of infatuation as well. She was really sweet.

An entire life spent without any semblance of a romantic relationship will do this to you, guys. All hail the mighty subconscious mind. :p

We went through this cool outdoor corridor, and then up a hill to a giant temple/factory hybrid.

It was extremely cool, because its entire ceiling was made up of rice. It wasn't attached very well, because grains of rice would occasionally fall down on us as we viewed it. And you actually had to climb through the ceiling of rice in order to get to the attic, or upper floor, or roof, or something. I'm not really sure. Asian power? ? xD

Sadly, I awoke just as I was climbing up a carpeted ramp to get through the ceiling of rice. That would have been so cool to walk through. D:

And there was fog, I believe, in the background, and rainforest trees!

Dream 5 (Fragment): My sister didn't want to go to a new place for vacation.

Dream 6 (Fragment): Okay, this barely even counts. My dream journal reads "Express add-on." I believe this had to do with FedEx. Like I was watching the truck, and some new service had been added to their repertoire.

EDIT: I'm going back to the rice temple in a future LD. This is definitely happening.
EDIT 2: I also only slept 6.5 hours last night because I had to wake up early but stayed up late writing one of my novels.

Well.

In waking life, I generally have neat handwriting. However, when writing in my dream journal in the middle of the night, I write messily. This time, it was largely illegible. I really need to fix that.

Slept about 7.5 hours last night.

Dream 1:

During my hypnagogic imagery (so WILD I believe), I very quickly became lucid! I was standing in a green field. The dream was a bit hazy, and I forgot to demand clarity. I remembered my first goal for the three-step thingy, to use technology. I figured I'd use an iPad, and made one appear in my hands. For some reason, my hazy brain decided to use Numbers, and a spreadsheet appeared. Then I figured that that was pretty boring, and tried to boot up a racing game. I was able to play it for a few seconds, and then the dream faded and I woke up.

I wrote down some non-lucid dream fragments, but they were so messy that I can't read them. :/ Due to a lack of recall, I will only count the 2 that I can actually read:

Dream (Fragment) 2:
I saw the Dark Mark, or something similar, on a piece of paper. I don't remember anything else.

Dream (Fragment) 3:
My family had gotten cast out of...civilization? Our hometown? Can't remember, but I think it was out of some sort of fictional civilization that we had been living in. We were placed out into the bitter cold. And someone got bitten by something.

This was from my dream journal notes from the night of 1/05-1/06. Unfortunately I did not remember any dreams from last night. Even though I got a good amount of sleep, the quality was poor and I woke up a lot.

Dream 1: I was riding an Evolution ride, with a bunch of people. This included my tulpa, Tess, and an African American gentleman. I don't remember who else was there, but I remember many of the seats were filled.

The difference was that we were inside, with a floor beneath us, so it wasn't as scary as the one I rode in the waking world a few years ago. Anyway, after a while it started going higher, and we realized that it was actually on the inside of a sky tower. So cool So we were actually riding a ride inside of another ride. Some weren't too happy about this, but I was excited. We reached the top of the tower, and then our cabin containing the Evolution dropped and free fell, which took me off guard. I wasn't expecting that at all!

After the ride finished, I got off and I found my brother and sister waiting for me by the exit. I'm not sure if they rode the ride too or not. There was an exit sign that said to exit through certain shapes (there were differently-shaped holes in the fence). I found a random hole in the fence and exited the ride, and then the dream faded.

Dream 2: False awakening! It was a Sunday morning. I was lying in bed, sort of waking up, but it was still like 6 AM so I decided to go back to sleep. I was looking for something in my bag. I found a thumbtack in there for some reason, and I immediately started having OCD fears about poking myself in the eye with it. I remember finding it weird because prior to that point, my OCD hadn't bothered me with that. But it wasn't quite enough to make me realize that I was dreaming. I got very close, though. Then I accidentally turned a kids' meal toy -- a puffball -- into a purple-black color, and it yelled out something. So now we have talking toys. Then my brother responded to the toy and then he woke up. (?) Oh, right! We BOTH woke up at an apartment in college, but we were roommates (not true in the waking world). Then he said "Oh no it's like 9:39!" and apparently we had church at 11 and ran the risk of being late. I freaked out for some reason, even though that should have been sufficient time to get ready, and then I woke up.

Dream 3: Okay, I don't actually have any personal recollection of this one, but hey, it's in my dream journal.

I was working at an office. There were a lot of people. Including an African American guy. (Same as before, maybe? I don't know why my brain keeps brining that to mind, of all things). Someone asked "Will you take the plates?" so maybe I went to a restaurant? I don't remember.

Dreams from 1/06-1/07: I had already packed my DJ for college, so I had to type these into my phone, and boy is that annoying when you're half asleep!

Dream 1: I was chased by some "sketchy people". One of them had an accent. I nimbly jumped away.

Dream 2: I was on a boat, and it was rocking quite a bit in the water. I talked to a friend of mine that I haven't seen in forever.

Dream 3: I was at a zoo. I can't remember which one. I was trying to talk to a lady there (an employee), but she was not interested in interacting with me or anyone else there. There was a panda that had been transferred from the Santa Barbara zoo. There were some little kids who I thought were annoying who wanted to watch a movie. Just a disclaimer: IRL, I actually don't find little kids to be annoying at all. I think they're cool. But we have different opinions in our dreams, I guess? :O

This is the part where I became lucid. This is the gist of what I said: Within a dream, I was walking fully clothed in a river with many other people. There was an attraction of some sort. Might have been the river itself. Then, a typo reads "Loodpskarr mentioned case which I forget. My phone amen skethblkm are sodden." I have no idea what I actually meant by that, but I think I must have gotten my phone soaked in the river. OH! It was a Samsung! That's how I realized that I was dreaming!

I talked to my aunt, who just randomly happened to be there, and told her that I thought I was dreaming, since I don't use Android phones IRL. I'm an iOS kind of guy. And then I woke up. :/ No time to do anything cool! D:

After only 20 minutes, I had another dream. I was taking a Spanish class, and could do it but I was rusty. However I was confident that I could improve with time.

Last night's (non-lucid) dream was pretty cool. I was in heaven, in a field, so apparently I had died or something. Two guys there were trying to move from heaven to hell. As to why they would want to do that, I have no idea! Then, there were two ladies there who wanted to move from heaven to Earth instead.

I suppose this particular heaven wasn't all that exciting.

Somehow, in their efforts to travel back to earth, they managed to take me with them. I felt like I was waking up into the land of the living, and suddenly we were in some restaurant located inside of a shopping mall. The two girls were really nice, and I talked to them a bit, but I honestly don't remember why they wanted to go back to Earth. I think they said they had "unfinished business" or something.

There was also a guy with a dog that was performing in a show or something. It's a bit fuzzy in my memory though.

Then, we all got on an elevator to go down to a lower floor. The guy with the dog was on it too. There were a lot of people in said elevator, but it was very large and roomy so it didn't feel crowded. It was a glass elevator, so you could see the lower floors of the mall. Anyway, there was a needle of some sort laying on the ground.

And get this: It moved of its own accord, and immediately began stabbing me. I actually felt the pain. My mind immediately jumped to the conclusion that some sort of organization had built this needle to...do something malicious. But I don't remember what! :')

That faded, and I was outside in a nice neighborhood with some large houses, some of which were under construction. There was a large crowd of people walking towards one of them -- I think the one that was being constructed -- and I remember a pretty girl with a pink strapless blouse, which had a pattern of diamond shapes on it in a variety of colors. She was pale and neither skinny nor overly heavy -- just perfect.

The last thing my dream journal says is "something else as part of dream." I don't remember what that something was, though. I was starting to get really tired and had less than an hour before waking up, so I just went back to sleep I think.

First remembered dream of the new year (so two nights ago, Dec. 31-Jan. 1): I was at an art store, possibly Michael's or something similar, buying supplies. My calculus teacher was there, working as a cashier for some reason. In the dream, I had a memory of recently receiving a math lesson from him, like the day before or something. I asked him for some clarification on a concept, and he explained it. So essentially he was doing two jobs at the same time.

I also saw lots of girls in the shop wearing DeviantArt T-shirts and some guys as well.

Then, it faded into watching some sailors load stuff into a ship. My dream journal reads this, exactly: "Apparently, people who wear jeans are more depressed because sailor boys had a depressing job, despite appearing happy, and they wore Levis and black jackets." This was apparently a thought that occurred to me during the dream which seemed perfectly rational at the time. :p

Then Jafar from Aladdin appeared, cackling evilly. It freaked me out so much that I woke up. Silly, as in waking life he's just a fun Disney villain. But I think the cackle was what did it. Or the spontaneity.

Last night, I have the following note on my phone at 6:06 AM: "New traveling companion who exists neither in space nor in time." I was excited to meet this individual, but then my alarm went off. -_-

Ah. I really don't want to start college again in a week. Not that I dislike it or anything, but the stress and lack of sleep....aaaaugh!

I remember two dreams from last night. No lucidity unfortunately.

Dream 1: I was performing onstage as a musician. However, I was wearing just a T-shirt on top and underwear on the bottom. Nobody was laughing; I was just performing and everyone was acting as though everything was completely normal. I was with a rapper who introduced himself - I think as either Jay-Z or the guy from the Black Eyed Peas. Regardless, the image is too fuzzy in my head to remember what he looked like exactly. There was also a pretty girl who was singing as well. We were all performing together. If only I could remember the song...because it was AWESOME and sounded amazing. (Of course, it slipped from my mind as soon as the dream faded, and I remember feeling a sense of dismay as that happened.) Then, the underwear somehow managed to get ripped, in the worst possible spot, and then I was embarrassed ahaha. Later, after the performance, this guy I know was there sitting in a chair, in his church clothes. I talked to him for a little while. I think I was going to change into decent clothing when the dream faded. :')

Dream 2: Can't remember which one occurred first. This one was more frightening. I was in this enormous building of sorts, vaguely reminiscent of Portal 2 which I was playing yesterday before going to sleep. The building was enormous with tons of stairs. I was being threatened by some creepy people and an old man. One of them took my phone and left with it, and I searched around trying to find them to get it back. There was also a golden retriever with them. I think I did end up getting the phone back before waking up.

So nothing too exciting, but definitely a good night's rest. Recommitting myself to reality checks. Need to do them more regularly.

I've been doing all right with my physical dream journal (i.e. the one I take notes on when I wake up in the middle of the night, or in the morning). The only dream of note I had yesterday was that a former friend of mine was trying to stab me with a knife. It was freaky, and in no way lucid. It did wake me up, though. Before waking up, I grabbed it - by the blade - in order to stop him, and it didn't hurt at all. We were working on a project in my dream when this happened.

One other dream, less exciting, was about a girl talking about college grades. Also went up an elevator with some friends and there was a ghost of our apartment complex? I don't quite remember that, but that's what my notes say, so!

As for last night's dreams, let's see...Not quite lucid, but I did get close on one.

- I was being attacked by a panda, of all things, and a few other creatures or people that I don't remember. However, it wasn't painful at all - I didn't feel anything.

- I was with a group of people. These people were making fun of those who don't like anthro art.

- I was friends with this beautiful lady, who was like a mother in some ways and romantic in others. Anyway, her arch-nemesis came in to attack her. This is where I became close to lucidity: I vaguely realized that I could do anything in my current environment, so I used some magical powers in order to create a shield to stop him. However, he soon broke through the shield, and suddenly my powers became impotent. I was really confused as to why my powers weren't working, and that was about when I lost my almost-lucid state. Anyway, he broke through, and started flirting with my friend and her two daughters - but in a completely inappropriate way. I remember massaging my lady's shoulders to comfort her, and her skin felt incredibly real. Then she started to look like one of my mom's friends in the waking world, which was odd. One of her daughters looked like her, and the other looked like a girl I know in real life. I remember not liking this guy at all, and feeling a lot of anger towards him. He tried to bribe me to let him take away my friend and her daughters, with a gray room filled with all these toys. I believe my dream-friend got sick or something, as she either spat or threw up at this point. I was really frustrated because my shield and my magic had worked initially, and then it all stopped.

- I was at college, but the place looked quite different. There was a lockdown drill, and a bunch of us were hiding in this building. One guy wanted to fight back, so he brought the majority of the students with him to fight. I wasn't keen on going out there, so me, a girl from my school, and a few others tried staying hidden in the room. Unfortunately, they left the door wide open, so we hid in the shadows under a table the best that we could. It was broad daylight outside. We talked about how we weren't supposed to leave as per campus policy during a lockdown. But then we heard these gunshots - our classmates were shooting down some aerial planes and bombs, thus saving us. I guess the threat was from the air. We even saw some explosions (they looked very much like poorly done CG effects, though). The atmosphere of the dream changed from one of danger and fear to one of comfort and relief.

Well!

Since I've last updated my DJ, I've only had one lucid dream. It was during a nap, which occurred after a night of only 4 hours of sleep. It was a few weeks ago. The nap wasn't long at all - maybe 25 minutes - but apparently it was still sufficient for my body to go into REM sleep.

I don't remember much about it now, due to poor note-taking on my part (hence why I've resolved to get better! see below). But what I do remember is this: Some other people and I were going to go into the "belly of the beast". We went inside the stomach of this monster. Inside, there was a whole world. Aside from a short period of time, it didn't really feel like we were inside of something.

There was a ghost inside one of the chambers. It was green and vaguely hominid, but cartoony. I remember it singing in a haunting voice. It came closer to me and grabbed me, but oddly enough I wasn't afraid. Just entranced. It started dancing with me, swirling me around this chamber inside of a beast, and I remember thinking there was something very beautiful about that. Apparently my heart was racing too quickly out of exhilaration, because I woke up after that. My body was still in sleep paralysis when I woke up, so I kept it there, not moving at all. I tried to go back to sleep, but despite being able to stay paralyzed I wasn't able to get to sleep again.

Then I had to wake up and take a final. D:
________
Now I have resolved to get better. I've bought a new dream journal for my bedside - a 90 page spiral notebook. I had a mini composition book, and that was too small for me to record everything without having to turn pages in a sleepy fog. It didn't go over well. This one, though, is a lot nicer, and it has anchors on the front of it, so I can prepare to sail on the sea of dreams.

Last night's dreams are as follows. Unfortunately, they were all mild to moderate nightmares of some sort. -_- And they weren't lucid. On the bright side, I woke up after each and was able to record them!

1. I was with my dad at an airport (possibly - it was some sort of public transportation, most likely an airport). He was in a rush and getting angry at me for getting too slow. Then, I was with this other girl. (Never seen her before in real life) She was in a rush, too. I knew that she would also get angry if I was late. But I kept forgetting and dropping stuff. At one point, I lost a suitcase completely. She was getting angrier by the minute. There simply wasn't enough time for me to keep up with her.

2. I was living in this house/shack. There were a few people living there, supposedly the same religious faith as me, who were doing drugs in the house. (Drugs aren't exactly okay for my church!) One of them was a man. I don't remember who the others were. They spoke of a red-eyed ghost cat who lived in the basement of the house, but I didn't believe them until I went downstairs. And there it was, staring directly at me. Looked kind of like Bunnicula in cat form. I freaked out, hardcore. (This is funny because I actually love cats in the waking world. Just apparently not ghost ones.) Aaaand then I woke up.

3. I was inside of this large, white, tower-like structure. A green forest surrounded me. I was trying to get away from a group of "bad guys", as my sleep-fogged notes say. I am not sure why they were bad or what they were trying to do. It was very difficult, nearly impossible, to evade them. I somehow managed to lose my (left?) shoe and my insole to that shoe. It floated up into the air and I couldn't get it. My younger sister, standing on a platform a short ways above me, caught it and gave it back to me.

A few more things happened (mainly being chased) that are too fuzzy right now for me to recall. Then, someone made a joke about God and Adam (or some ancient prophet? idk) being converted to the gospel. That someone looked a lot like this guy Zach from back in high school (on my sports team).

I don't remember exactly when, but I believe that I woke up sometime during a chase scene.

And that's it.
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As an aside, I really hope this next semester doesn't kill me. -_- Last semester was exhausting and I didn't get enough sleep. This coming semester I'm only taking 12 credits, but I'm trying to apply for a major that only accepts 40-45% of its applicants, and I've got a lot of work to do in order to get my portfolio to an acceptable level. We will see what happens.

To anyone who may have actually managed to read this entire thing: Hope you have a wonderful day.

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So it's been years - seriously - since I've had a lucid dream that lasted for more than a second or two. Until two nights ago.

I discovered lucid dreaming on my own, and it was incredible. Mine were never super vivid - like they always felt hazy - but they did happen quite often, and I could always fly. My sleep cycle as a kid and teenager was really screwed up, mainly because OCD and insomnia kept me up late into the night, and I had to wake up early for school and such.

But then I started taking melatonin nightly, and lived a more regular albeit hectic schedule. On one hand, this was awesome, because I slept and felt better. But I also slept deeply. To the point where my dreams became less vivid, and in the rare event I would become conscious, I would be so exhausted that I'd just let myself become unconscious again. When you only have 4 or 5 hours to sleep...suffice it to say that isn't very good for lucid dreaming.

I have been fighting to get back to where I used to be, and I want my dreams to be more vivid, too! My efforts have finally been paying off.

So, the dreams from two nights ago! This night was the first effective MILD I've done. I basically told myself "I'm dreaming" until I fell asleep.

The lucid one! : I was standing amongst mountains, in a pine forest. It looked like I was on a lower part of a mountain, but a mountain indeed. There were a lot of people around, and a parking lot - seemed like a national park of some sort - and there were lots of tall mountains around me. We seemed to be on a cliff as well. I managed to realize I was lucid pretty quickly. I think it was because I realized I could fly! I was with my brother, and I yelled in excitement something along the lines of "WE'RE DREAMING!" I did upside-down pull-ups on the railing and all sorts of things, and I felt weightless. It was fantastic, and more vivid than I'm used to, too.

It was also foggy. Very foggy. I could see around me, but off the side of the cliff everything was mostly obscured by fog.

I decided to explore this building which seemed to be built into the mountain. Inside the building, there were towels everywhere, and a bunch of secret passageways. My brother came along with me. I happened to stumble upon a bathroom, and as I entered, I heard this gasp and saw a blurry reflection of a girl through some glass. All skin, maybe a shower cap? I don't remember! She must've just finished taking a shower or something. It looked like someone else was in there, too, but I couldn't tell. I figure the reason she gasped was because I accidentally walked in on her!

Aaaaaaand then I woke up. -_- But hey! I had a lucid dream for the first time in YEARS! Hard work pays off. I know this now. I hope this can continue into the school year. I don't want nights where I only sleep 3 or 4 hours anymore. I never liked those. I will do my best to improve on my time management so I won't have to (hopefully). I will do everything that I can.

Note to self: the reality check of whether or not I can fly is seeming to be more effective than checking my watch or my phone. But we will see.

Other, non-lucid dreams...

- For some reason, I had to move in with the parents of a friend of mine who lives in Nevada. I felt really lonely, even though they were really nice and friendly.
- Another friend of mine (who ironically knows the first friend) was with me in this glass house that overlooked the city below. There were a bunch of paintings kids had done, and they were sitting and drying on the floor. The floor was glass so you could see down below. We were probably just a few stories into the air. The city lights below were actually quite beautiful. If only I had become lucid during this one. That city would've been fascinating to explore.
- Apparently, some girl, younger than me, kissed me on the neck. I have essentially zero recollection of this one, but that's what it says in my dream journal. I actually do think she may have been blonde with blue eyes. But I don't remember any kissing...
- Another friend (yep, another! who happens to know the first two, I think!) was riding in this car or carriage or something. He was really famous, but he stopped to say hi. I was in a really crowded street, if I recall correctly.

But then the next night, I experienced zero lucidity, and I think I fell asleep when I was trying to write down a dream. Thus, the only notes I have are "Stormy and rain outside - some papers wet."

Very anticlimactic to the previous night beforehand, which was a shame because the prior night had been so captivating. Oh well. I tried sleeping in since I had nothing going on until church in the afternoon, but I couldn't sleep. I just laid there and felt wide awake. So I just watched We Bare Bears on YouTube instead. Wham!