memorable

I was on some kind of flying bus or other multi-passenger transport vehicle. Outside it was dark and stormy. The vehicle was flying over a city. It looked pretty run down -- a very dystopian sci-fi vibe.

I realised we were heading straight into the centre of a storm. It was like a hurricane and epic thunder storm combined. I knew it was dangerous and started shouting at whoever was driving to avoid the storm. It was too late though. The vehicle was shaken and vast amounts of water were pouring in to it, filling it up.

Mostly everyone was knocked unconscious. Only myself and another guy were alright. I told him to help me open the back window. The vehicle was still flying and had passed through the storm but was almost full of water and heading towards the ground. We opened the window and I pulled out some kind of breathing apparatus and swap through the vehicle waking people up.

I was telling them that they had to go and jump out of the window because we would crash. It seemed like it was somehow the safer option? I came across N, an old enemy from school. I was tempted to leave him to his death but decided it was wrong and saved him. Most of the other people on in the vehicle were people I knew but I can’t quite remember the specifics.

We must have all survived because we were know in a deserted city centre. Everything was so brown and dirty. The storm could be seen off in the distance, it looked like a scary destructive force yet really beautiful and natural. I was worried that it was heading in our direction. I was talking with someone and they disagreed with me saying that it would move off another way. It suddenly began to move at a rapid pace to the right of my view and was far enough away to not worry about.

There was a girl with me. She was really beautiful but not someone I know from reality. She was either my girlfriend or someone I was in a sort-of relationship with. I felt like I trusted her a great deal.

I found myself sitting with some people talking about what we should do. I said that we should go to a nearby town to look for something -- possibly other people or supplies, it wasn’t clear. I was told I had to take someone with me. I said I would take the girl, but the idea was shot down for some reason. It was commented that I trusted her too much. I insisted and it was agreed except that T, an old school friend, would have to come wit me. I didn’t like the idea because I didn’t trust him. I also knew that T wasn’t his real name. I considered him to be a slippery character that kept changing his identity. He was with some random girl who laughed in a knowing slightly sinister way that made me feel uneasy.

I went to find the girl from earlier. She was sleeping in a make-shift shelter made of road signs. I touched her exposed belly gently and woke her softly. She smiled and I stroked her arm. I said I was sorry to wake her but we were going to scout out a nearby town and that it’d be good to spend some time together.

This is a dream that is important to me because it reminds me of how much of a jerk I was and maybe still am and how much remorse and regret I feel for past mistakes.

I was my old school playing field. It was different; there was a large gate where there was not one before. I was walking through the gate and B was there. I was eager to talk to her but she strangled me with a bicycle chain. It was cutting in to my neck slightly.

B is a girl I used to be friends with and had a massive crush on. I haven’t seen her in years and we parted on bad terms because I was a complete asshole. Anyway...

I was then sitting at a large table, still sore from the chain. My neck was red and bleeding slightly. I was really upset but I still wanted to go and find B and apologise to her for what happened in the past. Also at the table were some old school friends. I looked around and saw that we were in a big hall and that there were lots of tables with people sitting around them. It was loud; people were chatting and joking around with each other.

I noticed that I recognised pretty much everyone in the room. There were people that I knew well and people that I barely knew. It was sort of like everyone I had ever met was in one big room for some kind of event.

I mentioned to my friends that I wanted to go and find B. For some reason they didn’t want to let me go. They dared me to make out with a girl sitting at a table nearby us. I recognised her, but she was someone I barely even knew. She was pretty ugly and I had no desire to make out with her, but I got the feeling that it was the only way my friends were going to let me go off and find B which I really felt I needed to do. They called the girl over and she came and sat on my lap. We made out but she was a bad kisser, although for some reason I had a hard-on.

Finally I was free to look for B. The next thing I knew I was sitting at a table across from her. She was wearing a black suit jacket and a red low cut top. She was just staring at me sternly. I felt really bad about what I had done in the past and felt so desperate for her to forgive me. I was struggling to explain to her how sorry I was about everything. She just kept staring at me. I continued to apologise but she didn’t react.

Key: Non-Lucid, Lucid

I really wish my recall would get back to some kind of consistency!

Tree Beard Fragment

I was looking in a mirror. I noticed that by chin and neck were made out of tree bark -- roughly in the area where my beard grows. It was all cracked and browny-green looking. I felt slightly shocked and uncomfortable.

I had this brief dream the night before last, having just shaved my beard off a day earlier. It's really weird going clean shaven after having a beard for a few years -- although it's obviously even weirder in my dreams...

Windows to The Other Side

I was back at secondary school. C was there, and I think L, and we were standing near the main gates. There was a strange light coming out of nowhere and engulfing the area. There were spirits of some kind that we could see. It was some kind of portal or window to a spirit realm or so I figured.

It ended and we went to another location in the school where it happened again. We gathered around it and watched. It happened several times in different places, and each time more people would come and watch what was happening. I spoke to M outside the canteen and explained about the strange spirit portals that were appearing around the school.

The next thing I recall is entering one of the buildings. I was going to a math lesson, but wasn't sure where I was going. I walked to where I thought my classroom was and looked inside. For some reason I decided it was the wrong place and went up the the first floor instead. The first floor of the building was wrong: it was actually the first floor of the art & technology building.

As I descended the stairs I started shouting at the people who were entering the building. I felt really pissed off. I walked in the the classroom I had left before and realized that was actually where I was supposed to be.

I sat down. The room was configured a bit differently from how it was in reality. The teacher, Mrs. H, was asking if people had done their assignments. I knew I hadn't bothered to. I had very mixed feeling of nerves and getting in trouble and extreme defiance. Eventually she asked me, and I decided to go with defiance and told her I didn't give a crap.

Key: Non-Lucid, Lucid, Commentary/Notes, Hypnagogic Hallucinations

I awoke in a dense rainforest. The plant-life glistened as though it had just recently been raining. It was beautiful. Then I realised, I didn't know where or who I was.

I looked around and saw members of the Voyager crew. Ah yes, I too was a member of the crew. But where were we?

Thinking about it now, this dream bears some striking similarities with a certain Star Trek: Voyager episode. Can't say I've watched it recently though, so it's odd that I would dream of a similar scenario.

Someone explained that we were trapped in a virtual reality. Not only that, but the virtual reality represented an entire virtual universe, larger even than our own. I found the prospect both daunting and exciting. If the view of the rainforest in front of me was indicative of the beauty and realism of the rest of the virtual universe, I certainly would want to see more of it.

There were many questions floating around in my head. Can we get out? If so, how? Should we even bother? Why are we trapped here? How did we even get here? I contemplated the idea of a virtual universe some more as I watched the rainforest before me. It all seemed so real.

There was an invisible barrier just behind us. It lead back in to reality. On the other side was a room. It was sealed. Perhaps just the entry point?

The next thing I knew we were under attack by Klingons. I didn't know if they were real or part of the virtual reality, but I knew they were trying to kill us. We fought with them and came out victorious. There were only a few of them. They explained that they too had awoken in this virtual reality just a few miles to the west of our location. They returned to the west, presumably to the rest of their people.

A moment later some other humans appeared from the rainforest. They wanted us to go with them to where they were living. They were dressed very plainly in neutral colours.

We went with them and they brought us to what appeared to be some kind of temple or tomb. It was made from stone and had detailing done with small red stones. I was standing next between Tom Paris and Kim and we all exchanged a glance as though to say... 'Ok, this is weird.'

The people were beckoning us to follow them around the structure to the other side. We did so and there was a stone casket. They began to remove the stone slab on top of it and when asked what they were doing they told us that they were releasing Hathor. I panicked. I shouted that Hathor is a Goa'uld and would immediately try and take a host! The Goa-uld symbiote came flying out of the casket. The realised that since this was a virtual reality that it might not be able to take control of any of us. It seemed I was right because the symbiote disappeared in the air with a kind of red de-digitising effect. Panic over.

Mixing some Stargate SG-1 with your Star Trek dreams can never be a bad thing, right?

Captain Janeway was pretty miffed about everything. I remember looking at Tuvok and he just had an intrigued look on his face, as you would expect.

Finally I contemplated more about the nature of the virtual universe. I was torn between the desire to explore it and the desire to be back safely in reality.

Key: Non-Lucid, Lucid, Commentary/Notes, Hypnagogic Hallucinations

I was a hero, or soon would be. Tasked with defeating the almighty Diablo atop his tower, I prepared for my quest. A magical bird warrior, Phoenix, had been sent to accompany me; offering both his companionship and some much needed combat experience.

Phoenix was a bright orange bird. His back and the rear of his wings were covered in a blue armour plating -- it appeared to be natural. I got the sense he was young for his species, but somehow very wise by comparison to myself. The journey ahead would be treacherous and I was glad that I didn't have to travel entirely alone.

We set off on our quest, and before we knew it we neared the top of Diablo's tower. Victory was within our grasp; all that was needed was to fell the demon.

I could see the sky as I walked along an exterior stairway leading to the flat circular roof above. It was dark and purple clouds swirled around menacingly. Occasionally there was a flash of what seemed like lightning, but there was no accompanying roar of thunder. Silence is all I heard. I grew anxious as I climbed the stair, but it was not warranted.

A man greeted me and was very quick to inform me that I needed to gain another 6,000,000 levels in order to defeat Diablo. In the distance, across the other side of the roof I could say the demon lying in wait. He was a fierce looking beast, not dissimilar in shape to a dragon with no wings, perhaps 60 or so feet in height as he stood on all fours. His skin was scaled and purple, and his head was horned and protected by a frontal dark grey layer of natural armour. I knew at that moment that despite the terrifying spectacle of the beast that lay in wait, I would train longer and harder than ever before and return to slay the beast after gaining another 6,000,000 levels...

Phoenix and I returned to the world below. We had not completed our goal, but we knew exactly what we had to do. Waiting for us was another bird-like creature. His name was Garr and he bore a striking resemblance to my companion, Phoenix. Unlike Phoenix however, his armour plating was much thicker and covered a greater amounts of his body, including parts of his face. He looked strong and stood proudly on his legs, which were unusually muscular. Phoenix on the other hand flew everywhere and rarely stood up right like this other bird creature.

The two birds spoke for a while. I gathered that Garr was Phoenix' father. Somehow I sensed that Garr was a great warrior, and was disappointed with his sons failure. I requested that Garr join with us on our next trip up through Diablo's tower.

We left for the tower again and again it seemed like we were immediately climbing up the stairs to the final confrontation. I felt stronger now. I had surely gained more than 6,000,000 levels in the time since I was last hear -- I could feel it.

The same man was there and he told me that I was still a few levels short. I was having none of it though and decided to take on Diablo now. I knew I was ready...

And then, as with all my favourite dreams, it ended prematurely. I wish my dreams had proper resolutions, especially when they follow a narrative that is stricter than usual.

Key: Non-Lucid, Lucid, Commentary/Notes, Hypnagogic Hallucinations

To preface, this was one of the most vivid dreams in a real setting with characters from my own reality that I've ever had. Aside from some minor dream weirdness it was so very realistic.

It was a normal day. I was on my daily trip to the post office. Just as I turned the corner and approached the entrance I realised I had forgotten something. Damn it! I decided to go back and collect it and return to the post office later.

I was hurrying back when I saw two familiar faces coming the other way: two old friends L and S. I let on to them but I was in a hurry so didn't stop to chat. A short way down the road I ran in to another two old friends from my school days. Technically it was one old friend, R, and a guy I never really liked, G. This time I decided to stop and catch up with them.

They told me they were on the way to our old secondary school. Although they were in the totally wrong place and going the opposite direction. I asked them why and they told me that they helped out there. I wasn't clear on what they meant, but they said I should go with them and I agreed.

Next thing I knew we were in our old secondary school. We reminisced a bit.

We were standing outside of the main entrance and there were school kids all around in massive lines, shuffling along. It was hard to move. Some of my old teachers were standing around. One of my science teachers, Mr. M, one of my maths teachers, Mrs. H, and my design teacher, Mrs. M, were just standing around. I went up and said hi. We talked about stuff and they asked how I had got on since leaving school 7 years ago (Wow, it seems like forever ago now... I feel so old.) They were all so extremely vivid. I noticed that they were really tall and I had to look almost straight up to see their faces. They had to get on with whatever they were doing, so I said bye and walked back towards the entrance gate.

I ran in to another teacher who was a pretty regular substitute. I always got the feeling he didn't like me and so I was surprised when he let on to me and recognised me. We had a brief chat.

The next thing I knew I was talking with R and G again. We were standing on the edge of the playing field. We reminisced some more about our school days. I asked R if he had kept in touch with any of our group of friends from back then. He hadn't. I told him I was still in touch with our friend, A pretty regularly as we had attended college and uni together.

I asked for each of their email addresses. G didn't want to give it to me, but I didn't really care as I never liked him anyway. I wrote R's down on my hand it was something "@easyeasy.net" but I can't remember the first bit. I wish I could so I could send an email! I gave R my email address too. He tried writing it on his hand but the pen he was using didn't work, so I wrote it for him with my pen.

I used to write so much stuff down on my hands back in school -- they were always covered in ink. Interestingly I gave him my actual real email address and I wrote it down accurately and it was right! It was a bit of a mess, like I couldn't control the pen very well, but it was legible. I had to pause and check that I was giving him the right email address and I remember saying, "yeah... that's my real email address" as I was really struggling to get it right and write it down. I think that maybe it was a very good time to have done a reality check and tried to become lucid, but my dream self obviously didn't think so. Oh well, always next time.

Edit: And I just realised that the pen I was using was the same pen that I use (or should use if I could be bothered) to write in my hard copy dream journal. Nice detail.

I was on such a roll when I started my dream journal just over a month ago. Unfortunately it seems the extra sleep I've been getting due to being extremely drowsy from taking anti-histamines for my hay-fever has not brought with it any extra dream recall. In fact the opposite is true; I've had very poor dream recall!

The 3 dreams I recalled during that period were actually quite embarrassing -- even embarrassing enough for me to not want to post them anonymously on the internet! I'll leave you guessing...

Anyway, onward and upward and hopefully to lucidity and beyond!

Driving Scares Me

I can't drive in real life. Actually, it seems I can't drive in my dreams either...

I was driving. I had just learned to drive, I think. The break and accelerator peddles didn't seem to work right. The break was more like a decelerator than a break.

I was driving around, not having a clue how to drive. I kept having near misses with other cars. At one point I was driving over the a bridge near my house and wasn't sure if I should be on the left or right side of the road because I was on the left (which is correct here in the UK) and saw a car coming head on, so I switched to driving on the right and saw a car coming head on again. Stupid roads.

I've always avoided learning to drive because the entire concept freaks me out a little. I've been thinking about it a lot lately though. I should really just get on with it.

My Hypnagogic Parents

This is a bit of a cheat since it's not a dream but a really long drawn out experience with hypnagogic hallucinations. I'm noting this down because my experience with them so far have been pretty simple. This it teh first time I've heard a large amount of whispering voices and felt presences nearby.

Anyway, I awoke early on Saturday and decided to have a lie in. As I slowly fell back to sleep I heard my mum walking around in my room, but I was aware that nobody was really there and that I was actually falling asleep. She started talking nonsense in a kind of whisper. Suddenly I couldn't hear her any more. Then I heard footsteps outside my door walking up the stairs. I could hear my dad whispering nonsense. Then he was silent. Next I heard my mum walking up the stairs whispering nonsense and then fading away. Again it was my dad, then my mum, and so on for what seemed like a very long time.

The nonsense they were whispering was just random sentences, none of which I can now remember other than that there was something about ponies uttered by my dad's whispering voice.