memorable

Fail.

I remembered to set my WBTB alarm...but I forgot to actually turn it on...so of course I didn't wake up at the appropriate time to make a WILD attempt. Oh well...at least I was able to remember a couple dreams, and this time after I had already gotten up and things were against me remembering them at all!

Dream 1: I was in a mix of Bioshock and Mass Effect. Geth were attacking (I guess I should be giving them more validity as a dream sign if the buggers are going to keep showing up...I haven't even played Mass Effect in a while, but for some reason Geth have been everywhere lately!) and everyone in the facility was defenseless. I was being chased by one of the machines when I dove around a corner and hid behind a pile of crates. The Geth fired at me as I fled, but missed and instead took out one of the crates on the top of the pile. I covered my head as debris and the objects inside the crate came crashing down, but managed to remain silent, so the Geth moved on down the hallway without noticing my hiding place.

Once I had opened my eyes again, I saw what had fallen out of the broken crate: plasmids. I picked up the first one and saw the Electro Bolt symbol on it, then took a deep breath and injected it into my arm. It felt very realistic...and the DNA re-writing process felt weird, too. A rush of body heat, increased clarity of vision...and finally, a lot of little lightning bolts coming from my left hand. Encouraged, I also grabbed an Incinerate and stuck it in my pocket, but didn't inject it.

The Geth that had tried to kill me was still in sight down the hall a ways, so I jumped out of my hiding place and with a yell I let out a bolt of lightning right on the blasted thing. Being mechanical, the electricity instantly shorted out the Geth's hardware and made it fall to the ground, useless.

Unfortunately, I had been a bit too quick to jump out and attack. Now everyone knew where I was, and a million Geth began slowly advancing down the hallway from the opposite direction. I tried to shoot out lightning once again, but this time it only flickered faintly in my hand; I couldn't produce a real bolt. I desperately pulled out the Incinerate plasmid as I backed down the hallway one step at a time. I tried to use pyrokinesis, but I barely generated enough heat to create viscosity in the air.

"Uh oh."

I turned and ran back for the crates then as a million bullets flew at me. Somehow I managed to reach safety before any of them hit.

"Hypo, hypo, where's an EVE hypo?!" I said to myself as I searched through the other crates.

Finally I found one, stuck it in my arm, and I was able to emit a burst of flames from my hand. I jumped out from hiding and began spraying fire at every Geth I could see. The realism of the fire was awesome; the hallway and Geth were all made of metal, and they appropriately blackened or glowed orange-hot, not to mention the light simply reflected in a very accurate and detailed way.

I woke up sometime around then.

Dream 2: I'm low on time, so I'll have to keep this one short. I was basically seeing a replay of a memory from one of my filming jobs. At first things were accurate, but then the wrong music started to play in the background.

"Wait a minute, that's not right..." I thought to myself. "I didn't choose this music!"

I didn't go lucid, though, I just figured someone else had made a last-minute change. But then other things started being different than they were supposed to be, and I couldn't ignore them as easily.

"This just isn't right! What's going on here?"

Then someone tapped me on the shoulder and told me to get ready, because we would all have to leave in 18 minutes.

I started to head out and get my things together, but I kept an eye over my shoulder, wondering what was going on. Then...SMACK! I ran right into the doorframe because of my carelessness.

I woke up with my nose bleeding...probably coincidence. This isn't the Matrix, after all.

(PREPARE FOR EXTREMELY WEIRD DREAMS)

My dream recall continues to improve...what memories are there are in near-perfect detail, and I even remember more than one dream, although the second one was very short and came late in the morning.

Dream 1: I was at a gathering of some sort in a large room. Even though it was fairly crowded, it didn't take me long to notice the huge canisters against one of the walls. I walked closer to them, and saw that they were filled with a green, transparent liquid, and a man was sitting Indian-style in the midst of it. He was skinny and totally hairless, plus his skin had taken on a sickly, pale green tone from being in the liquid so long. A tube ran from the back of his head to the bottom of the canister, where a bunch of machinery was.

"What is this?" I muttered to myself.

The man in the liquid opened his eyes and replied:

"I'm being grown into a pickle."

I didn't believe him at first. But there was another such canister next to this one, and the man inside it chimed in:

"It's true."

I ran to find someone who knew what was going on with the men in the canisters. The first person that came to mind was the guy that owned the place, so I talked to him first.

"Excuse me," I began, "do you know what's going on with the men in the canisters back there?"

"They're being grown into pickles, what else?" He replied, as if this were common knowledge. After a moment, he realized I still didn't understand. "You mean...you don't know how pickles are grown? No one ever told you?"

"Told me what?"

He started to walk over to the canisters as he spoke:

"That all the other stories about how pickles are grown are just that--stories. Lies designed to cover up the truth that pickles are grown from humans in canisters like these. The machinery at the base runs the whole thing by connecting to the person inside through the tube at the back. The liquid is what causes the real transformation, though. The machines simply speed things up and make sure it all goes well. The process takes nearly fifty years to complete."

I was shocked.

"Why would people give up their lives for this?" I asked.

"They believe it is a better form of existence." Came the simple reply.

"How the heck is that a better form of existence? That must stink to have to sit down for fifty years straight."

We had reached the canisters by now, and one of the men inside heard me say that, and I guess he agreed.

"You're right!" He exclaimed. "Oh, to get to run again! I've been in here for 25 years...I can't take it any longer! Quick! Get me out!"

The owner of the place protested.

"You can't quit now!"

I didn't listen. I grabbed a nearby crowbar and smashed the canister open. All the liquid poured out, which fried the machine and freed the man inside. He looked more alien than human, but he was alive, and not a pickle, which was good enough for him.

"This can't go on." I told the owner.

I left the building and marched straight to a political gathering. I pushed the speaker aside like he was nothing and took the podium for myself.

"Ladies and gentlemen, I'm here to inform you of a conspiracy."

As I spoke, the dream left first-person and was spectating fields of humans being grown into pickles. All stages of the transformation were visible; the ones that were nearly pickle-ized looked quite creepy.

"It turns out that we have things backwards. Previously, in life as we once knew it, pickles were harvested, and humans were grown. However, I have seen the truth with my own eyes, and it is not that way. The truth is, that pickles are grown, and humans are being harvested--yes, humans are being harvested as pickles through a transformation chamber that is neither right nor pleasant. I would inform you..."

I was knocked out by the cops, then.

When I came back to, there was green transparent liquid all around me. I could feel a tube attached to the back of my head. When I reached out, I could feel glass only a couple feet away from me. And outside, I could see the owner of that building I began in. My skin was pale. My arms were woefully skinny. I knew exactly what they had put me in. I tried to break out, but couldn't...

Then I woke up. It probably would have been a kind of creepy dream if the thing people were being turned into wasn't pickles

Dream 2: There was a celebration going on in China that had achieved world-wide attention. It was a celebration of McDonald's anniversary, and it was completely led and organized by a 10-year old girl. I wasn't physically present, but I was seeing an interview with the kid on Discovery Channel. She explained to the news guy how she had organized everything and who was doing what and how it was possible, and then showed him the floats of the parade, the most prominent of which was a play on the chinese dragon where a whole bunch of people stand beneath it and walk around with it over their heads. Rather than a long dragon, it was a float that looked like a chain of hamburgers.

Weird, right? Pickles as a dream sign, I mean. Hamburgers have pickles on them, and the first dream had pickles...so that seems to be the common element with my dreams last night. No idea why.

I'm actually kind of glad I didn't go lucid last night. I probably would have done something other than go through this totally awesome dream I had. It was super vivid and realistic...I seriously felt like I was there. And honestly, I might have been just a tad bit aware that I was dreaming, due to the car thing...but I'll just tell you what happened now.

It was a pretty normal day...to begin with. I had one of my video jobs to do that day, and it required a team of people driving from place to place all day long. We had it all organized and figured out, though, so it wasn't stressful or anything; just another thing to have to do for the day.

The first three film locations were easy and went smoothly. I got all the footage I needed, and everybody did what they were supposed to and did it well. We stopped back at the hotel we were staying in for lunch and planned out the remainder of the day--still normal. But when we were about to leave again, I went to the bathroom and on my way out discovered that everyone had left without me! I gathered up all my equipment as fast as possible and tried to run after the car, but they were already way too far off to hear me call, and it was impossible to run while carrying all that stuff.

Fortunately, a friend was driving by just then and he stopped to ask if I needed a ride. I got in his car (which was unnaturally small, and which I observed without gaining full lucidity, if any) and he took me where I needed to go. However, once at this final location, things would go anything but as planned...

I caught up with my team by nightfall. They were gathered in a dark alley, all of them evidently very scared.

"What the heck was that!?" I shouted. "Why did you guys just leave me back there with all the..."

"SHHH!!!" They all replied desperately.

Then I saw what their problem was. A few feet away from me, out of the pitch blackness, a light turned on, and I heard the familiar sound of a Geth. Within moments, a million other similar lights turned on all around us, the same sound of communication echoed through the walls, and we knew we'd be dead in a few moments if we didn't get the heck out of there.

"Hey! In here!" I heard one of my team members shout.

We all turned around to see him at an elevator on the outside of one of the buildings. We got in as fast as was possible and rode it to the top floor, hoping to escape. But on our way up, we heard the chilling roar of a zombie, and soon witnessed several jumping down onto the glass roof of the elevator. Fortunately they were not too bright, and when they collided with it, they simply were thrown off from impact...but there were more where they came from.

We got to the roof and instantly looked for a door to get us inside and away from harm. We found one, but halfway there, I stopped everyone.

"No." I said. "We have to finish this!"

I clamped together the tripod legs on the camera I was carrying and tightened the camera itself so that it wouldn't budge from its position. It was a metal camera, and I figured it would make a great club.

"We can take them."

My friends got the point and hurriedly threw together some makeshift weapons. Then we waited. Before long, zombies and Geth and headcrabs and other such creatures began climbing up the side of the building and trying to attack us. With a loud war cry, I swung the camera and tripod through the air, doing a spin move, and landed the camera right on the head of a zombie. It was thrown back over the side of the building and burst into pieces when it hit the ground (it was probably an 80-story fall).

It was a huge battle. We had to stop each and every creature from climbing onto the roof, or if they made it all the way up, we had to knock them off the edge immediately. My group and I were doing well, but it was only a few of us against millions of them. Even with my camera-club (which was by far the best weapon we had) and crazy attack moves we were slowly being pushed back.

I hurled my whole body against an oncoming zombie and threw him over the edge. The effort made me stumble and land on my knees right on the edge of the building just as another zombie was reaching up to pull himself to the top. I remember his face...skin totally white and rotted from death. His hands and arms had no skin left, just a bloody mess of muscles and bones. As I sat and watched this monster approach me, I thought for sure he would grab me and throw me over the edge before I would have a chance to do anything about it. And then...

The Indiana Jones theme began to play as the man himself burst out of the door behind us and start pulling off awesome moves with his whip and gun. Shortly after that, Lara Croft, Luke Skywalker, and Jake Sully (in his Avatar) showed up, too! We had a chance now, and with my renewed hope, I grabbed the face of the zombie with my bare left hand, ignoring how disgusting it was, and then bashed it in with the butt of my tripod. The creature screamed and then fell, defeated.

After that, the fight was an easy victory. The last thing I remember is peering over the edge and looking at all the bodies in piles below...

and then I woke up. But here's a funny little sidenote: all the moves I did in the dream with the tripod I can now do IRL! Hmm...

Well, I had a crazy thing happen last night. I finally lucid dreamed again (!!!) but when I woke up, I had attempted to type it out in a word document...in my sleep!

Here is what I wrote while asleep. I'll write a proper explanation of the dream and update my sig and all that later (I'm at work right now).

"I started out last night determined to lucid dream.I convinced myself that despite my lack of practice, I would have a lucid dream the following night, as well as a new method-ish thing , a theory perhaps, to aid in other lucid dreams. Tpdau. Today, I have both.

I realized last night (to begin with the theory of induction) that if I repeanough, my mind would try to alter t it patteni eveempted to think it out, the patern would fight hard to change, but I would resist this. Fight hard to change, but I would resist this. After a while, I audibly heard muswas on to something..

That was when I knew I hypnagogic audio, So I began repeating a sequence of images in my head, begarepenough, before long, my brain . Ied fought er ts e pg so, which then immediately resulted in a flare of very visible images. Ately resulted in a flare of very visible images.

Unfortunately, I never got a chance to see if this could be useful for WILD. It sure brought me into the sleep stage pretty quickly, though.

So I fell I don't remember where, but there wasbuilding. Still, the red flags waved in my head, and I sud nlye sure wwas raoing to be a devent lucid dream, I real ty c world.

“Yes, I'm finallly lucidTGH THE CEILINGLAND OUT INTO THE OPEN (which happene to be just a black void)I didn't let tuld still feel my weightlessness from flying, I could still feelthy dream.body alone. I was stilll fullly in the dream.

“Ok, where should I g to ind, to
FT ISOWHERE I decided to go.

The moment I thought aboutre I decide light appeared in the distance, a beacon for the location of my destination.ance, a beacon forn the direction of that red light, and tried nd, everything was still black all There are a bunch of gh of this. There are a bunch of walls all around me.””FULL COLOR>
“....a floor, a ceiling AM ! The walls are lined with products. I am in a gif shop.”n

ABLAInessk andvbefore long my environment was fully solid. Atiking to myself about how awesome lucif.dreams are, when I saw my vieo camera on assible idea. But since I wasrationally. I epicked up the camera and turned it m. T
“ K GUYS<” I sa I narrated, “this is my lucid doiam.to be so cool to watch once I wake up.”

I don'have known that the camer. Was couldn't possibly be linked the dream.-life version, or record real videos of the dream.

Stptl, cording. I showed who all was there (mostly family members or people from Shaytards)) and I filmed around and other stuff.aytards) and I filmed around and other stuff.

TaMy family anough, since they were in “but guys, this me@H! I don't wante to go no else, like fly?”

“No.” they said. “Let's go home and have tea.”

I didn easily upset by lucid dr amerthat I needed to use the bathcrem ed a bathroom in the nearast wI really did need to I ust ent to pee in the dream and hoor the dream to go on. It woralls and I had to levitate to use them

After that, though, I aiti g: “You cango on ahead, I'm right behind you.”

Aore interesting, and away from all e they were going to go into. Onlyoset IVITY WAS ORIENTED SIDEWAYS FOR ME> I did a recording on my camera about it and tioen was to shock the DV's inin a lucid dream.I was serious abbout them being in a lucim.ream. Instead, the stunt din't d o anything for them either, alhough it did make for some interesting recordings.hough it did make for some interesting oughr and gravity reorien my iicelf and sontards.the DC's as well; namely, my nices, and sontards. They fell up to tpped open the window. Sontard feul upsave him. One of my nieces almost and pulled her back inside.ce grabbed her in time and pulled her back inside.

Ore in a dream, right? Nope. I fixed gra vity to be normal again and everyone fell to the ground. Be normal again and everyone fell to the ground. Be normal again and everyone fell to the ground. Be normal again and everyone fell to the ground. Be normal again and everyone fell to the ground. Be normal again and everyone fell to the ground. Be normal again and everyone fell to the ground. Be normal again and everyone fell to the ground. Be normal again and everyone fell to the ground. Be normal again and everyone fell to the ground. Be normal again and everyone fell to the ground. Be normalfagainmeone to comment ed stething else.

“You see this camera?” I asked.

The DC's nodded.

“Well, camera?” I asked.

The to function properly, right?ld require a battery to function properly, right?”

They nodded agais camera still workd again.

Sust took out the camera battery and kept f abin the significance of the gesture.

N caringt guys, well, I realjust going to have to leave.”

“F el! > Don't you want to be with your nieces? These are your family! Why wetld again. I knew it wasa just a dream.

“Actually, I don't care.” I said before walking out the door.

Unfortunately, I ned up somewhere other than England. Everything around me looked like a quilted pattern. Gravity was irrelevant, since up and won looked the exact same.

And guess what? The DC's were there, too! I got out the camera and filmed/narrated my disbelief.

They crowded around me and begged me to go back home with them, and just because I thought it would make for an entertaining video to watch when I woke up, I agreed to go back with them.

It gets fuzzy from here on, but I remember quite clearly being at a party back at the house. I guess the DC's were throwing it to celebrate me coming back. I wasn't in the mood, though. I sat in a corner with my video camera, watching all the recordings I had made and marveling that everything was actually recorded onto this thing inside the dream. It was seriously playing back to me all the stuff I'd heard and seen without changing anything.

I did a bunch of other stuff after this, but I can't remember it any more. It wasn't the most exciting lucid dream ever since I was focusing on recording it all (epic fail there) but it was a nice long one and I was very lucid; no issues with dream control.

Confidence is key, people! I got this lucid dream simply from believing I would have it. Can't wait for tomorrow night! "

I won't spend a lot of time on the first part of the dream, as it was pretty unimportant.

Basically what happened was that several DC's were introduced into the story, but other than that, the beginning served no real purpose. I just went around with my friend (who I will call John) and did stuff pretty much like we'd do IRL.

Where the important part begins is when we decided to stop by QuickTrip for something to drink. We were on our way in, when I saw a girl (whom I care about very much IRL, and will refer to as Jane) walking to her car further down the parking lot (it was a huge lot, nevermind we were just at a gas station). My mind raced.

“Jane!” I thought. (Well, actually, I thought of her real name, but in case she happens to read this somehow, I'd rather not list it here). “Oh, she's too far away to hear me...I can't stop her to talk...if only I could run up to her and...”

Then the non-reality of it all suddenly began to hit me. Just in time, I figured out that it was all just a dream!

“...wait, then. I can run after her!”

So that's exactly what I did. I abandoned John and forgot my drink so that it ceased to exist and I ran as fast as I could (which was pretty fast, being lucid). I was so eager not to miss Jane that I accidentally got to her truck even before she did. So I just waited there a moment.

When Jane caught up, she seemed a bit surprised to see me there, but made no comment about my super-human speed.

“What are you doing here?”

I hadn't actually planned on answering a question like that, so for a moment no words came to me. I knew I couldn't tell her the truth that I was dreaming, though.

“Oh...” I began, desperately fumbling for a way to put a positive spin on the situation. “Just...thought I'd open the door for you! Yeah...that's it.”

I reached back and opened the door. Jane just stood there a moment and stared. Not fully sure what she was thinking, but I got the idea that she just didn't know how to respond to me going so far out of my way to do something nice for her.

“Oh. Well...thanks,” said she.

Then Jane started to get in, and I realized she was going to try to leave. This was a lucid dream! I couldn't let her go like that.

“Uh, Jane?”

“Yeah?” She hesitated on the step of her truck.

"Come here."

I reached over and wrapped my arms around her, picking her up off the truck and setting her back down on to the ground. She half-tried to resist at first, gently pushing back, but it was only because she was worried about the time.

“I don't have time...I need to go.”

“Need to go?” I replied. “There's nowhere you need to be more than here.”

She smiled, and then put her arms around me as well, and leaned her head up against me. I remember thinking she seemed somewhat shorter in the dream than in real life, or I was taller, but whatever. I didn't let that bother me. What mattered was that Jane was there, and I was holding her in my arms.

We stayed that way for a very long time. That was all I wanted. There was nothing else I needed to use my lucidity for more than that. She was totally worth it.

Eventually she insisted that she really had to go, and I had to let her, then. Even if she wasn't physically present, I care about her too much to not respect her wishes. But, she assured me we'd see each other again soon and that we'd spend more time together.

Then, an interesting thing happened. The girl from a few previous flying dreams (who is also from real life and will be referred to as Janet) came up to me and I could see in her eye that she remembered all of our flying times together. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Jane watching to see what would happen. In Jane's presence, I reached out and hugged Janet, but not very closely and for a very brief time, as if to declare who I truly loved, and who was just a good friend.

After that, Jane smiled and left, I lost lucidity, and the dream went to a weird thing where John had turned into this huge blob. At first all I could see was his head sticking out of the covers on his bed. Then, suddenly, the covers flew back, revealing that the rest of his body was just hundreds of pounds of blubber--no bones, no muscles. He wobbled out of bed and across the floor, and I could see little protrusions that served as 'arms' and 'legs', but they also had no bones, and there were no hands or feet, so they would have been useless anyway. Then he suddenly jumped into the air and twirled around, which caused physics to stretch him out and flatten a bit. John landed on the floor and turned into a rug, and then the dream ended.

I swear I wasn't on drugs...but that last bit was REALLY weird.

I DID IT!! I finally was able to WILD from a fully awakened state!

I went to bed last night at about 11:30pm. Woke up (due to awesome dreams about being in love with this incredible girl) at 5:47am and decided to try a WBTB and WILD so I could visit that girl again. I stayed up for about 10 minutes, fully awake. I even splashed water on my face. But at the same time, I stayed away from things that would make falling back asleep a difficult thing to do (i.e. screens).

After that, I lay down on my back on the floor with a t-shirt wrapped around my eyes and ears to encompass myself in total blackness and silence. I was very alert at this point, and concentration was easy. I consciously relaxed everything, starting from my toes and moving up to my head, and then counted down from 10, telling myself that I would be very close to lucid dreaming by the time I hit 1.

It almost worked. I felt that beginning sensation of disconnection with the conscious mind, and knew I was close. But I still needed some help. So I visualized a hand reaching down out of the blackness and pulling at the center of my brain. That went far better than expected. Instantly, the hand drew back, but the difference was, now I was moving along with it! My eyes started to move rapidly; I was entering REM, the place of lucid dreaming. Unfortunately, my heart rate increased very dramatically at the shocking success of the visualization, and it was like I fell from the height the hand was holding me back into my real body, and my eyes stopped moving so fast.

I tried to just go back through everything again right there, but somehow I just couldn't. The hand wouldn't pull me back with it anymore, my eyes would never move very fast...I didn't even see HI anymore.

So then I got up (or at least I attempted to; one of my legs had lost its circulation, so it was like rubber and I couldn't stand on it, so I had to pull myself into bed with just one usable leg ) and tried the same thing in my bed. By now it was 6:30. Time was running out. I thought the change of location might be enough to get me in. But after a couple minutes of no luck with that, I just thought: "How often do I fall asleep on my back? Almost never!" And then I just got into the most comfortable position I could, re-relaxed (which was a bit more difficult to concentrate on this time, but I did it) and then watched the oncoming HI and waited.

In a very short time, things started to shake, I felt myself slipping away, and next thing I knew...

I was sitting up in bed. I didn't really need to RC; I knew where I was. But I didn't want to take any chances, so I did a check and found myself to be dreaming. I jumped down from bed and started going around the room slowly. I felt the walls, I looked out the window, I looked down and could see myself standing there...it was all incredibly realistic. I ran all over the house, then calling out for this girl, hoping to find her around a corner. But I never did.

BLACKNESS!

I was back in bed, wondering if I had woken up. Did a reality check, and tested to still be dreaming. This time I flew outside, doing a corkscrew simply to see if the dream world would continue to function realistically if I were upside down. To my amazement, it did. Once outside, and with my orientation corrected, I hovered in the air, looking around me. I laughed with pleasure when I saw how realistic everything was...there was even a road construction crew out in the distance, just like in real life. I was going to fly off to the girl's house, then, but...

BLACKNESS!

I was back in bed, and wanted to get back to work, so I did an RC as I threw myself over the edge of the bed and on to the floor. I remember thinking: "The people on DV are going to have a fit when I tell them my reality check was throwing myself on the floor to see if I fell through!" I did fall through, however, and attempted to teleport as my body passed through.

Where I ended up was not at all what I had intended. It was some kind of restaurant with old-looking wooden rooms. Many of my friends were there, and even some family members. One of them was asking me to go fill up three drinks. For some reason, this temporarily caused me to lose lucidity. I tried to get the drinks for them, but the soda fountain was made from obsolete equipment, the cups were difficult to find, and the method of payment was so strange I never did figure it out. It was something like this: you'd put a couple coins into a slot on the desk, and then there was this tube with rings around it. You'd slide all the tubes to the right to correspond with how much money you paid, even though it wasn't sufficient to cover the cost of the drinks. Everyone around me said that was all I had to do; they never compensated for the extra cost. I got annoyed with them for not understanding my point that it was a bad system, and for their annoyance with me for not being able to figure it out.

BLACKNESS!

Back in bed, lucid once again. Threw myself on the ground as a reality check. This time I ended up teleporting to some farm where two pirates were standing in front of me. They were threatening in graphic terms to tear me apart and kill me. I just smiled at them the whole time, and then used descriptive commands to transform them into girls about my age. "Shorter. Skinnier. A bit younger." With each command, they would automatically be transformed. (This is, by the way, a method of dream control I've used ever since I was 4, when I had my first lucid dream) It took a couple minutes to get them both looking right, but the results looked like they'd be good.

BLACKNESS!

Now I was getting a bit ticked off at my frequent blackouts and false awakenings. I did one solid reality check and then tried once again to stop all the nonsense and find the girl I'd come into the dream to find. I looked all over the house, tried to call her on a phone, but I just couldn't get her to show up anywhere! So again, I tried teleporting.

This time was very different, though. Rather than be presented with a new, weird location, all I saw in front of me was a panel of buttons. There was one for each location I'd been so far. I pushed the button for the farm and was dropped there immediately. The pirates were still girls, now also in normal clothes instead of the pirate stuff they had had before. And for some reason, one of them had aged about ten years, while the other remained exactly the same. I invited them to come to the restaurant with me. I'm not sure why, but I just had this feeling that they'd help me find this girl that I was looking for.

"No thanks." The younger one said. "I kind of like it here. So peaceful and quiet. Especially at the lake! I think I'll go there right now. See you later!"

The older one was fine with coming, though. "Good enough," I thought. I put a hand on her back and prepared to teleport...

BLACKNESS!

There was the restaurant...we were there.

BLACKNESS!

There was a static image of several dream characters.

BLACKNESS!

I was in bed, I did a reality check. I could still breath through my nose, but it was partially blocked now.

BLACKNESS!

Then I sat up in bed for real. It was 7:30am now...I'd been in a dream for nearly an hour.

The blackouts sure were annoying, but I'm really glad I've found a way that I can WILD from being fully awake! This could even work in the afternoons...which would be really awesome indeed! Then I'd have a couple chances for LDs every day!

I'd say WILD has now become my focus once again. Wish me luck! I'll keep you guys posted on what happens

Originally Posted by LiveInTheDream

Woke up at about 6:00 this morning and realized I hadn't had any lucid dreams yet. Since it was early, I still had time for another REM cycle, and I wasn't about to lose that chance, so I rolled over and decided to WILD.

Instead, I just passed out, but it ended up working out ok.

First thing I know, I'm standing on the rail of my backyard deck, looking down at the ground below. I knew I was in a dream already, so I just jumped and tried to fly off. As I flew, I also did a couple other things to improve the dream experience. First, I pinched my nose and tried to breath in so that there would be no doubt as to my state and I wouldn't lose lucididty. Then, I shouted: "Time: SLOW DOWN!" So that even if I only slept for 5 real minutes, it would feel like hours to me (just a little idea I spontaneously thought up, and it's not a bad one, if I may say so myself).

For some reason, though, in the middle of flight, I also teleported unintentionally. So as I was landing from flying, I saw the place I had flown to. But the moment I hit the ground, I was inside a building with a huge ceiling made entirely of glass. The walls and floor were of metal and not glass, but they still had a high reflectivity level, and everything looked very clean.

To my left was a teacher who was standing and giving a lecture, pacing back and forth and being very emphatic. To my right were two rows of students, obviously college-age. It didn't take long to figure out that this was a specialty class, what with the nice building, distinguished-looking teacher, and the fact that there weren't many students compared to the huge room.

Still, knowing it was a dream, I held no respect for the situation, and I walked right in front of the teacher and looked over the students to see if there was anyone there that I recognized. Eventually one girl I know IRL (whom I shall refer to as Jane Doe) waved and said 'hi'.(This was also the girl I flew around in my first real WILD, and that has appeared in my dreams a couple times since then) I figured she'd be perfect to go around with again, so I walked over to her, literally threw aside the school materials, and asked her to come with me. I was half surprised that she didn't object due to being in school. Of course...the teacher hadn't skipped a beat in his droning lecture since I came in, so apparently it wasn't that hard for people there to ignore certain things.

I led Jane to a big window at the back of the room.

"You want to see something fun?" I asked.

"Sure!" came the reply.

So in one motion, I jumped, picked her up, and smashed through the window (not that the window needed to break; I could have just phased through it, but c'mon, what's more dramatic? Phasing, or seeing a million particles of glass fly everywhere?) We then fell down for several stories, picking up speed the whole time. Then, at the last moment, I slowed down my descent just enough so that I could comfortably land without it feeling like I'd actually altered our fall.

I turned to Jane, whom I was still holding. She didn't look impressed.

"What? I just jumped out of a building and fell for like 500 feet, and you didn't find that fun?"

"It was fun...I suppose. But that kind of scared me! I don't usually jump out of buildings for fun and expect it to work out ok."

"If you were lucid dreaming you'd probably appreciate it more, I suppose." I muttered under my breath. Then, speaking up, "Well, how about this, then?"

I jumped up and started to fly again, then looked over at Jane. She was smiling this time; it just wasn't the same since we have gone flying so many times now. When I looked back in front of me, I realized we had teleported again. Now we were back to the place I had landed at prior to the first unintentional teleport. By now, the sun was setting and there was some sort of party going on. One of my co-workers was there, and she approached me.

"You realize you're going to be in this dream for four years." She said.

"What?"

"Since you slowed the time down...it will feel like four years."

"Oh. Ok. That's fine with me."

Really, it was. Things were going well. I wouldn't have minded four years of lucidity. But I still didn't believe her. Generally, don't take lucid dreaming tips from a DC. They don't know what they're talking about. I just was trying to get to the table where the food and drinks were, and not get stopped any more along the way.

So I grabbed Jane's hand and led her through the small crowd to one of the tables and picked up a couple glasses of punch. IRL, I hate punch, but who says it has to taste bad in an LD?

It gets a little hazy around here...Jane and I separated from the crowd and I asked her about our relationship...and I don't remember her answer, but she hugged me, so it must not have been too bad.

And next thing I remember, my alarm is going off and I'm waking up.

Stupid alarm clocks. Oh well, I suppose I should be thankful I don't get to work late

Oh, and I really recommend slowing down time every time you lucid dream. It really felt like several hours even though now it seems like only a few minutes

Originally Posted by LiveInTheDream

Well, I didn't really plan on WILDing last night, but I woke up shortly before 5:00 and just rolled over and tried to go back to sleep.

I didn't move a whole lot, so it wasn't long before I started to feel the loss of sensation in my hands (these always go first, for me). Since I'd gotten that far, I thought "Well, why not see if I can make it?" So I just focused on keeping my mind conscious enough to WILD and letting everything else fall asleep.

Strangely, I didn't have any HI this time. It was even a pretty calm ride as far as vibrations and other weird sensations were concerned. I just noticed after a while that I really couldn't move...it wasn't just a loss of sensation anymore, I really couldn't move. "Here we go, then!"

It was like I sank down out of my body then, but I could still feel both it and the dream body my mind had created. But being in the dream now, it was like a single wave passing across me, starting from my toes and moving up to my head, was erasing those last sensations of my real body so that I was completely in the dream.

I could already open my eyes and look around me at this point, but I waited until the wave had passed before I tried to move anything so I didn't lose the dream. I was still in my bedroom, laying down, but everything was much darker than it should have been, so I knew I hadn't failed the WILD.

Once all the vibrations had ceased and I felt I was securely in the dream, I did a reality check and tested to be dreaming, and then immediately got up and tried to fly out of my house and on to things more exciting.

I had a slight and temporary problem at the outset; I could fly no problem, but as soon as I focused on moving through a wall or the ceiling, I'd lose my flying concentration and so begin to descend. This only lasted a few seconds though, as I quickly figured out to focus on flying through the wall, a singular thing, not flying and phasing through.

And then the last wall to my house was a bit of a bugger, too. Instead of simply letting me pass through it, at first it tried to stretch out and hold me inside, like it was made of elastic.

"Oh, come on, I'm outside already." I said for the sake of convincing my subconscious to let me go.

The wall snapped back through me and into its place then, leaving me hovering outside, looking down on my neighborhood exactly as it looks IRL. I had planned no dream goals for this WILD, so rather than go to any place in particular, I just picked a direction and decided to fly at lightspeed for a little while and just see where I ended up.

I've never flown that fast before. It was awesome. Way better than teleporting, because I actually got to see everything that I flew over, which was really impressive considering all of it was a dream. There were houses, tall buildings, cars, people, birds, trees...I saw it all for what felt like miles of nearly instant travel.

I might have kept on going, but then I heard a call.

"Hey! Down here!"

Couldn't tell who it was from my distance, but I figured I might as well go and check it out. I slowed down, flew low, and finally landed on the ground in a really strange kind of place.

Everything was tropical, and yet, industrial. There was no grass, no roads, just sand. There were many buildings of the style that you see around beaches, and they all had water features that pooled into streams which flowed all throughout the city, using the sand to form intricate pathways of their own. But at the same time, it looked planned out, since several of these little streams went into the base of a big fountain at the center of the place. This fountain's job was apparently to spray the water all the way back up to the top of all the buildings, spewing out a stream in every direction so every building was continually re-using the water.

"This would be a pretty cool place to go on a dream date in..."

After taking all this in for a short while, the person who had stopped me walked up and thanked me for coming. I could see now that it was a woman. That gave me another idea.

"I wonder if I could take over this DC's body and go on a date from the female perspective? That would be interesting..."

So I began to ask the woman some questions, like where the best restaurant was. Once everything was answered and I had a plan, I was just about to make my first attempt at DC possession when something else came to mind.

"Oh, and one last thing. How old are you?" I asked.

"58." Was her reply.

She didn't look nearly that old at first glance, but once I actually thought about it, she certainly didn't look young anymore.

"58! But...that just won't do. Would you mind if I took some of those years away from you?"

She was repulsed by the offer.

"I'd really rather you didn't. In fact, I must be going now. Goodbye."

"Ok...I suppose I'll just look for someone else, then."

Problem was, there weren't a whole lot of people around. I had to just walk around for a minute before I saw anybody, and even then, it was a guy this time. He didn't look to be old, so I approached him.

"How old are you?" I asked.

"32."

"32, not bad at all. Still, would you mind if I took off about 10 years from that number?"

"Go right ahead, those were the best 10 years of my life! I wouldn't mind living them again!"

So I held my hands out towards him and through willpower caused him to grow just a bit younger. There wasn't a whole lot of visual difference, but there was some. Enough to make one guess his age would lie in the early 20's instead of the early 30's.

"Dude, I feel great! Thanks!"

Before I could ask the guy if he knew of any young woman who might be around, I felt a hand on my shoulder and turned around to see a VERY old woman standing there in front of me.

"What you just did for that man...would you do that for me?" She asked.

Now, I would have guessed that this woman was in her late 80's, and near death. Her skin was almost colorless. Hair completely white, and thin. Skin wrinkled something awful.

But it was just so crazy I had to give it a shot.

"Alright, I'll do it."

I held out my hands and began the transformation. It must have been a shocking feeling, because the instant change began to happen, the old woman grabbed onto my wrists and held on tightly.

It was a crazy thing to watch. The wrinkles tightened up, her hair grew thick and long as it simultaneously turned to a glossy dark brown, a healthy pink flooded into her pale skin, and many other such things as well.

When I was finally finished, the now-young woman brushed her hair out of her face and smiled brightly at the change. I couldn't believe how amazing she looked. I mean, this girl was a TKO! I wondered if I should simply take her out on a date myself instead of take her over...

I held on to the girl's hand and led her to the guy I had transformed a minute ago, and he immediately began to ask her out. I was just getting ready to take possession, one way or the other, when...

I woke up.

Since I was awake, I didn't try to DEILD for fear that I would fail and then not have recalled the past dream at all. So instead I went back through the dream in my memory until I had it in my mind pretty well and then I rolled over and tried to WILD again.

Once more, it was a pretty easy ride to the dream. All I felt was the inability to move, and then a wave-like transition into the dream body, and then...


Dream 2:

I was standing in a room with a crowd of people, but somehow they all seemed dull in color and liveliness compared to one person right in front of me. He seemed different than the rest of the people around. Not that his actions were spectacular; he simply was taking pictures with a really nice camera. Eventually he noticed me looking at him, but it didn't seem to bother him. He just waved and said 'hi'.

But there was something weird that happened during that short event. From the moment we made eye contact, I heard a faint whisper and saw ghost-like words scroll across my vision, both saying the same thing: "Man of Shred"

"No way, Man of Shred?" I thought. "I've got to find out!"

I tried to run towards him and get his attention, but he had seen someone else and was making his way through the crowd to get to them.

"Hey! Wait! It's LiveInTheDream!"

Yes, I woke up in the middle of that last sentence. And I finished saying it out loud, IRL. It was weird...like I had gotten kicked out of the dream. Usually there's a split-second sensation of "oh crap I'm waking up", but not this time. One moment I was in the dream, the next I was fully awake.

And I felt like I was being watched. Seriously. As in, I wouldn't have been a bit surprised if I had turned around and found someone standing right next to my bed. It was that real a feeling to me.

So now the question is...was that really Man of Shred I saw, or just an imposter of a dream character?

You can be sure I'll look further into this one. MoSh, you've got a PM heading your way...

Originally Posted by LiveInTheDream

I might have just discovered a great gem of lucid dreaming. I call it: RC-MILD, since you basically just MILD, but replace a mantra with one solid, thorough RC.

So I thought up this new method, then got in bed and just tried to go to sleep normally. But I was watching myself, that I didn't actually fall asleep. I just wanted to be near sleep so that the RC would be the last thing I remembered doing. When I felt close to being asleep, I sat up, did the full RC, and then laid back down and next thing I know, I'm asleep.

In the dream I entered, I was watching some video on youtube. Nothing unusual was going on; there was really nothing to indicate that it was a dream. And yet, all of a sudden I had this impulse to to a reality check, and upon pinching my nose, I tested out to be dreaming! I was a bit surprised at the immediate success of RC-MILD, and couldn't think up something original to do now that I was lucid. So I just decided to practice my shapeshifting more.

I turned around and found myself suddenly outside some mansion, which I ignored and went on to the shape shifting. People passed by me doing that as if nothing were out of the ordinary. Eventually I must have tried to go too far with a stretch or something, because the dream started to fade big time. So I rubbed hands, rubbed hands, rubbed hands...and it came back in full force, the shapeshifts still being part of me!

I tried to walk around after that and just see what I could see, but eventually my lucidity faded, all the shapeshifts just literally fell off of my body, leaving a normal me behind, and the dream continued on, turning into some strange videogame-like experience

Not a bad start for my first time with a new method...I must go start a thread about this now!

Originally Posted by LiveInTheDream

YES!! Finally a decent lucid dream again!

I've had several recent lucids before this, yes, but as of late they have been more like playing a video game than being physically present in the dream. This one was like being physically present again, which is awesome!

First thing I know, I'm flat on the ground in the snow. Only it isn't cold, just pleasantly chilly. After getting up onto my feet, I looked around me, and found I was in the most stunning landscape I have ever seen. Right before me was a cliff that dropped down several hundred feet. Extending beyond that was miles and miles of rocky terrain with various elements at random points throughout. A little bit of green here, a little pool of water there...it really compensated for the rockiness, making the area feel very lush despite its overall gray appearance.

And then there was the volcano. Out in the distance, a huge mountain stood high above the rest of the place, spewing out its lava high into the deep, deep blue sky. Bluer sky than I've ever seen before. And when the lava collided with the atmosphere, it totally transformed, causing a super-nova-like ball of light to hover in the sky, followed by curvy contrails of dusty steam spreading all over, making the sky seem full of stars even though it was still daytime.

As I beheld this magnificent display, there was no question in my mind. "This is a dream." I said. "It has to be." I pinched my nose and breathed in, and sure enough, air passed right through.

I almost wasn't sure if I wanted to leave. This place was so magnificent I gladly would have just studied and memorized it for the duration of the dream, but I figured there were better things to do.

The first thing that came to mind was to try and summon a friend and see if it would result in a shared dream. I tried the "when I turn around, so-and-so will be there" thing, but it didn't work (in fact, I can't seem to get that to work any place but a WILD) so I tried transforming a rock as I'd done before. That almost worked. As I slowly raised my hands, simultaneously willing the rock to grow and turn into a person, the ground shook beneath me and the terrain deformed a bit, but no person came. Maybe the rock wasn't distinct enough, considering everything else around me was rock, too.

Eventually I gave up on that idea and so I took off into the air to fly someplace interesting. Before long, I came to a very industrial-looking city; really cool place. In the very middle of that city was an arena, and this caught my attention. It had a big sign over the entrance that read: "Shared Game."

As I walked inside, I was greeted by a rather tall guy who asked me straight out: "Do you know that you're dreaming?"

"Yep, I do. So is this place what I think it is?"

"We're all lucid dreamers, here. We come to play the Game, but only lucid dreamers are allowed inside. Non-lucid people just get pounded in there."

"How do you play?"

"There aren't really any rules. The object of the game is just to get the ball from the other team and get it to the other side of the field, which scores you a point. How you get it to the other side and how you keep the other team from doing so is up to you."

"Sounds cool, can I just join in right now?"

"Of course! Have fun!"

So I went into the arena, was welcomed by a huge group of people who all claimed to be lucid dreamers, chose a team to side with, and we played. It was the craziest game I've ever played. The ball was constantly being changed hands. Teleportation, flying, telekinesis, pyrokinesis, whatever--all of it was allowed and frequently used. Points weren't scored very often, but eventually the other team did get to 5 (which I learned was the winning score). I believe my team ended up at 3, though, so we didn't do too bad.

After that game, I said goodbye and left the arena with a personal dream goal in mind: to skydive without a parachute or a plane. I just took off right there, looking down at the world below, the buildings, the arena and the dreamers who were still playing the game...it was all so real!

Once I reached a good height, I stopped flying and let myself enter freefall. It was a short trip back down, but a lot of fun! I landed smack on the ground, right on my face, but quickly got back up.

Problem was, for that moment that I was laying down, the dream started to fade, like I had put myself in the position that I was sleeping in IRL. So I did another nose RC to clear things up a bit longer, but I was losing control fast by now. Before long, I was completely non-lucid, and the dream transformed into a confusing plot about a guy trying to take over the world using cows.

All in all, for being a ton shorter than it had to be, that was really a great LD. Next time I won't skydive I guess...unless I can land on my feet. The realism was really great, though. All the scenery was very dramatic and the lighting was odd, but it gave a cool effect. And I would really love to learn if those were actually other lucid dreamers playing that game.

Originally Posted by LiveInTheDream

Well, last night I went to bed trying out a new MP3 to see if it would help me wake up at the right time to WILD.

The MP3 definitely worked; I didn't wear headphones all night, but I turned the volume all the way up and then wrapped the earbud cords around my bed post and then slid the buds down into all the cord loops so they stayed in place pointing right at my head.

It woke me up two times in the night, but only on the first time did I get anything good out of it. My memory served me well enough; I noticed as soon as I woke up, but didn't rush to a billion thoughts that would wake me up. I simply rolled over, got into a comfortable position, and then went completely still. It wasn't long before I saw HI and felt SP...and yet, I must have lost consciousness at some point, because the next thing I remember is everything being totally black and me being totally unaware of my body. I don't recall ever seeing flashing lights or feeling the ground shake, which happen every time I WILD, or even just get close to succeeding at one.

But at least I regained consciousness at this point, body asleep, mind awake, and in a dreamless state. So I decided to try and make one of my own.

"A character is appearing in front of me."

Sure enough, a moment later, I saw a DC turn her head out of the darkness (yes, it was a girl). Suddenly I felt as if I were sinking, drawing closer to her. The girl's eyes shot open and stared at me as if from afar. I continued to sink inward, and as I did so, more than the girl's head faded into view.

She reached her hand out to me, almost robotically, as the sinking began to slow down. I felt as if I would lose the dream; like I was momentarily to rocket back upward and wake up. But I reached out and managed to just barely grab hold of her hand, and she pulled, breaking the opposing force suspending me in the air and causing me to freefall down into the dream.

After falling what felt like ten or fifteen feet, I collided with something, and instantly the dream was in full view. I had hit a bed, and now I bounced off and landed on the floor. The girl had been on the other side of the bed than the one that I fell on, and the impact had effectively knocked her out as well.

She was startled, like she hadn't seen me before. Maybe she thought what had just happened was a dream for her or something.

"Who...who are you?" She asked, holding up a blanket to cover herself.

"I'm..." I paused to quickly think up a title that wouldn't give everything away to her as a dream. I didn't know her well enough yet to know if she'd respond well to that or not.

"...a friend."

Her entire countenance changed immediately, then. I wish now that I had just told her the truth, though, because as soon as I ignored my connection to real life, I lost it completely.

"Oh! And you haven't even been given a place to sleep!"

"That won't be necessary. I'm...really not tired, to be honest."

"Well you must at least need something to eat or drink! Come, this way!"

The girl then hurried down the hallway, pulling the blanket around herself as she went. Not knowing what else to do, I followed. Her house was very futuristic; technology not (yet) existent was everywhere. Eventually we made it to a small kitchen with a round table to one side.

"Please, sit." She said, handing me a glass of something to drink.

It suddenly struck me how sweet this girl was...no doubt about it, I was falling in love.

"So," the girl began. "Would you mind telling me a bit about yourself?"

"Sure, but...I still don't even know your name." (funny that I would say this, since she still didn't know my name)

"Oh! I'm so sorry. My name is Avina."

After that I told her about my past, which was now a bunch of false memories telling me I had been a soldier in the Alliance Military that was sent to guard the city and I had fallen through Avina's roof by mistake.

"I feel so terrible!" Avina exclaimed when I had finished my story.

"What? Why?"

"I've kept you up this whole time! Didn't even give you the option of waiting until morning!"

"It...kind of is morning, Avina." I replied after seeing a nearby clock read 3:00am

"Right. There's another bed in my room; you may use that if you want to. Feel free to wake me up if you need anything else!"

And next thing I know, I'm in a bed beneath a large window in Avina's room, and I can't fall asleep or take my eyes off of her. Eventually I couldn't resist any longer. Slowly, quietly, I walked over to her bed and just watched her sleep a moment.

Before I knew it, my hand had found its way down, and I was stroking her hair, caressing the side of her face, and then leaning down for a kiss. Of course that woke Avina right up, but she didn't fight or anything. Rather she reached her arms around me and stood up. We continued kissing for quite a while, but then Avina leaned back and said:

"I will be yours. Always."

After that things kind of blur together. My duties with the Alliance Military frequently pulled us apart, but we always made every effort to be together. Travel distance or cost didn't matter.

One point that stands out in my mind is when a huge crowd was before the Citadel Council discussing Alliance plans for the future. As it is typically with politics, everything was going down the tubes as far as I was concerned. What needed to be done seemed so simple to me, and yet everyone was bickering over complex things and not getting anything accomplished.

As I sat there, listening to all this, I noticed Avina come in the side door and take a seat next to me. She could see the frustration on my face.

"You should speak. Many people here respect you." She whispered.

"But that doesn't mean anyone will stand with me! What I say is useless without backup."

"I'll stand with you." Avina said.

That was all I needed. I stood up, interrupting an official far more important than I, and stated my opinion on the matter. The council, as expected, told me I was out of my mind and to sit back down. I continued, however, and asked for anyone who agreed with my plan to stand with me. At first, no one did. But then Avina stood, which soon encouraged another to stand, and another, and another, until the intimidation of the council was broken and the entire room of men and women was standing in my favor, opposed to the council. They had no choice but to accept my plan for the Alliance Military, then.

Gets blurry again...next thing I remember, Avina and I were arriving at her house after being married. It was late, but there was no chance we could sleep.

"Tell me this isn't a dream!" Avina said. "I cannot believe all this...it is just too wonderful!"

"This isn't a dream!" I said. "It's just us--forever!"

Then we lay down in the same bed this time and...well, you can probably figure out what.

We didn't get a wink of sleep that night, but neither of us cared. I don't think we ever even let go of each other before dawn.


Well...make of that what you will. It was an incredible experience for me, anyway. Doubt anyone else will really appreciate it the same way.

Originally Posted by LiveInTheDream

In recent weeks, my ability to LD has seemed to wane as lucid dreams grew fewer and farther between, not to mention that the quality of each one has been on a downward scale as well.

Last night, I may have discovered both the 'why' and the 'how' concerning fixing the issue!

Since I've been RCing consistently for nearly two weeks now with no RC-induced lucid dreams behind me, I decided to try MILD. Unfortunately, I made the mistake of beginning the mantra while lying on my back. I can't sleep on my back, and for some reason, whatever position I begin a MILD in is what I'll revert to once I fall asleep. So I kept rolling over onto my back and waking up, preventing any very deep lucids, but like I said, I did learn a bit!

I had made a video mocking the president and I was sneaking around with a few buddies to literally deliver it right to his office on a DVD. It was tough avoiding security guards, but all the cameras were taken out via computer hacks. We made it to the office, the president was gone, and I set the DVD on the desk.

*BEEP* *BEEP*

Alarms went off and an army of guards rushed to the scene with the president shortly behind them (only he looked nothing like Obama; more like Einstein with tanned skin). We put our hands up, but suddenly my mind started racing. "I'm not lucid! What can I do? Wait a second, if this already is a dream, I can just go lucid!"

I put my hands down, and nobody fired at me. I just stood there a moment, smiling at the guards, enjoying their utter powerlessness. My buddies thought I was crazy.

"Go ahead, fire." I said.

One of them did, and the bullet just went right through me, not leaving a mark. Everyone's eyes were bugging out in shock.

"Don't you get it? This is a dream!"

Suddenly the president went crazy.

"It's a dream! It's a dream!" He shouted and sang, dancing around the room, even on the walls, until he ended up right in front of me and started to shake my hand vigorously.

I started losing the dream at this point, but I heard the president saying that he respected me for successfully reaching his desk unnoticed and that I would be highly rewarded.

Woke up as he was saying that, but quickly rolled off my back and DEILDed.

I was now in a parade that the president had to celebrate. He was riding on the front of the float I was on, still shouting and singing "It's a dream! This is a dream!" People were everywhere around me.

I stood up and waved, which got a lot of applause, and then I shouted:

"Look at me everybody I'M LUCIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIID!"

The crowds roared with cheers and applause as I held out that last word. And then, just because I could, I jumped off the float, did a flip, and landed on the ground. The parade cleared away to give me space, and then I performed various tricks that are absolutely impossible IRL.

Woke up again, due to rolling onto my back. This time was for a little bit longer, so I couldn't DEILD. But still, I wasn't done LDing for the night now! When I fell back asleep...

...I found myself in Walmart in 1995. Only I had memories from 2010 still. It was like I had time traveled; the building, the ads, the decorations...all of it looked exactly like it had IRL in 1995. "Hah! This is all old stuff!" I said to myself as I walked through the place. "I wonder if I'm dreaming...but how can I find that out without drawing a lot of attention, in case this is real?"

I settled on getting something off the top shelf without any assistance. I figured the shelf was too high for me to normally be able to jump up and reach, so I'd definitely be dreaming if I could pull the object down. So I got ready, jumped, and made it far higher than the shelf, and in fact, landed on my feet right on top!

"This is definitely a dream! How cool!"

"What are you doing up there!?" A woman called. "You're going to kill yourself!"

"No I'm not, I'm dreaming!" I replied, jumping off and landing with a roll to the ground, completely unhurt. "See?"

Apparently I offended her, cuz she stormed off.

I ignored it.

"Now to update this place!"

I didn't even reach out my hands; I just thought about everything in the store changing to its present-day state, and as I watched, signs everywhere began to flip around with new ads and decorations, shelves and aisles rearranged themselves, and products morphed into their current versions.

Satisfied, I turned around and found myself staring at my ceiling. Once again, on my back, waking myself up...

Writing those dreams makes me feel a lot more in control than I felt actually going through them. I really was aware that I was dreaming, but because I kept waking up, I still felt disconnected from my dream body, and thus the dreams felt 'shallow'...if that's the right descriptor.

But anyway, it seems I was having trouble lucid dreaming because my brain somehow wasn't making the connection between non-lucid dreams and lucid dreams. It was apparently expecting to be lucid from the beginning or not at all, since I practically had to force it to accept the fact that I was in a dream at first, and go from non-lucid to being lucid. But after that, I was conscious of being in a dream far easier, so maybe I just needed to shatter that mental concept and now I'll be back to lucid dreaming every night!

Originally Posted by LiveInTheDream

FINALLY had another lucid last night, short though it was. And actually, it still didn't come from my reality checks, which is really surprising to me. It used to be that if I RC'd for a week, I'd have a lot of LD's, but this time, I've only even come close a couple times!

This time I actually WILDed after WBTB, but unfortunately it didn't end up being as amazing as my last WBTB WILD.

Dream 1: There was a time during the WILD when sleep suddenly overtook me, and I momentarily lost consciousness. But then I suddenly snapped back into mental awareness, like my mind said: "Wait! This is what you were supposed to be looking for!"

Next thing I know, I'm outside in my backyard, lying down in the same position that I had been in my bed...only now I was on top of a fence. Yes, just a fence. I wasn't even laying across it; my body and the fence were going in perpendicular directions, and I wasn't falling down. There was no doubt that I was dreaming with something obvious like that staring me in the face! "I made it!" I thought. So I stood up, but my logical mind got the better of me and I couldn't balance on the fence.

For several seconds I wobbled back and forth, trying to stabilize or lean so that I could jump off and land nicely. But then I had a better idea. "Fly!" I shouted to no one in particular as I lifted off into the air.

The wind was strong beneath me; I could feel it rushing up onto my hands, my face, rippling through my clothes, and even in my hair. "So real!" I whispered.

By this point I had well stabilized my flight, so I was ready to go around and see what I could see. But sadly, excitement at finally being in a lucid dream grew too strong and in an instant, I woke up.

I tried just to DEILD at this point, and it almost worked.

Dream 2: I found myself talking to a friend about lucid dreaming. Now this friend knows very little about it IRL, so I was surprised to hear him so knowledgeable about things.

"I even discovered a way to instantly WILD every single time I try." He told me.

"Really? Could you show me? That would be so awesome to LD like that!"

"Yeah, sure, it's really easy."

So he got down on his knees, leaned his head down to the ground, left his butt sticking up in the air, and then pulled a blanket over himself.

"And then," I heard his muffled voice say, "you just close your eyes and WILD."

In another instant, he was totally still, and didn't respond if I tried to talk to him. After about five minutes, though, he suddenly started shouting and thrashing about!

"Wake up! Gah! Wake up! Wake up!"

Of course he did wake himself up that way. Apparently the dream had turned into a nightmare

"Did it work?" I asked once he had calmed down.

"Yeah, of course it did."

I decided to ignore how stupid a position it was to be in; if it got WILDs that well, it was worth it. So I took the blanket and gave it a shot.

Next thing I know after closing my eyes, I'm in a huge underground auditorium with thousands of people all around. The room was a cave, really, and the stage a huge diamond that was carved into. "No way! It worked! I'm in a lucid dream!"

But then my friend decided to shake me back awake...in the non-lucid dream.

"Well, did it work?"

"You bloody well bet it did! Why'd you wake me up!? Couldn't you have waited until I finished the dream?"

Then I woke up for real. (and by the way, I'm not counting that second lucid part as another LD in my sig just cuz it was so short)

Dream 3: There was another dream I remember too, but it came earlier on in the night. I just wanted to get the more interesting dreams written first . Basically, the doctor told me that because my vision isn't 20/20, I should get my eyes replaced with a new camera device that looked like a real eye and could be fit in an empty eye socket. I didn't want to go through with it.

"My eyes aren't that bad, and what if the surgery fails? Then I'll have no vision at all!" I protested.

"But if it succeeds, you'll have 20/20 for life!"

"Through machines, though, and machines are known to mess up once in a while. I don't want to have to go through eye maintenance all the time when my eyes were nearly fine to begin with."

"But you could have 20/20!" The doctor repeated.

Eventually I just left, but then I kept running into family and friends and they all told me the same things as the doctor and really wanted me to get the artificial eyes. One of them even mentioned they had artificial lungs and the surgery went without a hitch...all just to get me to replace my eyes that are not that bad. It drove me crazy! When I still refused to everyone who told me to get my eyes replaced, they decided to kidnap me and force me to comply with the doctor.

Thankfully, I woke up from that one before they could. I don't exactly want to have my eyes removed, even in a dream. I know exactly what made me dream this, though: Immortel ad vitam. It's a movie I recently watched that has most people with artificial parts and one guy mentions his lungs being replaced...don't recommend that movie at all. It was such a waste of time. Pointless and confusing.

Dream 4: This also happened earlier in the night. Don't remember much about this one. There was a woman who was crazed...trying to take over the world or something. We heard tell of her moving through the country, taking cities over wherever she went. Eventually, she was in my neighborhood, and then, in my house. I grabbed the first weapon I could get to: my sword. (yes, I have a sword IRL, and that's the one I grabbed, only the hilt was longer in the dream than it really is)

I fearlessly walked up to the woman with the sword in my hand and shouted: "Get! Back!" The gem on the sword's pommel began to glow, and as terror overtook the woman's gaze, she crumpled to the ground onto her knees.

"You...have...my sword!"

"What are you talking about, this is my sword! And I will use it unless you give this up!"

"No, that once was my sword, many hundreds of years ago...it is where I get my power from, but I lost it once, and so I now am searching the earth for it."

I thought then that she would grab it out of my hand and turn into some monster of unstoppable power, but she didn't.

"That sword lies in the hands of a brave man, now. I can never reclaim it."

That said, she stood up slowly, walked out silently, her vast armies scattering, and no one ever heard from her again.

That one could almost be in a movie or book or something...interesting concept.

Well, not a bad night for dreaming! Four recalls, a little bit of lucidity...still room for improvement, though!

Originally Posted by LiveInTheDream

Well, I think I was close to going lucid last night. At one point there was a false awakening of sorts, which always brings me somewhat close to lucidity. I probably would have done a RC if it weren't for the guy with the knife...

Dream 1: I was on a huge ship; it looked like one of those cruise ships, but I am honestly not sure of this ones purpose.

"We have the worlds smartest AI aboard," said an official as he checked me in to my room. "It ten years ahead of its time; we honestly don't plan on using our pilot, even if storms come up. This machine knows how to handle it all."

"It's incredible how far artificial intelligence has come." I commented as I set down my bags and began unloading them into drawers.

"Plus," the official added with a tap to a badge on his coat, "all authorities around here have on of these. They each perform simple AI functions. All together they control every part of the machine, but to make sure no one has that kind of power, the controls were split up into badges like this one."

"It's that powerful a computer, is it?"

The official nodded. "Well," he said, "enjoy your stay."

I nodded to him and he left, closing the door behind him.

I continued getting everything unpacked and then just rested on one of the bunks in the little room. A couple hours later, the boat rocked a little and the sun shone through the window just right to cause something on the floor to sparkle. I got up to see what it was, and discovered that the official's AI controller badge had fallen off as he left. Of course my first reaction was to pick it up and return it to him, but unfortunately, as I began to do so, I bumped a little green button on the side. The badge began beeping furiously, and I could hear a bigger alarm going off outside. Although no camera or microphone was visible on the badge, I knew it was recording me somehow, so I leaned far off to the side and remained silent until the alarm stopped.

"Ok, now I really need to get this back to the guy that checked me in and clear this mess up."

So I got up, opened the door, and saw another official running down the hallway.

"Excuse me, sir!"

"You!" He shouted. "What are you doing with that badge?"

"I found it on the floor in my room; I'm sorry about all the alarms, I bumped a button when picking it up so I could return it to the official that checked me in."

He smirked. "That's what they all say! You're coming with me."

I got a solid punch to the chin and everything went black.

Next thing I know, a bag is being pulled off my head, my hands are chained behind my back, and all I'm wearing is a pair of torn up brown shorts. There were 30 or so others around me in the same situation.

"Who are these people?" I asked, figuring it would end up answering all my questions at once.

"These are the people who stood behind your claim that the badge you found was left by a mistake of the official." The burly man holding my chains answered. "Your numbers are too strong; therefore, to prevent a mutiny, the captain has ordered that you all be put to death by bomb."

That last bit sure got my attention. Looking around, I saw that everyone was being led behind a barrel and chained to it, all in rows. Not all the people being chained were very old; some looked to be only 11 or 12. Anyone who had stood up on my part was being brought there.

"Sit here." The burly man said, pushing me down behind a barrel in the back corner of the square formed by all the rows of explosives and people.

He then pulled my hands around front and tied their chains around the barrel so that I could not possibly get away or survive the explosion. Everyone was ready now; it was only a matter of time before all of us faced our doom. Hearing the others cry was the worst part, though. Being helpless to save myself was one thing, but being helpless to save those who so faithfully stood behind me was far worse.

A lady official dressed all in white went through the rows checking the chains. At first the surrounding officials closely examined her work, but once they were certain she was doing it right, they focused on readying the blasting detonator. The lady went by each person in front of me, row by row...and after what seemed like forever, was at the person to my right, and then, at me, the last person on the last row. I closed my eyes and prepared to feel the chains stiffen a bit more...but instead, I felt them loosen. My eyes snapped open, and I beheld the lady pulling on the chains around my wrists and freeing me.

"Ready!" She called. Then she turned to me and whispered: "The smoke will cloud your exit; I'll be waiting straight back to your left. As soon as you start seeing smoke, run! You'll have only a few seconds. I can't guarantee you'll live. This is all I can do. I'm sorry."

I was shocked, but I paid attention. She ran off as fast as she could, and I waited with my hands in the chains as if I were still trapped, so no one would re-chain me before the explosion was started. A few seconds later, I could hear the detonator lever being pressed, and smoke instantly shot up in my face. I fled, then, as fast as my legs would carry me, in the direction I had been told.

The sound of the wailing, suffering people behind me was almost too much, but somehow I went on, and then...

BOOOM!

The explosion knocked me to the ground, but I made it out before the flames could reach me. The flames were so realistic; limbs and heads flew out towards the sea accompanied by the final screams of those unfortunate enough to be on the back row, which exploded the latest. It was a horrible sight to see.

Before I had time to mourn, however, the lady official pulled me up and led me to her room.

"I'm...terribly sorry." She said. "This should never have happened."

A few moments of silence passed.

"I...I would have stood behind you as well, but when I saw what direction things were heading, I decided it was best I keep my silence and help you this way."

"No, no, don't be sorry for not standing behind me! I couldn't bear another soul suffering the fate of those poor people."

Another few moments of silence.

"Well...I expect you're not up for formalities right now," the lady said, "but just so you know, my name is Meg. I have clothes for you in the bathroom. You can take a shower and then rest until I come back. No one will disturb you here, so get all the sleep you can. We have much work to do."

She left me then, and went about her shipboard duties for the rest of the day. I took a shower and got into the clothes Meg had left for me, and then tried to relax. Of course, even though I was physically and emotionally worn out, I couldn't. Looking around the room, I found a small bookshelf and a handful of books on it. Reading one of those for a few minutes helped a good bit, and soon I fell asleep.

Waking up was a much weirder experience, though. I was suddenly in my room from real life, and really thought I had woken up from a dream. There was a noise outside the door, but it didn't bother me. "It's locked; no one can come in." I thought. But then I heard the noise again, and this time it sounded like the door opened. So I sat up in bed with a start to find the door opened just a crack, but the doorknob was indeed set to the locked position. No one was there. "I must not have closed it all the way last night." Excuses, excuses.

I lay back in bed, but only moments later heard a much louder noise and this time actually saw someone walking in. He was dressed all in black, had his head completely wrapped up in a black scarf. He also had a knife. I remained completely still and silent so he would mistake me to be asleep. Then, as soon as he got close enough, I let my fist rip through the air and land right on his nose. It stunned him enough for me to literally jump out of bed and land a kick to his stomach, which was also enough to knock the knife from his hand and send it flying into the wall.

The man fled then, and the dream seemed to wash away like rain and return me to the ship I was on previously. Meg walked inside and looked scared.

"What happened?" She asked. "I saw an executioner outside! Has he found you?"

"Has he?" I repeated, pulling the knife from the wall. "This was his weapon!"

"Then they know." Meg's face seemed to darken. "They know you're alive. That just makes our time that much shorter."

"I'm ready."

That entire day was spent sneaking all around the ship, avoiding detection, and visiting the rooms of people who Meg said also supported me, but in secret. Of course they too were furious about the death of those who had supported me up front, and now were ready to assist even at risk of their own lives.

So we set out, and one by one, were able to pick-pocket the badges from the officials (with the help of Meg and her legally obtained badge). Of course by the end of the day they knew something was up with all their badges missing, but we had been so careful that no one stood out as a suspect, and there were only rumors that I was still alive; no solid proof (apparently the executioner was not hired by the officials and did not care to alert them of my presence).

Finally, at sunset, we had every badge, and thus complete control of the most advanced AI in the world. Every member of our secret group was in hiding outside the captain's cabin, and just as he walked outside, we jumped out with a loud war cry. I made sure to stand above the crowd, triumphantly holding the badges above my head so that the officers would know they had been defeated.

Fear was in every one of their eyes as we used the AI to gather them together in the center of the ship. I left Meg in control of the AI for a moment so I could personally speak to the officers one last time. It was nice seeing them afraid of my authority for a change.

"Based on what you did to my friends you should have the same done to you." I said. "But that would make me no better than any of you. Does everyone here know how to swim?"

No one answered; they knew that I knew it was a requirement for an officer to be able to swim.

I moved a safe distance away and then nodded to Meg. With the press of a button, the AI flipped up the floor that the officers were on, flinging them into the air and out over the water. I'm pretty sure there was land nearby somewhere.

That night everyone threw a party. There were cool lights and tiki lamps and great music and all that. I was going to ask Meg to dance (), but my alarm started going off and woke me up before I could.

Oh well. It may not have been lucid, but it was still a decent dream.

Originally Posted by LiveInTheDream

Well, I'm getting pretty tired of not having decent lucids, so I'm going back to the constantly-RC method. I'll keep trying WILDs here and there cuz they're so much better when they work, but I'm not getting them to work consistently enough for me.

Since an important part of DILD is dream recall, I thought I had better write down what I remember of last night.

I wasn't actually in the dream; it was like a mental movie. There was a guy (I think his name was Martin) who was staying in a room at his girlfriend's house because he had no job and no money. The gf was some sort of psychiatrist or something like that, and was trying to get Martin a job with her, but he needed specific training before he could. So he got the details, packed what little he had, and headed off to different locations for the training.

It wasn't but a day after he left that his gf got a phone call from her boss. "You may want to tell Martin to look elsewhere." She said. "We've found someone for the job." Martin's gf was shocked. "And this person has all the necessary training for the position?" She asked. "Well...no." Boss replied. "Actually, she has no training at all. But she's got what it takes; you just have to see her with a patient! I think she'll end up teaching us, not the other way around." Now the gf was really distressed. Not only had the spot for Martin been filled contrary to previous plans, and he was getting training he couldn't afford without getting the job as well, but it was all happening for someone with no training! After a brief silence, the boss added, "You should probably meet her. Could I send her over to your place tomorrow? I think it would be a nicer place for a chat than at the office." "Uh, yeah...sure."

Next thing I know, the scene 'cut' to a different person. It was yet another girl (pretty sweet way to dream, right?) who lurked in the shadows (ok maybe not) and was watching Martin's girlfriend's boss at her desk. At first there were other people there, talking to her, but as soon as they all left, the lurker woman walked out and started speaking in commands. "You will not hire the new girl. You will tell her there has been a mistake and she cannot work here." As she spoke, the boss's eyes seemed to roll back in her head and black streaks appeared in both of them, swirling around. I could tell the boss was being controlled. But fortunately, the newcomer appeared just then. She was a pretty brunette that wore glasses; nothing at all like the other, rather dumpy people in the dream. "Let her go!" The newcomer shouted. Her words seemed to throw the evil woman back with a force, and she ran off first chance she got. The boss's eyes returned to normal. "What was that?" The boss asked. "I was totally unable to control myself!" "I don't know," the newcomer replied, "but I don't think we've seen the end of this one."

Again the scene 'cut' to a different location; this time a public phone in a train station. Martin was calling his gf. I can't remember all their dialogue, but she told him about the job no longer being available, and meeting with the newcomer the next day. She said that the whole thing sounded weird, and if possible, she would try to convince the boss not to hire the new girl because of her lack of experience. But still, it wasn't much comfort to Martin. He knew that without a job, he was financially screwed.

It was the following day, then, and the newcomer was knocking at the door of Martin's gf. She was suddenly in an apartment now instead of a house. "Come in." The reply to the knock came. But it wasn't Martin's gf's voice. The newcomer opened the door, and found Martin's gf standing there, motionless, black swirls in her eyes. Next to her was the evil woman. "Now you listen to me." The evil woman said. Martin's gf robotically spoke the same words at the same time; it was like their brains had been connected, and the evil woman's was the dominant of the two. "Do what I say, or she <Martin's gf> dies." The newcomer was strangely able to resist the mind-controlling power of the evil woman. "You don't have to live this way." She told the evil woman. "I can help you." The evil woman laughed, which also made Martin's motionless girlfriend laugh in an emotionless and robotic tone. The two laughs combined were chilling. "Help me? I'm doing this for you." The newcomer raised a single eyebrow in confusion at the evil woman's saying. "I'm doing this for her!" She continued, pointing at Martin's gf. But then something really weird happened. The evil woman looked not just in my direction as the spectator, but at me, even though I wasn't there. I could feel my real body for a moment, but then it got sucked in, and I was standing in that apartment room, also motionless and unable to move of my own accord. "I'm doing it...for him!" I then felt my eyes rolling back into my head, unstoppably, and black swirls began to cover my vision. But then I heard the newcomer start panicking. "No! Don't!" She cried. "He controls the dream; if you control him, you'll kill us all! We can't exist without him being the one in control!" The evil woman snapped back (the gf still saying all of her words at the same time: "Idiot! We'll stop existing as soon as he wakes up!" Then I felt myself uncontrollably begin to say the same things as the evil woman as well. "If I take control of him, we can continue existing forever! None of us have to die! I'm saving us all!" But at the same time as the evil woman was talking, I was thinking about what the newcomer had said about it being a dream. Pretty soon, I realized...it was a dream! Summoning all my energy into one panicked move, I thrust my head forward, said, "Not today!" (which the gf said at the same time as me, this time) and with one jerk of my head (the only thing I could move), I broke the dream like a pane of glass, and woke myself up.

Such a weird, weird concept...a DC being afraid of dying, and thereby attempting to take control of my mind so I wouldn't wake up?? I don't think I want to dwell on that one...