false awakening

NON-DREAM DREAM LUCID

I was so exhausted yesterday that I knew I would not do much dream recall this night. I actually woke up in the middle of the night, with dreams floating in my mind, but I just couldn’t care less and turned to the other side to go back to sleep. In the morning I was feeling a bit more refreshed and wrote down a few, especially because they were one of a kind.


22:30 GMT - Sleep

1 wake up, recorded no dreams


5:00 GMT – 2nd wake up

Dentist waiting room and cinema
I’m with my mother on the waiting room of a doctor’s office (I think the dentist) and for some reason to have an appointment we need to have a key (?). My memory fails me a bit on this part, but I think for some reason they didn’t want to give us a key – maybe the key was the equivalent of making an appointment, maybe they didn’t want to give us one, because they had the agenda full? Anyway, I think my mother got to steal two keys without them noticing and we just left all happy with the achievement. Then she invites me to go somewhere, like the cinema, which I think is a great idea, but I am worried that my light summer clothes will be uncomfortable when we leave the cinema to the cold night.

Performative arts camp
I enter a bus full of youngsters. We are on a trip to somewhere. I don’t know anybody. They are clearly from different countries and nationalities but not one looks welcoming to me. I look for an empty seat and I found one by the aisle by the side of two other girls (there’s 3 seats on each side of the corridor, like in an airplane). The chair in front is reclined and I have very little space to fit. I have a black backpack in my lap and it’s really cool because it has a flexible screen on it, showing continuously the Matrix code animation. That seems to attract some attention, but still, nobody gets friendly with me.
We all get out at some kind of camp and soon I realise it’s like an artistic camp. We have an auditorium and some kids are rehearsing a play, others sing and I just wonder what am I doing there, since I have no artistic talent. But I see other youngsters also looking a bit lost, so I chill, thinking I should not worry and should just watch and go with the flow.
Then a girl makes a dramatic entrance in the auditorium. It’s C.L., a friend from my childhood and my neighbour for many years. She was always a drama queen, so this suits her. She is wearing a very theatrical dress, like a wedding gown but with splashes of colour. She is singing and heads to the stage where she makes some theatrical show.

James Bond emotional
Then I have a strange dream that I am watching a James Bond movie (but the movie is like floating in the air, because there’s no TV). By my side is my dad sleeping – he always falls asleep watching movies. But in this James Bond instead of the action, sex and espionage, Bond is having a candid conversation with his father and it all gets very emotional. The even weirdest part is that meanwhile my father has awaken and is crying because of the movie. I feel doubly eerie with so much strangeness and this leads me to awake. I wake up in my bed and someone is by my side. But instead of my boyfriend it is still my father that is sleeping there. What? I take some time before I understand I’m still dreaming, then I really wake up (I hope).


6:30 GMT – 3rd waking

Toilet drama (again) and a fake enlightenment
I woke up, wrote down my dreams and apparently I’m still awake and I go to the toilet before going back to sleep. The toilet is totally different from the toilet in my (real) home, but I don’t notice that at all. I feel totally comfortable with this version of it, as if I have used it my entire life. I just notice after using it that the flushing is not working. I check the cistern and it’s dripping water. I try to discharge at least some water but it really isn’t working, so I try to take the cistern cap to check the mechanism and eventually fix it (did it many times), but the thing is seriously jammed and I stupidly put my foot on the toilet seat to push and I end up with my foot inside the toilet, with the water, urine and mushy toilet paper all around my foot. Yuck!!!
I am disgusted and I think to myself – “My god, the shit that happens in my dreams is starting to happen in RL!”
[Usually in my dreams I get lucid because I simply know that I’m having a dream - no need for dream signs or reality checks, it just happens. This time I had no idea I was having a dream. I was totally, absolutely convinced this was real.]
So then I thought “It’s a good opportunity to practice reality checking. This way in my dreams I will remember to do it every time I’m on a toilet again facing yucky situations like this, as it recurrently happens.”
So I decided to put my hand on the wall trying to go through it and I was absolutely amazed when my hand started to sink on the dissolving wall. I couldn’t believe it! It never actually occurred to me “After all, this is just a dream!” No! Instead I believed that I was actually manipulating real matter like in dreams – I was convinced I had had a little enlightenment! It felt awesome! It felt amazing! It felt... Ohhhh, now my face is also sinking in the wall! And all of a sudden I open my eyes and it’s just my hand and face sinking into the pillow... Oh, crap! What a disappointment... I really don't know if I should classify this as a lucid dream. It was more of a wrong-reality entrenchment, so I'll call it a reverse-lucid, but it had all the characteristics of a lucid dream. I was fully aware and conscious, I simply mistook that reality for this reality. Freaky.

Warm snow
I just had one more quick dream. It was early dawn, it was summer and I am at home. My father is staying there to. We both wake up because something strange is happening outside. I go to the window and I see snow falling and coming through the window. There are a few people on the street also amazed at it. Everybody is in summer clothes, it feels warm and even the snow is just at ambient temperature. How can that be? I just have a quick thought that even climate change cannot cause warm snow in summer and that there must be more to it, something more bizarre. I start having a bit of lucidity and that's when I wake up again.


7:30 GMT – Wake up

NON-DREAM DREAM LUCID FALSE AWAKENING

0:20 GMT

Bus tickets
Can’t remember how I got there, but I’m on some bus stop in the middle of nowhere looking at a map at a ticket vending machine, trying to figure out where I want to go and what ticket I must purchase.
I make several attempts with no success when I hear the bus coming. The problem is I’m not alone – there’s a huge queue behind me and people are getting stressed with my indecision. I just press whatever button and I get a ticket for one whole day to get to the city centre (no idea which city) and it costs me 4 EUR something.

4:20 GMT

Looking for food and playing levitation football
I’m now feeling hungry and I pass by some complex, like a stadium, where there are snack-bars and cafés. I stop at one that announces some type of Italian food but when I actually look at the food it is not at all Italian. But since it is mostly vegetarian and I am vegetarian, I decide to eat there. I ask the lady on the other side how it works and she says I can choose this and this and make a menu. I agree. But then she just leaves. I go after her, asking why she’s leaving and she explains she needs to get something from the storage house which is on the floor below. She invites to go along with her. Why not? As we descend a ramp, I hear someone calling my name.
I turn around and it is this lady I don’t see since I was a kid, from the extra school activities’ place. She tells me I need to take some leaflets with me for whatever place I’m supposed to go later on. It is really crucial, so tells me to write it down. I have no paper to write it down so I repeat to myself I must not forget it, although I have no clue what she is talking about. Then I realise I lost the buffet girl and I am on a football field, where boys are playing football. The ball is coming in my direction and I kick it to avoid being hit by it. It was a nice kick and although they are upset that I’m disturbing their game, they actually liked the kick so they keep throwing the ball at me. I’m getting tired of this game, so I levitate to above the field so they can keep playing. Instead they start throwing the ball higher so I can kick it down again. This new game is fun and I end up doing lots of acrobatics with the ball that amuses them.

Surreal village with flying fish
I’m in a cute village with floor level houses and tiny streets. Something catches my eye. On the façade of one house there’s an aquarium with no glass walls. By the side of the door is just this weird floating water, aquatic plants and fish swimming, holding together without any container. Some tourists stop by a take a picture in front of it. They ask me something about some writer, but I don’t know what they mean.
I keep walking and on another street there are to giant fishes swimming in the air. I decide not to cross under them and move to another street. There I find 2 or 3 dogs. They look friendly and I’m not afraid, but one of them is maybe too friendly and starts coming fast in my direction. I get a bit scared and decide to fly to get rid of it. But the god damn dog jumps so high, that no matter how high I fly to get away from it, he keeps jumping higher and higher and trying to bite my leg – not to hurt me, just to bring me down, but still very annoying.

5:00 GMT

Math class
I’m in a math class at the university and the teacher is talking about integers. Usually I would freak out for not understanding a thing, but I simply thought “I will study it from the books and understand it in no time. No problem.” Outside the class I think that I haven’t yet been to any other class and realise I have no idea what they are or where they are. I thought that if only I had a friend with me we would help each other. But still I was cool, no stress about it.

Sweetheart from school now a violent guy
I met a guy that used to be my secret love in elementary school. I was so happy to see him again and all those old innocent love feelings came back. But when he is all sweet talk to me, a lady appears - she looks a bit Indian – with a baby of 1 or 2 years old in her arms. She is his mother-in-law and the kid is his son. She puts the baby in his arms but he is totally spaced out and does not hold him. She barely has time to grab him as he slides down to the floor. I am so socked at this that I just go and take the baby in my arms, cuddle him so hard, trying to reduce the potential trauma on this baby. I feel so angry at this guy. He then just leaves totally disconnected from all that is going on around him. The lady stays and I tell her to please understand that this guy is crazy and sees the baby as an annoying object. I tell her that the baby is in danger and it is a matter of time until he hurts or kills the baby due to negligence. I yell at her, please tell the mother of the baby that the is in danger and to please keep the baby away from his father. But she also looks like she couldn’t care less, she leaves with the baby and I feel desperate and powerless.


Five star casual hotel
I go head to a hotel where I’m staying. It is late night and there’s nobody around. The dogs of the guests roam free in the hallways, despite the fact that it is a fancy 5 star hotel. I am amazed, because this is allowed. They apparently came from outside and messed up the floor with dirt. So I encounter a cleaning lady that is wiping the floor and for some I feel intimidated. But then I realise that I’m staying at the hotel, so no point of being embarrassed. I don’t feel like going to my room, so I walk around, exploring the hotel and I end up in a lobby, where there’s people comfortably sitting on sofas, chatting. On that lobby I see a huge entrance to what looks like an interior garden, so I go check. When I enter the place I am awed at the beauty of it. It’s a mix of architecture and landscaping that captures my imagination. The shock is so great that I become half-lucid. In front of me there’s a lake with a fountain and beautiful plants and on both sides of it there are staircases leading to an upper balcony that leads to some another lobby and then a concert room. There are some strategic placed square sofas just by the lake and I sit – actually lay down with my legs up and head down. Then I realise they have giant screens close to the ceiling transmitting the concert that is taking place in the concert room. I feel so emotional that tears come to my eyes.

Forbidden love story
I am the daughter of a rich family living on a huge mansion, but I have a crush for this guy that works for us. I meet him downstairs in the basement where my parents never go. Maybe he already knew my feelings, but this is the first time I am clear about it with him. Apparently the feelings are mutual, because in no time we are locked in the bathroom, ripping our clothes off and making love in such a sweet and intimate way.
Later on we’ve escaped to what I think is a romantic haven in some greek island. We’re waking up in bed on small cosy room with a fantastic view to the ocean. I am happier than ever and I tell him I go downstairs looking for some breakfast. The door leads to outside directly and then I find myself in some outside terrace and there’s a door leading to the dining room, which is also small and cosy. Some lady asks me how does breakfast work and I explain it is buffet and tell her how and where to eat. I check what’s today’s menu and I’m heading to the room for shower before eating, when I decide that just by snapping my fingers I can have the shower done in no time. Then I realise I’m dreaming! And I think what to do next. There’s a glassy wall in front of me and as I look to my dim reflection on it the only thing that occurs to me is changing my own appearance, which I never tried before. I think I would like to be taller and have longer legs (Yeah, that simple. I should have wished to become a lion, or something, but didn't occur to me). I try imagine myself growing and it doesn’t work. So I make a mark on the wall of the height I want to reach and by looking at it my legs start extending and I end up with around 10 cms more – not much, but I also didn’t want to become a giant, ok! The worst part is that the bones in my legs hurt like hell when I was growing. Still, it was cool when my boyfriend arrived and I was almost as tall as him. Mission accomplished.

5:40 GMT

Volcano and what to save from cataclism
I was apparently back in Greece on some mountainous area where there was a dormant volcano. A lady was driving me around and she said to me they’ve lived their entire lives close to it and felt no fear. But almost immediately the volcano started showing signs of an eminent eruption. Then everybody panicked! I told people to go to the opposite side of the mountain of that one where the eruption seemed to be happening, as it would probably be safer, but then I thought “Hum, this is familiar. And also such a coincidence. I must be dreaming.” And I became lucid.
I thought about what to do of it and this time I decided to use the dream itself to explore my subconscious. Decided to materialise my home in that mountain and go through the exercise of choosing what to save from the cataclysm. It wasn’t my home exactly but instead there was a hole excavated in the rocky mountain, like a sightseeing terrace encircled by the rocks, and all my books, clothes and other personal belongings were there. I wondered around – books, but which books, clothes but which clothes. Nothing seemed to be really important but then I thought “I must at least save a pair of fresh underwear to take with me”. I then started going through my underwear and there were these cute and sexy lingerie that I started to pack loads of it. Until it rang a bell in my head and I was like “What are you doing? Don’t get lost in the dream. What is this with the lingerie in your dreams?”
Then I realised there was really nothing that worth of salvation. Just me. So I decided to simply absorb that freedom sensation and write it down when I’d wake up. Then I woke up (or thought so) and started writing down the dream. But then my pen that I usually use to write down my dreams was not writing, even if there was some ink on it. That’s when I looked around and saw I was still in the dream. That’s when I really woke up.