melanieb

I love the part where I use my wand and shout "Lumos!"

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[SIZE=3][FONT=Calibri]I’m on the hill at the end of the street I grew up on. Offto my left is the fenced-in backyard of the house that sits at the top cornerof the hill. The lighting is dim and I seem to have gone for a walk at night,leading me to this location.[/FONT][/SIZE]
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[SIZE=3][FONT=Calibri]I can sense movement behind the fence and I realize someoneis riding a bike in the backyard. I know that the people who live there wouldnever allow anyone to ride a bike in the yard so I’m a little concerned. I knowthe person must be a trespasser though I sense no malice.[/FONT][/SIZE]
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[SIZE=3][FONT=Calibri]I wait for a bit and watch to see what happens when I losesight of the person. I look around but I can’t tell where they’ve gone. Thickbushes are abundant on the property and I can’t tell if the person remains orhas left without me noticing.[/FONT][/SIZE]
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[SIZE=3][FONT=Calibri]I walk a little bit along the fenceline and discover an opengate leading into the back yard. It has clearly been left open in haste and Isuspect the person disappeared into the cover of darkness. I want to see theperson and the bike but I also want to get a better look into the back yard. I’venever actually been onto the property and I find myself curious.[/FONT][/SIZE]
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[SIZE=3][FONT=Calibri]“Lumos!” I shout the word as I flourish my wand, a light toguide my dark path into the dense brush and deep growth of the yard. The leavesof vines hanging on various plants are lush and green, an odd contrast to thenormal pallor of Texas landscapes in the summer.[/FONT][/SIZE]
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[SIZE=3][FONT=Calibri]And then I wake up.[/FONT][/SIZE]
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I really hate confusing lucid dreams like this one.

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[SIZE=3][FONT=Calibri]I’m in my old office, the company I last worked for. I’m inthe western hallways of the office, talking to my boss. She is telling me aboutanother coworker.[/FONT][/SIZE]
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[SIZE=3][FONT=Calibri]“Sandra needs money to pay for Dish Network.” She explains.I had wondered why Sandra was in the office. I was sure she no longer workedfor the company. My boss needed someone to take the check to her. She can befound in her old office where she is gathering some of her belongings leftbehind when she quit.[/FONT][/SIZE]
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[SIZE=3][FONT=Calibri]I take the check from my boss and walk down to find Sandra.She is collecting her things and talking with another coworker, explaining whyshe came and why it took her so long. She is also explaining her money needs.[/FONT][/SIZE]
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[SIZE=3][FONT=Calibri]As I approach I see she has a baby with her. I don’t recallher being a parent or even having enough time since she left the company tohave a child so I can’t figure out whose child it is or why she would bring himin to the dirty office. I can see she is clearly struggling to maintain a holdon her things and take care of the baby at the same time.[/FONT][/SIZE]
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[SIZE=3][FONT=Calibri]“I can help take care of the baby.” I offer her assistance.She thanks me and heads off with some of her stuff. I take the baby into thecopy room where people are woreking and I leave it on the table. I next headdownstairs to get in my car.[/FONT][/SIZE]
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[SIZE=3][FONT=Calibri]I know Sandra needs the check so I head to her new office, abuilding not too far away that looks more like a hotel or swanky apartment buildingthan an office. I pull up in the drive where a valet might normally stand andstart to get out of my red sports car (Ferrari?) when I realize that I don’thave the check with me. I left it back at the office. Even worse, I also leftthe baby behind.[/FONT][/SIZE]
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[SIZE=3][FONT=Calibri]Doing a mental facepalm I climb back into the car and startdriving back to the office. I need to head down the road to 183 first, an oddroute to take back but I’m familiar with it because it’s the route I used touse to travel home from the office.[/FONT][/SIZE]
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[SIZE=3][FONT=Calibri]Whether because of the route or the blue-and-white policecarI see at the intersection I become lucid. I’m really impressed to see thepolicecar as it is the type Austin used to have when I was growing up. Theywere very distinct. The police officer is actually standing outside his car asI pass, taking a look at my vehicle. He seems to actually be looking at me asthough I am an interesting subject.[/FONT][/SIZE]
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[SIZE=3][FONT=Calibri]Back at the office I go upstairs and I check the copy roombut the baby isn’t there. Neither are the people from earlier so I have no-oneto ask. I head down the hall checking offices as I go, becoming increasinglyfrantic as I approach the end of the hall. I know it’s a dream but somethingabout trying to find a baby drives me on.[/FONT][/SIZE]
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[SIZE=3][FONT=Calibri]Reaching the end I make a right turn (knowing I will findthe child)and suddenly spot the baby with a guy named Jeff. I don’t actuallyknow this guy but he seems to be attentive and is making noises at the baby soI don’t mind his efforts. He even has Legos which should be too advanced forthe infant but I see the child has aged in the short time I was gone and cannow walk on his own. He walks towards a bike someone left in the office and Ibriefly worry he will get hurt by the axle of the rear wheel but he passes itwith ease.[/FONT][/SIZE]
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[SIZE=3][FONT=Calibri]If that wasn’t weird enough the baby can talk and does sowith the sound of a literate adult. His voice is quite mature and it’sunsettling enough to cause me to lose lucidity completely. The baby tells mesomething about playing cards and then I wake up.[/FONT][/SIZE]
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If this was real...it'd be so cool.

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[SIZE=3][FONT=Calibri]I’m cleaning the pool and all the debris in it by consumingan alcoholic drink. The more of the alcohol I drink the more the debrisdisappear. I find that this method works very well for cleaning the pool and Ishall continue to use it in the future.[/FONT][/SIZE]
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[SIZE=3][FONT=Calibri]And I wake up.[/FONT][/SIZE]
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It seems I went back into the dream with Dethklok. Too bad it wasn't a DEILD.

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[FONT=Calibri][SIZE=3]I’m in a helicopter, still with Dethklok, and I have anaerial view of my destination, a damaged apartment building in central Austin. The building is damaged heavily, missing mostof the second level as if it had been partially demolished. I see the buildingas an apartment building but I label it in my mind as the hotel my grandparentsused to stay at when they visited Austin in the 1970’s.[/SIZE][/FONT]
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[FONT=Calibri][SIZE=3]The helicopter lands on a bare spot on the second floor andwe step out onto rubble and dirt. Chunks of concrete litter the space wherenormally a carpeted floor would be. Ithink how it’s a shame the place is so damaged and there isn’t enough time for itto be repaired before ACL, the Austin City Limits Music Festival. I know theowners are counting on a lot of rent money that will not come in because therooms aren’t ready.[/SIZE][/FONT]
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[SIZE=3][FONT=Calibri]The owner/manager of the apartments is touring us throughthe property and discussing various aspects of the damage and what remains. Wehead downstairs and out to the front of the property where we pass a walldisplaying the name of the complex. It’s damaged, the bricks caved in from animpact of some sort. I immediately apologize for the damage. [/FONT][/SIZE]
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[SIZE=3][FONT=Calibri]“I’m sorry. That’s the fault of my people. We will get thatrepaired.”[/FONT][/SIZE]
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[SIZE=3][FONT=Calibri]I think one of the Dethklok members punched the wall but ifthey caused that kind of damage then the wall was in poor shape to begin with.I couldn’t believe it was a fist and tried to figure out what piece ofequipment could have caused it.[/FONT][/SIZE]
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[SIZE=3][FONT=Calibri]As we continue through the complex we come to an open areawhere a resident is hanging her laundry up on a clothing line. She has longbrown hair and plain features and she is wearing a white gown that suggests shedidn’t expect to be seen by strangers. She seems to be a high-energy individualand seems very interested in how the phones can still work when so many of thenearby power lines are down and non-functioning.[/FONT][/SIZE]
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[SIZE=3][FONT=Calibri]I look around and I see the phone lines leading to herapartment, separate from the power lines and intact. I try to explain to herthat the phones are on their own electrical system separate from the normalelectric lines and that even when the power goes out the phones can still work.Her confusion is easy to explain from all the downed wires but all of them areelectrical and the phone wires, not seen by her, are hanging low overhead andcan be traced all the way back to the pole.[/FONT][/SIZE]
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[SIZE=3][FONT=Calibri]And the dream ends.[/FONT][/SIZE]
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Dethklok makes their debut appearance in my dreams.

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[SIZE=3][FONT=Calibri]I’m in a cheap motel, the kind you see in small towns oralong any highway in the 80’s. The room is not too big, the carpet needs a lotof love and the bed looks questionable.[/FONT][/SIZE]
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[SIZE=3][FONT=Calibri]Dethklok is in the room with me, and they are also examiningthe room. Skwisgar seems to be particularly concerned with something he can seeon the bed from his perspective and Toki and Nathan are looking at a stain onthe floor in front of me.[/FONT][/SIZE]
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[SIZE=3][FONT=Calibri]No one looks like they will remain in the room much longer.[/FONT][/SIZE]
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[SIZE=3][FONT=Calibri]And the dream ends.[/FONT][/SIZE]
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Some things just seem so simple...like this recipe.

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[SIZE=3][FONT=Calibri]I’m in a southwestern landscape, similar to the Arizonadesert, surrounded by scrub brush. Mountains in the distance are purple-coloredin the hazy air. I’m lucid, my awareness brought about by the odd desertlocation. [/FONT][/SIZE]
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[SIZE=3][FONT=Calibri]In front of me, floating in the air, is a pile of cheese. Inmy mind I understand that I need to eat the cheese. I not only need to eat it…thecheese needs to fill me. I need to become the cheese. It looks like Americancheese and as I consume it my lower body becomes a yellowish-orange color. Italso feels warm.[/FONT][/SIZE]
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[FONT=Calibri][SIZE=3]Next a large amount of rice appears, white rice, and I mustconsume it just as I did the cheese. It’s steaming and fluffy though I feel noheat as I swallow. Still, it tastes good. The feeling inside me is similar to beingsupercharged.[/SIZE][/FONT]
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[SIZE=3][FONT=Calibri]Now that I have the recipe components inside me I know I cancontrol the weather. Admittedly the weather doesn’t change much in the desertbut I now have control.[/FONT][/SIZE]
[FONT=Times New Roman][SIZE=3][/SIZE][/FONT][FONT="Calibri"]And then I wake up.[/FONT]

I sense a theme here...driving in south Austin.

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[SIZE=3][FONT=Calibri]I’m driving in south Austin along a two-lane road leadingtowards Ben White, a large road on the south side of the city. I’m in my SUVand I’m approaching a tight space where vehicles on each side of the road havenarrowed the lane down to something a vehicle could barely squeeze through. Asthough to illustrate this point a truck approaching me makes it through butscrapes on both sides against the bordering vehicles. [/FONT][/SIZE]
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[SIZE=3][FONT=Calibri]I look at the truck as it goes by and I don’t care to havethe same thing happen to my vehicle. I reach out through my window and move thefolding mirrors to their inwards position. Unlike my mirrors that fold to theside in real life my dream-SUV has mirrors much like an Australian Land-Roverwith the actual mirror attached to a long arm that extends out to the side. Myfolding mirrors are located somewhere near the front grill and fold in front ofthe vehicle.[/FONT][/SIZE]
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[FONT=Calibri][SIZE=3]After folding my mirrors in I start to move forward but Idon’t think I’m going to clear the space even with this space-saving maneuver. I back up a little from the tight space andturn to the left. Stepping on the accelerator in low gear I bump over theyellow-painted curb. I figure that’s why I got an SUV in the first place. Mightas well use it for a little off-road time.[/SIZE][/FONT]
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[SIZE=3][FONT=Calibri]I pass the obstacle and as I look back I realize it was agood idea to go off-road as there is a large hole in the road, roughly six-feetin diameter and four feet deep. I don’t know how the truck going the other waygot past it but I definitely wouldn’t have wanted to try getting across it.[/FONT][/SIZE]
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[SIZE=3][FONT=Calibri]And then I woke up.[/FONT][/SIZE]
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I love the characters that pop up in my dreams.

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[SIZE=3][FONT=Calibri]I’m in south Austin and I’ve heard there are some good artexhibits all over town worth checking out. I can’t quite recall who told me butit was one of the parents I know from my daughter’s school. I head north of mylocation until I arrive at a chainlink fence that surrounds a 3-story concretebuilding. The building is non-descript and has no outside signs or markings.From the outside it would appear to just be the shell of a building with darkwindows.[/FONT][/SIZE]
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[SIZE=3][FONT=Calibri]I enter the building with my daughter who immediately runsfrom my side to explore the art exhibits contained inside. In every direction,yet sparsely situated, are objects and dioramas that express various feelingsand emotions using all kinds of material. Each one has a candle or severalcandles, some of which are not lit. The room is quite dark.[/FONT][/SIZE]
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[SIZE=3][FONT=Calibri]Walking over to an exhibit along the wall to my right I amfascinated by the detail the artist put into the work. Set on a square base ofabout 9 inches on a side is a small piece of gnarled tree that curls up like amisshapen letter ‘G’ and a number of strings hang from the top curve, eachdecorated with glistening charms and shapes that represent spiritual contentand emotional links felt throughout time by humanity. Sadly the candles are notlit.[/FONT][/SIZE]
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[SIZE=3][FONT=Calibri]I grab the grill-lighter set on the exhibit table and beginlighting the candles. Only a couple remain lit after a few seconds and I haveto relight most of the candles. I believe they are being extinguished by abreeze coming in through the open front door, though I can recall no entry doorbehind me.[/FONT][/SIZE]
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[SIZE=3][FONT=Calibri]Looking back I see Mark is there, his typical goofy smilebeaming from his face. He says “Hi” and I reply in kind. I can also see mydaughter running towards the back of the room, apparently intent on going upstairs.I know she will be okay and I turn around to walk towards another exhibit.[/FONT][/SIZE]
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[SIZE=3][FONT=Calibri]The exhibit I’m approaching is blue, like the previous one,and I become lucid as I reach out to light the candles. Tiny sparkly shapes ofstars and magical symbols dangle from an overhanging piece of metal. As I applyflame to the candles I accidentally set the art on fire. The sparkly thingsburst into a brief flame that leaves them charred and wrinkled. I initiallyfeel bad but I decide I need not be concerned because I’m dreaming and the artalters slightly before my eyes. It actually looks better now.[/FONT][/SIZE]
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[FONT=Calibri][SIZE=3]Pleased with my contribution to the exhibit I walked on withsome of the other people who were heading out the back door of thebuilding. I was expecting to see moreart out here and perhaps a gathering of people but instead I found a largefenced-off sandpit with people walking their Chihuahuas through a course duginto the sand. It was disappointing.[/SIZE][/FONT]
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[SIZE=3][FONT=Calibri]I saw Bo and Luke Duke (The Dukes of Hazzard) and theylooked like they wanted a dog by the way they were acting and moving but I realizedthey already had a dog and were walking it along the course. Being lucid still I thought about finding anew place to go and enjoy but just as I started walking away the dream fadedand I woke up.[/FONT][/SIZE]
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