Nazrax

Bed @ 2210
Woke @ 0425

The crown prince and the traitor
I'm watching a story unfolding? The crown prince and his close friend have just been in a battle with the traitor's men. He's railing against them, angry that three of his own men were killed by the prince's friend. Despite their valor, the prince and his friend have been badly wounded, and they're under the power of the traitor.

Now some time has passed. A puppet prince has been established in the city and both the crown prince and his friend have finally woken from their ordeals. I see them trudging up a hill, looking around at what's become of their land. They're going to meet with the puppet prince, a one-time friend who they now believe to have betrayed them. Now they're with him in his office - a large, modern room with a huge wooden desk. Despite their mistrust, he makes it clear that he still believes in the prince and not in the traitor and begs their help in overthrowing the traitor's government and establishing themselves as the rightful rulers. Now I'm the prince's friend and begin to question the puppet; eventually, I judge that he's sincere. I'm so overcome with emotion that my nose fills and I can't breathe. I try to breathe through my mouth, but I can't. I try to calm myself, trying to breath through both my nose and my mouth, telling myself I'll be OK, and hoping that I don't have to suffer the indignity of passing out in front of the two princes; but even if I do, I trust that my unconscious body will relax enough to breathe. I continue my efforts, starting to feel a bit of panic, until I finally wake up (for real) with a completely stuffed nose.


Fragments
I'm reading over an email from Jeff saying that he's fed up with how badly Windows works and asking if anyone can help him get started with Linux.

Something about a boat and the water.


BTB @ 0445 /w MILD
Woke @ 0710

Nap 1430 - 1600

Driving to Costco
I'm driving to Costco. As I'm approaching my turn I realize that I'm in the go-straight lane instead of the left-turn lane. I get ready to change lanes and look to my left and see that the turn lane is completely packed and there's no room for me. I'm not sure what to do - try to force my way over, keep going and make a U-turn, or what. In the end, I decide to stop in the middle of the intersection and wait for an opportunity to turn. Now I look up and see that the light is red. After checking to make sure it's safe, I complete my turn. I'm surprised to see that another car turns behind me, and I hope that it's not police. I look more closely in my rearview mirror and can see that it's just an old jeep-style car. As I return my attention in front of myself, I see there's a police car on the other side of the road. I hope he doesn't pull a U-turn behind me, and I start to prepare what I'm going to say if he comes after me. Thankfully, he doesn't.


Belt joke
I'm looking at a group of guys who I know are old-timey military officers. They're waiting around for some British officers to arrive. The man in charge says that, originally, they were just going to "meet" over the phone, but someone decided that they should really meet face-to-face. He's mirthful, describing his plan to his friends: he's going to give the ranking British officer a "gift" of a "special" belt. He starts talking in what I assume are inuendos I don't know, saying things like how it takes two people to play a tuba.


Sticky leak
I'm standing in my breakfast nook. I notice an odd puddle - it looks sticky - on the floor and look around for its source. I expect to see a knocked-over cup nearby, but I can't see anything. I look up and don't see anything. I look more closely and see a hairline crack with a drop coming out of it again. I look again and see a gaping hole in the ceiling and a cracked pipe which is leaking the stuff. I call to my wife, who's in the pantry behind me, to come and look; then I rush downstairs to find the house's master water cutoff. I know I've used it before, but I can't remember where it is. I hope I'll be able to find it quickly.

Now I'm downstairs. There's something about tiles, and things go poorly.

Now I'm in the parking lot of a home improvement store, loading up the white van with the stuff I need to fix the house. I'm trying to load stuff onto the roof, but it's huge, and I'm having trouble. Someone comes over and helps me. As we get the supplies onto the roof, we knock down my daughter's brown stuffed animal. I'm amused and confused - how could that possibly have gotten up there? As far as I know, the kids never left the car.

Bed @ 2245
Woke @ 0300, lost recall. Meditated, took G, attempted WILD until 0430, got to sleep around 0515.
Woke @ 0700

Broken switches
I'm in my bathroom and flip a light switch. Nothing. I flip it a couple of times with no result, then try the other one. Still nothing. I pull out my phone and try to turn it on, to use its flashlight, but it won't turn on. I realize I must be dreaming, but I don't feel very certain of it. I do a nose-pinch and it takes a couple of times before I'm really convinced, and I realize my RL nose must be stuffy. As soon as I'm convinced that, yes, this is a dream, my vision dims. I start shouting "I'm dreaming! I'm lucid!", rubbing my hands, and spinning, but the dream fades.

I have a false awakening which I don't notice. I'm in bed, in my bedroom, and my family is in the room. I can feel a small body next to my leg under the covers. At first I think it's the baby, and I'm surprised he's under there, but then I see him with my wife and realize it's my youngest daughter. I reach under the covers and rub her curly head, and she giggles. Now we're getting ready to go outside, and the kids are putting on snow gear and asking what kinds of pull-ups to wear. I'm confused for a minute, but I guess it makes sense that if we're going to be out in the snow, someone might have an accident.


Robot wheels
I'm watching a WALLE-like robot go up to a larger robot with bicycle tires (thin square pipe frame with thin pipes coming down at each corner to wheels) and cut off the two front tires. Somehow, the robot is still able to move, but without its front tires it's lost its brakes and can't stop. There's some kind of cylinder behind where each of the tires was, and they're getting red hot. The robot ends up getting onto a moving walkway and launching off into the distance while an old man laughs.


CTRL-ALT-DEL Book
I'm looking at a couple of CTRL-ALT-DEL printed books, trying to line up comics from one with comics from another. I turn the page in one book and see that it has a nude drawing of one of the characters, with "strategic" bits blurred out, and I quickly close the book - I had no idea he'd ever drawn risque/nude pictures of his characters.

Bed @ 2200
Woke @ 2340 /w no dreams
BTB @ 2350 (stayed in bed)
Woke @ 0050

Fresh soldier
I'm watching a young man, who I somehow know is in France, sending letters off to universities he wants to attend after he graduated. It seems that, in France, they generally operate on a system of going to whatever university is assigned by their advisor.

Now I'm watching him in another setting. He's wearing a military uniform, and he's interacting with a young woman (also in uniform) who's a few years older than he is. They're in a room that's underground, though there's nothing else special about it. He acts a little too familiar with her, and I wonder if he's going to be called out - or even disciplined - for 'sexual harassment' since such things are on a hair trigger these days. She gives him "a look," which he catches, but otherwise nothing happens.

Now I'm in the field as part of a team - but I'm also playing a game. The field is dusted with snow, and everything's white, but I'm not aware of cold. There's some kind of barn or hangar about a hundred yards from our position. I'm holding a standard green 2-liter bottle, empty, and it's the controller I use to interact with the game. I use it to create a new save file, number fourteen. My team members spread out to wait for their prey to approach. I run from cover of bushes into the building, and as I run I see our target, a middle-aged man, approaching. I look at the bottle and frantically rotate it, trying to find the side that lets me save. I create file fifteen, but I'm afraid I may have to roll back to fourteen, since the target may have already seen me and been alerted. I really need to figure out how to use quicksaves. Thankfully, it seems that he didn't see me and continues on his way, oblivious. As he gets close to the building, my team pops out of hiding with their weapons drawn and pointed at him. The young woman starts shouting commands at him to stop, put his hands in the air, etc, etc. Eventually he gets tired of her and tells her that he'd rather die than go with her. He turns around and starts to walk towards his car, saying that they can shoot him if they want to. As he turned around, his arms somehow shrank, which I thought was odd. The youngest member of the squad panics and fires his handgun at the man, hitting his shoulder - though I don't actually see it, I just know it's happened.


BTB @ 0115
Woke @ 0350

Fragment: I'm with some people standing on a free-floating platform. Two more platforms are next to us, one on each side; one is higher than ours, and the other is lower. We're in some kind of void - other than the platforms, everything is completely black.

I did more than usual for this WBTB. More MILD, plus some minor physical activity to raise my heart rate a bit.
BTB @ 0415, trying to hold MILD suggestions, but it took a long time to get back to sleep.
Woke @ 05500

Exploding zoo
I'm dressed in a sports coat, tie, and slacks, headed for the power plant where Mom works. We're going there for <something>, and if a tour happens to run while we're there, we'll take it. Now we're there walking around the lobby. My shoes are really uncomfortable on my feet and I regret bringing only my dress shoes, undoubtedly the worst part of my Sunday outfit. Now we're standing around, waiting for something, and I'm trying to keep an eye on all the kids - it seems my wife isn't here. My youngest daughter sees what she believes to be my youngest pop out of a stairway on the second floor. I look and can tell that it's not my son, but I realize that he's actually in the stairwell and about to come out that same door. Now I'm going up some very shallow steps and scoop him up. He fusses a bit, but not too much, since he loves it when I hold him.

Now I'm looking down from a second floor walkway which crosses the lobby area. From here, I can see my whole family in the lobby. Now I'm dressed in my "grubby" work-around-the-house clothes. I don't usually like to be seen in public in these clothes, but it's OK this time because <something>. Now we've done whatever it was, and it's almost 4PM. I ask Mom, who's still dressed in her Sunday clothes, if we have time to change back before the plant closes or if we're going to get in trouble with security. She says she thinks we have time.

Now I'm in a bathroom. One of my kids comes in and delivers a message.

Now we're driving along a highway. To our left, a zoo explodes into flames. I know that our enemies did it to slow us down, knowing that we wouldn't be able to resist helping helpless animals, but I don't care. I'll show them that we can rescue animals and still get away from them! Now we're staggering out of the zoo after rescuing most of the animals. We're covered in soot and our clothes are ruined. As we're getting back on our car (almost a platform on wheels), I look around to see if there's anywhere to wash off. I realize we're not far from a bay. I don't really want to get covered in salt, but it would be better than being covered in soot. As I'm asking how far it looks to get down there, Steve nervously points out a large airplane. I look up and can't see any particularly large ones, but I point to one and ask if that's the one he meant. Suddenly we realize the sky is full of planes, and they're probably all looking for us. With all thoughts of washing up gone, we race away.

BTB @ 0605, but I don't get back to sleep before my wife's alarm goes off at 0630

Bed @ 2250 /w Sleepytime tea
Woke @ 0545
Bed @ 0600 /w MILD
Woke @ 0700

Newt
I'm walking into the sanctuary at church (which looks nothing like the real one). I'm entering from a door in the back-left corner. The room is very wide and not very deep, with a kind of semicircular stage in the middle of the far wall and oddly spaced rows of padded seats throughout the room. Now I'm facing one of the rows, holding down a large (dinner-plate sized) green-and-white amphibian named Newt, getting ready to "discipline" him. Megan takes over holding him, and I smack his front feet a few times.

I'm driving on an on-ramp. I'm speeding up, getting ready to merge with the Interstate traffic, and I see a car stopped on the left side of the road. He's mostly still in the traffic lane, and he doesn't have any lights on. I consider rolling down my window and telling him that he really needs to turn on his caution blinkers, but I pass him before I have a chance to do anything. Looking behind me, I see that there's another car (again with no blinkers) on the shoulder, and the driver of the first car is helping out the second car. As I reach the triangular patch just before the merge, I stop the car and drop off Newt. As I'm driving away, I see another car stop, take mercy on him, and pick him up. Somehow I know that he's sick and that this new family is going to take care of him.


On an airplane
I'm boarding a plane. The door is to my right, the cockpit is behind me, and the rest of the plane is in front of me. I have a moment of confusion - I'm not sure where I should be. Do I lie down on the floor? Do I find one of those chair/bed things the stewardesses use? It passes, and I move forward into the plane.

Now I'm seated. I look around and see that the people across the aisle from me have a large box at their feet, and that on the box is a large fancy-looking meal. I see that another family a couple of rows up has a similar box, though it doesn't have any food on it. I'm surprised that such a large package could be brought onto planes - they've cut down so much on carry-on space over the last few years.

Looking again, I see that I recognize the family with the nice meal: it's Alex and his grandmother-in-law. Now I'm talking to him about his brother-in-law and his brother-in-law's wife. There's something about how they're moving too slowly and need to take things more quickly. They're too far away and spend too much time driving and should really move closer, and the church should help them out. Now I'm fixing his tie - the knot is way, way too loose. At first, I just tighten it and shape it, and it ends up looking a lot better, but it doesn't come more than a third of the way down his shirt. I somehow massage the tie some more and get it down to his belt line. I'm pleased with my work, though I'm also a little self-conscious about it. He didn't ask me to fix his tie, and he actually looks rather bemused.

Now we're taking off. The captain gets on the intercom and tells us that the flight will take about an hour and gives us the current outside temperature and atmospheric pressure. I can kind of understand the temperature - though, really, it's not going to matter much since we're leaving it - but the atmospheric pressure means absolutely nothing to me. I look out the window and see that it's really dirty. I consider for a moment how many people have flown in this plane and how many dirty hands have rubbed at the window trying to make it clearer so they can see outside.

Bed @ 2230 /w water
Woke @ 0110 /w full bladder

Trick-Or-Treating
It's the day of Halloween, and I'm working on some kind of project. My wife receives a call from her parents, and from what I can hear it sounds like they're on their way over. I get stressed out - they're coming hours earlier than expected, and I'm not going to get to finish my project, so some of my plans may have to be swapped around. I decide I should probably take a quick shower now, but I don't want to do it without checking with my wife to see if she needs anything else from me, and she's still on the phone.

Now I'm walking up a guy's driveway with the kids. He's got a transparent plastic sheet, which has been painted to look like a spider web, strung across the middle of the driveway. As we're walking around it, I note that it's barely flapping at all and realize that it's somehow attached to the driveway. I take a closer look and see that something like large nails has been driven directly into the concrete. I'm surprised that something so permanent-looking would be used to hold up something that's so temporary.

Now I'm standing in front of the house. A couple of guys are sitting there, greeting people and inviting them inside. It looks like they're throwing a party and inviting everyone who comes by. I overhear him talking with my father-in-law, and they're talking something about mirrors. For the first time, I notice the entire garage door is covered by mirrors, and - looking through the front door - I can see that the interior back wall is mirrored. Going inside, I find that every wall is mirrored. The visual distortion (though not hall-of-mirrors) really messes with me, and I have trouble keeping my balance as I walk. I'm carrying my toddler and have to step very carefully so I don't fall over. I hope no one looks at me and thinks I'm drunk. As I'm trying to get back my balance, I see a couple of bookshelves on opposite sides of the room. One has new and used movies, and the other has books. Neither one is very full, and most of the movies and books are lying on their sides. I assume that the owner's real reason for inviting us to his "party" was to get us to see his "store" and encourage us to buy something. I glance over the movies and don't see anything that even remotely interests me. I glance over the books and see "Adam of the Road" and remember it fondly; then I remember that it was my daughter who read it, not me, and that the book I'm thinking of is actually "Dark Rising."

BTB @ 0125 /w water
Woke @ 0230

Taking my pills
I'm in my bathroom. I look at the clock on my nightstand and see that it's exactly 3:00, which puts me only 5 minutes off from having had exactly 3 90 minute sleep cycles - perfect! Tonight I used water as my "alarm" since I wasn't sure when to set a real one for, but next time I'll just set my Fitbit's silent alarm. I take my galantamines, but I knock over the bottle as I'm trying to put the cap back on. Pills have gone everywhere, and I start to clean them up. My wife groggily sticks her head in and asks what I'm doing.

The dream was so real and so accurate that I was really confused when I saw the clock showing 2:30. It took me a couple of minutes to convince myself that it really was a dream and that I hadn't already taken it, but since I keep each dose in a separate compartment in a pill container, it was easy enough to prove that it really was a dream.

For the rest of the night, I didn't record wakings or dreams, so the dreams are less detailed and have no timestamp.

Long bridge
I'm watching a group of people driving across a long bridge to get to a city. As I look out to the sea behind them, I see many enormous waves. I wonder if the bridge is in danger from them, but I see that, despite how enormous the waves are, the bridge is tall enough to remain untouched.

Now I see the group reaching the bottom of stairwell in a parking deck. They're somehow in peril.


Flying computer
I'm in what looks like a large room in an office building. Tables with short stacks of rack-mount servers are scattered around the edges of the room. The man who's running this event - a late-twenty's man wearing a dark suit - tells us to each sit on one of the stacks of servers. I don't move for a moment, feeling like this is some kind of practical joke, but everyone else heads towards a stack and sits straddling it. Feeling a little foolish, I do the same.

Now I'm still sitting on my server, but I'm flying around the room about head-height. The main guy is congratulating me, and everyone else is looking on in a combination of amazement and jealousy.


No lucids from the galantamine tonight ...

I was camping tonight, so my records are incomplete. I'm frankly amazed I remembered anything ...

Naval infiltration
I'm in a huge elevator, going up. On one wall, there's a giant glowing "6," but I don't know if it's showing what floor it's going to, or which elevator is it, or what. Off to the side, I see a door that leads into the bathrooms, and I'm amused - I've never seen an elevator with onboard bathrooms before, but this one is certainly big enough for it.

Now I've done something, gone back down, and gotten back on with a friend. I look for the bathroom and am surprised that I don't see it any more - I'd really been hoping it would be there ... I also note that the 6 isn't glowing any more. We reach our destination floor. Now we're in a dimly lit room. It's long and narrow, and we're near what seems to be a bathtub. Somehow, the bathtub is related to our reason for being here.

Now we're in a speedboat headed away from some kind of small floating "base." My companion indicates that "they" managed to get tracking devices onto us. He takes my bluetooth headset and a pair of wire snips and snips them right down the middle of the boom mic, then hands it back to me saying that it's safe now.

Now we're going along at full speed. A large bouy is in right in front of us and we end up crashing straight over it. It's where we were headed for, so we turn around as quickly as we can. As we turn, I can see that another speedboat is almost on top of us - they were following us the whole time! Without waiting, I dive into the water knowing that I must get to <the thing> before they do! I'm concerned that I didn't have a chance to get any breathing gear, and I think how nice it would be to be able to breathe underwater.

With that thought, I'm reminded of my personal goal and realize I'm dreaming. I completely forget about my pursuers and look around. The water is a light blue and is beautifully clear. Many swimmers are in the water around me, though most are higher up towards the surface - I'm already pretty far down. * I open my mouth and breathe in the water. I'm actually a little disappointed - I'd hoped it would feel really weird, but I just feel my real body breathing. In fact, even though I'm breathing through my dream mouth, I can feel the breath in my physical nostrils. I get a huge feeling of dissonance and wake up before I can do anything else.


Sick friend
I'm on a nice grass lawn outside a large house. I see a man come onto a small balcony with his wife, and I'm pleased: he's been sick for a long time, and it's good to see him up and about.

Now I'm sharing a bed with him, and his wife is in the bed next to us. I know I was glad to see him, but I can't figure out why we'd share a bed. I'm grateful to his wife for her kindness to us, and I feel bad for taking the spot which should have been hers.

On waking, the dream was explained: I'd been sleeping with my toddler who was having trouble sleeping in the tent.

I finished reading the Lord of the Rings today.

Bed @ 2210
Woke @ 0000 /w a general feeling of restlessness

Hobbits
I'm observing the four hobbits in the last couple of years of Lord of the Rings, when the Shire is being rebuilt. They're all proud and siting on their ponies. Over and over, it's mentioned that these four are always doing things for each other; but it soon becomes clear that Frodo is almost always the recipient and almost never a giver. The other three know this and aren't bothered by it at all - they're more than happy to do what they can for Frodo, given what he's already done for them.

BTB @ 0015
Woke @ 0325

Fragment: I'm watching various hobbits - both named and anonymous - performing tasks to rebuild the Shire.

BTB @ 0340.
Woke @ 0730

Sneaking through a factory
I'm playing a 3rd person shooter of some sort. I'm trying to infiltrate some kind of industrial site. Guards are everywhere, and I'm sneaking as best I can, but eventually one of them sees me. I tense and get ready to run, but he just keeps walking as if nothing's wrong. I realize that, just like in "Hitman Go," I'm dressed in a disguise. I assume that the disguise will be blown the first time I touch an enemy, so I'm careful to stay away from them lest I touch one. At one point, I come to a hallway I need to go through, and I pause, unsure how to continue, because there's a guard standing in the middle of the hallway. I actually manage to squeeze by him without touching him and continue on my way.

Now I'm in the lower levels of the factory. My disguise has been blown, though the guards in this area aren't on full alert yet, so my efforts at sneaking are redoubled. Now I'm close to my objective, but some high level guards have been alerted to my presence and are hunting me. It's turned into a race of sorts, to get there and <do something> before they catch me or get to it themselves.


College event
I'm walking around a college campus, attending some kind of large event. At the moment, everyone's been given the assignment of finding where the elephant is hiding. I'm no good at this kind of thing, but I can't just sit it out (as much as I'd like to), so I figure I'll wander around until someone else finds it. As I'm wandering, I find that I'm near some some snack tables and go to check them out. I'm disappointed that they're mostly empty, but at least there are still a few small cupcakes left. I think they're pumpkin-spice cake with vanilla frosting; not my favorite, but not bad. I take one.

Now I'm walking along a path towards a freestanding staircase which connects to a bridge high above. The staircase and bridge are both bright white. A truck with a trailer is parked next to the bridge, and an older man is hooking things up. Eventually, he turns it on, and I realize that the trailer is a generator. As it vrooms into life, a nearby fountain starts to shoot water into the air, and I feel a breeze of cold air. A passing man incredulously asks me if the truck is providing air conditioning to the place, and I confirm that it seems that it is, adding that it's also powering the fountain. I start to walk up the stairs - they're wide and white - and have to keep dodging people coming down them.

Now I'm at the top of some indoor stairs. I'm carrying my youngest child, and I'm pretty tired. I just want to find somewhere to sit down, and I don't want to see any more stairs.

Now I'm in a classroom with a handful of other people. A woman is walking us through some logic problems. Now we're finished with them - there were four total - and she's counting up score. I almost solved one of the problems, but I don't actually score any points. The woman oozes sympathy, which rather annoys me, and I let her know that, even though I may not have gotten any points right now, I got some earlier, thank-you-very-much.


Fragment: I'm in a room filled with boxes.


Work van
I'm approaching our work van. Despite appearing normal, there's a very special way to get into it. Now I'm inside looking out its windows. One of my team members is standing outside, and a very large man is approaching him. I'm a bit worried, but I know that it's part of the plan and that my team member knows how to deal with the risks. Now I'm standing outside the van, and the large man is approaching me. I'm not worried, because I know that he can't actually reach me. When he's a few feet away from me, he hits an invisible barrier. He's confused, and I laugh, explaining that, despite appearances, I'm actually still inside the van.

Bed @ 2245
Woke @ 0120.
Attempted BTB @ 0145 /w MILD & SSILD
Meditated, got up, went back to bed, got up, had a drink, listened to a book, back to bed, etc. Fell asleep past 4.
Woke @ 0440

Meeting with my boss
I'm in my (old)boss's office for my every-other-weekly meeting. She's finishing something up and has a few papers on her desk. They're up-side-down, but I can see long lines of highlighter on them. I have a brief thought that maybe it's paperwork for a raise, but I squash that - I got one recently from "my other boss." I have a moment of confusion, since I just had a one-on-one with "my other boss," but "remember" that he's actually her boss and I meet with both of them. She's listening to some really weird music that's making it hard to think, and I hope she'll turn it off. I see her move what looks like an ipod, but I have the odd feeling that the music isn't actually coming from it. She starts saying something about duct tape, how tempting it is, how it needs to be controlled, and I'm really confused. I think I must have missed her opening sentence and that, if I'd caught it, then everything would make sense.

She keeps going about the duct tape, and I suddenly I realize that none of this makes sense and that I must be dreaming. I do a confirmation nose-pinch and am able to breathe. I have almost no "did I do it right?" hesitation and am extremely confident that this is a dream, and I have no qualms about doing weird stuff in "my boss' office." I stand up and walk over to the wall trying to decide what to do - I consider trying to phase through it, but I know that that's a good way to get somewhere totally random, and I don't want to lose lucidity in the transition. As I'm considering, I notice that my head is closer to the ceiling than it should be. I decide to see if I can grow further, and I do - I actually get my head within a hair's-breadth of the ceiling. Everything in the room looks a bit smaller, a bit further away. I remember a task of the month, to reach into my pockets and pull out whatever's there. I do so and find only my usual setup: my right pocket has my keys and Swiss Army knife, and my left pocket is empty.

Now I recall my 3-step goal. I've done steps 1 and 2 in a previous dream, and I kick myself for not posting a new step 3 - I've never successfully banished something from a dream, and I'd intended to update it to something simpler. Oh well, I'll give it a shot. I look around for a good candidate and see some baby toys on my boss's desk, including a small blue tower filled with marble-sized balls and a couple of plastic keyrings. I decide to banish one of the keyrings. I turn around, concentrate hard on making it disappear, then turn back. They're still there, though I have the feeling the contents of the desk shifted slightly. I decide that trying to remove something when there are two of them is a bad idea. I decide to do the little tower instead, but I don't want clutter around it in case that makes it harder. I walk over and rearrange things, moving the tower to the center of her desk and leaving a large space around it. I face the wall, focus on making the tower disappear, and turn back. It's now a tiny fraction of its original size, but it's still there. I decide that if doing the behind-the-back trick won't work. I'll just forcibly will it out of existence. I stare at it, willing it to vanish, and it starts vibrating madly; then I wake up. I check for an FA, but I'm back in reality.


BTB @ 0445
Woke @ 0630 /w alarm


Fiddling with a Steam Controller
I've just received my new Steam Controller and I'm showing it off to my kids. I'd heard it was large, but it's much larger than I expected. I'm also a bit disappointed by its appearance: in photos, it was always a dark shiny black, but it's actually a kind of matte light gray. I take note of each of the inputs, noting that something right in the middle also seems off, though I can't put my finger on what's not right. To the left is the fake D-pad - I try it out, and it feels like a normal D-pad. I look again, and it's not circular but is actually D-pad shaped, and that confuses me. Right in the middle of the pad is a tiny clickable Steam button. There's a circular pad on the right and another one in the lower-right, partly on the grip. A trigger button just to the right of the D-pad surprises me - I have no idea how you could press it without really contorting your hand. Triggers are all over the back, both on the main body and on the grips. Now the D-pad has changed, and it's a large layout of tiny red thumbsticks laid out in a three-tiered pattern: the outer tier has them in up/down/left/right positions, the middle tier has them for diagonal movement, and the inner tier is back to up/down/left/right. I note something in the software controls which allows each thumbstick to function independently, or you can lock each one to send only the direction corresponding to its position (so the left stick could only send 'left,' no matter which way it was being pushed). So far, I haven't actually plugged the controller into my computer, but I do so now so that I can finish its configuration and give it a shot in a game.


Watching a skilled player
I'm watching someone playing a game. Right now, he's in some kind of top down view of what I assume to be the game's galaxy, showing many planets, solar systems, and other astral objects. His ship is just a tiny dot currently orbiting a planet. Now he's received a mission to deliver something quickly to another planet which is on the other side of the galaxy, and I'm curious to see how he'll manage it, whether he'll try to use any kind of subspace gate or some-such or whether he'll just fly there without using any shortcuts. There's a lot of movement of the planets and systems, and he brilliantly uses gravity assist after gravity assist to fling himself to the other side of the map faster than I ever thought possible.

Now the game has switched to 2D side-scrolling action. He's not strong enough to fight the enemies here, so he's just running to the right, jumping over enemies as he encounters them, never stopping his movement. Now he's reached the end of the level, and he's got quite the crowd of enemies following him. There's only one enemy left between him and his goal, and it instantly kills him. He's a bit disappointed, but he's not really concerned, saying he'll get it next time.


Mad scientists
I'm watching a scientist in a lab. He's recently been exposed to a mutagen and needs to focus to keep his body from 'pooling' - but despite his constant attention, his gut is still very distended. Now he's overheard a junior scientist talking about revealing what's going on to their superiors - who have been kept in the dark - so the scientist manages to expose him to the mutagen. His skin ends up turning red and bumpy all over, and another scientist starts to permanently close his mouth by fusing another mutagen-infected <something> onto his face. I'm horrified, but thankfully another scientist convinces him to pull it off before it's too late.


Another vacation
I'm strolling through a beach town with my family and in-laws.

Now we're at the vacation house. My father-in-law needs some kind of charger. I run through the list of what I have, and he says he's already got the right cable, so he just needs my charger with the standard female USB port.

Now we're watching video provided by our management company showing a family touring the duplex we have up for rent. I can't believe how much stuff is left over from the previous renters - we're going to have to get over there and deal with it ASAP. In particular, the living room is full of baby toys and baby furniture. Now I'm looking at an application from a lady who'd like to move in. It says that she's requesting assistance to pay the rent - I've never seen anything like that before, and I show it to my wife. Looking more closely, we see that she's requesting a 3rd party source to pay $90 of her monthly rent. As we continue to look at it, we realize that the listed monthly rent is wrong; it's currently listed at $600 which is way too low. I can't remember exactly what it should be, but I think it's somewhere in the $700 range. In fact, the management company controls the rent and recently bumped it up due to market conditions. I'm going to have to contact them to find out what's going on. I'm frustrated that we can't probably change it for people who have already put in applications, but they really need to fix it immediately before any more applications come in.


Watching kids
I'm helping watch some kids who are all fairly young; I don't know any of them. One of them in particular is poorly behaved and doesn't want to go to bed. We end up doing something weird with sofa cushions and his crib to make a bed that he's willing to sleep in, and we're very relieved when it actually works. Some of his siblings are in the same bedroom as he is, so it's important for him to sleep so that they can sleep too.

Bed @ 2230
Woke @ 0015 /w no recall
BTB @ 0020 /w water
Woke @ 0340

Bad timing
I'm in my bathroom in the middle of the night taking galantamine and choline. I'm having trouble swallowing them; I put a pill in my mouth, take some water, swallow the water, but just can't get the pill down. After a couple of tries, I can start to taste the pill and realize it's already dissolving in my mouth. Eventually I just give up and chew up the pill and hope that it won't mess with it. I chew up the galantamines but manage to swallow the choline (which I think is ironic given how much larger the choline is), but then I notice there's still a galantamine on the counter; I could have sworn I chewed up both of them, but oh well. I go ahead and take the one I "forgot." As I'm finishing with the pills I start to hear my wife moving around. I assume she's just woken up to use the bathroom, so I head out so she can use it; but as I leave the bathroom I'm shocked to find that it's 6:58, only two minutes before I'm supposed to get up to go to work! There's no way I can sleep and dream in two minutes, and not only did I just waste a dose, but it'll be another four days before I can try again! Arg! I can't understand how I could have done something like that.

Now I'm helping my wife by collecting laundry from our room. Clothing, along with a few blankets, is scattered on every surface in the room. As I'm trying to figure out what to do with my daughter's quilt, she comes in and takes it from me. As she's leaving I look out into the hallway and notice the baby gate at the top of the stairs: it has only its top and bottom bars left, with nothing in-between, and I can't imagine how it could do anything at all to stop my toddler from going up or down the stairs.


Breakfast conversation
I'm eating breakfast with Steve B. He asks how I'm doing with my Bible reading, and I confess that I'm actually not doing so well. He's concerned and asks why, and I tell him that when I'm trying to read it my mind feels like it's getting pulled in a hundred directions and it takes a white-knuckled grip to stay focused, and it's just really exhausting. He says I might want to consider reading other good books to build up my spiritual reading muscles and suggests a couple. One of them I've heard of, and I ask him about the other one. He explains it's a biography of <someone who did something.> As we're talking, I'm getting more breakfast. There's some kind of cooked banana dish, and there's some kind of bread-based casserole. Both are pretty tasty, though the bread one is starting to get soggy.


Infiltration observation
It's night. I'm 'hovering' behind a youth as he sneaks along some narrow walkways above water. I'm not concerned about his seeing me - I'm somehow 'present' without actually being here physically. I stay fairly close to him, hanging back far enough to watch what he's doing. He's pretty spry, hopping over locked gates with some fairly slick moves. Eventually he reaches doors to go inside somewhere and passes through, unaware that a lady (with dark skin and black clothes) is now following right behind him. As I pass through the doors behind them, she actually holds the door for me and looks straight at me. She's wearing a lot of fancy spy gear and must be able to 'see' me, or at least sense my presence. She gives me a 'so you thought you could pull one over on me, huh?' wry smile before continuing off behind the boy.


Honey map
I'm holding a wooden honey dipper and trying to place small dots of honey on a map where I believe the final battle of a campaign was fought. I know that the map will alert me when I've gotten the right spot, but despite putting dots in a number of places I thought were likely candidates, nothing's happened. Finally a 'touch here for a hint' button appears and I press it with the tip of the dipper, but nothing shows up. For a moment I wonder if it's broken, but then I realize I'm zoomed in so far that the battle sites aren't visible. I zoom out and try again, but the honey is nearly gone and I'm having trouble getting any to drip. I end up spinning the dipper, thinking that maybe centrifugal force will help honey get to the edge so it can drip down.

Now I'm 'hovering' over the roads I just saw in the map. Both sides of the road are packed with booths selling many different things. I can see little icons hovering above people, and I know that they indicate that the person is going to do something important, even if I don't know exactly what each of the icons is trying to represent. In a larger booth, I see two people with icons, and I somehow know that talking to one of them will cause a quest to succeed while talking to the other will fail the quest.


BTB @ 0405 /w 8mg galantamine
Woke @ 0520

Staying with my in-laws
I'm standing on the driveway at my in-law's house. My wife is loading our car, and my mother-in-law is getting into her car. I really need to use the bathroom, so I tell them I'll be right back and jog up the driveway to the house. The garage doors are already closed, so I call back to ask one of them to use the remote. Both of them try, but the garage door won't go up. We're all confused, and both of them try again, but still nothing. I look back at the door and see that it's open a couple of feet (though now it's become a single-piece garage door, so it's opened by tilting). I ask them to stop using the remotes so I can crawl under the door and not worry about being crushed.

Now I'm in bed in their guest bedroom, and I know that I'm dreaming. My wife is still asleep next to me, so I gently scoot down towards the foot of the bed. As I'm trying to stand up, my movement feels "off," and my arms are leaden. I have trouble getting off the bed and end up face-planting on the floor. I take a moment to pull myself together and get up, and I can move around OK now. I head down the hallway and out the front door and look around. With the house at my back, I'm looking down a (beautifully manicured) sloped lawn. The rest of the neighborhood stretches out below me, and trees surround the property. I remember my personal goal of flying above the treetops and jump as hard as I can. I go shooting up into the air and get at least fifty feet in the air, well above the nearest trees. Success! I look around and thrill at being so high, though I have a brief moment of confusion as I find that I'm still not above the roof. Oh well, dreams are weird. I try to go higher, but I'm not able to; instead, I start to fall. At first, I'm falling slowly, but I quickly build speed until I finally slam into the ground, feet first, with a tremendous thump.

That was fun! I look forward to doing more flying in the future, but I decide to try out other stuff now. I remember my 3-step goals and that my intended narrative was to summon my cell phone, use it, then disband it. I normally wear my cell phone on my belt, though it's not there now. Without looking, I reach down to my belt, to where I usually wear it, intending to grab it; but my hand comes back empty. I try again, and this time I come back with an Insteon module. Huh? Oh well, at least I summoned something ... I head back inside looking for something electronic to mess with to complete step two. I enter the kitchen and go to the dishwasher which I see has some kind of electronic display. I mess with the buttons on the control panel and manage to change what the display is showing; I end up in some kind of menu and manage to change a setting.

Now I decide to hunt for a bathroom - I want to see if I can use a mirror to change my physical appearance. I go down one short hallway, but all the doors are closed and I don't want to barge in on my in-laws. I try another one and, once again, the doors are closed; but I remember this is a dream and it doesn't matter. I decide to go through the door I'm at, but I'm surprised to see that it has only a deadbolt. I decide that, since this is a dream, that's not going to stop me and that I'm going to phase through the door. I make some progress, but there's resistance, and before I make it more than a couple of inches through the door bursts open. I'm a bit disappointed, but oh well. Whatever's behind the door, it's not a bathroom. I try a couple more doors before finally finding what seems to be a dressing room with a large wall mirror. *I stand in front of the mirror and manage to alter a couple of physical characteristics. Unfortunately, my rib cage looks emaciated, and I can't seem to do anything about it.*

Now I'm walking on a wide sidewalk next to a park. A tall, well-dressed woman is walking towards me, and *I order her to stop. She does, standing completely still, with eyes staring straight ahead. It's actually a bit creepy.

At one point, I hear something I assume is my wife's alarm. I steel myself, trying to stay in the dream. Once it stops, I assume I'll have five minutes before it goes off again.

Many times through the dream I lose sight. I rub my hands until it comes back.

BTB @ 0545 - though I never actually get back to sleep

Bed @ 2320 /w wine and Sleepytime tea
Woke @ 0150, BTB @ 0200 /w body awareness
Woke @ 0400 /w full bladder

Around the house
I'm at "my house" with my three eldest kids; my wife and our younger ones aren't there. We're getting my second daughter ready for her horse riding lessons; her teacher is going to be here any time to pick her up. I pull aside a curtain in the room we're in and look down to the driveway and see a silver SUV just pulling in. I quickly turn to my daughter, who's running behind, and let her know that it's time to go. For a moment, she just stares at me dumbly as if she hadn't heard me. I repeat myself, and I'm a bit annoyed: she loves these lessons more than anything else, so her slow moving can only be a calculated form of disobedience. She finally gets up and I note with dissatisfaction that she's got large holes in the knees of both jeans; oh well, it's too late to change now. I note that she's wearing flip-flops, and though I think they're silly I don't see anything wrong with it (though I should have, since she's always supposed to wear her riding boots).

Now I'm walking down our stairs talking with my pastor. We're talking about the group of people I recently caught talking behind my back about my youngest child saying that he's "slow." I'm not worried about him - in fact, the claim is rather ludicrous, since he's learned to cause more trouble more quickly than any of my other children - but it's not nice to be the butt of gossip.

Now we're walking through the kitchen area. He's seen or smelled the dish I'm preparing for us and comments on the mirepoix I used. He says that he's always been a bit worried about trying to make them, and that someone in his family recently made a disastrous attempt at a poached mirepoix; but that mine looks and smells great. I thank him but tell him that I'm actually making it up as I go, since my recipe calls only for a few carrots. I tell him that I ended up using more carrots than it called for, a whole onion, and a bit of celery - but then I remember that I actually forgot to use celery this time. He looks shocked, saying he couldn't try to wing something like that, that he'd be afraid to ruin so many good ingredients.

BTB @ 0415 /w body awareness

Bed @ 2125
Woke @ 0155

On an alien spaceship
I'm watching a movie in which a general is addressing his men. The general and his men are all aliens which just look like men who have been painted with a mix of silver and gold metallic paint. I recognize that the general is a famous actor, but I can't remember who he is or what else he's been in. For a famous actor, I'm surprised at how "ordinary" he looks - he's got a rather blocky face and some pretty bad buck teeth. In a way, I'm kind of glad - Hollywood tends to put forward people who are "too perfect." The general is telling his troops that he's been working on making a movie, and that it's almost done, but that higher-ups in his command have demanded that he add a new character, "Hiss," before the film ships. He lets people know that they're going to have a rare chance to watch filming happen and possibly even be involved in the process.

Now I'm looking at a screen of some sort. The general starts distinguishing between groups of reptilian soldiers based on whether or not they're married and whether or not they've helped a female bear eggs. The screen is split into columns, and a pattern of tiny lizard footprints appears in the relevant column as he speaks of each group and their eggs. * Now I'm walking through the spaceship. I pause and look into an open doorway on my right and see a small, poorly lit room. Now I have the feeling that the general has his eye on me and is toying with me. I'm walking down a very bare hallway, and I feel that something is wrong. I turn around and find a closed door right behind me where a moment ago there was only empty hallway. I turn back around to find that the end of the hallway is now just a few feet away. I look at the wall to my right and find that, while it was bare a moment ago, it now has an unmarked door. I decide to try using diffuse vision (from the dream yoga class) to watch both ends of the hallway at the same time. I look straight at the wall and let my vision unfocus slightly, and I find I'm able to watch the wall, the door, and the end of the hallway. After a few moments, I can see the hallway actually redrawing itself. When it's done, the single door has been replaced by a pair of doors for men's and women's bathrooms. I briefly consider going into the women's but decide to go into the men's instead.

Now I'm in the men's bathroom. A white tiled hallway extends away in front of me, eventually opening out into the bathroom proper. Halfway down the hallway I see a very petite woman standing across from a large wall-mounted mirror. She greets me and lets me know that, by entering this room, I've lost. She asks me to look at the floor, at the pattern of white and grey tiles, and notes that every single white tile is a bad end. I realize that I'm dreaming. I say something about her dog, and it lies down and rolls onto its side. I don't like her, so I tell her to turn around and put her hands on the wall. To my surprise, she immediately complies.* Now I'm talking to the guy who's responsible for building traps on the ship.


Fragment: I've got an overhead view of small pools of water connected by narrow streams of water, laid out in a kind of grid.


BTB @ 0215
Woke @ 0700 /w no recall

Nap: 1445-1615

Playing on a trampoline
I'm on a large rectangular-ish trampoline with my eldest son and eldest daughter. At first, I jump near them; but when my daughter tries to hold me down, I scold her, saying it's dangerous to do that, then start jumping away from them, trying to keep them from getting me. There's enough space on this trampoline that I bet I can do it indefinitely, so I'll need to be careful to give them enough success that they don't get frustrated.


Japanese infiltration
I'm in Japan, getting ready to board a bus. It's large and black, and it has white writing on the side. The driver is standing to the left of the steps, greeting passengers as they get on. I have an armful of stuff, and I've got some kind of identity/payment card in my right hand. As it comes to my turn to board, I remember my card and free my hand a bit from my bundle, kind of waving the card at the driver; then I realize it might not actually be what I need, so I try to ask him how I'm supposed to pay for the trip. He doesn't understand my question and answers something completely different. I try asking my question another way, and he says that the steps will turn into a slippery ramp if someone tries to board who shouldn't be there. I'm starting to get a bit flustered, and I ask him how the bus knows if someone belongs or not. At this point, a woman who's standing nearby starts laughing and tells the driver I must be a tourist who doesn't know that this is a reserved bus. I'm annoyed and embarrassed, but I go over to talk to her since she seems to know knows what's going on and is fluent in English.

Now I've been talking with her for a while, but we're now standing on some kind of steps in the corner of a huge room. I thank her for her help and her advice and apologize for having to excuse myself. I'm doing some kind of infiltration, and she's gotten me inside, but there s more to do. Now I'm flying out of a huge indoor tunnel, and pursuit is close behind. Now I'm struggling along a walkway running on the outside of a large missile that's in flight.


Fragments:
I'm in a cozy room filled with small rectangular tables. Something about Emily and her family.

I'm outside on a grassy field - something is worrying me.

Bed @ 2245
Woke @ 0400

Fragments:
A woman is lying on a table, not moving. Her family is gathered around her sorrowfully. Now the scene is almost exactly the same, but she's died. The family talks about her for a few minutes.

Someone talks about the difficulty of doing something.


Woke @ 0715

Working on Services
I'm in a modern wood cabin, sitting at a table with my laptop. The cabin's decor is mostly a lightish wood, and there are splashes of red here and there. I'm trying to work on the Services code, but it's not easy. I haven't worked in it before, and it's old and hard to read. I manage to find some documentation on the wiki, but it really doesn't help that much either.


Fragment: My wife and I are looking at a $7800 check that came in the mail, trying to figure out why we got it.

Bed @ 2220 /w hot milk & honey
Woke @ 0110

News anchors
I'm watching a news segment on a TV somewhere. Now I'm watching along from inside the studio. The current news anchor isn't all that great, but he got into his position through sheer determination and never giving up. His segments tend to be rather odd, and that 'niche' value tends to help him keep his job.

Now I'm looking at another anchor, one who's even newer. At first I think Commander Riker has become a news anchor, but then I realize that Riker is actually the anchor's guest. They're talking about TNG, and Riker holds up a massive softback tome titled something like "The Complete Guide To Ferrangi." He opens it and flips through the pages and stops randomly on a page with pictures both of Nog and of a very wrinkled old Ferrengi woman (who is thankfully clothed). Now I'm looking at only the picture of the woman, and I can't believe how much makeup they put on her to make her look old.


Trying to preorder a movie
I'm going through my news feed's backlog and come across a post advertising that I can preorder the latest Pixar movie for one dollar for one week only. I check the date on the post and it's over a week old, so I'm disappointed, but I decide to follow the link anyway just in case. Amazingly, Amazon still has the preorder for only $1.04. The movie is getting around four stars, but that's meaningless since it's not out yet. I watch a few seconds of the trailer, but it makes no impression on me. I check the shipping options hoping for Prime, but it's not an option. Looking closer, the options for shipping seem to be a hundred dollars, ten dollars, and <something else>. The hundred dollar shipping is the default option! I assume I can do the $10 shipping, but I'm not nearly as excited about the deal as I was before I saw the shipping costs. A movie for a dollar is fantastic, but a movie for eleven dollars, just over half price, that we've never seen or even heard of, even if it is from a respected studio, just isn't doing it for me. Now I've noticed that the ten dollar option is only for video stores and not for private residences, which means that I either need to have it shipped to a video store (I don't even know where one is any more) or have to use one of the much more expensive options, making it completely impractical.


BTB @ 0130 /w SSILD
Woke @ 0400

One-sided shootout
I'm watching a scene in what seems to be an old west town. A new guy has arrived, and he's being talked to / threatened by a local gang. He's rather spindly-looking, while the gang, a couple of men and a woman, all look very tough. Now it's a week later and they're talking to him again, asking for their payment. The woman notices that the newcomer has a gleam in his eye and gets a bit nervous, but her companion continues demanding. Finally the newcomer pulls out a strange cobbled-together weapon (it reminds me somehow of Mr. Thingy). The woman turns and starts to run while the man attacks. The newcomer fires first at the man. A hail of projectiles heads for him - bullets, a sticky grenade, and maybe a couple of other things. I see everything hit in slow motion, leaving wounds stretching from his left shoulder to under his sternum. The sticky bomb - a mass of sharp bits - hits near his shoulder. Somehow, when it explodes, it actually peels off the man's skin (and maybe even ribs) - it's pretty gruesome. He falls down dead, and I notice that his face shows more surprise than pain. The newcomer now fires at the fleeing woman. * This time, I don't get either slow motion or nasty close-ups; instead, she just drops dead.

Now I'm looking at a giant (car-sized) blue turtle. It seems to have gotten caught in the crossfire (what crossfire?) and is dead with a huge hole blasted in the side of its shell. A much smaller (two foot diameter) baby turtle wriggles out of the hole and starts asking "Mama? Are you OK?" A kind woman hurries over, grabs the turtle, and starts shushing it. She puts it in a nice box, careful to leave it standing on a long end.


Driving to lunch
I'm driving to lunch with a female coworker. We're waiting at a light, the first car in our line, in the middle of 3 turn lanes: two turn left, and one turns right. I realize, far too late, that all the restaurants are to our right. I kick myself, since this isn't the first time I've made this mistake. I'll just have to make a U-turn in a minute. My coworker suggests a restaurant (I can it away to the right on the left side of the road; it's one of the first ones visible), but I think her suggestion is in jest - the place sounds really weird. Now I've made the turn and we're driving, looking for a good place to turn around. Both sides of the road have many subdivision entrances, but somehow none of them look good for a turnaround. Now we're stopped - a vehicle is doing something strange (probably trying to back into or out of a driveway) and is almost sideways to traffic. It finally manages to get itself out of traffic and we continue on. Now we're on an Interstate. Now we're driving through some kind of park. Now we're in an open, airy building, looking at something.


BTB @ 0420 /w 4mg galantamine & 500mg choline. Fall asleep around 0510.
Woke @ 0650

My father-in-law's stories
I'm at my father-in-law's house with a couple of other guys. They're asking him questions about his childhood, and I'm interested to see how he answers them; after all, very few people know that he's had a secret life-extending treatment and that he's far, far older than he seems. Of course, I shouldn't be surprised that he's used to answering questions about his life very smoothly - he's had a long time to get good at it. He seems to talk very openly about his life, but he never mentions the year an event happened, instead using his own life as the reference point: "When I was a child," "when I was a young man," etc. At one point, he describes his being a volunteer in the running of one of the Olympic games - I had no idea he'd done anything like that. When the Games were over, he got a pretty cool memento, though it was lost years ago. By reading between the lines, I believe this must have been in the early 1900s, and I have images of a sepia-hued young man working hard. Now he's telling another story, something about wanting to purchase but finding out that it was completely pointless. Something clicks, and I exclaim "So that's why you have half a female mannequin wearing a seashell bra!" He sheepishly acknowledges that, yes, that's where that came from. As he's telling his various stories, I'm really tempted to throw in some question that would force him to either specify a date or to be really slick in avoiding it, but I manage to refrain; after all, I'm privileged to know his secret, and I should respect it.


Huge wave*
I'm in the ocean with my family. We're spread out evenly in a roughly circular area about 20 feet across. The water is a beautiful sparkly light-blue. As I turn to look out over the ocean, I see a huge swell - at least 10 feet high - headed for us. It picks up most of my family, who just float over it, but it starts to break right before it reaches me. I realize that it, plus most of my family, are going to come crashing down on me. The wave grows higher - probably 15 or 20 feet high - and starts to curl beautifully, and I realize that the tip of the curl is probably going to touch down behind me before the body of the wave lands on me. I only have a moment to make my plans. I'm annoyed that I don't have my goggles on, but there's nothing I can do about it now - I'll just have to make the best of it. I take as deep a breath as I can in the moment or two I know I'll have before it crashes down on me. Given how large it is, it's going to force me way down and will probably disorient me. After a few moments, I realize that it still hasn't come down on me. Did I misjudge how far it was, or how high it was? Is it still falling? Do I have time to take another breath, since this lungfull is starting to get a bit stale? I look around and find that the wave has frozen around me, with its tip almost touching the water. I can see, as if in a tunnel, up and down the length of the wave, but it's completely frozen. I realize this must be a dream and instantly wake up.


An unusual messenger
I'm in the passenger seat of the gray van. We're in heavy traffic, and we've just turned right onto some kind of short ramp. As we're completely stuck in the middle of the ramp, a guy who looks like Rich Purnell races up next to us. We've met him before, so my son tries to open the sliding door, but it gets stuck when it's open about half an inch. He tries the window, but it only goes down half an inch before stopping. Finally, I manage to get my window open enough to talk to him. He rather breathlessly says that he's got John G's phone number and that I need to call him back right away, then spits out the number. Of course, no one has anything to write anything on, though I'm pulling up my contacts now. I'm pretty sure I've got John's number. Once I pull it up, I see it looks nothing like what "Rich" said. I ask him to repeat it, but he's already forgotten it, mumbling something about a pay phone.


Phone trouble
I'm having terrible trouble with my phone and my computers. I'm supposed to be on a conference call with my team, but nothing is working. My phone won't connect, I can't send any emails, and my instant messenger won't start. I think I may have fixed my phone, but now I don't have the call-in information. I finally get my calendaring software running and pull up the meeting invite, but I'm discouraged to see that the meeting was scheduled from one to three, and that it's 3:05 now. I send my team lead a message explaining what happened.


Smoke in the basement
I'm in a basement area in what looks like some kind of utility room. It's not well lit, and there's equipment everywhere - it's covering the walls and the floor. The room is about fifteen feet wide, and I don't see how far back it goes, though it has to be at least 30 feet deep. I'm perhaps 5 or 10 feet from where I came into the room. In front of me is a waist-high piece of equipment, and something on top of it is smoking. It's not a lot of smoke - just a fine streamer - but it's very steady. I walk over to it to try to see what's going on. I see what looks like a cheap soldering iron - a plastic handle with a thin rod with a chisel tip at the end - sitting on some kind of stand. The smoke is coming from the tip end. I'm not sure what to do - this doesn't look right, and if left unchecked it could become a large problem, but right now it's not dangerous. I don't know who to tell about it, but I also don't want to mess with it.


City simulation
I'm watching some kind of overhead view city simulation. People (depicted with square tiles) are walking clockwise around a city center filled with shops. Now, I see a couple of people walking counter-clockwise, and I know I need to turn them around. I manage to scroll down to a park area to head them off, then use the sidewalk tool to remove sidewalk in front of them, assuming that this will make them turn around. Unfortunately, they reroute down another sidewalk I hadn't seen. I try to dig up every sidewalk they could possibly use, and they finally turn around.


Torrenting lucid dreaming software
I'm sitting on my bed reading the description of a torrent of some lucid dreaming software. The torrent's author goes into great detail of what's in it and how he made it. In addition to the software, he's included cracks for more than one version, both for the newer licensed versions as well as the older versions protected by geolocation-based limits. I've never even heard of software that protects itself by running only on computers located in a certain area - that sounds pretty weird. In any case, he describes the steps necessary to use the software. He acknowledges that the keys he's generated have been revoked, but that it's easy to mess with the certificate revocation lists in the OS so it doesn't know they've been revoked, and he gives details about how to do it. My wife comes into the room and launches herself onto the bed right behind me. I hear a squeal and realizes that she's caught our son - I had no idea he was in here with me.

Bed @ 2210 /w green Sleepytime tea
Woke @ 0200

Fragment: Something about a bunch of pigs

Moses in the wilderness
I'm watching (and also somehow reading) about Moses as he guides the Israelites through the wilderness. Something important has just happened, and I've reached a chapter break. It's actually more than a chapter break - there's a notation in bold that I need to go to page five hundred something. I've not seen any thing like that before and wonder at it, but I can only assume it's setting up for something even more important..


BTB @ 0220 /w SSILD
Woke @ 0350

Visiting the G's
I'm running and jumping very long distances (I must have been playing too much Chameleon Run ...). If I miss my target platform, I have to start over - which happens a lot. Each time, I make it further in the course. Now I'm leaping around a lake that stretches as far as I can see. The water is perfectly smooth and mirror-like - it's beautiful. The only places for me to land are small metal "walkways" (which look like they belong in a factory) which have been placed for the purpose. Now I'm trying to land on one, turn ninety degrees, and jump again, but I'm having real trouble getting everything coordinated, and I keep messing it up.

Now I've landed on the water again; but this time my speed is enough that I'm staying on the surface instead of sinking. I try to keep it up, but I can feel myself slowing down; then I'm amazed as I find that I'm still not sinking. Now I'm merely walking quickly. I've reached the side of the lake, and a large bed is floating just beyond the reeds. I head for it. Now I'm climbing onto the bed - which is completely dry - and trying to keep my shoes from dripping onto it.

Now I'm still on the bed, but it's inside a cottage. Looking around, I can see that there's an inch or so of water on the floor. Now my wife is walking around unpacking a few things. I can see that the water has receded, and she's walking around on carpet that's only slightly squishy with water. Now I get out of bed and am surprised to find that the carpet is completely dry. I take a closer look at it and see that it's some kind of outdoor carpet that's designed to get wet without damage. It's got an odd texture and is an ugly shade of orange. Near my side of the bed is a cooler. I open it up to find a selection of good beer, and I take a bottle.

Now I realize that we still haven't announced our arrival to the Gs, the family who owns the cottage, but I see from a clock that it's 10:40 PM. I look over towards their house and see that many windows are still lit, so at least one person is still awake; but I don't want to keep us, or them, from bed. If we go over to say 'hi' we'll end up talking for hours, so we'll just greet them in the morning. Now Joel is coming towards us - he must have seen the lights on in the cottage. My wife comments that he'll miss the beer I've taken, but I'm not too worried about that - the cooler must be here for guests to use. For a moment, I worry that he'll be mad with us for not announcing ourselves, or worse yet think that we're intruders, but I realize that's silly - I'm sure they've been expecting us. I had nothing to worry about, since greets us warmly as he comes inside. He launches into what a crazy day he had, listing his family's whole itinerary, starting with going to bed at 6AM (which confuses me). After he finishes the itinerary, he says that <the second item on the list> was completed at noon, and it takes me a minute to remember that means it took hours longer than it should have. Now we're in their house. I'm pulling a tea bag out of a mug of tea that's steeped for too long. One of their girls comes over to see what I'm doing.


BTB @ 0405
Woke @ 0530

Translation documentary
I'm watching a documentary about the translation of a document. The man in charge walks into a hall with a couple of other men, and he's trailed by some children. There are boys everywhere - war orphans? He walks to a table covered with notes and has one of the boys read him something. As the boy is reading, the man is reading along on the translation making pleased "mmmm-hmmm" noises. I rewind the video and mute some of the audio trcaks to more clearly hear what's going on. This time , I can clearly hear the boy and the professor and nothing else. I rewind and tweak even more, trying to make the sounds even more distinct, but this time the scene plays out slightly differently, more heavily involving another man. I don't understand why it would have changed like that, but whatever.

BTB @ 0540
Woke around 0700

Fragment: A woman is being reprogrammed by aliens.

Fragment: I'm using a mobile device to look at a web page that's covered in iframes, sometimes even in nested iframes. Trying to scroll is an absolute nightmare.