memorable

July 20, 2010
Slept between 2am-9:30am

2a-4:30a
Woke up an hour before my scheduled WBTB, really needing the washroom Did not recall any dreams. I went to the couch and got comfy, but then I thought that maybe I should try to WILD from bed today. Jack and I had a bit of a fight last night (more like me bitching at him ). I heard my lucid weaver 90 mins later for the WILD. I rolled over and tried to think about the music I used for my anchor yesterday, but I passed out! I think my bed is too comfy for WILDing

4:30a-8a
Hungry like a wolf
There was an odd little bit where I was thinking about my failed WILD attempt in the back of my head throughout this dream.

I was at work and very, very hungry. I was working an 8a-8pm shift and only had a bagel with cream cheese my entire shift.

One of the cleaners (who, IRL, does manage a restaurant) offered to make me something (we have a bistro in the basement). I was grateful, but he forgot about his offer and never made me any food.

Petra (co-worker/shift relief) came in and asked me if it was okay to do some shopping. I looked at the time and realized she was already 8 minutes late. I told her no, and she looked crestfallen.

[Flintstone's plane?]
I'm sitting in the backseat of a plane and my feet are hanging out the bottom. I have them held up, because we're flying VERY close to the grass. It's tall grass, mind, about 3 feet. But, we were skimming the tops of it! It grew darker outside and we passed over these tiny houses, made of felt. They were the size of dog houses, but I was told people live in them.

As we kept passing over, more houses were covered in cotton. I was told it was for insulation.

We reached the field clearing at the end. Petra said, "Let's build our mansion here!" I got a visual of a Sims-like grid and the wall tool (hehe).

I replied, "Isn't that kind of insulting? Building a nice mansion RIGHT NEXT to these poor people? I don't think we should build here."

8a-9:30a
Jack's alarm woke me, but I passed out again.

[Elevator]
I found myself in this elevator, just reaching the ground floor. I held the door open for these tons of little kids. I helped ensure everyone was on and not about to get smushed by the closing door before I let it shut.

[Lucid House]
I recognize the feeling of weightlessness quite randomly, but I don't clue in that it's a dream. I explain to myself that this is a house that produces feelings of lucidity. I push off the ground and I'm floating. This house is really cool! For some reason, I start floating around the room (I'm in a kitchen) singing Taylor Swift's "You Belong to Me." I think again about the lucidity in this house and I finally realize the absurdity at what I'm doing

I see a glass door (one of those slidey patio doors) near me. "I've never tried to go through glass before, I wonder if I can do it?" I thought. I drifted towards the glass to go through it, but my forehead went thump! against it. The glass felt cold and I felt the bump, but it didn't hurt.

I walked back to the other side of the room (which was now entirely empty, by the way) and braced myself to run for it. I quickly shot through my mind, "What if this destabilizes the dream? What if it doesn't work? Oh well, I'll give it this shot, and if it doesn't, then I'll go do something else." I ran at the glass, and I felt it give way around me! I slowed wayyyy down. The glass felt like cold, but quite viscous slime as it slid around my body. I was afraid I was going to be stuck like this, but I willed myself through the glass, and came out the other side with a POP! That was a really cool experience!

I was in the backyard. "Danny?" I said, out loud, calling out to my DG. He appeared out of nowhere. I was suddenly overcome with this really strong desire to hug him, so I threw my arms around him.

He was surprised, but said, "Hey!" to me, with a laughter in his voice. I marveled at how real this hug felt, but even still, I felt the dream sliding away.

I looked up at him. "Can you come into my regular dreams and tell me I'm dreaming?" I asked, quickly.

He smiled at me, "Sure, I can."

I went back to hugging him as I "woke up."

[False awakening]
I "woke up" next to Jack. We were sleeping in a tent in a backyard. I checked my watch. It was only 7:20 in the morning, but I was so excited about the lucid dream I had, that I wanted to blog it right away! I went inside the house. The kitchen was a disaster. I found a plate of half-eaten waffles. I didn't fancy eating those, but I did see a large mixing bowl with mal-formed, but uneaten waffles in there. I grabbed a handful's worth and stuffed it in my mouth. They were all syrupy, buttery and insanely yummy.

[Same FA, but scene jump]
I was lying down on a long couch. Jack's mum was reading a book at the end of it. She says to our DC-host (the house owner), "I love coming to your house. It's like Christmas every time!"

"Mm-hmm!" I agree.

"What part of it did you not like?" Jack's mum asked me, mis-hearing me.

"I didn't say that, I was agreeing with an mm-hmm," I explained. I woke up for real.

July 19, 2010
Slept between 12am-10am (Allll right!)

12am-4-something am
FOOD!
I was in a food market, literally surrounded by food.

Inner world!
I don't remember anything before this scene, but I remember standing inside his gorgeous beach house. I could see a white, sandy beach and blue ocean out my living room windows. The walls were a an interesting shade of blue. Like, almost turquoise, but not quite (I'll have to see if I can build this room in sims 3 later). The floors were wood and my furniture was white. The windows were edged in white trimming. It was warm and relaxing. I recall something being said about this being my inner world house, but I can't remember if it was told to me by Danny, or whether I declared it myself.


Here's the Sims 3 rendition...

4am-6am
WBTB. I sat on the couch for a few minutes reflecting on my beach house and thinking about asking Danny to come into more regular dreams to tell me I'm dreaming. Went back to sleep.

Naughty dream
I had a naughty dream involving Jack. 'Nough said!

False awakening
My alarm beeped for my WILD. I saw that Jack was awake and told him about the dream I had. He thought that middle of the night sex would be an appropriate response. I kept thinking, "But what about my WILD, I'll be too awake!" (Priorities?) My alarm beeped again and I realized it was a false awakening with a "Oh, thank god! I didn't miss the WILD!" (Definitely insane)

6am-7am-ish
WILD fail. Got into SP, used music as an anchor. This part went just fine. Transition fail again. I was getting some HI, and decided to try to use it, but it wasn't really happening. I remember thinking to myself, "Give me a scene so I can walk in it!" my brain responds, "Here's a forest path!" Nothing would solidify and I was having troubles visualizing it and keeping it stable. I also tried the roll out technique, but no luck. I tried floating out too, which actually almost worked, but no sight. Just before an hour was up, I went back to bed.

7am-10am
Once again, I don't remember anything before this, other than becoming lucid. I looked up at the sky and thought, "Let's not fly, it tends to destabilize my dream if I do it straight away."

I suddenly remembered MM chat from last night and saying that the intermediate task would be a cinch because I transform into Sailor Moon all the time, so I did! I held my hands up to my chest where my brooch would be, and my clothes glowed and flashed into the sailor fuku

I found myself on an office floor. full of people. Grey floors and an escalator nearby. (Lost lucidity a bit, here) Amongst the DC's were the other senshi. I stood with them for a bit. Something specifically involving Haruka and Michiru here, but I can't recall it. We moved with the group to a lower plaza where there was shopping to be done. Also can't recall much, here. But it seemed like we were there to party.

Then, we're on a beach. I'm beckoned to by Ryan, a character in a soap opera I watch. He and Greenlee are uncovering a nefarious plot being concocted by David. I get a flash that there is a hidden relationship going on between Ryan and Greenlee (fits with the show). We're hunched behind a car. David has this other woman with him around this camp fire. I vaguely recall that he hit her. Something happens and he discovers us. I closed my eyes and snapped my fingers to teleport away!

When I opened my eyes, I was standing back on the floor we had started on, with the grey tiles and the escalator. "Oops! I didn't mean to go back this far!" I thought to myself. There were some administrative ladies behind a desk, looking at me funny. I remember saying something to them about forgetting something and laughing; all embarrassed.

July 15, 2010
Weird sleep between 1:00a-9:00a approx

Danny's house
I'm staring at a large Victorian-style home.

A lot like this one.

I know I'm looking at Danny's house and suddenly, he's beside me, outside. I remember him pointing out the structure, but my eye wanders to the side of the house, where there's a side entrance. For some reason, I think this is a secret entrance for a mistress, and I'm laughing at Danny about it. He's getting slightly aggravated with me because I'm being daft.

I wonder if this house is the same one he was planning on building from this dream?

Train tracks
Jack and I are crossing some train tracks. I look both ways and I see, far off in the distance, the headlights of an oncoming train. For some reason, I think it's a good plan to stop on the tracks to tie my shoes...

Inside Danny's house
Oddly enough, this dream happened a cycle or two after the first one. Very cool, imo!
I'm walking around inside Danny's house, carrying my guitar. We're in the kitchen. Suddenly, I start playing a song. It sounds a lot like the tune on my alarm clock (which does happen to be a slow, rolling, guitar-like thingy). I wake up and realize it is indeed, my alarm ring that I thought I had composed.

Family gathering
I vaguely recall walking to my doctor's office in slightly bad weather. I get there and in the lobby, Mike (my brother) and his GF come in. I hug them hello, and suddenly my parents walk in. I was all like, "Heyyyy, family reunion in a doctor's lobby..."
My dad says something about them not arriving together. I ask my mum how she got here. She said she drove. I got all upset because I left her at the house, she could have drove me

July 9, 2010
Slept between 12:00a-9:00a

12:00a-4:00a
Really light sleep. Don’t recall any dreams. Entirely possible there was a false awakening or two that I didn’t catch. I decided that since I was having troubles with sleep, I would do the typical WBTB but not any subsequent alarms.

4:00a-9:00a
WBTB. Listened to a subliminal mp3 ninja made.

The long and winding dream
The first little bits of this are vague, but I remember visiting someone’s apartment and I was somehow able to let myself in. This is important only in that I tried to come back here, later, and couldn’t find it.

There’s also this little bit where I was feeling stressed and bought a pack of smokes (I’ve never been a smoker!).

Darren is playing a concert for a small group of us in a room.

He’s now sitting next to me and I say something retarded like, “I like watching you play, like chording. I’m kind of musical but not really musical.”

“How can you be kind of musical, but not really musical?” he asks. “You’re either one or the other!”

“I play the guitar and piano, self-taught, by ear, but not with any great skill,” I clarify.

“Very nice!” Darren says.

He has to leave for a bit, and asks for my help in signing some autographs while he’s away.

I tell him, “I don’t know how to forge your signature.”

“Oh, well just put stickers on all the ones I need to sign, then, and I’ll do it when I get back.”

I somehow manage to get stickers stuck to all of my fingers and have generally made a mess of things (I’m really clumsy in my dreams!).

Darren comes back and we leave together. We find ourselves in another building and at another party. We dance together, but in the course of this party, we learn that all of these people are criminals! Someone even tried to pickpocket my purse, but they weren’t very good. We got out of there as soon as we could.

We find what I thought were the apartments from earlier in the dream, but when we get upstairs, suddenly Darren is sat a table and all the other seats are full with other girls who are giggling over him. Darren just shrugs and gives me this look that says, “Can’t help it! Be patient!”

I overhear people chatting and they mention lucid dreaming. I’m pretty sure someone says, “Well, this IS a lucid dream.” I think to myself, “I know that this is a dream, but I don’t want to control this one, I just want to be with Darren,” and I woke up anyways.

Slept between 1:30a-9:30a

1:30a-5:00a
Dreams lost. I recall there being some retarded, repetitive thing having to do with a game show. I remembered it upon waking and forgot it by the time I walked to the washroom.

5:00a-6:30a
Moved to couch.

Cakes!
I'm at the grocery store with Jack, in the cake section. There were so many to choose from He pointed out this white one and said, "How about this one?"

"Ugh, no, it has fondant for icing, I can't stand fondant," I said (true story. I don't like fondant).

Wrong train
I was at the train station, trying to go to work. I felt really sleepy. I took the wrong train a couple of stops before I realized my error. I somehow "popped back" to the initial station I was at.

Warcraft -> Real life
I was playing my warcraft hunter, in pvp. This guy was running after me and I was trying to kite him. He came up from behind me and dragged me to the ground. I grabbed him by the head and snapped his neck. When I stood up, the scene was different. He was in uniform and we were both real life. He was paralyzed, but not dead. I shot him, but he still didn't die We were both kind of baffled. He asked me to shoot him a few more times. I shot him in 5 different places. He STILL wasn't dead, but he said it should be good enough. :morecry:

Beatles film
I'm watching the Beatles on film. Some black and white thing. John and George were the central focus and were surrounded by media, cameras, people. They were saying something, but the audio wasn't getting picked up, what with all the commotion.

Rachel
I was at a restaurant with some other work managers. Rachel got up to leave, but before she did, I gave her a huge hug (I just found out yesterday she lost her daughter a few days ago ). When I let go, she had turned into my mother.

6:30-8:00
Tried a WILD. Unsuccessful.

8:00-9:30
Huge chair statue
I don't remember much about this, other than I was on the phone with a DC and she was telling me about something I could find near the huge statue of a chair. Huge statue of a chair? I looked over and saw a very large statue of a chess board with two chairs

Police have cupcakes
I was feeling sleepy again, and mashed some buttons on my cell phone. This resulted in accidentally phoning the police. I told the dispatcher what happened and she told me to hold, she needed to elevate the matter to her supervisor. "But, it's just a mistake..." I try to say, but she cut me off.

The supervisor comes on and I repeated the same thing. "Okay," she says and is silent.

"So, what I'm saying is, I'm not in trouble, so I'm hanging up now!" I said. I hung up and looked around. I'm at the police station. There's a girl with a box of cupcakes. I can't decide on one, so she hands me this one that's like a chocolate chip muffin covered in pink buttercream icing

I found out that these are meant for new recruits. They think I'm a recruit! Do I have to give this back if I'm not? If I have to... do I eat it first and THEN say I'm not a recruit?

Rollerblade shoes
I'm in a store with Jack and Julia. I'm looking for rollerblades. Julia works there, but she's not on shift right now. She summons her co-worker and he sizes my feet.

"Your feet are too small for rollerblades," he declares. What? Really?!

Julia has an idea though. She goes into a storage locker and pulls out these wheels that are so small, they could fit a child's shoe. She says these clip onto my normal shoes and they become rollerblades. While I'm a bit skeptical at the overall function of the clip-on, I'm intrigued by the convenience!

Summoned Danny
I'm looking at this neighbourhood from a bird's eye view. I realize I'm manipulating a floating camera (but it's like I'm in the sky, first person). I passed by this incredible-looking white mansion and I want to see it again. No matter which way I turned the camera, though, I couldn't find it.

I decided to see if I could bring the camera to me and see myself. I did so, and this part was quite strange. I'm still viewing in the out-of-body camera, I float into the house and up to the glass doors where I can see myself standing in the room. I look off to the right and I see my face on the TV screen.

I assimilate whole behind the camera now, and I get the notion that I might be dreaming. I took the camera outside and threw it far up into the air. I took a couple of jogging steps, and pushed off the ground. Sure enough, I'm flying!

"What do you know, this is a dream after all!" I think to myself. I felt everything get a little unstable, but I thought, "Stabilize! Come on, I got this!" It did and I felt myself rise up in the air again without any force needed on my part. I started flying forwards and I remembered my goal to ask for Danny.

"Danny! Where are you? I need to see you!" I called out. Out of nowhere, I saw Danny flying towards me! "Oh my god, IT WORKED!" I thought. But my excitement at that woke me up

Slept between 1:00a-10:00a

1:00a-5:15a
Cave in
I was inside a cave with a bunch of people, including Darren. We needed to evacuate, because the cave was starting to crumble down upon us. A little fuzzy on how this bit went, but Darren flung me out of the "room" we were in, and I was being carried off by something. I could see him getting smaller, and I had my hand stretched out towards him.

In the next room, all the "flooring" of the cave started crumbling and breaking apart. I got sent into some water, but I came up onto another piece of rock which carried me outside, out of the mouth of the cave. The whole scene was being narrated by someone who sounded like Gandalf/Lord of the Rings I remember him saying something like, "It was only by a lucky bit of fate that Serenity managed to get hurled into the water, only to come up on the piece of rock that would carry her outside of the cave, just before it collapsed completely." Right...

The survivors helped me up and I looked around. I couldn't see Darren. "Is this... it?" I asked.

"This is all who made it out," one guy answered me, sadly.

"No, Darren!" I buried my head in my hands.

Off in the distance, I heard Excel's voice (from Excel Saga, and yes, she was animated, where everything else was RL). She was with our group when Darren threw me out! I looked over and saw Excel first, then, standing next to her was Darren, smiling at me. I ran towards him as the dream faded.

11:00p-2:00a
I had originally planned to do a WBTB and take some Tylenol Ultra for a CWILD. I had deprived myself of caffeine since like... 1pm. I don't know if it was anticipation, or whether I was just going to have an insomniac night anyways, but I drifted in a light sleep during this time.

I remember a fragment of Raven Knight telling me my mum had said hi to her (as if this was Warcraft).

2:00a-6:00a
I got up for my WBTB. I stupidly took the Tylenol Ultra, not thinking that maybe if I was having a rough sleep, I should skip the caffeine jolt *Sigh*

I did have some interesting experiences though.

I nearly WILD'ed twice. I wasn't intending on it, but I mean... what is WILD, but mind awake, body asleep, right? I experienced some SP vibrations, which were oddly something I saw, rather than felt. Hard to describe, considering all I saw were the blacks of my eyelids.

The first time this happened, once they subsided I kind of just went, "Fuck, now what?" I wasn't feeling floaty, and I couldn't induce that feeling. Okay, so try to open my dream eyes. I opened my eyes. Unfortunately, I saw my sleep mask. Transition fail, again.

Second time, I felt the SP vibrations the normal way. I even felt kind of floaty-ish this time. But once again, transition fail. I do not know how the eff to complete a WILD.

After this, I had this lucid HI where I was sitting in an office. It was very unstable, visually. I tried to focus on the visuals. Danny (my DG) told me to STOP trying to force something visually as the first thing. He told me to close my eyes and sway back and forth. He said focus more on my dream body and less on my real one. My problem is I focus too much on my real body, so I remain anchored. So, once I've got my focus on my dream body and I'm not aware of my physical one anymore, then I can open my eyes. This was working, but it kept flipping in and out (possibly due to the caffeine). I finally got a visual where Danny handed me a small orange pill and a glass of water. I swallowed it and said, "It reminds me of cat food."

"Cat food?!" Danny asks, sounding thoroughly confused. I wake.

Throughout this time, one of the things I was doing to help me sleep was listening to a slow song. In hindsight, I'm wondering about the validity of that as an anchor when/if I WILD in the future. Does anyone else ever listen to music during a WILD? I mean, I knew when I was dosing off because when I came to again, I'd notice the song wasn't where it left off. But I also wonder... if I'm consciously transitioning into a dream, will I still hear the song? I wouldn't mind that, in fact, it MIGHT not be such a bad thing, so long as I can stay focused on the dream. Hmm...

I finally did pass out at around 5. I had a non-lucid where I was chatting with Garrett's mum on MSN, only she didn't know it was me. I was chatting through Garrett's account and was pretending to be him.

June 24, 2010
11:45a
Big Mansion
My parents, Grandma, Jack and I were living in this huge mansion. I remember looking down one of the halls and guessed that the hall itself stretched about 50 meters (165 ft).

I was outside at our garage. The neighbour asked me why I was parking in his spot. I told him this was our garage, but he was adamant it wasn't (it was detached). I reasoned that it's ours, because the siding matches our house. He still maintained it was his. I told him I would move our vehicles after I helped this other person out with what they needed.

I was with my grandmother and she asked me where I put her dressing gown. I remembered hanging it on a hook in one of the bedrooms. I went around the house, looking for it, checking each room. I must've checked about 5 different rooms until I found it

Danny and Sterling
Woke up with a vague recollection of Danny and Sterling both expressing the desire to build houses in my inner world. They just needed to find a way to build them?

Still playing catch-up...
Dead sleep between 12:30a-7:30a
Alarm attempt for a 8:30 alarm to DEILD. Too sleepy, turned it off and passed out.
Wake-up alarm at 10:45. Too sleepy, passed out (lol )
Woke up on my own at 11:40a.

As such, not too many memories recalled from my dreams, other than listening to an answering machine and expecting to hear one from Darren. I can't remember why I expected there to be one, but hey there was, and he was thanking me for the birthday message I gave him.

I also remember lots of hanging out with people. It's all so vague!

Darren's Message
I was in a park, with Darren. He was conducting a small orchestra. He tells me when I hear [something], it’s a message from him. I can’t remember WTF that something was, but it had to do with the song he was playing.

Craft time with Darren
I was chatting with Darren while we were doing some kind of crafts project. Notably, when he's come in dreams in the past, he's usually just imparting some kind of fatherly advice to me, but this time was the first time we chatted freely about things. I remember saying something about how he gets to see how much I suck at crafts. He mentioned something about being Canadian (in hindsight, I should have smacked him for that!). Instead, I told him that going way back through my heritage, I'm also Scottish, just like he would be. Overall, we were having a good laugh and I felt really relaxed and happy. The ribbon I was working with fell apart into about 50 different ribbons. Darren had to help me tie it all back together.

NON-DREAM DREAM DREAM COMMENTS DREAM SIGNS

A Birthday Visit (Non-lucid)

I was sitting on a bench in a busy area (there were a lot of people around. There were white floors, white walls. Felt like a train station or an airport or something. It was a very big area!), talking with Darren (yayyy, I haven't seen him in forever!). We were going along a list of things, comparing them for similarities. It had to do with dreams and thoughts. Like I would say, "Do you remember dreaming about this?" or "Do you remember thinking this?"

When I was done, Darren asked me what the comparisons meant. I put my forehead against his and said, "It means, we haven't managed to share a dream yet; but I think I've somehow managed to tap into your subconscious."

"Hmm!" Darren replied, sounding sort of surprised and intrigued.

09.02.2010

Murder Mystery (DEILD)

(This plot is pretty similar to "The Lovely Bones" which I finished reading about a week ago). This dream was really long, lasting from about 6:30am until noon, when I finally woke up. I don't remember every single scene as a result. I just recall there were many instances where the killer was just lurking around in scenes. There was this omniscient part of me that knew who the killed was, but I was also myself, first person; a character in my dream that had no idea who the killer was. The killer was an old guy who was generally kind of creey. A girl named Sarah had been killed. We didn't know where her body was, or who her killer was, so as a community, we were trying to figure it out.

I was on a train with my friend (just a city transit train, a light rail one). It was crowded and we were standing. The killer (who I "knew" and didn't know it was him) put his hand on my friend's shoulder, and started creeping downwards towards her breast. She somehow didn't notice, so I grabbed his hand and removed it from her and told him he was disgusting. We left the train.

The whole community was outside, eating lunch at picnic tables. It felt like we were a apart of some 1970's reenactments. I sat down at a table with two adults who were eating with 4 kids. The two adults turned out to be actors who were identical to Darren and L. I asked them a question and addressed them as "Fake Darren" and "Fake L."

It was after this scene that I woke up around 10am-ish. I was ready to wake up after the weekend of crappy dreaming so I tried to chain back in. It worked, but I wasn't immediately lucid.

We had found Sarah's body, in a lake. The water was freezing cold. She had been drowned, and she also had a stick impaled in her left shoulder (almost looked like a broom handled). I thought I felt a heart beat when I placed my hand on her chest, and she still felt warm for some reason. I screamed at someone to call 911, maybe she could still be saved. A DC with me kind of laughed and said I was wrong. The heart beat I felt was hers. Sarah is most definitely dead. I had an "Oh... Wow that was odd..." Moment and said that someone should still call 911, to retrieve her body.

This next part is semi-lucid. It feels more like a daydream, and yet stronger than that. I knew it was a dream and could control the plot like a daydream. Yet it was still a dream, because it introduced something I didn't control... it was weird. Anyways, read on.

This time, I was L, first person. Our daughter was playing outside by herself. Because the murder was still out there, I felt one of us should be out there with her. I had a bad feeling about her being alone out there, so I asked Darren to go out there. I had this daydream within my dream about Darren going out there, encountering the guy with our daughter, and punching him out. I ran out to the backyard, and sure enough, Darren did encounter the creepy old murder. However, he picked up our daughter and only told the guy off. I thought to myself, "Hmm, he was supposed to punch him."

Things got shaky and went black, but I could still hear voices. Darren was reading a letter from a girl named Jaime, asking us to make sure her our daughter was doing okay. I thought to myself, "Who in the heck is Jaime?" My dream supplied that Jaime was our daughter's older sister.

I woke up and was still thinking that. Jaime was the daughter's older sister. Actually, Jaime is my friend Vicky's older half-sister, so that was quite odd that she ended up being mentioned at the end of my dream...

NON-DREAM DREAM LUCID

Jules, myself and 1 or 2 others from my old broadcasting course were in this banquet hall. There were few tables, maybe 6 that only sat about 4 people side by side. Each were nicely decorated with white china, polished silver serving dishes and 3 elaborate flower arrangements for the centre pieces (3 per table). At the front of the room, there was a one-person table, similarly decorated, but it was next to a podium for a presentation. There was a projector screen as well.

Some servers were laying out things that looked like fancy ping pong paddles, each were white and decorated with flowers. Jules told us it was for if we needed something from the server, you hold up a paddle.

He said that despite the lavishness, we were all here to learn something, so have our notebooks ready. But he seemed mischievous about something.

As people started coming in, more people from my radio class started showing up. Jules was dismayed, because he hadn't meant for everyone to be invited, but it filled up the seats, and they didn't appear to be taking someone else's reserved seat, so Jules commented it was probably better that we filled the hall.

At that moment, Darren came out, and I nearly died, because it was someone I "knew." He sat down at the front table. He was hosting our lunch! He thanked us all for coming. Two other DC's (closer to my age) were giving a presentation on something as we ate, but I wasn't paying attention. I was staring at Darren.

At a break between the meal and dessert, he invited everyone to the front for questions and autographs. It was crowded at first, so I hung back. One of the DC's approached me, and started to tell me something, and the dream crumbled.

I remember thinking, "Oh, that's just fantastic, you stupid DC! You had to ruin my dream!" I chained back in. I knew it was a dream, but I didn't have a ton of control. Not that I wanted it. I just wanted to spend time with dream-Darren.

I was back in the room, but the crowd had cleared out from around Darren. I was flipping through the notebook I brought, looking for a suitable page to autograph, and they were all scribbled on with what looked like notes from work.

I found a page that didn't look so horrible and approached him. I asked him if he was still signing, and he gave me a genuinely warm smile and said of course. I wanted to tell him so many things, but I thought it would sound like gushing, so I stood there and smiled at him. He said something to me about always work hard at what I do. Hard work is what gets you places. I told him I would do my very best and sat down. I said to him, "Thank you, Darren." He smiled at me.

Dream broke, and I actually managed to chain it again.

Everyone was gathering up their things to leave. I wanted to say something to him, I wasn't sure what yet. Someone else was talking to him and was taking longer than a second, so I sat back down at my seat and laid my head down (I was feeling sleepy). I could notably see the backs of my eyelids, just the way they look in real life, when I close my eyes in a lit room. I raised my head again and he was free again. I got up and lost my balance (I almost fell backwards). Darren kind of laughed and I said, "Whoops! Inertia or something!" I was going to shake his hand, but he motioned me in for a hug. He whispered in my ear, "I remember you." I was stunned. He didn't let go of me for about 30 seconds. When we parted, he said something else, but I can't remember what it was.

Dream ended again. I chained again.

I wasn't in the banquet room anymore. I was on the 3rd floor of my building, looking at the wooden horse statue. The elevator dinged, and my neighbour, who is a bonafide medium (well, she has me convinced anyways. She's the one who confirmed who my guide spirit is) got off it. I recalled that she hasn't been in a dream of mine for a while. I was kind of flustered and told her I'd been doing some dream-chaining, I wanted to tell her about Darren. She looked confused, but didn't get to say anything, because the dream ended.

I didn't chain again at this point, it was already 10:15 in the morning!

I cut my melatonin dosage in half last night (about 2.5mcg), which worked like a charm. I took it about 2 hours before bed time. It didn't start making me feel sleepy or anything, but it worked nicely in allowing me to go back to sleep during the morning when I woke up.

11:00a
Woke up. Tried to chain the dream and realized I wasn't going to. Ended up losing the dream altogether.

11:00a-2:00p
Random pieces fused in the same dream
Some of these bits are a bit vague and hard to describe.

[Office Towers]
Some suits are standing around outside this office building. They are looking up at one of the floors. I couldn't see what they were staring at, but apparently some chick was dressed really slutty. Someone wonders, "I wonder how many promotions she's got?"

I looked through the main floor and could see the security desk. They were all wearing suit jackets, ties and slacks (like a typical concierge security), but they were all ill-fitting. The guy next to me says, "Looks like security would be an easy job." He shouts at the girl in the window, "DO YOU LIKE YOUR JOB?!" She mouths out she can't hear him. He repeats his question and she mouths out, "It's fun!"

[Back at a house]
I'm at a house I don't recognize. I see Becky walking down the hallway, dressed to the nines and smoking a ciggie. She says she's going out somewhere. I wondered why she wasn't verbally abusing me. Was I with her brother again? I left that thought alone.

I said something about going out with her, but she was already far ahead of me, so I went in the opposite direction. I went into a restaurant and asked if I could place a take out order. Or, I was about to, but this woman interrupts me, "Are you here to return the salmon?!"

"Uh, what, sorry?" I ask.

"Are you here to return the salmon? Customers have been showing up around 10am lately to return their salmon."

"Um, no. I'm just trying to order some take out," I say.

"Oh, well, carry on then," she leaves.

I don't know what to order and the order-taker tells me there's a sample tray of their specials that I can taste test to help me decide (sure enough, there IS a plate, how could I have missed that? ). I see some seschwan noodles, tempura scallops, steamed broccoli and something else. I choose the tempura scallop and have this vague thought about not taking another bite off the free plate, even though I'm hungry. I look over and I see another man is contentedly nomming down on it anyways. Oh well!

I leave the restaurant and then come back (although it literally looked like a fade out to black, fade in). I see on this paper taped to the order desk that Darren had left replies to two people who had seen him there and left him messages. Wait... Darren was here? And I missed him?! No! I asked the dream to back up just a little. Let him be here again. The replies disappeared and I could see Darren sitting at a table. I became vaguely aware of the fact that I knew I was going to wake up soon, cos I knew this dream had been long enough. I also knew that I had already woken up once between 11 and 2.

I decided to leave Darren a note. I scrawled out that I was sorry I missed his birthday and I hoped that he really enjoyed it, Love Serenity. I asked the order taker (who was a man now) if he could please deliver this note to Darren. He said he would.

The dream faded again, but it faded back in. I was standing next to Darren and he had decided to hold a street concert. "For something so last minute, there's a really great crowd turn out!" he comments to me. I agree. Dream ends.