lucid

This is my first good, long lucid dream in a while, and it was awesome! So, this is gonna be a long retelling. You've been warned.

My dream recall picks up at my old high school. I am in the auditorium, with a teacher and another student. I don't remember this bit very clearly, but I think the teacher is my college professor, K. and the other student is Silver. I remember being afraid to leave the auditorium because K specifically wanted us to stay behind, and had something to talk to us about. Nonetheless, I slip through the auditorium door, promising to come back. I have a Brita filter in my hand at that time, and it's implied I'm going to fill it up real quick and come back.

Out in the hallway, I start pouring the water that's in the filter all over the floor. In my head I envision a chase scene, and I feel like this will help, somehow. Not just in making them slip and fall, but it was supposed to do something else, like turn into smoke. This part is another fuzzy bit. At some point while I'm doing and thinking all this, I realize the absurdity of what's going on, and realize that I'm dreaming. At this point I head back down the hall towards the cafeteria. I don't know where the filter disappeared to, but I don't have it anymore, nor do I care.

I end up passing through the empty cafeteria and heading outside, where, like so many prior lucid dreams, I get sucked into practicing flying. Why this draws me in so much is a mystery... in any case, only moments later my vision gets all fuzzy and it's hard to see much of anything. Over the next 5 minutes, I try to restore my vision, while still trying to fly and slowly making my way around to the front of the school. I don't have a ton of techniques at my disposal for this dream... I keep trying to blink to get my sight back, even as I worry that it would wake me up. Thankfully it doesn't, but it isn't doing anything productive either.

As I round the corner, I come up with a new idea. I try removing my glasses, which has no effect. Putting them back on doesn't either. But at this point I take them back off and mimic cleaning the dust off of them, even though at this point my dream clarity is so bad that it doesn't actually feel like I'm holding anything. Amazingly, this one actually works, and I can see everything again. A lot of work for what some of you can fix in just a couple seconds! Ah, well, I'm learning.

At this point I'm out in front of the school again, and see a college friend, A. I feel like showing off to him that this is a dream, and I try to fly in front of him. What I'd accomplished for flying so far in this dream amounted to hovering, or maybe short glides, but I don't even manage this much. I jump extra high, but that's about it. He comes up to me and says, "Hey, are you actively trying to fly? This isn't a lucid dream." At which point he becomes the antagonist of the dream.

I'm laying on the ground when he says this for some reason, and for a split-second, I feel the effects. A small bit of doubt creeps in, and for a moment I'm paralyzed, and can't move. But then I somehow recover, and get up, and start trying to logically prove that this is a dream. I tell him that I've graduated, among other things. At some point he's wearing a football helmet and asking me why I have one in my hand, as if this would somehow prove it's reality. I retort that this must be a dream because I didn't have the thing 5 minutes ago (really, I didn't have it until he asked about it). Eventually I realize logic isn't going to work, so I kind of tackle him, yelling, "I KNOW this is a dream! Stop trying to trick me!"

A small bit of memory is lost here, but A. certainly gives up on trying to convince me I'm not dreaming... instead he tries to convince me that I don't deserve this lucid dream, or something along those lines. To which I succinctly say, "Screw you! I deserve every goddamn lucid dream that I get!" And at this point I roll away from him. I don't feel angry anymore... I feel triumphant, like it was incredibly important that I make my opinion known, and now that I have I'm satisfied. I have no regrets for shouting at him either, because at this point I know he's not real. Unfortunately, while trying to contemplate what to do next, I wake up.

Right, so this dream was pretty long and I don't remember a lot of it. But from what I do remember, I'm in church with a ton of family, and maybe some friends too, but I doubt that. We're a pretty large group though. This mass is unlike any of the others I've been to before, and in the dream I know that we're at a church we don't normally go to. I distinctly remember that some of us have instruments laying in front of us, to use during the songs. I personally have a snare drum in front of me, as do some others. I idly play with it occassionally, but I do so quietly, and not in tune with any particular song. I'm pretty bored here. I also remember that while the singing came through loud and clear, when the priest was just talking nobody could hear him! Some of the others around me try to draw attention to that to get him to use a mic, or something. Finally, another detail is that we already have communion bread things in the pews with us, which we are supposed to eat at communion time, then go up to get more like normal if we choose. There's quite a bit there, and people are trying to eat it all to be polite. They generally end up looking silly instead.

Around this time I head out of the church, planning to sit in the van (that we don't have IRL!) and watch from there. The church doors are wide open, so it's actually possible. I really think my main motive is to get out of that crowd though. It's evening, and the sun has set. I try to pull the van up closer to the door to get a better look or something, and it starts to veer off like it has a mind of its own! For the rest of the night, I'm driving around crazily on different roads, trying to get safely turned around and back to the church while the car dangerously veers all over the place. Thankfully nobody gets hurt. This all goes in fast-motion like a comedy chase scene might, so before long it's morning. Finally I'm able to get back near where I want to go. At some point I'm out of the car, and walk through a small courtyard type thing that I know animals are in on occasion. Like a zoo but not. It's pretty fuzzy but it feels like that place played a role earlier in the dream, as well.

Anyways, I walk through that and somewhere around this time I spontaneously become lucid. I'm approaching a dilapidated-looking place and as I do so I start "flying" (really just lazily floating). I know my family is supposedly there. I was worried about them being furious or scared by my running off like that, but of course now I'm not. As I arrive, I stop floating as I remember something I'd actually rather do. My little brother passes by, saying "Hello" like I'd done nothing unusual, before walking away again. I recall that I wanted to transform into an anthropomorphic coyote. Knowing transforming all at once would be too tough, I reason, so I decide to just stare at my hand and try to will it to change. (Perhaps not the best method, I admit). This succeeds only in causing my hand to kinda vibrate and flip out. My brother comes back and says "...ouch", as he assumes something is seriously wrong with my hand. About this time the dream fades, and I wait just a bit too long to start spinning.

I had three (possibly 4) dreams that I remember from last night. And 2 of them were lucid!

The first dream was pretty short. I was in my old house, looking at my desk. I realize that my monitor isn't there, and it should be. For whatever reason, that's what makes me lucid. So I calmly walk out of the house. I look around, and scrutinize everything I'm seeing. I'm also rubbing my hands together, just in case. I start walking down the long driveway, thinking about what I want to do. I make a couple feeble attempts to have a furred friend show up, by expecting him to be right behind me. Having had no practice with this technique before, it doesn't work. I get a little discouraged, but not much. Around this time the dream falls apart, though. I wake up and it's around 6 AM, so I roll over and go back to sleep.

The second dream is shorter than the last. I'm lucid again (well, semilucid, at least) with no recollection of a specific trigger. I'm wandering around this big house that looks oddly familiar, but I can't place why. Again, I'm carefully examining my surroundings. I don't remember too many details from this one unfortunately, but I'm pretty sure the house familiarity is a false memory. The house looks vaguely familiar to my parents' friends' house, where we stayed last week for a wedding. But the house is a lot bigger than that, and arranged differently. Plus it has an indoor hot tub.

The third (and fourth if you wanna count them separate) dreams kinda blend together. There's one where I'm going through a regimen for psychic powers not unlike the DVASA regimen, but more ridiculous. I remember watching an older man I don't know use "telekenesis" to mess with a light, or somesuch. From my perspective though, it looked more like a double came out of him, and the double fooled with the light. The double also goes over to a nearby desk and eats a pretzel from a can sitting there, grinning at me. I remember flipping through some pages of my training book, but some parts of the book are missing, or were specifically cut. The only specific line I remember is something about "Zeta Awareness", which I think is similar to viewing auras but... not? I can't remember.

At some point this seems to meld with another dream where I'm inexplicably waking up in an unfamiliar area. I can't remember a lot of the details. But like some other dreams I've had, I was out and about wearing nothing at all, with some boxers at hand that I'm hoping to find a secluded place to put on. (The logic fails there, but the choice of dress makes sense. That's how I sleep, so naturally it ends up in my dreams occasionally.) At some point I'm on a highway, sitting on the trunk of a moving car as if that's the best way to bum a ride these days. I notice my dad back there, chatting with someone else as he moves towards the car. That's when I suddenly realize, it's not some random car but my parent's car. That's good, I need the ride. I think I try to hop into the still-moving car or something, but the dream is just too fuzzy. This is all I can put down with certainty.

12/24/2010

Chilling out on the Quad (DILD)

NON-DREAM DREAM LUCID

Alright, now, this was a VERY long dream, and I can't remember most of it. I dimly remember it starting on my college campus, and I also dimly remember it transitioning to more of a video-game type feel. It had interesting architecture though, like sloping tunnels. Mostly I remember it after it had transitioned to a place that felt like a location of its own.

This place looks kinda like a campus, I suppose, but the buildings are large and it's hard to find my way. Several times I get lost and end up getting into places where I'm not supposed to be. When I end up in such a room, I get some very annoyed... people? on my tail. I think they're people, anyways. They kinda remind me of Ordinators from Morrowind. In any case, they start running towards me, and my first instinct is to run away, so I do. They can easily run faster than me though, so I can't get too far before one of them catches me. When they do though, they're unarmed. They just kinda "warp" me out of where I'm supposed to be. This happens a few more times, by which point I'm no longer scared and just sheepishly hold my hands up, letting them do their job. I don't mean to get in their way, but I'm lost and nothing is easily marked. I also felt like exploring around me, too, which probably didn't help. At some point I turn to a guy next to me and remark, "If these rooms were well-marked I wouldn't be getting into nearly as much trouble."

It turns out this guy is a very friendly sort, and we just wander around the courtyard type of setting I am in, chatting. I'm pretty hazy on his appearance, but he's a pretty scrawny-looking guy. Pretty thin, a little short, but also a nice guy. I think he was black, though I'm not sure. He had kinda long hair, though I don't remember the color. As far as clothing goes, he is wearing some sort of beanie on his head, though sometimes it's there, and sometimes not. I think he was wearing standard t-shirt and jeans clothing. He looks to be about my age, too (20).

I forget when, but sometime around this point I realize that I'm dreaming. I don't recall making a big deal out of it or even commenting on it much, though, I just take it all in stride. I feel like I asked him about a ton of stuff, although I sadly can't remember most of it. Here's some transcripts more or less paraphrased from towards the end of the dream, remembered to the best of my ability:

Me: *notices him starting to walk off* Hey, wait a sec!
Him: *turns and looks back*
Me: Um, can you tell me who you really are? And don't say anything silly like, "Oh, I was this guy in a past life"...
Him: *smirking* What, so you can try to find me in real life when I have no clue what's going on? (He's implying he'll forget this all when he wakes up) *he turns and starts going back the other way*
Me: Heh, well, you don't have to tell me, I guess. I'm just terminally curious... that's why I'm here.

(He decided to stick around a bit longer)
(Later, we're near an empty cop car, and I'm just kinda floating/flying in the air, chilling)

Him: *Gives me a look that seems to say, "Oh, how jeuvenile"*
Me: Hey, it's just one of my guilty pleasures.
Him: Well, just hope a police cruiser doesn't come by.
Me: *floats a bit higher* Well, I'd like to see them try to catch me.
Him: Hey, don't underestimate them. They're actually pretty good.
Me: Yeah? How high up would I have to be?
Him: You'd have to be... on the moon. *We both look up to see the moon*
Me: Hmm... that might be a problem then.
Him: Why?
Me: I don't know how I'm going to get up there before I wake up. *As if on cue, my dream starts fading*
Him: Oh, look what you did now! (I think he's stifling a laugh at this point. He's definitely more amused than annoyed)
Me: *wakes up*

Well, that's all I can remember. For a dream that seemed to be mostly unbidden, I'm very impressed though. I think it's time to get back into lucid dreaming. I am curious if any of you DVers find this oddly familar, though. I'm willing to entertain the notion of a shared dream, though that'd be weird considering I don't really know any of you. xD

09/29/2010

Riding the Wind (DILD)

NON-DREAM DREAM LUCID

This dream was really the end of a longer dream that I can't quite remember. What I can tell you is that the rest of the dream was rather disjointed, and involved random things happening. The last non-lucid part that I remember involved a bunch of broken glass all over the room (from some rowdy guest or something? There were a bunch of nameless faces here, I think). I had to grab my little brother Jared and carry him out of there. Only thing was, he looked nothing like my actual brother. My little brother's also almost my size, both in the dream and in real life. Don't ask how I carried him, I don't know.

The part where my recall really picks up is right after this part. We're in one of our old houses that we moved out of a couple years back. Only me and my dad are here for some reason. He gestures towards, I believe, the kitchen and says "The purple is over there." Usually it takes something more absurd than that to make me wonder, but he was treating purple like it was an object. Anyways, I'm naturally curious now, and pick on him a bit for it. ("'The purple is over there...' Now how is that gonna help me Dad? Seriously? Purple?") I don't remember his response. Still curious, I hop up into the air, and float slowly down. This is the only reality check I need, and I become lucid. Satisfied, I walk out of the house to try the thing that always comes to mind when I'm lucid without a plan -- flying. I step out and try a few smaller jumps, like off our porch, with limited success.

Here, though, I pause a moment to take in the scenery. The trees, the path and all, look beautiful. For just a moment, I slip into a bit of fuller awareness. The dream looks every bit as vivid as daily life, if not more, and I truly feel like I'm there. I savor this a bit longer before running off to try flying some more.

I'm lucid enough to realize the path isn't right here --it splits into two before reaching the road again, when it's really just a driveway. There were probably other inconsistancies, there always are, but I didn't pick up on them this time. I cross the road by our house, and on the other side there's a veritable cliff, which I jump off of without a second thought. Now I start gliding, with varying success. I glide level for a bit, then start to drop faster, which eases up as I get closer to the ground. Here I'm wavering, sometimes falling a bit, sometimes staying level, and sometimes actually rising a bit. All while I'm gliding forward at a respectable speed. (I don't get the full effect of the wind on my skin, but I get some, and I consider this a success. It's certainly better than I normally manage.) As I start dipping towards the ground, approaching an ocean, my vision fades to black. It briefly comes back again when I land in the ocean. I turn around to see that I'm at the shore, and could climb up the beach, but the dream fades again before I can do much else.

09/19/2010

Subconscious Shenanigans (DILD)

NON-DREAM DREAM LUCID

Unfortunately I don't remember this one all that well (I need to work on recall!) but it was indeed alucid dream. I believe this was led into from another dream. From what I can remember, it seems as though I was lucid the entire time. I had intended to communicate with my subconscious the next time I became lucid, so that is what I was trying to do. I remember looking over a rather scenic landscape, and chatting with several people who are all parts of my subconscious, or so it seems. The scene pans quite a bit, and by the end I'm on a floating platform of sorts... tied to a tree, I think? I can't really remember.

Somewhere about halfway through the dream I notice that my "dream" only fills a rectangle in my field of vision. (Think the Animus from Assassin's Creed. I've been playing that a lot the past couple days.) I can see and hear my friend Andy off to the left, and he can hear what I'm saying to these parts of my subconscious. I'm not lucid enough to realize this isn't possible. As for what I actually ask my subconscious, I'm not quite sure. I know I didn't get to ask everything I wanted to. I only clearly remember the bit at the end, though I recall several people. There was also a robot sort of thing that I couldn't really understand. Mainly I was talking to this jolly, but VERY fat man. Towards the end he puts on a record which has some recorded burp-type sounds on a baseline of sorts, which I think is a meme I've heard. (It isn't, but sadly it isn't far off...)

I remember asking in joking disbelief, "have the memes really sunk in this far...?"

He responded, "Well, perhaps you haven't heard this one, but somebody did, on _____" (some website, I can't remember. Think like Pandora radio or Last.fm)

"So what, is it like in the hivemind then, or something?" I joked. I don't remember his response. Around this time, the one question I do remember asking is about having more lucid dreams, to which he answers, "Just be yourself, and keep doing what you've been doing." The advice doesn't seem too helpful, but on the other hand... I did something right. He ends up leaving saying, "Sorry, I gotta go. I'm gonna be on TV soon, you know."

"Yeah, I'm sure you're just wildly popular," I laugh. He motions to a woman that's there suggesting that she's the popular one. There was also some random man there, but I didn't end up talking to either of them. The dream faded before I got to ask the other questions I wanted to, like about intuition and the paranormal.