dream fragment

Took a nice nap this afternoon. There was an interesting start, as I had some trouble transitioning, and I kind of got stuck between the real and dream worlds - distinctly hearing my roommate typing away on his keyboard but also interacting with my DCs at the same time. I kind of went back and forth in and out of sleep, until I finally got a nice long dream.

I don't remember exactly how everything pieced together, but I had three distinct scenes. First, I was at work, working the support desk at my college's computer lab. An Asian girl and her 2 friends walked up and asked for help with her computer. I tried to take a look at it, but she suddenly came around the desk, leaned her head on my shoulder, and started flirting with me. I asked her to back up, but she moved in closer. I remembered that it was just a dream, so I shouted at her "You're not even real!" and ran away.

The next scene was in some kind of warehouse. I was in the back trying to figure out what to do in my lucid. I remembered the TOTMs. I decided to start with the Expecto Patronum one. I first tried with just twirling my hand in the air and shouting "Expecto Patronum", but nothing happened. OK, maybe I need a wand of some kind. I happened to find a plastic straw. Well, gotta make do with what you've got. I spun the straw in the air and shouted the words, and this time I saw a trail of smoke run in a line across the floor. I tried once again, and this time the line of smoke was larger and more noticeable. I tried one last time, this time moving the "wand" in the air until I saw a blue aura around it. "Expecto Patronum!" The blue smoke shot to the ground, and suddenly a long snake appeared along the smoke line on the ground. The snake was about 15 feet long and started to move toward me. I tried to go around on the other side of it, but its mouth suddenly turned into the mouth of a crocodile and snapped at me. I dodged out of the way and kept walking.

Finally, there was a scene where I was looking for a fortune cookie for another TOTM. Well, I'll probably find one in this kitchen. I walked through a door into the kitchen at my old house. I walked to the sink, and sure enough, there was a fortune cookie there. I opened it up and ate half of it before reading the inside. I pulled out the paper and unraveled it. All it said was the word "Help". Help? That's it? I looked inside the cookie to see 3 more papers bunched up inside. I took out the first one. "Me." And the second one. "I'm." Finally, I read the last paper. "A cookie." Okay, genius, you got me... I then proceeded to rip up the papers and eat the other half of the cookie before eventually waking up.

So I've decided to do a 30-day challenge of using the SSILD technique. I have experimented with the technique before with somewhat mixed success. So this time I'm going to use nothing but SSILD for the next 30 days and record how many LD's and FA's I get. So here we go:

Day 1

I went to bed a little bit after midnight, and woke up at 5:45 am. I went to the bathroom and then performed the SSILD cycles while focusing on my breath, WILD style. I distinctly remember 4 dreams, and one little scene from a 5th dream.

1. I was doing some kind of cross-country trip (except I was walking, but whatever). We were going across this long patch of ice that was pretty much a road. There were a lot of people on the ice, like it was a public pool or something. There was also a sign about how if you fall in the water, there are flying "superdogs" patrolling to lift you to safety. I went across the first time without much trouble, as it was mostly downhill and I was able to slide the whole way. The way back, however, was much harder. I got to a thin part of the ice and fell in. However, the water wasn't that cold, and I was able to pull myself back up onto the ice.

2. In this dream, I was sort of more of a passive observer. I was not part of the actual story, but I could see the whole thing and move about freely (kind of like the cutscenes in Half-Life). The story took place in some kind of hotel suite. This girl that looked like Selena Gomez was basically hiding from the police in the hotel room of this other guy. After a while, there was a knock at the door. The girl (I'll just call her Selena) ran to go hide, while the guy opened the door. It was my two RA's at college and two police officers coming to search his room. That dream soon ended, however.

3. I was working at my job as a cashier at a grocery store (don't mock, it's a summer job...). It was absolutely swamped, almost as bad as Christmas or Thanksgiving. The lines were backing up, and I was trying to work as quickly as possible. Unfortunately, nothing was going right. One lady walked out without paying after I told her her total, and on one order the printer completely shredded the receipt, and when I went back to reprint it, I couldn't find the button to do it. My supervisor came over and said something to me about showing up for work 3 hours late. I realized that I couldn't remember why I showed up so late or what I had been doing earlier that day. I thought, "Maybe this is a dream!" I wanted to take on the TOTM, but I wanted to make absolutely sure I was dreaming since actually getting naked at work IRL is kind of frowned upon. I looked for something out of the ordinary to prove that it was a dream, and sure enough, there was this big glass structure over my register, kind of like a big version of those glass shelters at bus stops. I was then confident that I was dreaming. I got out from behind my cash register and went to the front of the store. I shouted, "Excuse me, everyone, may I have your attention please?" I then proceeded to take off my clothes, which were a little tight, almost like they were made of spandex. I then shouted, "I'm naked!" No one seemed to pay attention though. I then went on to do other things, while naked, for a minute or two until I woke up.

I woke up at about 7:30 am. I wrote down these dreams in my journal, and did kind of a shortened version of the SSILD before I went back to sleep.

4. I was some kind of ghost zombie killer/treasure hunter. It was like some video game where I had to shoot these monsters while also going in the cave to collect treasure. The cave looked like it was at Disney World or some theme park or something. I had to go inside, grab this idol, and get out before the cave collapsed. I did this about two or three times. The last time, however, these three kids (about 10 or 11 in age) that I apparently knew followed me in. I grabbed the idol and turned around to find them behind me. I urged them to get out before the place collapsed. Two of them went ahead of me, but one decided to take up the rear and follow me. When I got to the exit, though, he was gone. I knew that I had to go back in and find him. I ran back through the collapsing cave and found a secret exit through this lake of some sort. It led me outside back to the entrance of the cave. I got out of the water and noticed this girl (pretty sure it was Selena again) acting suspicious. I decided to keep an eye on her. She went around this corner and had a confrontation with this lady, who I assumed was her mom. They fought, but then went around the corner out of sight. After a couple seconds, Selena came back around the corner. When she noticed me, she kind of panicked, screamed "I didn't mean to do it," and ran away. I could tell by her response and by the dramatic music starting that something bad had happened. I turned to the people behind me and told them to call 911. I ran around the corner to find Selena's mom and dad both stabbed in the heart, dead. I asked someone standing nearby what had happened, but they just told me basically gibberish. Soon after, I woke up.

5. (This fifth "dream" is technically just a dream scene. I don't remember when in the night it occurred, and I don't remember any other part of the dream other than this, but apparently I was lucid since I remembered my lucid intentions and fulfilled one of them.) I was in some kind of trench, sliding down into this abyss. I remembered that I wanted to meet my dream guide, and that he could help me. (I had already predetermined that I wanted my dream guide to be a large wolf-like creature named Bartholomew with fiery orange hair and the voice of Liam Neeson... yeah...) I tried to imagine him coming to my rescue, and he did, although he had just plain gray fur. He pulled me out of the trench to safety. After I was safe on solid ground, I asked him what his name was, and he replied with a low-pitched, "Bartholomew." I wanted to ask him some questions, but I soon either woke up or lost lucidity.

So, overall, I'd say a successful day 1 of SSILD. Technically 2 LD's in one night, which is a record for me, I believe. Can't wait to see what happens the next 29 days.

Day 1: LD - 2, FA - 0