All DJ Entries

This was simply the most amazing lucid dream I've ever had. The description is long, but it's as abbreviated as I could get it -- the dream itself felt like it lasted an hour and a half! Absolutely unreal.

Just the thought of having another LD like this might be enough motivation to last me forever. All I can be is grateful.

Color legend: Non-dream Dream Lucid

Lucid #26: Transcendental Turkey Shoot

I'm a spectator in an arena where dueling teams of wizards battle it out with fire and ice spells. I'm ranting with another spectator about how terribly they're playing. The spectator says that "it's like they have no awareness!" Hearing about "awareness" instantly makes me lucid (thanks, subconscious!) and I run out of the stands into an outer hallway that's filled with dream characters.

I want to perform the Task of the Month which requires shooting turkeys with 17th century weaponry. I imagine that I have a huge bundle of preloaded flintlock muskets strapped to my back and it isn't long before turkeys start darting around in the crowd in front of me. I reach over my right shoulder, grab a musket, and aim it at a nearby turkey. I carefully aim and fire, the musket thundering and kicking my shoulder. The shot's a clean miss, and the DC's in the scene start running and screaming.

I toss my old musket aside and grab a new one from my "bundle". I keep catching sight of turkeys up ahead and I run after them, firing and missing time after time. I chase them onto the arena floor itself, the magical combat still raging wildly around me. I skate across a field of ice that's melting beneath the heat of a raging volcano, the floor nearly collapsing beneath me. It's vivid and exciting but what really has my attention is getting one of these turkeys.

I take a side door that leads me into a golden elevator. The elevator begins rising the moment that I enter and through its ornate viewing portals I see the shore of an island. I sense that this is an island filled with turkeys and I immediately dive through the portal, plunging headfirst toward the shallow water along the shoreline. I manage to float just in time to avoid a jarring landing and immediately spot a turkey ahead in the distance.

I run for miles, grabbing musket after musket off of my back and tossing them aside each time that I miss or get a "close call" that yields nothing but a puff of feathers. I even manage to cleanly hit 2 or 3 of them, but each time that I draw close I see that they were really just large pigeons. At one point I reach a narrow valley that's painted with brilliant, cartoon-like colors. I laugh, feeling elated and invincible, like I can run here forever.

After some time I chase a turkey deep underground through an old barrow. Dream characters join me and leave at times, all strangers. Eventually I run through a weapons display area that's arranged around a giant upright sarcophagus, but all the weaponry appears to be from the Egyptian Bronze Age, not the 17th century.

In the next room I stumble upon a sad, sullen group of friends and coworkers arranged around a board room table. They're being lorded over by some obnoxious stranger named "Rod" who announces that he's taking over our company and that I should "sit down and shut up". This annoys me, and I slap him so hard that it leaves a handprint on his face. He orders me not to do that, and in response I slap him hard enough to send him sprawling out of his chair. The others around the table applaud, and I jog out of the room, spotting daylight up ahead.

I emerge onto a dirt road and lean against the guardrail for a moment, thinking about how this is the first time that I've ever attacked a DC. I reflect on how thin my justification was and wonder how this relates to dream yoga's description of playing out negative "karmic traces". Unable to really digest the concept of karma in the dream state, I walk further along the road.

At the end of the road stands a Roman arch with golden light spilling out of the arch onto the roadway. The arch is designed roughly like the Arch of Constantine:



When I approach the arch, an enormous flock of brilliantly glowing turkeys goes flying through the arch, passing right overhead! It must be hundreds of them. This kicks up a rush of wind that picks me up off of the road, lays me flat on my back, and carries me gently backward as the stream of turkeys goes flying by above me. It's beautiful and serene and I'm overcome with bliss and elation. I can't stop laughing at how incredible it all is.

The wind sets me down some distance from the arch and my friend A is standing nearby, smiling at my reaction. He asks how much longer I think this LD can last. I say that I don't know but that it feels like it's been an hour and a half. I tell him that I took some B6 and wonder whether that will change the dream's length. Gently, I wake up, still blown away by what I just experienced.

I find myself on thoutside of an arena waiting for a Mach to start so I can enter, numorus people around me do the same. The only thing that deprecates us from the arena is a short metal fence. I decide to go for a diamond sward when the mach starts. It starts and I teleport inside the fence and onto a parapet like stone ring around the central area (a dirt arena) a chat menu pops up in frount of my face and I "type" /give diamond sword, and a fine sward constructed of blue diamond pops into my hand. With that I am off and anyone in my path I slash with the rare sward and they teleport outside the fence. Then I get to a person with a diamond staff. I know my sward is superior and I swing ofer head but he blocks it, with no hesitation a make a short and fast swing for his chest and I succeed.( As the dream fades the last thing I remember is meeting one of my old friends on the perapit)

Adding Up
I remember being at church with my family. I was sitting at another table beside them. In the background, i could see people walking around and talking and laughing, meaning the service was over. My mom and I were adding up something on our notes paper, I don't know why. I remember asking her, "What did you get?"

Seven Lanes; Really?
We were driving home. It looked like I was in third person. But I wasn't looking at just my car, I was looking at others too. It was nighttime. I remember our car coming up to our turn that enters the neighborhood we live in. Instead of just two lanes, it looked like seven lanes; for about six cars were stopped in the last six, for I could only squeeze into the last one.

There also was a stoplight here where it shouldn't have been. I remember thinking to myself, "this car should do this," or "that car should do that." The car to the right of us got tired of waiting at the stoplight and backed away, leaving an empty lane for another driver.

Rally
I was with my family at my school. We were having some sort of really big event.
I remember our gym grew into a big arena. I was a cheerleader, so I remember standing in the stands with all the other cheerleaders.

The event hadn't started yet, so I decided to walk outside. For some reason my cat was walking around outside, so I picked her up. I carried her around to the courtyard. I heard a buzzing lawn mower behind me. My cat tensed up, scared of the loud noise.

There was some steps up to a door leading to a classroom from the outside. I decided to walk up the stairs and enter the door. As soon as I did, my other cat (who's been missing for about a year) jumped onto the platform.

My cat tensed up again and hissed at him. The other cat cocked his head to the side. I ran through the door and the other cat followed me. I reached some sort of dressing room that was inside the arena. My sister Ken was inside there holding what looked like a baby. Some kind of radio was on. I walked over to a table and put my cat down. Then the black cat jumped onto a table.

Then my cat got so mad she blew up into what looked like different colored boxes. Weird right? The black cat did the same thing. I stood there, my mouth open, with Ken still listening to music.
Then I woke up.

So do to having to finish and edit a speech project by the next day i skipped a night of sleep, needless to say I fell asleep fast the next night and had a pretty interesting dream.

It starts out with me getting off the bus. Apparently I'm on a class field trip. I'm amazed by my surrounding. I'm standing in a huge city only there is something off about it. Everything looks new and bright. The street is wide ans is brick rather than paved. Looking straight forward you can't see the horizon because the buildings are to tall. You can only see the sky if you look up. There are what seem to be two moons but it's daytime, yet you can see stars, it's like the world paused at twilight. The buildings a huge making my seem very small. Everything is close together. I also see rows and rows of fast flying hover cars going past. To top everything off there if a snake like train that is following the track thought the sky, much like a roller coaster only the track doesn't seem to touch the ground anywhere. I say snake like because was corkscrewing around the track like a snake climbing up a pole. It was all breath taking and I was taking pictures and almost crying joy.

I'm with my class and they all seem just as happy. The teacher starts explaining that we are on another planet. I look at the people who are walking down the street. They look human but no one has any emotions. They walk on with blank faces. I start to get a unsettling feeling. It was odd to see that we were the only ones talking or showing emotion. Another odd thing is I only saw alien men. There were girls in my class other than me but all the native people were guys, all in suits holding brief-cases. It was a bit scary really. I just shrug this off though and a small group of my friends in my class go off on our own to explore. We go to this really cool looking restaurant. It's inside but when you walk in it looks like your going outside into nighttime. It's really epic. The scenery looks like France or Paris.

Some stuff happens that I really don't remember well. Then I meet the first Alien women. She is some kind of leader or queen. At first she seems good and shows us around but slowly I start to see there is something wrong with her. There are moments when she does something crazy or mean. Finally I find out that on this planet there are about 5% women and 95% men. The women are like the Leaders and boss the men around who don't seem to have any emotions or thoughts for themselves. And way this women is the leader of leaders and she hates men. She kidnaps on of my guy friends and the only way to get him back is back fighting in this big arena. The arena is like you stereotypical arena by with a future twist. There are future like weapons and you can see hover cars flying over head.

I woke up before any real fighting. Dang you alarm clock

And now for something completely different. I'll increase production quality in the future. This was just a proof of concept.

??.1.2012

A Real Gem (DILD)

★★★★★

NON-DREAM DREAM LUCID

She looked at me longingly, as I stood from my seat, the crowds still pouring into the stadium around us. Smiling lovingly, I reassure her: ”It’s alright. I’m just leaving to have a bit of fun. These kinds of gigs don’t really appeal to me.”

Like the dear she is, my girlfriend understands immediately and returns my affectionate smile, ”Go on, then.” Finally, with her blessing I take to the air, gliding up, above the crowds, out to the mountaintop. Rich, sapphire skies and lush, emerald trees rise to greet me as I leave the dark, grey, architecture of the stadium below me. I land in the arena for the previous event, a large, rectangular area paneled with planks of polished cypress and other beautiful grains. Briefly, I think back to the highlighter duel, and it’s laser-tag-like shenanigans, but it doesn’t take me long to start having a different kind of fun.

Whipping out a deck of old yu-gi-oh cards, I summon myself a Blue Eyes White Dragon, and sure enough, one appears before my eyes in a brilliant flash of swirling light, but this is no hologram. It’s as real as I am, I muse in wonderment, approaching the beast with an outstretched hand. He, Yes, he, accepts my challenge for control and allows me to jump on his back. Without warning, the dragon ploughs forward and leaps off the mountainside, throwing us both into an ever quickening plunge. I hold on for everything I’m worth as the ground below rushes up to greet me. Yet, I have nothing to fear, for the dragon is as controlled as it is deadly. Before the two of us can become a single, red smear on the rock-face, the diamond-eye’d beauty opens it’s jagged, almost crystalline wings. We’re flying.

What follows is an exhilarating journey, through clouds and rolling plateaus covered in picturesque, jade grass, stone windmills and thatch cottages. It’s all I can do to keep my grip on his smooth, armored back--especially traveling at such speeds--but I manage alright. My reward is the experience of a lifetime: surreal, exhilarating, yet strangely calming. In this moment, I’m at peace with myself and the dreamworld around me.

Okay so once I had gotten into the dream, I wasn't really sure where the crap i was right?...So I decided to take a tour only to be confronted by a guy that reminded me of a marshmellow with legs...but anyways he takes me outside to this big Arena, and hands me a wooden Nobadi (sp) what this is a basic 50 ft bladed sword, but for some reason i held it like it weighed nothing.....anywaysssss, the arena hard large pillars at diffrent heights, gussing that you could jump on them, well a big gong sounded and I did only to be confronted by some people, 4, from some place called black star academy right? and it sorta turned into a dual, then transitioned into some sorta like......idk tag by getting smacked with the wooden wepon you had....and the dream sorta went on like that ending in me winning 42 evens @[email protected] yup thats the most recent dream ^_^;

Lucid
Dream
Non-Dream

Dream 1:
I am on a mission. Sark is there. I am transported from my small plane to the water. I travel on some strange box-like boat that can only fit one person into a cave at the edge of the water. My father is behind bars on one end of the cave, and Sark is behind bars at the other. They argue and eventually some kind of agreement is reached. As I am leaving, I mouth "you're good" to Sark, and feel quite stupid about myself for saying such strange things.



*Note: Sark is the villian in a series I am watching at the moment called Alias. He is quite a good looking villian

Dream 2:
I was in a fight between two teams in an arena. The arena appeared to be similar to the Colmen Centre at school (large indoor sports centre used for assemblies) and I was on the mezzanine floor near the far right corner. I played a very important role in the fight because I was the healer, and a very good one at that. I used my mind power to conjur coloured mists and lights around my fellow team members to heal them. I could also conjur red sparks to attack the other team. Sometimes I also summoned red clouds which caused intense itching. After a short struggle, we won the game.

When I finished I went down the stairs and sat on the ground with these two little girls. The ground was covered in brown bark, trinkets and toys. We picked up the toys with chocolate balls in them and popped the chocolate in our mouths. I decided I didn’t want to go back to class, instead I would stay here with the girls. One of the girls left and I discovered that the remaining girl was quite intelligent, despite her young age. We talked in all seriousness for a short time. Much to my dislike, the teacher that had been patrolling the area spotted me and the girl. However, she only told me to sit on a chair instead of standing up. Shoving an extremely tall chair beneath me, the teacher made sure I was sitting down and then left.

Eventually I decided I had to go back to class. But for some reason I was in Brisbane Grammar School (another school around my area) which was apparently connected onto my school. I tried to find my way out, seeing that there were many students that I recognized who were also lost and trying to find their way out. I followed them for a little bit, thinking it was better to stick with somebody I vaguely knew than to go off on my own in a foreign place.

I vaguely remember there being love in my dream, but I don’t remember if I was the one feeling it or somebody else was. Or possibly I was, then I changed characters. I specifically remember being with my close friend Amsie and there was a couple kissing next to us. We were laughing about it and timing how long they kissed for on my IPod. We recorded 2 minutes and 34 seconds.

I was in some kind of arena again. I was on one side of the arena, but I had to quickly get to the other before I became trapped by the water in between. The water was quickly rising and I had to race across the sand. There were others in front of me that seemed to have no problem with running across the sand, yet I was significantly slowed by it. However, I still made it in time.

The scene changed. An evil rainbow, white gremlin/alien creature forced me to become a replica of itself. The creature in fact, looked a little bit similar in body shape to Squidward from Spongebob. I had to go around a shopping centre and dance with a line of people in pretty dresses. Or, to be more accurate, dance with a line of dresses with people. Some of them judged me on my dancing out of 10. I specifically remember receiving a 4 because I did not know I was being judged. The second score I received was a 7, which I was quite happy with. At the climax of the dream, the police/judges discovered what the evil gremlin thing was. I waved my hands and signalled that I was just a replica. I was not the evil gremlin thing, it was. From there I had to run for my life around the supermarket to escape the gremlin. I shook off my disguise as I went. It all turned out well in the end, although I do not remember the specific ending.

Side notes: I woke up at about 2:00 am after my first dream, but did not wish to move and write it down. I regret this greatly as I can only remember a tiny fragment from this dream which at 2 am sounded amazing. I wish I remembered more from my second dream also, because I know there are exciting parts that I cannot recall.

I used to keep a dream journal while I teen (I was more interested at that time about dream interpretation), but now as I want to learn to attain lucidity, I've decided to keep another journal to see how I progress.

I guess the first dreams will be regular dreams. Hope eventually they will turn to LDs.

So here is part of my last dream early in the morning. Couldn't recall everything, usually I seem to be able to recall the last part. Must work on this.

Oct. 3, 2011

I was in a room with P. (my ex-boss and also a friend) next to me on one side (sitting at a desk) and another person at the other side. We were sitting and discussing something.

Next I remember I was walking with some other people in line and there was a road down and one up. Most went up but I chose to go the down road. A guy (somehow he was familiar and I kind of liked him, I think he's an actor in RL - it was probl. why I went downwards) came with me.

At some point we got next to a door. I then realized that I would die once I got to the other side of that door (executed, killed - somehow Nazi stuff came to mind there). I asked the guy if I will die. And the guy said yes, but we can stop for a minute to delay it a bit. Then we stopped at the door to rest.

Next I know, I was running back and went to the upper road, with the line of people going upwards. There was an older man (somebody important) and I somehow got next to him. He had in his hands a thread like a black shoelace that he was playing with.

We went to some kind of arena and we sat down, and the young guy came running after me. I was afraid that the older guy will let him take me away, but while he looked sadly over me disappointed that actually took the road going down earlier on and that I ran away, he didn't let him take me away, so I continued sitting down there next to the older person...That's pretty much what I remember before waking up.

Good morning, everybody.

Dream #1

There was some kind of temple, which almost looked like an indoor sports arena. There seemed to be a huge crowd of people all around, with pale, cold, white spotlights on the center of the arena.

There was an altar, which was like a stone cube jutting up from the floor. The altar was burning hot and blackened with heat and smoke. A person was chained on the altar. The person's legs were chained from above, so that the legs were lifted a couple of inches above the rest of the body. The arms were possibly chained to the side of the person's body. The person may also have had some kind of blackened blanket over the torso and upper legs.

The person being burnt on the altar wasn't just being burnt as part of some religious ritual. The person knew or did something against some powerful people. So the person was being ritually murdered. I may also have thought that something I had done had angered the powerful people. So when they sacrificed the person, it was to punish me. And the person who got sacrificed would know this as well as I did.

I saw a few white pieces or paper or white screens with black writing on them. The black writing was broken up by occasional words printed in orange lettering. The highlighted words were probably one recurrent word. The recurrent word seemed really important to me. (So of course I've forgotten it now.)

I saw the altar again. This time I got a good glimpse of the person chained on the altar. He looked like a black-Hispanic man with lightish brown skin. He was kind of muscular. He had "tribal"-style tattoos on his shoulders and arms and, maybe, his chest. He seemed to be writhing in pain. Parts of his body were already blackened by being on the altar -- from either the heat or the smoke.

I followed the priest from the altar to some other spot on the stage. The priest may have been a man very much like the man being sacrificed. He may also have been a wizard-like figure, with a long beard and dressed in a long, black or brown robe with a huge hood.

I looked to the altar again. There was now an Asian woman on the altar. She was naked, except for the blanket over her. Her uncharred skin was pale. But she was mostly charred or smoke-blackened. She seemed to be in a great deal of pain. She was sweating a lot and writhing around a lot, trying to get out of the heavy chains.

I dreamt I was in one of three arena-like settings. One with a large spider overhead, one with two fighting triceratops an one with two boxing kangaroos. I was in the spider's arena where a giant spider overhead (like 200ft across? Yeah.) was dropping large sphere-shaped blobs on me as I tried to pop them with a stick or something. I remember getting paid a couple thousand bucks everytime I did it without getting hit.

Comment Dream Lucid
Amount of sleep: 10.5 hours
Supplement before sleep: Fanta exotic
Epic: 8.1/10
Real: 6.5/10


I was in a house that felt like being on top of a mountain. I was at a guy who had injured himself. the house was designed as a large aircraft. I knew none of those who was there.
The house was almost like our cabin only reversed, it was stairs going down instead of up, the rooms were almost the same place, and the kitchen and living room was where they should be.

Later I went skiing or something in a high mountain pass, it was a dive on one side and a large frozen lake on the other side. (Clear references to our cabin and the cabin area of these dreams) I was with a large group, I would see off the cliff next to a stick that was sticking up with a red banner on it. (Just as those who show the way in the desert in the game Ocarina of Time) I slid down, but no one helped me up, but I got myself up. there was a lady (with dark hair, but not the same woman as before) who said that I should slope down in the hill there. I said that I would break every bone in my body. she said what and I said then we would have to go to the hospital. On my way up I saw a red banner over the lake.(Maybe showing me another path here) The whole group was heading towards a cave, right by where I slid down. (It was more of the banners farther away, I drew a drawing.

I landed at an airport. It was like the airport was high in the sky also, the gates floated, and it looked like a space station. Then suddenly I was down under the platforms (the gates). It was a football field. I think it was a local team playing. The arena was bigger than any football court I have seen, but there were no people in the stands, for there were no spectators, only big fat walls. I sat down in a staircase. the walls were blue, and of plastic, as were the stairs, just like you'd expect in a swimming hall. but the color of the stairs was gray. there were white lines under the blue. Some of my buddies walked towards me, so then I ran up the stairs, and was on top again.

I was high in the sky all the time in these dreams. I dunno why. I also dreamt that I got my paycheck somewhere in those dreams. I wonder if the numbers are correct with what I actually get.

I drifted off to a very light sleep just after Coach's Corner with Don Cherry and Ron McClaine at the first intermission of a Toronto Maple Leafs at Vancouver Canucks game. Although there was much imagery and happening that made it obvious I was in a dream, the hockey commentary could be heard the whole time and was not garbled or altered by the dream state.


The dream starts off with me in a small hockey arena skating around the rink and batting hockey pucks thrown at me by my teammates like baseballs into the net. A couple of visiting hockey coaches asked me how I knew how to do that so accurately and I told them that my paternal grandfather taught me how. My coaches took me out to a secluded road out in the country side that was covered in ice. The coach tied a rope around my waist and pulled me behind a truck while I tried to throw pucks into hockey nets along the side of the road. This unusual practice lasted until early afternoon when the coaches returned to the arena and told the team that practice was over and we were invited to watch the Toronto at Vancouver game on another ice rink within the same arena.

I wandered though the halls of the arena and found myself in a changing room lined with portopotties and small cubicles where professional hockey players were changing. I did not see anyone I recognized until the last minute when I saw Canucks lead goalie Roberto Luongo sitting in his gear, looking at me with a wry and amused smile on his face but I was then escorted out by a security guard and directed to the rink where the hockey game had started. I was in the second of three seating levels and thought it has weird that the game was playing in such a small arena and that there were not very many spectators there for an offical NHL game. For some reason I had no jacket but a large and very warm brown blanket which I wrapped around me like a cloak.

The game was in the first intermission so I got up and explored the arena and by the hallways and the layout I believed I was in a high school of some sort. The hallways began changing and the layout became confusing and I believed that the arena was changing shape at random since I could not find my was back to the second level seating area, which was very frustrating but understandable because I know that my dreams frequently do stuff like that. When the game started again I could hear the hockey commentary as clear as day, so I was aware that the game was on but I could not find my way back to the ice rink. I found several rooms where people were watching the game on small television sets or just sitting listening to the commentaty and staring at the walls but I could not find the ice rink no matter where I looked. Even though I could hear the Toronto/Vancouver game the images on the television sets were of Toronto Maple Leafs vs. the Montreal Canadiens game. I went up a set of stairs and found the nosebleed section (third level seating) of an ice rink but I found that it overlooked a basketball court where small children were playing with random non hockey related toys.

I wandered around the arena some more before I found my way to a small area behind the arena that looked like a garden admist fall where some more small children were playing in the fallen leaves. I wrapped the blanket tightly around me and walked through the garden and into a narrow alleyway at the side of the arena. There was a large man standing in the dark in the lonely alley and when I got closer I realized that it was Roberto Luongo, still in his full hockey gear (minus his helmet), and who seemed to be waiting for me. I was all embarassed at first and did not know what to say but he broke the silence by asking my who my favourite hockey team was and I sheepishly responded that the Montreal Canadiens were my favourite and that my second favourite team was a toss up between the Toronto Maple Leafs and Vancouver Canucks. Luongo just laughed in response though it seemed to me that he was a bit disappointed that I had not mentioned his team as my favourite -- though I did make a point of mentioning afterwards that even though the Montreal Canadiens were my favourite team that he was my favourite goalie currently playing in the NHL and that Carrie Price (lead goalie of the Canadiens) was my second, which made Luongo very happy. Every time he smiled at me I felt my heart stir and started to believe that I was falling in love with him even though I was vaguly aware that I was in a dream and was not really talking to Roberto Luongo but an aspect of my subconscious that had taken his form.

We talked about hockey for a while but our conversation soon became more intellectual and we were talking about these deep universal things which were very personal and spiritual and I was surprised that we shared many beliefs and agreed on a lot of things. Unfortunately I cannot remember any of the details of that conversation because even though I was talking to him I was still hearing the Toronto/Vancouver game loud and clear as if I was right there at the game. I was just going to ask Mr. Luongo how he could be there talking with me while he was at the same time playing goalie in the game when suddenly the hockey commentators said that Toronto finally scored early in the third period after trailing by 2-0. I was very happy and excited and my light sleep faded and I woke up to see the game still playing and indeed Toronto had just scored early in the third period after trailing 2-0. This convinced me that my mind was still focused on listening to the game even though I was dreaming.


I later watched the replay of the game a few hours later and everything I had heard from the hockey commentators in my dream had indeed been said during the gameplay and I thought that was really cool because I have never simutaneously listened to something happening outside of my subconscious and dreamed at the same time.

(Good morning, everybody. I remember one dream from last night.

The character in my dream definitely looks like a person I know from waking life. I don't know him personally, but he goes to certain art events I also attend, including one last night.

He's not at all like the person in the dream. He's really cool and insightful. So I don't know why I dreamt of him being this way.)

Dream #1

I sat at an anime fest, in a place like a basketball arena. It was like everybody who had come to attend the festival were sitting in bleachers, looking down to a stage-like area that would be where the basketball court was. The seating section, as big as in any pro basketball arena, was completely packed.

I sat near the front row. The row I sat in had a big, wooden bannister before it, which kind of reminds me of the front railing in the public area in a court room, or of the balcony area where the public sits during government sessions in capitols.

The area where the basketball court would be was full, probably with artists' booths. But the festival patrons weren't going down there.

We were all watching some presentation given to us by some white man who was apparently a manga artist. The man may have been tall, a little overweight, balding, with red-brown hair, and red-tan skin. He may have been wearing a kind of old, green sweatshirt and blue jeans.

When the man's presentation was finished, the man announced that we could all come down to his booth. He had a black binder full of his manga art, and he informed us that we could each choose our favorite female manga character out of the binder and take the page for free. He might also have said he would sign the page.

An overweight, black man about my age, with thick glasses and wearing a dark blue sweatshirt, sat to my left. He said, probably to me, in a joking-confiding way, "Well, everybody who's in line behind me better get ready to wait a long time. Cause I'm gonna take my time going through that book until I find my favorite anime girl."

Some announcer called each person down by name. They called the man. Right after that, they called me. I stood behind the man as he slowly flipped through the pages of the binder.

The binder was huge, full of pages. The pages were probably all in individual plastic sleeves. The art looked very pencil-y but very professional. Some of the art was in grey pencil. Some was in blue pencil.

The man pulled something out of his pocket that looked like a cell-phone-sized laptop. He checked the time, put the device back in his pocket, and went back to leafing slowly through the pages.

I was trying really hard to think to myself who my favorite manga character was. All I could come up with was Jasmine from Disney's Aladdin. I thought I should be able to come up with a character better than that. But I figured that maybe Jasmine from Aladdin really was my favorite manga character.

The man had flipped all the way to the end of the binder. Then, saying out loud that he didn't see a manga girl he liked yet, he began flipping backward through the binder.

As I watched the man flip through the pages of the binder, I saw a number of drawings of Jasmine. I figured I'd be happy with just about any of those drawings. Seeing all these Jasmine drawings, I was starting to get impatient with the man. I could have had a perfectly fine picture and been gone by now. But this man wouldn't stop taking his turn!

The man pulled his "phone" back out of his pocket and looked at the time again. The phone indicated that he'd been flipping through the book for 20 or 22 minutes by now. (The phone may not have been showing the time. It may actually been timing the man as he flipped through the pages.)

The man nodded approval at the time, put his phone back in his pocket, and began flipping slowly through the binder again. He may have gone all the way backward through the binder and started flipping forward again.