I had a very bizarre dream that I'm compelled to document. It wasn't quite lucid, but...well, read on. Early as I can remember, I was in heaven in what looked like a cross between a mall and a cathedral. It was very crowded. By chance I found the man who had murdered me in heaven also. I declared that I was going to kill him (smite his soul or whatever) and that the Angel of Vengeance was on my side. After this short monologue I was about to attack the guy, but before I could do anything he stabbed me, killing me. After a short delay I was reborn as an angel of vengeance, called a One (Something--I can't quite recall what, it wasn't "Winged", I think it started with an M) Angel, and not just one--it seems as I had spawned as a squad of armed angels. It seems that this rebirth had taken some time, since after returning the man had been long gone. I searched heaven looking for the man but could not find him. Instead I returned to Earth and, running out of patience, I began to kill anyone who looked like the guy (from the start of the fight to here, the dream passed as some sort of weird top-down camera strategy RPG). It seems that to end my rampage I was returned to Earth with no memory except the name "One (Whatever) Angel". The dream then seemed to follow me on a search to find out what this name meant. I began by asking clergy or people who seemed religious; they all either straight-faced denied that they exist or looked at me in shock and horror and told me to get away from them. As my search went on with no answers I began just asking random strangers (my search took me to a drink stand just as it was closing in what was some in-dream deja vu, as I'd recognized this even from a deep early part of the dream that I don't now remember). Early on in my search I'd come across a girl who had overheard me asking questions at some point and had taken an interest in me. She eventually explained to me that she could help me remember everything through a process that involved dreams (vaguely Inception-style); I seemed to have a vague understanding of this process already and was firmly against it for a while. As time went on and my search for answers grew more desperate I eventually agreed to try it. It was to take place in what looked like some sort of park. As I entered, I came in behind an old, black lady accompanied by a young child. I recognized the old lady as someone I had previously asked about the angel who was disturbed by my question. The child stopped ahead of her and turned around, he asked, "Are you sure you want to do this? It could be the last time..." to which the old lady responded with something about helping these troubled young folk. I followed them to where the girl was waiting for us (I'm going to give her the name Ashley, it seems to fit my memory). In addition to the old, black woman (let's call her Oracle, since she looked like the latter version from the Matrix), Jon Voight was (apparently) helping us. They explained that Ashley would have to sit/lay on top of me in order to merge our dreams and gave me a large bag to put over my butt since apparently the process had several unpleasant side effects (supposedly most people shat themselves upon coming out of it). I sat down on a bench and they gave me some sort of injection and then immediately I was in the back (left) seat of a car, with Ashley sitting to my left, the others in the front (Jon Voight driving). I explained to them that I was once an oneironaught myself and briefly described my first lucid dream. As if to reply and boast of his own lucid dreaming skill, Jon Voight turned his head into an inflated version of Ashley's head. We all laughed, but I noticed that the situation was rather strange so I did a reality check that failed. I quickly exclaimed, "Holy shit, we're dreaming already! That's amazing." Then I looked over at Ashley, who was looking at me also, however she appeared out of it or drunk. I noted here that despite the reality check failing I didn't seem to be able to exert any lucid control; at the time I attributed this to the process occurring in the overarching dream storyline but now that I think about it after the fact it seemed kind of weird. At this point I had a very brief false awakening (I only remember because I awoke to a lit room before actually awakening) which was followed quickly by an actual awakening. I'm not going to count this among my lucid dreams being as it fit into the context of the dream that my reality check would fail (maybe this also explains my apparent lack of dream control). It was a curious experience. I'm a little disappointed I didn't get to see the end to my search for answers.
Had two sequences I could recall, except that the latter was generic and barely memorable except that it was basically just a game of HoN. In the former Laura and I were driving down 25th street north of main avenue at night in the rain. As we reached main avenue I somehow didn't notice the light was red until it was too late. I swerved left to avoid another vehicle but then drifted straight ahead (presumably due to the rain). As we were drifting we were hit by a very large vehicle that looked like a train heading east along main avenue and it pushed us several blocks before stopping. Laura and I got out of the car (unharmed) and called the police to report an accident. Afterwards several people got out of the train car and then proceeded to verbally abuse us at length for quite some time. I recall being frustrated that it was taking the police so long to get there, especially since I'd noticed a police car shortly before the accident.
again, non-lucid. i really need to improve on getting lucid. anyways, i was in what seemed to be an RPG. i had a party of me, my mum, my friend jake, and what seemed to be a form of my friend catherine. there were loads of puzzles we had to do, (in standared RPG format) and we progressed. what was interesting is that there ws an ice lolly stool, just randomly placed in the dungon/classroom/corridor/idk, and it selled mountian due slush in a cone. i found that strange. the last i remember of my dream is me doing a super-long cutscene move/attack in which i turned into matt smith and smeared lipstick all over my face, and the did a morris dance. then the raw awsomeness of that attack woke me up. maybe. or it could have been my mum. i did remember alot more of this dream, but my pen for my solid DJ feel down the side of my bed. of, and i relized that my dream sign is....wait for it....my friend jake! he's not going to like that though. he thinks lucid dreams are a load of balloney. so when everytime he walks up to me i do a RC, hes going to get very mad, very fast. oh wells.
I just woke up, and in my half-awakening I was in a combination of frustration at my mini dry spell and thinking about news footage of Yo-Yo Ma's death. Fortunately it occurred to me that Yo-Yo Ma was neither dead nor yet elderly. The dream apparently consisted of what seemed like security/surveillance footage of a very old Yo-Yo Ma and another old woman who was apparently his wife, overlaid with what was either my own inner monologue or some sort of news commentary (or a combination thereof). The story centered around the fact that they, both wheelchair bound and frail, had entered separate hot tubs to relax, however once they wanted to leave, nobody would help them out of the hot tub (which seemed to be just a pit in the ground with no stairs or anything to exit). Yo-Yo Ma had apparently already died from being trapped in there with no help, which was what warranted the media buzz. Most of the imagery I remember was of his wife now having the same problem. Several people were standing outside the hot tub, refusing to help the old lady out. The hot tub had been drained and her wheel chair was there. She had a younger handmaiden with her, but she too refused to help the old lady out, though she would occasionally help her back into her wheel chair. Inspiration for this dream seems to have come partly from the fact that we were working short-staffed at the retail pharmacy I'm on rotation at now last Friday, so I was able to hijack the radio for some classical music. Sometime during the day they played Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring, featuring Yo-Yo Ma. For readers who don't know who this is, Yo-Yo Ma is a Chinese cello prodigy and, while I was still a classical musician, was considered to be the greatest cello player in the world. I have a vague memory of what may have been a larger/longer, more complex dream, but all I really have of it is the memory that it may have existed. Edit: Added that little explanation of who Yo-Yo Ma is for the curious. Also, taking this edit opportunity to add here that following this, since it woke me up fairly early, I tried to do some WILD (this would make it attempt #3, with the previous two being during late afternoon naps) but with no measurable success. I gave up after my wife shifting around a bit broke what focus I had left and just fell asleep normally, where I put a huge dent in my "dry spell" and experienced the following entry.
Updated 08-29-2010 at 12:55 PM by 35086 (Late morning cleanup, addendum)
Another fragment/short sequence this morning. I was with my family again and we'd just arrived at a restaurant for dinner. As we got out of our vehicle we notice we'd parked next to a really cool looking pickup truck that was painted all in gold. There was a post in the bed of the pickup on which was mounted a video camera, so I figured whomever owned it was using it to shoot movies. As we walked around it, the coolness was ruined slightly by the realization that it was only painted on that one side. We went into the restaurant; there was a line of people going up to the cash register at the front where we were to order, evidently. It seemed to be some sort of continental restaurant that specialized in seafood, but I couldn't decide what I wanted to get. There was some sort of bound ghost towards the front of the line that was trying to get my attention; it appeared as a woman with long, bright blond hair and pale skin, wearing a white robe. She was blindfolded and bound by several brown leather straps. I went over to try to figure out what she was trying to tell me, but I couldn't understand or make out what she was trying to say. I noticed there was a computer in the corner then I noticed some people whom I identified as friends outside the restaurant, so I went to see what they were up to. I talked to them for a while and then we went into the restaurant. I remember recalling that the layout of the entrance had changed some (and now I recall my family was no longer there, it seems as though I had gone to the restaurant with these friends now). We were still in line trying to decide what to get when someone told me that someone was sending me instant messages on the computer in the corner. I sat down to see what was going on, some girl (a nurse maybe?) was frantically complaining about how my mom had left the hospital (she's worked there for years in real life) and was sending other weird-looking messages. I was confused and trying to figure out why she was so upset. Dream ends around there at some point. Again, parts of this dream were likely heavily inspired by last night, when my wife and I discovered there was a Golden Corral here and went to check it out. For the record, it was alright (not top tier) and had a pretty decent selection. Might be worth a return trip in the future. Wasn't a fan of the ambient country music though. Edit: Additional notes, it feels as though I'm in a bit of a dry spell, though I'll admit it could be worse; I am still able to get at least some material for entries still. This certain relative timing of this morning's entry (i.e. Morning of X) comes from the fact that my wife's earlier alarm this morning woke me up earlier than usual without any dreams to record, though fortunately I was able to get a little bit more sleep and experience the above. I believe in my enthusiasm earlier this week following last weekend's first lucid dream I may have been trying to run before I could walk, so I'm returning my effort to push forward to instead focus on solidifying the basics. Meanwhile, I've been at least trying to ramp up efforts to pepper in reality checks throughout the day. We'll try to remain optimistic.
Updated 08-27-2010 at 01:57 PM by 35086 (Additional notes)
A weird sequence, likely inspired with a chance meeting last night with an old FFXI friend as well as an unrequited mystery from those days as well as several related events earlier in the day. There was an early sequence where I seem to recall a Starfox-style shmup that I can't place within the context of the rest of the dream. It seems that I lived in some unfamiliar downtown location, and that members of my old TiamatsFangs FFXI linkshell were getting together in real life to do some sort of video game-esque covert operation. We were to try to get into some kind of factory, the entrance to which was on the roof of a tall building, to demolish...something. We went in, and made our way to the end, but my partners started dying as we got ready to blow up the place. There was some kind of weird monster/alien thing killing people. As I fled out I turned and saw it grotesquely kill two people. I managed to escape back onto the roof-entrance, the only survivor. Except it flashed back to before the operation began. Since I knew what would happen I began trying to prepare an escape route, cleaning up excess ammo, weapons, and items on the floor to make picking up things for use easier, however I became frustrated that my partners were sitting around goofing off instead of preparing for the mission so I gave up and left. On my way home I realized I could use the opportunity of the TiamatsFangs' gathering to track down Jillia. I had already called and talked to her at some point during the preparation for the operation, so on my way home I called her number again but she didn't answer. When I got home to a room that looked like some sort of home office I sat down and started to think about how I could proceed. I started looking through the contacts on my phone and noticed I had a second number for Jillia, so I called it. An older woman answered the phone; I asked her if Jillia was there to which she replied yes. I asked the woman for the location of this phone number to which she replied that it was a place called "The Dungeon". I thanked her and hung up to consult the internet for the Dungeon's location; I remember that the first time I searched for it I forgot to specify the city I was in (when I corrected it, I corrected it with Fargo, ND or 58102, so evidently this dream was supposed to take place in Fargo). I quickly found it online, it was some sort of arcade. I went there; inside I met the older woman I had spoken to earlier behind a counter just inside the entrance. Also there were several teenagers there, I thought it odd that several of the boys were shirtless--and also that none of them were playing any arcade games, in fact there were no arcade games at all. The area was mostly empty except for some furniture and beanbag chairs. I asked the woman if Jillia was there again and she offered to take me to her. As we slowly made our way back I continued to observe the bizarre behavior of the children here. The woman explained that Jillia was a poor girl, having been abused and I recall ending that explanation mentally by adding "by these people" to the end. As we reached the entrance to the basement, I observed a short, ugly-looking girl and a boy getting ready to have sex, and they were eventually joined by a second boy. I went down into the basement alone. At the bottom was a large room, the room was pitch black except where it was sparsely lit by a small television in the middle on the other side of the room. There was some kind of clothing rack blocking the direct path to the television, instead leading a path around the outside of the room. In the far back corner there was a green couch that was very brightly lit. I called out for Jillia and she answered, though I couldn't see her at all. I replied, "Now there's a voice I recognize!" She sounded somewhat paranoid however. She instructed me to go to the couch in the back corner. Standing in the light it was even harder to see into the darkness, but I sensed that she had moved from near the TV to around between me and the door. She instructed me to remove my pants and shirt so I removed my black coat, shirt, and pants and set them on the couch. She then instructed me to go over and play the game. I went over, in just my underwear, and sat down by the TV. There was an old school Sega console there with what looked to be some sort of hacked old school Sonic game. I picked up the controller and hadn't even started playing when I heard the door to the basement slam shut. Alarmed that Jillia may have ran off, I quickly got up and returned to the couch to put my clothes back on and try to follow her. As I was putting my clothes back on the lights came on in the rest of the room. The floor was concrete and the walls were painted a bland white, it looked for sure like somewhere people may be held captive and I recall thinking, "Aw shit, I'm trapped down here." I immediately suspected the bizarre people on the floor above of foul play. When I checked the door, however, it was unlocked so I went upstairs to leave. The teens that were there before were outside in the rain, apparently having fun and taking pictures of each other. I quietly left, trying not to draw attention to myself. About a block away I turned and looked back, trying to think of how I could find her now. The dream ends there. Side note: with some more effort into reality checking around phones as previously planned, I might have been able to catch this one.
At first when I woke this morning I thought I only had one fragment that I'd managed to maintain, but when I was in the shower I had a bit of a revelation. Since I'd awoken this morning I'd been thinking in the back of my mind, "Crap, I cheated on my wife!" But when I was in the shower and the thought crept up I immediately realized, wait a minute, no I didn't, that was a dream! And then like floodgates a lot of missing detail from that dream came back into memory. The fragment, which I seem to recall being first, involved having a nosebleed. Oddly, it was coming out of both nostrils. I remember looking down at my chest and the blood was flowing down in two nice neat streams that curved symmetrically sideways and then back down in sort of a Y pattern. The earliest point I can recall of the larger sequence was parking in a parking lot on the south side of a block that would be across from my old middle school, Ben Franklin. It was night. I entered the school; inside it was dark. I went into a poorly lit room where 3 people were waiting: a female teacher of whom my memory is quite blurry, Dr. Biberdorf, and another girl whom I identified Bethany P. (though she looked more like Emily G.) and seemed to think was either a friend or colleague. We were there for some sort of awarding ceremony. At some point, a fire broke out in the building and my viewpoint switched to a sort of retro-video game 3/4 view floorplan of the building and I watched little flame icons appear where the fire was and spread. As it reached my location it went back to first person and Biberdorf yelled at us to escape. I led Bethany outside and back to the parking lot, where we paused to recover. In a bit of only-makes-sense-in-Hollywood, Bethany and I proceeded to have exasperated survivor sex, complete with Hollywood fade-out and fade-in without being able to see any of the juicy details. Afterwards I offered to drive her home. I remember driving, seeing a few intersections. She lived at a building that looked like a college building, but inside was kind of a wierd mall-with-no-shops/college dorm hybrid. We stopped at some office where she had to grab some papers and some other guys came up to me and asked me if I had sex with her. I confirmed it, smug and apparently proud, and they congratulated me. A few other students (all of them in green shirts with some small, unidentified white words on them) continued to gather and congratulate me. When she came out of the office I waved goodbye and then left. I went back to the middle school, which was again somehow intact, back to the poorly lit room. Biberdorf was still there. I started telling him everything I remembered from the dream, leaving out the sex part (for some reason even now I couldn't remember who the female teacher was), when some random black kid came in. They began discussing something quietly, when I suddenly panicked as I was thinking to myself, "Crap, I cheated on my wife!" Apparently I had thought this out loud, because Biberdorf and the black kid stopped talking and looked at me. After a short pause Biberdorf briefed me on the importance of keeping this secret. He turned to the black kid and told him that if there was ever any rumor that I had cheated on my wife that he would personally kill the kid (I realize now after the fact that this is a little silly, being as there was already a mall-with-no-shops/college dorm hybrid full of people who already knew). I think the dream ends there.
Edit: This is a partial entry with one dream sequence omitted. See file 0818-0819; recall note: mall apartment, egg achievement, delivery man. I've got a few fragments to record, unfortunately I ran into a problem wherein I woke up perfectly to remember them, thought about the dreams enough to crystallize them somewhat (or at least for sure the fragments I'm about to write down), but then I intentionally neglected to get up to write them down. This is something to work on overcoming in the future. I was reluctant to get up under the justification that it was sort of the middle of the work week and I was too tired to get up and write for a while to justify doing it. Plus some of the subject matter of the first one made me reluctant to bother to remember it at all (in fact, although I feel it's beneficial to write as much detail as I can remember, I'd still kind of rather any readers skip over this post). I would like to congratulate myself on the noticeably improved dream recall though, it's amazing what just a little effort can do to go a long way towards awakening at the end of dreams and remembering plenty of detail. So here we go. As usually I'll try to keep it as chronologically in order as possible. - The next one was a shorter fragment. I was with my immediate family. Everything seemed kind of retrograde; my brother was younger and both my parents were heavier as though it was before they both had gastric bypasses. We walked through a small junkyard into the waiting room of what looked like a car repair shop, but was apparently a combination car repair shop/walk-in clinic. Everyone sat down in a chair to wait but me; I paced around the room being annoyed and angry that once again people I'd known for years had nothing but contempt and disregard for my medical opinion. At some point I noticed my mother was missing a foot, and I thought, "Diabetes." Curiously, she was still able to walk fine despite the missing/invisible foot. She got up to ask the receptionist what was taking so long, she sounded frustrated, in pain, and desperate. She then went and sat down at a different spot. She was trying to partially cover her face with her coat, but I noticed she was crying. I continued pacing around and making mental notes about my family members until the dream ended. One last quick note: just went to start breakfast and I remembered one more super short fragment wherein I noticed that the free expired 2-liter bottle of Dr. Pepper I brought home from work a few days ago expired in 1995.
Updated 08-25-2010 at 06:19 AM by 35086 (Privacy censoring)
Sex dream, super odd one. Started at some sort of corporate board meeting. Started mostly third person, apparently I was Bruce Willis. There was some sort of drawn out argument over something, other than that I don't remember anything notable. Cut to what was evidently my house (but not anything I'd recognize from real life), now in first person, with who I apparently identified as my wife, only it was Jennifer Aniston, who had also been present to a quiet degree during the board meeting (and she had kind of a super skinny build). We were sitting on a brownish couch watching TV for a while, but then I caught a glimpse of her breasts and we started going at it, feeling each other up. During this foreplay, whatever was on the large screen TV turned into a handful of number meters representing various aspects of her arousal, so I was half making out with her, half watching the screen to adjust my technique. At some point, she said, "That was the second time I've ever been satisfied!" We stripped down and were just about to get down to business when I woke up. I've never been particularly attracted to or a fan of Jennifer Aniston.