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Dream recall from today's naps.

Nap #1(fragment):

I was in the field, brown ground, i was the leader of the warrior squad, there was semi-ruined building that we decided to use for camping, but soon, we were attacked by enemy warriors. We were battling them at our best, but they kept coming. I saw an enemy leader while overlooking the terrain, i sent some of my warriors to deal with him, but they failed. I had to deal with this by myself, but before i went there one of warriors was saying that i should not go for enemy leader. I ignored him and soon was about to attack enemy leader, but it was a trap, leader somehow paralyzed me and then dream ended.

Nap #2(fragment):

I was in some futuristic city and there was facility i was visiting. There was some blue humanoid, that i was calling 'Curdy', and he was operating machine that was making curd. He told me recipe and there was some kind of secret ingredient, then i went to home. There was cutscene happening back at the facility, Curdy went missing and there was dude that was mostly bald and he was in cyan suit. Then cutscene ended and i was back at home, i was trying to eat potato but was very hard to eat, then dream ended.

Nap #3:

I woke up in my bed and i had to move some stuff around room< then i realized that i forgot to take off headphones, i took them off and binaural beats are still playing, so i am dreaming, dream is somewhat unstable so i rub hands on my way to balcony door. Then i slam the door open and fly outside, i feel the wings and i fly around pretty quickly. Shortly the dreamscape changes and goes weird, like two perspectives are overlapping, some parts of it are normal and some parts moving around with my field of view. After i fly over some street it goes back to normal and i decide to attempt transformation into a dragon again. There's not much of result though, my hands only got a bit bigger. I fly through some kind of temple ruins and suddenly my room appears right in front and before i can do anything i crash into the wall in the room. Dad comes into the room(i think my awareness decreased after this transportation...) and we talk about bunch of things that i barely recall, i recall something was about transformation. Then dream fades out and i woke up.

Definitely improvement there, even though three were rather short, i got lucid in each dream, 1 WILD, 3 DILDs.
It also was pretty confusing with the number of FAs and i couldn't recall non-lucid parts in much detail.

Nap #1:

I wake up in bed, knowing that i am dreaming, furniture placed differently and my bed is much closer to my PC apparently, before i can move i wake up properly.

Nap #2:
Dream 1:
There was some stuff going on in my room(can't exactly recall what), interrupting my WILD attempt, but i eventually go back to doing it.
I wake up in bed, the room looks different and i know i am dreaming, i take off headphones and binaural beats still playing, confirming that, but then i wake up, but go back to nap after memorizing recall.
Dream 2:
Again, family distracts me from my WILD attempt and i was fixing some machinery, which we had a whole wall of(not IWL), then there was some video game and i went back to WILD attempt.
I wake up in bed, the room looks different once again and i know i am dreaming, i take off headphones, binaurals beats still playing, i get up and look around, the room is not just different, but positions of some furniture and exits are mirrored, i go to the balcony while rubbing hands but dream fades out and i wake up, memorizing recall once again and the going back to sleep.
Dream 3:
I am still there, attempting the WILD, the room is different but i don't notice it in dream, at one point family coming through the room and talking about something, then i just fallen asleep.
I go through a number of weird sensations and then i wake up in bed and i know i am dreaming, but for some reason dad is on me and tries to stop me from getting up, i take off headphones, and i am still hearing binaural beats, confirming the dream. I shout 'Get off!' at dad a few times, each time in more commanding tone, and eventually, on fifth shout, he gets off me saying something along the line 'Yes, yes, goodnight' and i thank him for letting me go.
I go for the door, and open it, but then realize that this room is not mirrored and that i opened the wrong door. I go for the balcony door while rubbing hands, not working well, i shout 'Stabilize!' and dream gets more stable and i can see very clear. I ram the balcony door, but i unexpectedly end up just phasing right through it and gravity gets low. I start flying and i feel wings. Everything looks weird, like, dreamscape just don't gets 'rendered' after certain distance, but my sight is very very clear. For a second i kinda forgot what to do, but then shortly recall that i need to practice transformation into a dragon. I shout to get more confident, and my voice echoes around the dreamscape. I fly near one of the clouds, which were pretty low down, and i can see my reflection, my wings big and black dragon-like and i am happy that i finally got them right, i attempt transformation but dream starts fading and i wake up.

Total sleep time: 5hrs

Dream recall method: whatever I could remember

HI: A motorboat that leaves tracks on sea’s surface

Fragment1: I am looking at some kind of spacecraft, parked in a large hall. A female DC is sliding horizontally on the thing with great ease, I wonder how she manages to do that.
Fragment2: I am walking in a nice park. I enjoy being there and take the time to perform some stretching exercises.

Dream3: My mom arranges for us to meet in Milan, so I have to catch the plane. I start packing my things, including make-up, grab the bags and am ready to go. I get on a car and we drive to the airport, it is dark outside. On the road we meet one or two horse riders, I decide to go back, and we see some more riding towards the car. One of the horse riders falls and we stop the car to avoid hitting him,we get out of it. I am trying to go somewhere. As I am looking at another street, somebody tells me that there is no point of doing that because the Queen cannot wait? I suddenly realize that I have forgotten my passport and phone charger, so now I know why I want to go back. Out of nowhere, James Bond appears on the street (a mix of Pierce Brosnan and Daniel Craig). I don’t like the way his eyes look, he feels like a rather unpleasant person, but he has really beautiful hair. He behaves like a real gentleman, tries to help me by suggesting we can use the cops’ car to go back get my things and then drive to the airport really fast. Two cops appear; I try to convince them to give me their car because I forgot the passport and will miss the flight. They almost agree, and then I tell them I also forgot the charger, so they change their mind. To prove to them I am not lying I open my bag and show them there is nothing there, but they still don’t believe me.

Dream recall from today's nap. Was going to find something to do TOTM but dream ended too unexpectedly.

As was in my bed, going for WILD attempt, headphones were behaving weird.
Eventually i fall asleep and wake up in my bed, and i know that i am dreaming, there are like ten hands holding me and i am not able to move much, and then somebody materializes in the air and falls onto me.
I wake up, but forget to do an RC, family was trying to distract me but i decide not to move much and attempt to WILD again.
I wake up, knowing that i am dreaming again, and i take off headphones to confirm it and yes, i can hear binaurals. I get up and get a weird feeling like somebody tries really hard to wake me up. I stay calm and rub hands, soon the feeling goes away. Interestingly the room is very dark, but it's the daytime outside. I go to the balcony door, it's closed. I ram it a couple of times like i did previously when it was closed, and it opens.
I fly outside and i feel wings, i fly straight and on the way i accidentally manage to go into third person view somehow for a second, I think about it and then recall that i wanted to take a look at wings. I reach some kind of park, with a small river, and in flight i decide to try going into third person view on purpose this time. I manage to do it but for some reason i couldn't hold it for long enough to look in detail, though i recall wings being somewhat greenish, also they looked weird and i didn't figured out what type of wings that was.
I continue flying around and surprise random DCs, then i am flying below some kind of tent, flight was slow for some reason, and i decide to try to do transformation into a dragon once again. I concentrate on visualizing it but accidentally close eyes, i get some weird sensation, like i am becoming longer or something but then dream fades out before i can open eyes.
I wake up, then in few seconds i wake up properly.

Yay for another decent length lucid dream, and once again it's WILD from a dream.

Only thing i can recall from non-lucid part is that i was at home and i was WILDing.
I wake up and take off headphones, confirming that i am dreaming, i get up and the dream becomes very unstable, i start rubbing hands and dream becomes more stable, but still not fully stable, i go to balcony, on the way i imagine time of day changing and it rapidly changes to night then back to the day, i start touching the door frame and concentrating on that, dream fully stabilizes. I jump and and glide in the air, i start feeling wings but for some reason i have trouble moving vertically, which prevents me from flying through the doorway. I drop back to the floor and jump again, i feel wings again and this time flight works properly. I fly through the balcony doorway, but instead of balcony there are some other rooms, i quickly navigate through them and find true balcony doorway. I fly outside.
I fly straight and then slightly to the right, i am flying even faster than previous time. Near trees i attempt to increase that speed even more, but end up zooming my view in instead somehow. Surprised, shortly i restore view back to normal and continue flying beyond trees. I reach different area, finally it's non-city dreamscape! There are hills, various trees and river. There are also bridges connected by cobble roads and DCs are roaming around. I decide to try to do transformation into a dragon again using method that worked before, with visualizing and shouting 'Dragon Form!', but once again i can only manage to transform hands, black scales appear on left hand and green on right hand, as well as claws, and fade out shortly. I do a couple more attempts while flying along the river, on the third attempt i have a bit more success, i get red scales on left hand and black on right hand, and this time they look more detailed, have more vivid feel and last longer. I fly around some more and eventually i get distracted by some DCs and transformation disappears as well. I can't recall much for a while other that we went to assault some enemy DCs.
Eventually we get into some sort of treehouse where enemy commander resided, the team beaten him up but all the fight destabilized the treehouse and it was barely balancing. After some balancing attempts it ends up completely upside down and everyone falls onto the ceiling. There are wasps. Lots of wasps. Hundreds of wasps. They sting me and somehow get into my mouth while i was trying to get up, i feel a bit of pain but not much. I suddenly remember what i was doing and fly out of the house, which falls. There are hills around and a few trees, and there are wasps absolutely everywhere, a whole swarm of them. I fly around while spitting out the wasps that got into my mouth, then i concentrate energy and imagine healing and pain goes away. I also try to breath fire at wasps, without transformation, but that fails too, though i think i ended up scaring them off and they shortly go away.
I fly back to the river area, looking around for something interesting, but after a while, suddenly, dream instantly changes the palette and instantly destabilizes, i rub hands but dream destabilizes again, time stops for a bit and it screws up my flight, so i end up falling to the ground.
On the ground i look around, there's female DC right near me, looking at me. I ask her 'You again?' even though i didn't meet her before, but in dream i was pretty sure i did( ). Shortly dream fades out.
I wake up and get distracted, because everyone is watching movies in my room for whatever reason. Shortly i wake up properly with some heavy hypnopompic hallucinations that someone is still watching movies in my room, which lasts for a few seconds, making me do a bunch of RCs.

Dream recall from today's nap, got lucid due to attempting WILD in a dream again as well as finally did some goals as well as TOTM.

I can't recall much about dream start, but i was at home and i was apparently sick, it was nighttime and i was watching Syphon Filter let's play, it was pretty weird in way that there were driveable vehicles and one level had the jump that was supposed to be done in vehicle, but player failed and was forced to redo whole level because the jump was done above area where level starts. Dad was annoying me because he decided to sleep in my room for whatever reason. Later i was watching another level with massive bridge and armored enemies, which supposed to be boss level of some kind. I looked at time and it was time at which i should go for nap. So i went for the WILD.
I wake up and it is daytime, i can't move, also for some reason i am in position in which my view is rather limited. The bed position is different too, and there were no curtains on windows, but i didn't notice it at that moment. So dream manages to convince me that i have sleep paralysis event. In a bit i hear sound of someone walking behind the window. I am slightly alerted for a second, but only for a quick second, then i get back to calm state again. I hear more sounds behind window and then i see some shadow figure. It breaks through the window and runs towards me. At this point i start suspecting that i am dreaming, but still can't move. Now it's not shadow anymore, but a person, i can only see legs though due to position i am paralyzed in. He starts punching and kicking me, i feel being hit, but no pain, i still can't move though so i just absorb hits like a badass until i fall out of the bed. I am able to move now, and i ask the person why he's doing it, i can't recall response but i was not satisfied with it, i looked at the person and apparently he is a midget. He decided to continue attacking me, but i just... sit down on him. He's angered and somehow manages to grab me and almost throw me, but i grab him in response too. Then he grabs in different way, making it harder to keep balance, but i respond by grabbing differently too. We continue that 'fight' while epic orchestral music is playing, until i get him into situation where keeping balance is just ridiculous, like he has to stand in weird pose on single finger while grabbing my hand, and while i am not touching the floor at all and grabbing him somehow... i am not sure how to describe this fully, haha. But i apparently win and i free myself from the grab.
I say something i can't recall to midget which was lying on the ground and walk to the window, which is not broken now apparently. I smash it with my fist and it breaks, i get through and check hands, no damage on them and left hand has 7 fingers, also they are like super detailed. I take off and start feeling wings, i fly straight ahead and then slightly to the left this time, and i fly pretty quick, i also hear sound of wings more clearly that previous time. Shortly dreamscape changes and i am now flying above some different place in the city, i decide to try transforming into a dragon again, but no dice, i continue flying and dreamscape changes again, to some kind of outdoor restaurant with a bunch of DCs, i fly above it and dreamscape changes once again, now there's some buildings. I spontaneously get an idea that transformation would be easier if i get more destructive.
I fly straight into building wall and start breaking through it at full speed, it ends up very very thick, since i am breaking through it for whole 5 seconds already, without lowering speed. There's not much light and i decide to visualize transformation now, and i have feeling of change. After a couple more seconds of breaking through the wall i manage to reach some rooms, which luckily had some light. I look at my hands and i have claws and hands are fully covered with green and black scales, it's awesome, though i didn't changed in size, i think. I try to talk and my voice has weird tone messed with something like combination of roar and some high pitched sound. I haven't stopped flight for whole time, so i end up breaking through the wall again, deciding to get back to outside, but eventually everything fades out.
I feel myself back at the bed, but all i can see is darkness, i try to shout, but my voice is replaced with sound similar to one i had during transformation, i feel paralyzed and shortly i see some black and white portrait in the darkness.
I wake up while shouting, family is in the room and they make 'wtf' faces, i respond that "that's why i don't do this when someone else is in the room, especially when sick", i get up and then i wake up properly and immediately do an RC, haha.

Dream recall from today's naps, got a couple of DILDs and a bit of progress with dream control.

Nap #1:

I was on my PC, playing some kind of mod of video game called Doom. I got bored and decided to replay one of my own old mods for Doom. It was going on normally for a while, but soon it was smoothly transitioning from 'me playing game' to 'me being in game', then i ran into some technical problem with game not loading properly, but i fixed it, as i got to the next level it was suddenly overdetailed compared to everything else, there were yellow and red cave walls and also there was some kind of reactor behind the gate, and objectives stated that i had to destroy it. The detailing work on that map was ridiculous and i was never that good at map making so i realized that i am dreaming, i was walking around a bit and there were monsters from doom, which were frozen in place for some reason, but before i could do anything dream suddenly transitioned into my room.
It was daytime, i recalled my goals and went to the balcony, which was already open. On the balcony i was ready for another attempt on transforming into a dragon, i recalled that behaving like one would help transformation process, so i tried to do a roar, but failed, i started to fly and felt wings again. Dream destabilized in a second and i, what i call it, 'lagged out', basically no matter what i did i was shifted into previous position while moving again, and shifting to previous position again again in infinite loop, like what you would see when other player lags out in some multiplayer games. I tried shouting 'stabilize!' but shortly dream faded out.

Nap #2:

There was scene where main character of the game Medievil, Sir Daniel Fortesque, was talking to some princess, but she later lured him into some kind of trap. He managed to get out and she attacked him with sword, but he, being undead skeleton, was mostly unfazed by attack. Then dream skipped.
I wake up back in my bed, i recall the dream that i had and then i take off headphones and can still hear binaural beats, which means i am still dreaming. I get up and go to the balcony, on the way i engage senses and try feeling objects, for some reason it was hard to move fingers and for a second i felt the bed with it(being nowhere near the bed) as if i was still in the bed, i was thinking that it might feeling from my waking body but i quickly discarded that thought to prevent destabilization.
I take off and feel wings again, this time flying is even easier and i can even hear sound of wings! I fly to the left(if facing building) and then just fly around for a short while. I decide to try attempting transformation into a dragon right in the flight, i shout 'Dragon form!' while visualizing and expecting change to happen but nothing happens. I notice that i am flying above some kind of marketplace and there are lots of DCs. For fun i decide i try something different, i fly right at random DC, which apparently is female DC, and suddenly stop right in front of her face, there's expression of shock on her face haha, then i fly away. I decide to go for another attempt at transformation into a dragon, i shout 'Dragon form!' again while visualizing and expecting the change and suddenly i feel the change on my right hand and hear weird periodic sounds that i can describe as 'crackle', i look at my hand and it's clawed and there are black scales roughly halfway to the elbow, in a few seconds it becomes back normal though, but hey, it didn't instantly destabilized dream this time! I fly around for some more time and then dream fades out.
I wake up back at my bed and in a few seconds i wake up properly.

This was the second of two lucid dreams from last night, and a pretty close call for the South America Task of the Year. I'm getting closer! Just need to seal the deal! Very fun dream, success or no. Man, I want these bad.

Color legend: Non-dream Dream Lucid

Lucid #77: The Mesa

I'm driving under an overpass, approaching a stoplight. Out of nowhere, the car in front of me stops and I slam on the brakes. The brakes are super sluggish to respond and the car drifts to a very leisurely stop, stopping just a couple of feet from an embarrassing fender-bender.

The driver in front of me, a stout, balding man in his 40s with a shaved head, gets out of his car and circles around to the trunk. He shoots me a dirty look, pops the trunk open and pulls out a cooler. It takes a moment before it dawns on me, but I recognize him as a prominent DC from an earlier non-lucid dream and I become lucid.

I step out of the car, and the DC walks confrontationally toward me, like he's eager to argue about something. "Not right now," I say, and walk past him, emerging from the overpass into a bright day in some city's downtown. Beautiful glass buildings line the right side of the street and there's some sort of park to my left. Further ahead, a silvered, decorative archway spans the street.

Angel Falls is on my mind and I go for a quick Hulk-jump to try to get there. Instead of soaring into the clouds, though, I float gently up into the air, turning slowly around. It feels wonderfully relaxing and I lay back to stare up at the sunny sky, my arms flung out to the side. I float upward, a few feet away from one of those tall, windowed buildings. This feels fantastic to me and I start laughing, continuing to drift upward and slowly turn.

I'm having a ball with this, but I don't want to forget what I came to do. I tilt myself vertically again and start to rise more quickly, expecting that Angel Falls will be there on the other side of the building. As I shoot past the roof of the building, I see a broad bay dotted with distant boats. And looking out further over the bay, I see a mesa covered with greenery... one that looks just like the mesa that Angel Falls originates from! (I looked it up and this mesa is called Auyan-tepui.)



I decide to sing to keep myself focused on the task, and I come up with the following: "I'm going to Aaaaaaangel Falls!! Hell yeah Aaaaangel Falls!" I'm oblivious to how horrible my lyrics are (and my voice sounds totally rockstar) so this all seems awesome to me. After a while I think about the "Halls" brand cough drops I'd had during WBTB and come up with some second "verse" that rhymes "Falls" with "Halls". I'm sure it sucked as bad as the others but I wish I could remember it.

I'm making good progress in my flight over the bay, and I cut past a boat that looks like it's loaded with tourists (most of whom are in bucket hats for some reason.) I'm excited, happy, and confident, but for some reason I lose the dream and wake up. Really thought I had that one!!

Last night was the greatest night of Dreaming in my entire life! I had six, yes six, lucid Dreams last night. A combination of DILDs and DEILDs, mixed with 2400 mg Lecithin and 100 mg B-6 taken immediately before bed. I have never had even close to this type of success before and I must attribute it equally to my training as well as my supplements.

Last night I flew, I fucked, and I fought. My hands were, at times, grotesque and other times normal. My girl chatted with me about race car numbers and how she was seeing them differently than I, which was one lucidity trigger. I encountered that serial killing doll chucky, and I watched a man run as fast as a race car. I had a few false awakenings that I didn't realize at the time. I was so deep I felt like I was in inception. I also watched my girl fly away like a pro which triggered another lucid.

I flew for the first time last night, although I only got a few feet above the ground. While I was flying, I thought about going to space and as my DreamScene started to change I got nervous and had second thoughts. So I closed my eyes and willed my Scene to remain as it was, with me closer to the ground than I was headed for. Space is a challenge for me because of my fear of heights, which is also why I flew so close to the ground. I also don't have much confidence in my flying ability yet. I Dreamt so much last night that when they were over I figured it had to be time to wake up, it was only 5:30. I had only been asleep for roughly 5 hours, and hadn't even reached my peak REM stage yet! This is an incredible breakthrough for me and I'll just have to remember next time I'm lucid that there are many other things I wish to try. You can bet ill be using this supplement combination again very soon.

Thanks to anyone who read this!

Dream 1(fragment):

There was some indoors area and i was dodging traps.

Dream 2:

I can't quite recall start of the dream, but i was in the village of some kind with family, we had to move somewhere so we transformed into various birds, i was duck. We flied through a bunch of areas including some sort of forest and cave and the physics were somewhat weird, it felt weird too, like though transformation was full it didn't felt full and i was sorta feeling both forms at same time or something, not sure. As we reach our destination, dream skips.
I was with my family again and we were in some shack near sea. We had to go somewhere again and i was finishing some stuff on my PC. I was playing minecraft or some similar game apparently, and it was weird in a way that i could use any login data. I had really long nick and password so i was worrying that i forget it, i changed password to "aaaaa"...
I got distracted from PC and had some discussion about anime, can't recall it but after it i watched new episode of some anime which i can't recall as well and then got back to my PC. I decided to check save data in that minecraft game, i needed it for some contest that would be going on in place we was moving to now. My player character was in nether village of some kind and there were also other player characters(I guess it was MMO), i especially recall some player looking like female version of steve combined with some sort of fire/lava slug(and by that i mean it was literally two different models in one). The houses were made of nether brick and there were no nether mobs in area apparently. I went to some secret spot and started digging out something that i hide there. It was an orange-colored cow, and i planned to use it for that contest somehow. I got interrupted by dad asking what's that for and i got annoyed and started explaining that it's for 'hilarity' and something related to memes.
Back in minecraft game i was hiding cow back into secret area and setting up summoning word that would be easy to remember(can't recall what was it). Then i was just exploring nether village for a bit. I exited and next on my todo list was to make sure that windows drivers are fine for moving. Then dad was quite worried that drivers that we get after moving might be not compatible with windows 7, but i was getting annoyed and telling that it's non-sense. We were about to move but i forgot login info again somehow so i had to quickly check it. Dream ended shortly.

YES! Finally i manage to get my goals right in the lucid dream and do some dream control!

I am in my bed, eyes closed, but i feel that something's not right and i might be in dream already. I risk and open eyes, it's night, room looks normal, but i go ahead and take off headphones. I still hear binaural beats without headphones, so i am indeed in dream. I remember to do stabilization, i touch the bed and the blanket and engage senses. The binaural beats shortly fade out, so i guess dream stabilized. I Get up from the bed and suddenly some noise starts on in my head, similar to the one from previous lucid dream when that started to fade out, but i just think that it might be just dream trying to trick me and i move on.
I decide to go to the balcony like i planned, but i lose control over movement and start walking towards the door out of the room instead for some reason. I quickly regain control and run towards the balcony door. It's closed so i just go ahead and ram it. The glass partially breaks, i check if my dream body's damaged in any way, but it's not. I do a few steps back and ram the door again, it breaks and i am at the balcony now. Noise in my head fades out.
I take a look around, the dream recreated the cityscape around my house from waking live fairly exactly, there are even people walking around like usual, and it's still night. I remember my todo list and decide to try transformation, first flying being that i recalled was a dragon, but a decide to try even though i haven't tried before. I try to imagine it and imagine the feel of it, while knowing that it will be successful, but it fails. I guess i should try flying anyways and it's somewhat working. I was slowly rising in the air and in the reflection from the window i notice some sort of black wings forming on my back and i start feeling them. That feeling screws me up a bit(i haven't felt transformations in lucid dream before) and i lose control over the flight, ending up hovering back to the balcony, but hey, success! I think wings disappeared once i was on the balcony since i stopped feeling them at that moment.
I recall my todo list again and next on the list was... summoning! Ofcourse out of everything i decide to try summoning a dragon. I try to imagine him appearing from various places, but no success... until i decide to look back at my room. The room was pretty dark and black dragon-like creature with yellow reptilian eyes was appearing out of shadows, though i barely could see details(should add night vision of sorts to todo list). I heard short roar and shortly it sprinted at me(it's size was enough to get through the doorway) and grabbed me with the claws, i felt the grab(but no pain of any kind or anything) and there i got waaay too excited due to all this success and the dream faded out.

This was a fun but weird DILD that hit right at the end of a very long NLD. The sudden introduction of this "Dream Coordinator" character was interesting. I enjoy it when my subconscious plays back at me like that.

Color legend: Non-dream Dream Lucid

Lucid #66: The Dream Coordinator

I'm on an epic quest, roaming on foot across the United States with several odd characters: a man in his 50s dragging around an 8-foot potted plant, an 11-year-old anorexic boy, and a pretty, short-haired woman in her mid-40s named "Mrs. Rearden". I've been journeying with Mrs. Rearden the longest and I trust her completely.

It's a foggy morning, and we're all sitting for a moment on a long couch outside of a gas station. I notice that gas is "$1200 / 1000 gallons". I think, "$1200?? God, that's expensive." But I take a moment to do the math and realize that this gas is actually super cheap. "Ah... tricky, tricky!" I think.

I see one of those gas station signs with the changeable letters. It reads, "DUDE THIS SUCKS", which I find surprising. I look closer and see that it has changed to "YES WE'RE OPEN!" Just below the sign I see a row of frightening stone gargoyles perched along one of the gas station walls. Finally I've been bombarded with enough clues and now I know that this is a dream.

The other DCs stare silently ahead, so I ignore them and take a look around. It's still foggy, but I realize that I'm not outside at all but rather in what looks like an enormous airplane hangar. There are windows high up in the corner and I float toward one, planning to phase outside. As I reach the window, though, my vision goes black.

I feel myself floating back down, so once again I imagine that I have a gladius in my hand and start swinging it around everywhere. I land back on the ground, but everything stays black. I can still feel the weight of the gladius and my moving arm, though, so I feel fairly relaxed. I start probing at my dream body and discover that I seem to be wearing nothing but my boxer shorts. Suddenly worried, I check to make sure that my wiener is still there. Yes, all is well.

I've been in the dark longer than I'd like so I call out for help. "Somebody come help me! Mrs. Rearden, I need you to help me!" There's no response. I poke and slap at my face, hoping something will happen. Finally, I decide that maybe something will happen if I take off my boxer shorts. As soon as I attempt this, I hear Mrs. Rearden shout, "Don't do that! Stop it! Here, I'll help you." She grabs my left hand, gives it a hard yank, and pulls me into a new dream scene just outside of a door.

I keep a grip on her hand and we walk through the door. We're on the second story walkway of a mall. Mrs. Rearden looks frightened. She mutters, "This is not where the Coordinator wants us to be."

I'm stunned by this. "Who? The Coordinator?"

"Yes," she says. "The Dream Coordinator. This was not what he had planned." She is really upset and keeps looking nervously around the scene

I tug at her hand and move with her further along the walkway. As we approach an elevator, I say, "There is no Dream Coordinator. This is my dream and we don't answer to anybody. But you don't have to come with me any further. I think I'm okay on my own now."

She responds that she wants to help, but as she's speaking, I become disconnected from my dream body. My perspective sinks down to the busy food court on the mall's first floor. I feel like an insubstantial apparition and I'm desperate to regain physical form. I try the gladius trick but it feels all wrong.

There's a guy with a shaved head nearby, black, in his 30s, wandering happily around the food court. I move toward him, hoping that if I make physical contact it'll bring me back into the dream. He sees me floating toward him, though, and takes off at a dead run, screaming in terror. I don't blame him -- if a ghost in nothing but boxer shorts came after me, I'd run like hell, too. With nowhere else to go, I run out of steam and the dream ends.

02/10/13

Human Vampire
I am flying over the Nile river in Egypt, looking down at the green foliage and sandy beaches. I make note of the fact this is the first time for quite a while that I have been able to enter a dream through this method. I fly off over the desert towards the pyramids. I realize there are people following me on the ground. I identify them as Templars. I don't really want to deal with Templars right now. I remember a task of the month for DV, however, is simply to give a flower to the next DC I see. I fly back to the banks of the Nile and look for a flower. I find a pretty one and I pick it before flying back to where I spotted the Templars.

I scan them from above and select one that looks kind of hot. They are approaching me, but I ignore most of them and land directly in front of the one Templar I have chosen. All of the Templars surround me, there are about ten of them, but I am focused on the one. I walk over to him and tell him that this is all a bit awkward… but I think he's hot. I hand him the flower with a smile. He just looks confused. Another Templar grabs the flower away, throws it on the ground, and stomps on it a few times. He says it was probably poisoned. I tell him he's just jealous because he didn't get one. I figure I have completed the task, so I focus on opening a portal to somewhere I need to be. A portal opens, and I go through it before the Templars can interfere. I close it immediately behind me. I find I am now on a dark street. There are several people there. They are in a fight. One of them looks like Alex O'Laughlin. He's so hot.

There are two other guys there fighting him, and they seem to be kicking his ass. I think that is strange since he looks like he did when he was a vampire in Moonlight, he should be kicking ass. Mick's ex-wife, Coraline, is also there. I wonder if this is the brief period where Mick was human but got in a fight with a couple of vampires. Coraline says she will give them what they want if they just leave Mick alone. Mick has just gotten thrown up against a dumpster, so I get between him and the vampire thugs and tell Coraline not to give them anything, I have a different deal for them… leave Mick alone and I leave them in one piece. One of them, a vampire that has one solid black eye, sniffs the air and tells me to stay out of what I don't understand. I tell them not to underestimate what they don't understand. The vampire says he's a little hungry anyway and grabs me like he thinks it will be easy. I twist his arm around and kick him away from me, which clearly takes him by surprise. I tell them it is their last chance. The vampire with one eye says to kill the fucking bitch. They both come at me. I form Witchblade into a sword and remove both of their heads, both heads have a permanent look of shock on them. Coraline asks how I did that, how could any human do that. I go over to Mick and focus some healing energy into him. I remember he will be a vampire again before too long, but for now he needs healing. I am gazing into Mick St. John's eyes when I wake up.

After trying and failing so much in the last several weeks, I finally made it to the Great Pyramid! I didn't complete the Task of the Year, but I had one fantastic lucid dream.

Color legend: Non-dream Dream Lucid

Lucid #59: On the Back of the Sphinx

I'm standing by a hedgerow on a suburban street, waiting for the hedges to part and let me in. Through these hedges is the party I'm supposed to attend. The hedges part for me, then close as I move toward them. "No problem," I say, covering up a sting of rejection. "I'll come back when you're ready for me."

I wander across the street to wait. I wonder whether I'm dreaming. I decide that I'll reality check "in a few minutes". (You slacker!) No -- I don't need to reality check. This is a dream! I look at my hands. No distortion, waviness, extra fingers, or discoloration. Still, I'm sure that I'm dreaming.

The dream feels sharp, vivid, and stable. I feel like I have tons of time and potential. I sprint across the street, leap over the hedgerow, and with a shout I soar into the sky. I'm flying over a rain forest now and my skyrocketing confidence level makes me shout, "L-dopa!!!" (Although I was displaying behavior in line with high dopamine levels, I've never taken L-dopa. Don't know what got into me.) After flying over the rain forest for a while, I wind up in a cloud bank and lose my bearings. Afraid of getting stuck here, I turn back toward the neighborhood, content to take a different direction.

I fly back out of the cloud bank, but a fierce gust of wind kicks up from the other direction and pushes me back toward the clouds. "Okay," I say. "You're taking me to the Pyramid." I relax as I pass back through the cloud bank, emerging over an ocean. I let the wind push me further on and soon I'm flying thousands of feet over a desert dotted with stones. It's dark, and the sand looks as gray as a moonscape. I descend headfirst toward the sand, sure that I'm going to find what I'm looking for.

It's nighttime when I land. I look to my right, and there's the Pyramid, illuminated by artificial light! I'm no more than twenty feet from it. The sphinx lies directly at the base of the Pyramid. I note that in the physical world she'd be further east toward Cairo, but the inconsistency doesn't bother me. Instead it reminds me even more strongly that this is my world.

The sphinx's stony skin is white like alabaster and she has Asian characters tattooed along all four legs and in a single stripe along each side of her body. She's far smaller than I'd expected, no more than thirty feet long. Her entire face has crumbled away (not just her nose.) I'm overcome with this urge to help her. Even setting aside Task of the Year, this is now something I badly want to do.

I press my palms against her face and say, "I'm going to fix you." I feel the stone first roiling then smoothing out against my hands. In a few seconds her face is repaired and her head starts to move. Her face looks mostly feline but there's still a vaguely humanoid quality to it. She licks my hand once and her tongue is the fleshy, rough tongue of a cat. Her head turns vaguely toward my face but her eyes are pupil-less, blank alabaster so I can't tell whether she's looking straight at me.

I swing my leg across her back and ask her to "Take me to the top of the Pyramid." She gets to her feet and starts walking around to the other side of the Pyramid. Her route takes us through a restaurant and bar where a number of women are dancing to this really amazing piece of world music. The melody is from some sort of brass instrument and it's backed by the mouth harp. (I had to google to even figure out what this instrument is called -- here's a good example of the mouth harp in action. I think it was in my memory banks from a video game I played about 15 years ago.)

As I ride through the dance floor, the music and dancing begin to draw me in. One particularly stunning dancer, an ebony-skinned young woman of about 25, is driving me to distraction. I feel the sphinx slowing down and things start to feel unstable. I try to refocus on the task at hand, but the dream falls apart.

This lucid was fueled by pure desperation. I've never fought this hard to save an LD that was going bad, but it paid off. I'm getting a lot of mileage out of this gladius thing.

Color legend: Non-dream Dream Lucid

Lucid #58: Generosity and Giants

A young woman named "Crystal Fleming" is collecting money for a charity, and I've pledged $33.13. I'm proud of my "generosity" and totally thrilled that I've found exact change down to the penny. But now I can't find Crystal. It's night, and I trudge across a snowy field to a picnic table where I think she might be waiting. But rather than Crystal, seated at the table is my friend W.

This is unexpected, and as soon as I question whether I'm dreaming, I know that I am. I tell W, "Gotta go, this is a lucid dream." His face is harshly lit, stony, and expressionless. I realize we're in a small, dark room now, getting darker by the moment. I head for the exit, but the scene fades...

Now I'm in the dark. I'm desperate for a lucid dream, though, so there's no way I'm letting this one go. I start swinging a gladius (ancient Roman sword) and willing myself to be in the Colosseum for Task of the Year. On top of this I shout, "This is still a lucid dream!"

I hear Wife muttering and rolling over nearby, and now I'm scared that I'm really yelling and waving my arms around in the bedroom. I want a lucid too badly to stop trying, though, so I jam the index and middle finger of my left hand into my mouth and start chewing on them. This all feels totally real, but I decide to ride it out to the end. If I look like a psycho, I look like a psycho. I'm not dropping this LD.

Suddenly, a sharp new dream scene forms: I'm standing on our bed, fingers in my mouth, swordless right hand swinging madly. The scene's extremely vivid, but there's a slight motion to everything that I see, like I'm slightly drunk. I hop down from the bed and run out into the hall.

The hallway outside of our bedroom is totally transformed. The carpeting is bright pink and the room is decorated floor to ceiling with stuffed animals. There's an exit to the right that doesn't exist IWL, so I explore it, curious where it leads. I find myself in a new hallway with a tall picture window overlooking an early morning street scene.

I phase through the glass out onto the street. The street is wet as if it rained overnight. A few cars pass by, headlights on. It looks like a work day that's just beginning. I fly up into the air, but my confidence isn't what it should be. My altitude is low and my speed's really pitiful. There's an entrance to a mall food court nearby, and the dream seems to be ushering me toward it. I don't resist.

In spite of the early hours, this food court is packed. It's a two story mall, so I try flying again, getting about 6 feet off of the ground and doing that slow drift again. I spot my reflection in the exit door on the opposite side of the food court. Except the reflection isn't me flying -- it's my 6'8" Uncle J walking toward the door with me flying over his shoulder. He looks solid, substantial, and real, while I look like some kind of phantasm. I look down, and he's not there. But in the glass's reflection, he's solid-looking and completely realistic.

Now I can't decide whether I'm me flying toward the door or if I'm my gigantic uncle, lumbering toward the exit on foot. I switch between feeling like I'm the one flying... then the one on foot... then both...

I raise my hand to phase through the door. Uncle J's reflection does the same. The phase fails. From below, an attractive DC calls to me, saying, "Hi! Come down here." The LD's starting to feel thin and I float down. The DC is about 30 with long, dark hair, and attractive almost to the point of absurdity. I remember reading Waggoner during my WBTB and want to ask her what she represents. I feel weak and insubstantial, though, and my voice is just a hoarse whisper. She looks at me, arms crossed, a wry smile on her face and the scene fades to black.