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This is the first of two lucid dreams from the morning of September 6, 2013.

Color legend: Non-dream Dream Lucid

Lucid #143: This Life or the Next

I'm sitting on a carpeted floor with my oldest son E. There's an IT guy here that I used to work with (who we'll call "Nick Burns"). The interesting thing is that Nick Burns is trying to sleep hanging upside-down from a light fixture like a bat. I believe that he's doing this in order to induce a lucid dream. I tell E that it's not necessary to go to such lengths in order to have a lucid dream.

Talking about lucid dreaming makes me wonder whether I'm dreaming, so I nose pinch and become lucid. I get moving immediately, walking to the adjacent room, which is nearly featureless apart from a deep, square-shaped window. It looks like it's daylight outside, and I'm up a bit off the ground, maybe the 4th or 5th story. I phase out through the glass and the scene changes to nighttime. No, it's daylight, I think and the scene changes to early morning.

I'm flying over a quiet town where all of the buildings are one or two stories, all shorter than the one that I just emerged from. The oddball in this whole scene is some kind of football stadium. (American football.) I fly toward the field to find a football game going on. I want to change the scene to the Colosseum, and I have this idea that I'll start reciting a line from Gladiator to help the scene form the way that I want. As I'm flying down toward the field, I recite Maximus' badass line to Commodus about how "I will have my vengeance, in this life or the next."

By the time I land on the field, I've transformed into a full gladiator outfit and I'm holding a gladius. The football players on the field mill about in confusion. I announce that "this place needs to turn into the Colosseum." I wave the gladius around my head a little bit for emphasis. The football players seem a little put off by this and begin to wander away from the field.

Nearby there's an old man in thick-framed glasses holding a microphone. Over the microphone, he declares that "there's been a little problem on the field, folks." The scene isn't transforming the way that I want, so I focus on the ground, thinking that I'll turn it to sand and work from there. The floor of the football stadium is made of some kind of bright blue carpet. I rub my hands over it for a while, willing it to become sand, but it stubbornly refuses.

I stand up, wondering what to do. A young woman, short, Hispanic, mid-20s, walks nearby. I'm trying to formulate some kind of leading question to get her to help me but the fact that I am confused and the fact that she is distractingly good-looking are making it tough for me to know what to say. Plus I'm self-conscious that I'm dressed as a gladiator. I'm too tongue-tied to say anything. As she walks away, I examine my surroundings again and notice that the stadium has transformed into an open-air restaurant, putting me even further away from my goals.

Okay, new idea. I step outside to a quiet street with a trickle of pedestrian traffic. I imagine that the Colosseum is over the next line of buildings, then I start flying again. As I'm gaining altitude, though, the dream ends.

I wish that I'd asked this character what he represented rather than falling back so readily to fight or flight! My emotional control wasn't great in this LD but at least I guided myself toward a Task of the Year goal.

Color legend: Non-dream Dream Lucid

Lucid #70: The Celebrity

I WILD into a wooded campground. There's a crowd of excited DCs nearby, all waiting to meet this one guy who seems to be some kind of celebrity. The "celebrity" is an uncharismatic, mid-40s, somewhat ugly guy with a dark mustache. In spite of this, all of the women in the crowd are swooning and the men are excitedly pushing past one another for a chance to shake his hand.

In between handshakes, the celebrity keeps doing these loud, visibly moist sneezes directly into his hand... just before using it to shake the hand of the next starstruck DC. I find the whole scene repulsive, so I decide to hurry past.

As I pass by the crowd, the celebrity turns to me and offers me a handshake. I think that I'm supposed to be honored, but I have no interest in touching his sneeze-hand. I politely pat his shoulder and turn to leave, refusing the handshake.

There's a murmur of surprise from the crowd, but I try to ignore them, thinking instead of the tasks that I have in mind. The celebrity charges toward me and thrusts his hand in my face, insistent that I pay my respects. No, thanks. I turn away again, but when I do, the celebrity disrespectfully slaps me on the butt! I'm unbelievably offended at being treated this way in my own dream. My first thought is to turn around and just wreck this dude.

I decide that escape's the better move, though, so I Hulk-jump away. Somehow the celebrity grabs onto my leg as I go, though, and ends up flying with me. We land in another part of the campground and again he wordlessly extends his sneeze-hand toward me for a handshake. I try another jump, but he keeps hanging on.

I'm really angry that he's interfering with my LD and I think of the Colosseum Task of the Year ('Have a "fight to the death" with a DC in the Colosseum.') Yes, I think that I've found just the DC for killing. "I'm taking you to the Colosseum," I tell him, and grab him by the throat. His expression never changes, but his neck, arms and torso start rapidly expanding as if he were packing on slabs of muscle right before my eyes. Within a few seconds, he's transformed into a hulking, dangerous-looking gladiator.

Still holding him by the throat, I jump again. The celebrity looks like he weighs about 260 now, but fortunately I can move him easily when I jump. I have a gladius in my hand, but I hold back on using it until the time is right. My enemy is wearing some kind of armor now, and he's no longer looking for a handshake. I give my gladius some practice swings and mutter some threats that I can no longer remember. The celebrity doesn't respond.

Now we crash down on a floor of sand. I think that this is it! I can see a low stone wall all around us but above that it's just darkness where the crowd should be. I will the scene to come into focus, but the darkness just descends heavier and heavier until the dream ends...

Lost Lucid Dreams and Fragments
I also had a number of longer lucid dreams last night that were mostly wiped from my memory! My guess is that these were very low-level lucids where I lost lucidity. I'm a bit distressed to know that I am capable of losing LDs like that. I'm pondering what I should do to address this.

Lost Lucid #1 - I'm flying high over a huge canyon near sundown, aware that I'm dreaming and holding a pile of dog poo in my bare hands. I am in a hurry to get somewhere.
Lost Lucid #2 - An old man is in my kitchen showing me how to make gold out of simple household ingredients (including mud.) I know that I'm dreaming, but I watch in fascination.

Also, one lucid fragment:

Lucid Fragment #1 - I'm looking at a DJ entry on DreamViews. It has a single comment with a very long first paragraph. I become lucid when I see that the comment is from "BadArtemis" rather than "NewArtemis". Quickly wake up.

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.

This was a short but pleasant lucid after drinking a 3-bag brew of peppermint tea during my WBTB. I woke up for the WBTB on the late side (4:45 or so), so I didn't stay awake for very long. Probably because of this, my waking life memories were a little tough to access.

Color legend: Non-dream Dream Lucid

Lucid #64: The Menthol Arcade

I'm in a dark arcade playing Street Fighter II with my friend SC. We're talking smack and he says, "I bet you can't win a sumo wrestling match." I say something really brilliant like, "Bring it!" and the game starts.

I'm on the righthand side and both of us are playing as E. Honda. I look down at the game's controls and I'm disappointed to see that it has no joystick and each side has only 3 buttons instead of the usual 6. The weirdness of this sticks in my mind and after thinking it over, I realize that I'm dreaming.

The game starts and neither of us moves at first. I jam on the buttons a bit and my player starts E. Honda's signature "Hundred Hand Slap". I will him to start drifting to the left and he slides along for a few seconds.



Before I can land a shot, the screen goes black. I look over to my left and SC has vanished. I'm completely alone and all of the machines are off now. I turn away and start to explore the rest of the arcade.

The arcade's divided into two sides, and the side that I'm on is arranged around an enormous air hockey table that's at least 4-5 times larger than a normal one. I wonder what someone would do if the puck got stuck in the middle of that huge thing. On the opposite side of the room I see an emergency exit. I think about exploring the other side of the arcade but it occurs to me that I probably have goals I want to work on, and outside seems like a better bet.

I keep verbally reminding myself that this is a dream until I reach the exit. I push on the crash bar, the door swings open, and I'm staring out into a milky gray void. I'm nervous about walking out there but I feel like there's no going back now.

There's a bit of a drop as I step into the void, but my feet land on something solid a couple of feet down. I feel like I'm wearing my work shoes. The scene goes totally dark, but I'm ready to DEILD. I start swinging my arm around, imagining that I have a gladius. Nothing happens for a few seconds, but I still feel relaxed. I start swinging harder, throwing in a few man-grunts for emphasis.

Some sort of wind sweeps up from below and picks me up off of my feet. The wind starts to swirl and soon turns into a cyclone. I can feel myself spinning and spinning, and I think that this is great -- LaBerge suggests spinning as a way to change scenes. I'm confident it will work, and sure enough I see a colorful, spinning scene start to emerge.

The wind dies down, the spinning slows, and I'm gently set down on a vast, jeweled mosaic that stretches in every direction as far as I can see. There's a slightly reddish glow on the horizon and what looks like a set of distant mountains. I'm awestruck by what I see, but it's just a few seconds before the dream ends.

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.

Bedtime - shoot for 9:30PM
Pre-Bed 5MG Melatonin
WBTB 1:15AM
Took supplements set out on bed side table. I wanted to avoid getting out of bed but I had to pee. Then back to bed.
4MG Galantamine
500MG Choline
600MG GPC
approx. .375MG melatonin

I fall straight back to sleep.
*many interruptions*
At about 3:00AM I begrudgingly take 1MG melatonin. That seems to get my drowsy enough. But unfortunately the visual quality was poor and the dreams fragmented. I think it was probably because of the melatonin. Still, I enjoyed some nice but short lucids but the joy was sucked away from all the trouble I had. Maybe, I was expecting too much and maybe I was just thoughtfully pissed off by now.

Gladiator - TOTY (fail)- WILD - around 4AM

I am laying still for a WILD. I begin to 'ohm' meditate but the sound is internal. I experience strong HH/HI. My head is buzzing. There is something in my mouth. It feels like a flat disc that is vibrating. Then, I see I am bitting onto a pink tab on the end of a womans white bath robe. The woman who is wearing the robe is busy doing something. She is sitting on the edge of a tub, starting her bath. She does not seem to notice me and pulls my head along this way and that. I realize what is happening and I come to slightly more awake.

That was unpleasant so I try something else. I go back to "ooooooohm". It quieting my internal chatter. I begin to visualize my own right hand holding a Gladius. Soon it becomes very vivid. I repeat a sideway slash over and over. Soon it becomes more natural to swing up and down in a tomahawk chopping action. I am in the dark void and I can vividly see the hilt of the sword with a brass ball at the end. It is not shiny and smooth but pock marked and dull from heavy use. I can't see the blade because it is more above my head. (Thank you, CanisLucidus for the sword idea!)



I begin to hear things. A solider shouts something in another language. It sounds like he is gruffly barking orders. Then I hear a pounding noise. It sounds a deep drum beat and people stomping all in unison to my over-head-chopping. Each downward slice is a beat. Boom... Boom... Boom... I remain calm and relax more.

Again I vividly hear the solider shouting orders. I am reminded of soldiers in formation for battle but I think, "No. I am in a Colosseum. I am fighting one man." I think maybe those in charge are just getting things ready and that's who I hear.

Now, along with the drum beat and foot stopping, I hear a very large crowd get excited and cheer. It sounds like thousands of people.

I don't over think things here but I just expect to see a Colosseum now. I had prepared before hand how I was going to visualize this. I thought of a simple geometric shape as a building block for the dream scene. I visualize this now. It was a simple curved line to form a wall in front of me like a half circle. Like looking across to the other end of a stadium.



The darkness parts in the middle of my vision like a curtain. My vision is very blurry but I can see enough. The sun is high in mid day. There ground is brown dirt and scattered gravel. Still the crowd is in an uproar. The booming may have stopped I am not sure. I continue my chopping action.

Soon a a figure materializes before me. Still blurry but I see a man that looks a lot like The Prince of Persia.



He wastes no time. He jumps in the air does a downward diagonal slash with his Scimitar. I reflexively put my Gladius up and deftly parry the blow. The impact sends a shock up my arm and startles me. I feel my entire physical body jerk and the scene colapses.


I try to go back in oooohming and chopping but I just can manage. I feel wakeful once more.

Eventually I give up on it all.

OBE DEILD Chains. Time unknown

I barely remember feeling vibrations but I am fooled by a false awakening. I am lying on the floor next to the recliner. There is someone in the recliner who looks a lot like me but I pay no attention. The room and floor is bright white light. It was a lot like the loading area on the Matrix. I feel pissed that I missed the vibrations and think that I did not try. "I really should have tried." I relax and do an in dream WILD. I mantra, "I am dreaming."

In a few seconds I am in the recliner with Vibrations. I float of of my chair. The room is dark (as in RL) and the dream feels really unstable. I feel wobbly and drunk. I try something that I read about. I imagine my feet becoming roots deep into the floor. I can feel my feet fusing down solid. Then I realized there was something I was supposed to do with my hands. I forget so I start rubbing them. I can vivid see the detail of the hard wood floor and the window to the front porch. There is a blue light coming in from a street lamp. I focus visually on this (Actually the visuals was really nice here now that I think about) I start to feel like a tree. I feel like I am growing and stretching. My feet come off the floor. I begin to destabilize. I feel like I was trying too hard or was thinking too much.
I go back to SP.

This time wait but I try to open my eyes. My real eyes pop open. I DEILD with mantra, "I am dreaming."

Back to SP in the recliner. This time I am scared to open my eyes. I feel my way outside onto the front porch. I realize now that the sound from the central unit was completely gone. This made me briefly wonder if I was sleep walking. I realize that I am just really deeply dreaming and feel content with that. I feel along the exterior wall of the house. I brush the screen of a window and realize that was my sons room. I withdraw my hand and tense up thinking I woke him up. I quickly realize this was silly. I turn toward the road and try to open my eyes to see. I open my real eyes and wake up.

I am able to dose off a bit before the alarm clock but I don't recall any more dreams. The clock got me.