Recent DJ Posts

Another lucid last night. Went in and out of full and semi lucidity, but maintained a thread of awareness throughout.

I became lucid while looking in a mirror in a hallway. That is a common thing for me. Mirrors always induce lucidity. They're one of the absolutely fool-proof things for me. The mirror turned out to be in the hallway of one of my home bases, so I started off with the advantage that I was already at least partially anchored. I don't really remember, I think the mirror was near the door to the outside, because I believe that's the door that I opened later on. I should have paid more attention.

Anyway, I immediately tested my suspicion that I was dreaming by attempting to push my arm through the surface of the mirror. There was slight resistance on the surface, and then my arm sank in. The mirror looked like quicksilver as I pushed my arm through it.

Satisfied with the knowledge that I was dreaming, I spent a while playing with my appearance and examining myself in the mirror. I eventually managed to turn myself into more of a caricature of myself than my actual appearance, which I found very entertaining. While I was playing around with my eyes - moving them around, changing the size and shape, etc - I could hear my brother's voice narrating in the background that he at least liked this current character design better than the last (implying that he really didn't like either). I waved it off and kept playing around.

I was really satisfied by my handiwork because I had trouble with this before. I then spent a little bit more time dressing myself up as a sort of elven-looking sorcerer. Just as fun as cosplay, and several hundred dollars cheaper!

After spending some time tweaking my heroic cloak/cape thing (I settled on something asymmetrical and held up on one side by a nice brooch that I own in real life), I decided to meet up with some friends at a tavern.

I opened the door to go outside, and The Blackness happened. Some people call it The Void. Instead of the outdoors or the tavern that I wanted, everything beyond the door was pitch black. I stepped through the door into The Blackness, hoping it would dissipate. Instead, it enveloped me, and everything went dark. I tried vividly imagining my hands and moving them around in front of me. I briefly saw them appear before they faded back into the darkness. Waving them around some more didn't make them reappear.

I decided to try something I have never tried before. Instead of trying to make it go away, I would condense The Darkness into a form where it could no longer impede me.

I held out my hands and tried drawing it into a form in my hands. It didn't work, possibly because I was unable to see my hands.

I then put my hands behind my back and focused on trying to summon it that way. I felt fur and a small warm body. The Darkness disappeared as it was channeled into the form of a cat.

I brought the cat around to the front. It was skinny, with soft shiny black fur and gold eyes. I petted it and set it on the ground, and it ran off.

Now I could see, through the open door, not blackness but the brightly lit inside of the tavern. It had polished wooden floors and brightly burning candles and torches.

I rushed to the booth everybody was sitting in and scooted in. The booths were tall, made of dark stained wood, and seats were made of leather. While we were waiting for our server, I lost the thread of lucidity and the dream faded.

I don't really remember the rest of what I dreamed about that night.

____

I'm pleased that I finally solved a long-standing problem and completed a successful completely-controlled scene change. I've felt so stupid about struggling with these basic things after even several years and the ability to WILD with regular success. I'm looking forward to honing my skills further, as this has been a serious road-block for me.

One thing I can say is that my ability to maintain dream stability and my thread of awareness has gotten SIGNIFICANTLY better.

In the void between dreams, and I felt 'the vibrations' and I could see a hoop of orange red light, so I tried to sit up and move towards it, but I was pushed me back in my bed and held there. Mmmmm, Grrrrrrrr. Sorry, wish I had more to say about that, cause I'm sure it would of been awesome!

I went to bed around 10:00 Pm and woke at 3:30 for Wake Back to Bed (WBTB). Read some dream journals, and did some written and spoken mantras (to visit with my daughter while lucid), and then I went to bed and meditated to state where I was consciously awake with my body asleep. Unfortunately, I did fall consciously asleep, and I ended up in a dream where I was driving a snowmobile down a mountainous gravel road during the summer. I was pulling a co-worker on a bobsled, and we were travelling dangerously fast, so she said, “Hey, slow it down a bit!” It sounded like a good idea, so I pulled into a parking lot to take a break. The road just seemed to end in the parking lot, and I found that a bit strange, so then I questioned myself if I was dreaming or not. Yup, definitely dreaming, I’m lucid! I then woke from the excitement and I was back in the void.

I was lying in bed with my mind consciously awake and my body asleep for a short period of time. Then I felt somebody crawl into bed behind me (I was laying on my left side), and then they reached around and hugged me with their right arm. I moved my dream arm carefully, so as not to move my physical arm, and I gently held onto the person’s wrist. It was definitely my daughter’s wrist, because she has very small delicate wrists. We laid quietly for about 5 minutes in ‘the void’, and then I decided to try and speak with my dream voice, “I love you!” It worked! I was able to talk without using my physical voice. I then felt ‘the vibrations’ happening, but I didn’t want to OBE exit because I was perfectly happy just lying there with my daughter. Soon afterwards ‘the vibrations’ ended, and then I heard a lamb go, “Baaaaah!” in my right ear! Little did I know I was false awakened.

I sat up in bed unknowingly in a false awakening, and I saw my wife, son, and my son’s friend, all standing in my bedroom. My bedroom actually appeared as my bathroom, with my bed in it. I could hear rocks rolling around somewhere. I told everybody to get the heck out because I was trying to lucid dream, and they all just laughed at me. My wife passed me the I-pad, but it looked totally different, and I couldn’t get the dang thing to work properly, so I passed it back to her and she closed it like a laptop. All these dream signs and I still didn’t realize this was a false awakening. I was getting real angry with everybody being in my room, so I laid down in bed to fall back to sleep. That’s when I woke for real! Darn, that would have been an awesome lucid dream. Clarity was picture perfect!

In this next dream, I was at a shopping mall talking to a pretty quadriplegic, black haired girl (in her 20’s) who was painting with her mouth. I asked her if she always paints with her mouth, and she replied, “Sometimes I paint with my hair”, as she grabs the paint brush and sticks it in her hair. So I smile and say, “Oh, you’re not paralyzed?”, and she nods ‘yes’ at me. So I sat down beside her to watch her paint, then she sat on my lap. I felt a bit uncomfortable with this, but I was willing to go with it. Then my wife walked up and pushes lightly on the girl’s back to get off me! Trying to avoid trouble, I stand up and walk off with my wife. I reflected on what just happened, and I figured out I was definitely dreaming! Lucid again (DILD)! I then put my hands on my wife’s shoulder and said, “We have to call for our daughter to come!” She momentarily looked puzzled, and then she caught on! We both started calling for our daughter to join us in this dream. We walked up a flight of stairs to a landing, and then my wife became distracted with something. Then I put both my hands on her shoulders and looked her right in the eyes and said, “You must stay focused. Keep calling for our daughter until she comes.” My wife had the strangest looking glowing bluish eyes. She agreed and we continued up to the 2nd storey of the shopping mall.

Suddenly I heard my daughter say, “What? What’s going on? Huh? How come mom’s there?” BTW, there were tons of people in the shopping mall. Then I saw a little girl walk by, I thought maybe that was my daughter, but no, she walked right past us. We continued calling for our daughter. Then my daughter came running up the stairs and towards my wife. She was really young, maybe 5 or 6 years old, with curly blonde hair. My wife scooped her up in her arms with excitement and they hugged and kissed! I ran around to the other side, and together we gave our daughter a huge sandwich hug! That’s when I woke from all the excitement. I wish I could have stayed longer to see what happened next.

I became spontaneously lucid in this dream for no particular reason. My mom was standing in front of the backdoor at my childhood home. It was early morning, and the sun was just starting to come up. Dear mom was very nicely dressed, and I thought she was maybe getting ready to go to church. I told mom, “I’m lucid! Let’s fly!” She shook her head no. I said, “Watch me, I’ll show you how.” I then flew through the living room, around the staircase, and I returned to the backdoor, landing effortlessly in front of her. She wasn’t at all interested, and then she walked into the living room, sat down at the couch, and she started to read her Bible. I said, “Mom, how can you always be reading your Bible? You must know it inside and out by now?” She gave me a look of desperation, and then she laid down on the couch and went to sleep.

Feeling determined to get my mom flying; I began to shake her shoulder. She came to, but she was now my sister. I said, “Sister, let’s fly!” My sister excitedly said, “Sure, okay!” I grabbed onto both of her hands to fly, with a plan to float upwards, but then the furniture moved towards us and it was now too crowded to fly. I said, “Let’s go over by the stairs and try there,” and my sister happily skipped along behind me (My sister is such a happy girl), but then the dream faded, and I was back in ‘the void’.

I was consciously awake with my body asleep. I couldn’t see anything, but I could hear lots of activity going on around me. The voices echoed, and it sounded like I was standing in a crowded airport. There was a woman announcing messages over the speakers, but I couldn’t make out what she was saying (typical airport). It felt like I was floating around in my bed, and then a woman right beside me said, “Which of these people are going to meet with the three creators?” Then all noise instantly stopped, and I heard somebody walk out of my bedroom, slam the door, and stomp down the hallway. I immediately opened my eyes, and nobody was there. It was night time, and all was quiet. I was then lying in bed feeling really pumped and excited about this dream. Very cool stuff!

I just finished a dream where I was cruising in a jeep that I use to own back in the early 90’s. Jeeps are really fun to drive, especially with the roof off, and windshield down! I gotta get another one! This dream was very vivid and I was on the verge of lucidity, but the dream ended just as I was figuring it out.

After the dream ended, I was lying in bed consciously aware, but my body was asleep, and shortly thereafter I started to hear music playing, and then ‘the vibrations’ started! This is very exciting when this happens! I leaped out of my body and stood up beside my bed, and then I struggled (as usual), to peel off my blanket and CPAP. I was twisting, and turning, and tearing at my face to get all this crap off. When I was done, I looked down at the bedroom floor to see my CPAP mask, hose, blanket, CPAP machine, transformer, and power cable all twisted together in a heap beside the bed. My body lay right on the bed right where I left it, and I looked very much asleep. Music was still playing. There was a computer monitor and key board setup on a night stand, but there isn’t one there in waking life (at my parent’s house). Hmm let’s see what this is about.

In the bottom left corner of the black, monitor screen was rectangular icon about 1.5 inches wide by .75 inches high. The icon was lightly shaded gold. On the right side of the icon was ancient, gold, balance scale, and on the left side were gold ‘Predator’ type symbols that were scrolling and continuously changing. It was very interesting. When I pushed some keys on the keyboard, the screen flashed something quickly, but it went back to a black screen with the icon in the corner. I started calling for my daughter to join me, and then I opened the bedroom door and headed out into the hallway.

I saw somebody walk past me in the hallway, but the person were transparent, and there was a wash of bright blue light that flashed through them. Then a second transparent person came from the washroom, and they both walked into my parent’s bedroom, so I followed them. When I walked into my parent’s room, one of them walked right through me, like they couldn’t see me. Then my mother in-law, who passed 14 years ago, walked past me, touched my arm and smiled, then said something to me, but I couldn’t hear what she said, because I had my earplugs in. The clarity by this point was perfect, and I was able to identify one of the transparent figures as being my middle sister. I reached forward and grabbed her by the shoulder and I said, “Sister, can’t you see me?” She immediately became solid, and she said my name with surprise!

I said, “Sister, you look so young! How old are you?” and she proudly replied, “I’m 17!” She had the biggest smile. Meanwhile, the second transparent figure became solid, and she was my mom. She also looked really young, like in her late 30’s. I said, “Mom, it’s me! You look so young! I’m now 50.” My mom had a total look of horror on her face and she immediately looked at the ground. I felt upset that I startled her, and then I was back in ‘the void’ again.

The music immediately started playing again, followed by ‘the vibrations’, so I tried to OBE exit once again. I landed on the floor beside my bed, but I slipped on something, and landed on my butt! My arms went through the floor, and I started to struggle to get up, but it was like I was pushing against air, and I just couldn’t do it. I was too close to my body, and I was getting sucked back in, so I gave up, and ended back up in ‘the void’ yet again. I stayed there for what felt like a very long time, and I eventually lowered my consciousness level enough to enter into a dream, but I wasn’t lucid. I think I lost consciousness during the transition. It actually was a cool dream where I was talking to my oldest sister through an oval portal, and then I ended up throwing slippers at her jokingly.

After doing WBTB (Wake Back to Bed), my mind is consciously awake, but my body is asleep. This can be very boring while in the ‘void’ patiently waiting for the next lucid dream to start. Sometimes this can last up to an hour before a dream finally kicks in. Sometimes there’s hypnogogic imagery, occasional voices, but for the most part it’s dimly lit nothingness, and it’s challenging not to slip into unconsciousness. I’ve recently discovered that it’s possible to engage the void, and make it a pleasant experience. For me, the void can basically become a dream without vision, but you have touch and sound. Here’s what happened:

I had just finished a lucid dream where I was at a very scenic boardwalk enjoying the ocean and having an evening walk, and then the dream faded and I was back in ‘the void’ waiting for the next lucid dream to start. After about 10 or 15 minutes in the darkness I heard some people talking, and I recognized one of the voices! It was my daughter’s! I tried to call her name, but nothing happened, and it felt as though if I had tried any harder, my physical body would have spoken. If my physical body spoke, or moved, I would slip out the void and physically woken up. I could still hear my daughter talking to somebody, so I decided to relax and calm myself into the twilight zone of slipping into unconsciousness. Then I said my daughter’s name, and it worked! My daughter quickly replied by saying, “Dad?”

She then sang me a brilliant song that lasted about 30 seconds, ‘a jingle’. I told her it was a beautiful song! Then she came and hugged me. I couldn’t see anything in this state of lucidness, but I could feel her hugging me, and I was able to talk to her. I hugged her back and told her I love her. She jokingly said, “Dad, we have to stop meeting like this or people will start to talk!” I then said, “Daughter, we simply need to be together every night while I dream until we’re together again. A father and daughter can’t be separated.” I slipped deeper into unconsciousness and I found myself fully lucid back at the boardwalk again. I was still talking to my daughter, but she was now a small sphere of light, the size of a ladybug stuck to the side of a weathered wooden wall. I told her again I love her, and that we simply need to be together. She then vanished, and I continued my evening walk along the boardwalk. Shortly thereafter I lost my lucidity and continued in regular dream mode. I don’t remember what happened after that, but I did end up back in the void again, and then I had a pontoon boat LD which I’ll journal later

I'm listening to a man die while I remain in hiding. I'm thinking that maybe I should have moved sooner and saved him, even though I'd have risked being seen - but I don't have any particular emotion about this, except maybe a little irritation at myself. I've been sent into this old stone ruin of a fortress, and I'd intended for only five particular men to be spared. Now I'm down to four. It's not ideal, but I'll have to live with it.

I couldn't hear her very clearly from my hiding place under their bed, but the woman who stabbed him said something to the effect that he should have recognized her. Some personal revenge thing - none of my business. Now I'm seeing the sort of smoke haze of colors passing before my eyes that I associate with life leaving a body. I watch it dissipate in the air, and I'm irritated at the waste. Waiting around is pointless now - and the woman should be directly above me. I stab up through the mattress.

When she dies, my perspective shifts. I'm floating in the void, with this massive black slab of a door in front of me, as wide as it is tall, some kind of geometric symbol across it. It's standing on this sort of grid far below, like a chess board where all the squares are black, with the door as a line across the center of the board. There's a few gravestones occupying some of the squares of the grid - that's new. I realize immediately they represent the previous targets the door sent me after - one of them must represent that woman whose death brought me back here. The door's saying something in my head about bringing it wisdom for the dead.

Three boys at a boarding school have smuggled in a canister containing what they think is going to be a harmless prank. They're wrong. They're in much more serious trouble than they expected, and one of the three boys immediately runs from the room, cluing the authorities in to their guilt. The other two try to explain that they're not at fault, they didn't mean to hurt anyone, it's the person who gave them the canister who caused this, and the third boy's gone off to fetch something that will prove it - but he'll be too late, that evidence will be gone.

Two guys have shown up at my IRL home with a dead girl in the backseat of their car. She won't stay in the ground. They're telling me she needs to be put to rest. I say yeah, she sure does - but not in my yard. Get her out of here. I go back to bed.

After going through a portal, I'm briefly disoriented, looking at this immense black hole in front of me - then I realize I'm still in the void, the portal I just went through only shifted my position within it. I'm floating before this vast swirling dark mass. It's something like a cloud if a cloud had long spines that curl and move, and something like a great tornado seen from above with a black eye at its center, and something like a nest framed with this curling mass of spines. It's unimaginably vast. The hole at the center is many, many times my height, and it's only like the pupil in a great eye; I can't begin to describe the size of the thing itself. I try to look to my left, to get my bearings in the void, but when I try to look away from the thing, static noise fills my head, getting worse the farther away I turn. I swim through the air to that black hole.

On the other side, I'm disoriented again - I'm underwater and I have a hard time figuring out which way is up, and there's too many colors after the void. I eventually work out I'm in the cabin of a sunken ship, tipped so the prow's pointing straight down - I quickly make my way out and shoot right up to the surface. I'm in a great cave filled with several such shipwrecks, with sun shining in through holes far above.

(Woke up. Back to sleep.)

There are two women, lovers, relaxing in a small pool surrounded by Greek-looking ruins in a green field, with plants around the pool for privacy. This planet has been uninhabited for a long time, people only visit it now as a place to relax. An older, beautiful woman approaches the pool. The others dislike the interruption and the loss of their privacy, but it can't be helped; everyone's friendly and polite, and the women in the pool shift over to make room for her.

The scene changes: one of those two women is sobbing on the shoulder of a friend. Her lover's dead - that older woman killed her.

I've been searching the internet for information on Silver Entities in the void. The most meaningful that I came across had to do with two things:

1. The void is nothingness and within the emptiness there is creation. Because when we have nothing, we can begin to fill the void with something. (paraphrased and not very eloquently, but I hope you get the gist.)

2. Light is made up of many colors. And when God created light he created all that is. From that light, the angels were also created. Twin angels Scaphariel and Seraphiel. Both are male. Scaphariel is Golden. Seraphiel is Silver. One represents the male archetype and the other the female. Twin forms of light. Gold holds the space for creations while silver enlivens and activates what is created. Together they are known as the Source Rays.

My silver man, was just that, male. I am female. He was silver and I was gold. We did ... erm...'unite' so to speak at one point. If I take the void to mean a place of creation and the silver man was aiding me, perhaps he was helping me to create? Just as yin and yang is needed in all of life - so is male and female to keep a balance. Am I just grasping at straws here or does that seem somewhat logical? I am an artist and author. I also was working/experimenting with healing energies.

Thoughts?

1983/82
Non-lucid/partial lucidness Dream
Memorable
Vivid
---------------------------------------------
After my Grandma passed away, I was very disturbed by her leaving this world. One night, I lay in bed and tried to imagine what she might be feeling - how would it feel to be 'dead'. With these thoughts in my mind, I fell asleep. As the dream began, I found myself swimming. It was probably a typical swimming pool. I tried to come up for air and found a see-through barrier preventing me from getting to the surface. I swam left and right to no avail.

The dream shifted. I believe I became conscious. I wondered how would one feel if they were dead? I began shutting down each of my senses. I figured one wouldn't be able to hear and then I could not hear. One would not be able to see and then I could not see anything but black. One would not be able to feel....and this is where it changed again. I felt cut off and isolated. I was floating (seemingly) in this blackness - all alone - without sight, without hearing, without feeling. I did not exist. No one worried about me. I had no worries but I had no joys either. And then...I became terrified. I wanted to mean something to someone. I wanted to be remembered. I wanted to feel and see and hear. I woke up.

*Afterthought: Looking back on this dream, I often wonder if I had not just gone to the void that I found after years of meditating? To a child, the void might seem terrifying especially if you don't know what it is. But when I found the void as an adult, it was peaceful. And because you are meditating and your focus is internal - not external - I don't hear anything, or feel anything, or think anything. I could have, if I'd wanted to. But the goal was to focus and clear the mind - clear them mind of all that is. Only after clearing the mind can one be able to hear other things and see other things. Before that you only hear what is yours to hear. ... your own noise. And if someone/something else was talking to you, you would never hear them above your own chatter. So, as a child, the void, if that is what I entered, was a nightmare. The unknown can be terrifying...

Non-lucidSemi-LucidLucid

I concocted a plan to confront LG, utilizing the golden bullets he left me. This is the plan:

Originally Posted by Sam's Paper Journal

Note: this is not a dream.

I'm standing by the Bar in McAnally's, the pub in Dresdenverse Chicago. The building is established neutral ground, and the place is specifically designed to break up magical energies. Its design is broken up into odd nooks and crannies perfect for a dream walk.

I order two beer from Mac and take them, handing Mac a twenty with my right hand as I hold the other two in my left. I thank him and make my way to a nearby table. I set down the beers.

I reach into the right pocket of my jeans, where I put the golden bullets LG had threatened me with. I place them on the table in front of me and look up at the ceiling while sipping on my beer. It tastes like I imagine butterbeer would: rich and sweet. Inexplicable.

"You really expect me to drink this?"

I open my eyes to find the Lunar God eying me skeptically. I relax and take another sip.

"I would have ordered a bottle of Pinot Gris again, but I'm really not in the mood for champagne."

The Lunar God leans forward over the table. "Sam." He says, "No games. What do you want?"

I'm wary of him. "I want to know who you are."

He leans back in his chair, satisfied. I watch the smirk form on his face and settle in for a round of bargaining. I don't forget that those little golden bullets on the table have been used to try to claim my life.

This is the result:

I'm with the Joker in an armoured truck in a scene eerily reminiscent of Fight Club. Now, what could that mean?


You're just a freak, like me!

I'm following two characters and a potential horror movie from a third person point of view. At one point, I accidentally possess one of the characters and take some time off from the plot to... dye my hair. So yeah.

Same location. I'm waiting for my karate class to start. I check my watch, and it's 6:90PM. I guess I'm late. No, wait, this is a dream sign. I look around, confused, because this doesn't really feel like a dream. I pay more attention to my surroundings, and realize that it actually is a dream. I stop to savour the amazing feeling of being lucid.

"I'm dreaming," I say, and I start to repeat it to myself as I move around the dream-world. I'm not feeling very well, so I go to grab something from the fridge (in a place I've never been). I'm craving rasberries. When I open the fridge door, I find clear Yop yogurt containers filled with frozen rasberries. I eat a few.

I'm moving toward the exit when Ben stops me and wants me to listen to a song. It's rap music. I'm not interested, and there was something I wanted to do tonight, so I'm busy. A brief wrestling match with my brother ensues, but I shake him off and run to the exit. A steel staircase leads to a latched window.

I will the window to be open. I crawl out and latch it behind me.

I remember that I wanted to go to McAnally's to meet with the Lunar God character. I stretch a hand out in front of me and will the dream to dissolve. I close my eyes briefly, but when I open them, the green grass and concrete and sun are still there. Energy continues to swirl around me. I close my eyes again, and push through the dream-fabric.

When I open my eyes again, I can't see anything. Everything is dark, though coloured energy swirls through the space to break up the monotony. There seems to be a slight tear in the dream, so I move toward it (zooming closer, not walking). I drop to my knees and feel for the wooden door that I'm sure should be there. I imagine the texture, feel for iron handles of the closed door. I visualize the grain of the wood that should be there, the glass that is set into it.

"Open the door," says Mac, rolling his eyes. "We keep them open while we're open."

I stand up and dust myself off, looking at the four pointed star mounted on the door, just above my eye level. Did I create that?


The dream star was more ornate.

I shake off the strange feeling and move to the bar beside the door. This isn't anything like I'd imagined the place to be. The wood is darker, glossier, and everything is more streamlined than I'd expected.

"Two beer." I say to Mac. I dig through my pockets for the twenty that should be there, but I only find a bunch of change in my right pocket, where the bullets should be. Loonies, toonies, quarters. I apologize for paying in change, and I give him the $20 pile of change, minus the six loonies I need for LG. I consider that since we're in Chicago, I should have given him American money. I let my hand hover over the pile of change, and will it into American bills. The money flickers and I see paper. I'm not sure if it worked.

Mac waves me off, and I grab the beer and my loonies, setting them both down on a round wooden table near the bar.

"Aw, you don't need to do that," says a voice, "You already paid for drinks."

"These aren't coins," I say, turning to look at what I think is the Lunar God. He's younger than any incarnation I've seen before. He grins in understanding and takes a seat.

I take a sip of the beer. It tastes like Pilsner.

There's a third person at the table, whom I never acknowledge. Her (?) presence seems shadowy, dark, barely there. I think it's Elaine.

A girl comes up to LG and asks if it's okay if she leaves with someone.

"Yes." says one of us, before LG can comment. We kind of need to talk to him.

Unfortunately, LG's very presence seems to destabilize all dreams, and I can't remember a damn thing after that. Including whether I still have the bullets.

Failed Interrogations. Scare Factor: 3. Reaction: I need a new plan.[/QUOTE]

I'm standing in one of the cabins at a bible camp I used to attend. There are two girls in the room, and the first asks if I'll be staying here. I'm a bit confused, so I say that's possible, as I move my stuff across the room to an empty bed. This is an empty bed, right?

"What year is it?" I ask.

Without even blinking, the first girl replies, "1995". I do some quick calculations and realize that I'm pretty sure I didn't go to bible camp until '96 or '97. Briefly, my dream-self is my present-me, though no one other than me notices. I concentrate on shrinking myself to a point where I'll fit the story.

The first girl wants to make me feel better, so she hands me a 1995 issue of Climbing, still in plastic. I'm pretty excited, so I thank her and take the package, tearing it open. I ask if I can use the poster insert for the week, to hang on the wall. (Note: my real bedroom walls are plastered with climbing posters, art, postcards, and maps.) I notice that I've ripped the cover up the spine a bit, so I look for some tape to fix it.

Girl #1 asks me not to tell on her for using the word "hell".

I look around my suitcase and find a spiral bound notebook small enough to fit in the pocket of my cargo pants. The front pages are already filled with dream journal entries prefixed by the "~" I use in my written journal. I grab a pen, too. Might as well start on the kid genius routine to get a few writings published early.

Girl #2 is reading a book when the counsellor walks in, a girl with black curly hair who, huh, would actually be younger than me in real life. Weird. She praises the little girl with long blonde hair, who just looks more and more annoyed as she's praised and showered with gold stars and cabin points.

Hey, I remember that. In grade three. With the book on volcanoes. Hm.

Girl #1 immediately scoops up a book and pretends she was reading the whole time. The cabin counsellor looks at me expectantly.

"Eh heh, no." I say flatly, "I just finished reading The Great Gatsby; I'm going outside."

I wander away, looking for something to do. None of my contingency plans for time travel to bible camp go farther than "try not to get exorcised".

I sit on a swing and recognize a few relatives from an inlawish side of the family that doesn't actually exist yet. As I probably haven't met them, I resolve to swing on swings. And ask people what they would do if they got to relive their respective childhoods. Other than die of boredom.

Whatever it was that I decided to do, it got me in trouble, all right. There's a boy from the swing set crying in the kitchen we've been left in, repeatedly saying, "I'm going to hell!" I try to reassure him by saying that there's no such thing as hell; it's just a story. I stop short of saying "There's also no God, Easter Bunny, or Santa Claus," because that would just be mean. Oddly, the boy doesn't seem to have calmed down at all. So I ignore him.

From what they tell me, I'm half-sure they're going to get me to do their accounting for them. It turns out that the Mad Hatter intervened and I get to serve my time in the kitchen developing new flavours of candy. Mad Hatter, Willy Wonka, either way, I get to hang out with Johnny Depp.

Lucid moments while I'm waking up, or they wake me up. Dream scenes fade, swirling away into a brown-black nothing, while I hold on to the feeling of whatever I'm touching at the moment.

Bible Camp. Scare Factor: 2, oddly enough.