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I remember two, probably related, segments, but my memory of them is a little limited so we'll see how much I can remember as I start here.

The earlier segment I can only seem to remember a few random image of. It was like some kind of futurey sandbox FPS scenario. I remember it was night for the duration of this segment, but it was that kind of movie or video game style night where it isn't really night but everything has kind of a dark blue filter over it (except where there's lighting). I remember seeing gray metal husks of tanks and fires all over streets. I was moving from place to place, destroying vehicles or robots or whatever I perceived as an opponent I guess. I'm not sure what my motivation was or what I was trying to do. I remember at one point I discovered a new way to take out some vehicles and was trying to describe it to an outpost of humans/allies but they were refusing to listen so I left them. I remember a segment where I was moving down a large bridge, with vehicle wrecks everywhere, sorta vaguely L4D2 style (only at night and no zombies).

The second segment was similar. There were two outposts of human survivors whose outposts were on an upper level. These two groups made up two Team Fortress 2 teams, the one I was with had a yellow outpost (and appeared on the minimap in the lower right corner of my vision as yellow), which was just kind of a crowded camp with people wearing mostly yellow clothes, and must have been the blue team since my opponents on the lower level were mostly wearing red. Everything on the minimap was represented by small, colored triangles, yellow and green for the outpost bases and control points, and gray for uncaptured control points. The other team had a green outpost (and was correspondingly green on the minimap) and was apparently the red team. On the lower level was kind of a Doom-style research outpost where most of the action took place. There was three objective locations arranged in kind of a triangle formation on the map that we were fighting over. In place of the usual TF2 characters, it was real-looking people just pretending to be the classes. I was a spy, and playing decent, but being constantly frustrated that my backstab was rarely working. I didn't have an actual spy's knife in my hands but I did the backstab animation with my fist and it would only work occasionally. There were a handful of players, both men and women. I remember there was a spy-girl with the spy's mask and blonde pigtails who would spawn and I'd keep following her and killing her because she wasn't very good. There was a larger guy with a red shirt on who was apparently a heavy. He was running around doing stuff and ignoring me as I tried to kill him. I backstabbed him and he said, "Okay, that's one." and I apparently understood I needed to do it twice to kill him but the second stab refused to work. Towards the end I somehow got to see the green outpost and I remember thinking it looked way cooler than the yellow one; for one it was green, there were light green lights everywhere and the people there looked like a cult, in green robes worshiping a triangle or pyramid thingy that was hovering a little ways up made out of the light green light. I remember a little ways before it ended it transitioned into what seemed like some kind of preview trailer for this little dream game where two people were discussing features; the one that one of them highlighted was how sometimes a third team would enter the game, something that was represented by another team (though I seem to remember it was the same color of green) popped up on the minimap and a line moved from their base to the outposts.

A lot of triangle imagery in the second segment.

1. I'm sitting in my college dorm room, wasting time on my computer. On Youtube, I find a claymation music video for "Master of Puppets." Cliff Burton is playing the guitar lines on a bass harp, which I think is incredible. I watch and call some friends over, but they don't seem to get that the video is claymation! I notice that one of the professors from the research station whom I dislike greatly, Dr. McK, is hovering over one of their shoulders. I wake up and try to record this dream, but am too tired to do so (false awakening).

2. I'm browsing TV channels in a hotel room with my mom and brother. Soon I come across a black and white film that appears interesting. It's about a very attractive MILF who tries to seduce two young boys. One of them falls deeply for her, but the other retains his honor with great difficulty. During the film I have to leave to go to the bathroom, but I try to hold it too long and end up shitting down my jeans leg. Mom is embarrassed to watch the film with us but doesn't ask to change the channel.

3. I am inside a fighting video game set in Wisconsin. An evil mastermind has stolen a McGuffin and is holding the entire state hostage. To defeat him, I lead a three-person squad in hand to hand combat from a third-person perspective. An avatar of me is the head of the squad, and I hold back no punches in the fighting. One of my foes, a huge strongman, seems to wait until he's badly hurt before he starts fighting hard; he says this is the only way to be "fair." After I beat him, I find two magic blocks of wood. They seem to work like magnets that I can turn on and off, and they grant me the power of flight. I reach a huge elevation and see the mastermind's lair in a green tower at the edge of the horizon.

Key: Non-Lucid, Lucid

I've hit a dry patch of recall over the past few days. Despite putting even more focus on trying to LD lately, somehow my recall has slipped off. Hopefully my recall will get back to acceptable levels soon.

I was in a large corridor on a floating platform. I couldn't see the ground below or the ceiling/sky above -- it was really tall. I was on a floating platform. There were several, forming a line and moving along. It was all very science fiction. The walls were metal and had random lights every now and then and the platforms were metal. The walls had a green-ish hue to them.

The scene reminds of of the Unreal Tournamnet CTF map Hall of Giants in terms of the colours and style of the walls.

It's vague but there were Pokemon there. There were only fire types. I remember I had a Ponyta with me and said something about it evolving in to a Rapidash. I also had a Vulpix and remember contemplating how cute it was.

1. My brother and I, both living at my research station, have started a band called "Acid Warning." We're preparing for a big concert and are trying to recruit as many audience members as we can before the show. We take a break from practice to go watch TV with our dad. The first show is Jeopardy, and after we finish, Alex Trebek himself comes by the room and just laughs at us. We are nonplussed and continue watching, this time seeing Dr. Who.

Afterwards, Mom joins us, along with a professor from the station and his wife. Subtle, barbed insults are exchanged between the adults, making my brother and I feel very uncomfortable. We exit, but soon the parents follow us. Dad orders us to leave, saying that he can't stand to spend another day here.

2. My brother and I discover a website with every N64 game ever made. We hook up the computer to the TV and start to play; I start off with Pokemon Snap, but he soon changes the game to Star Wars Battlefront.

1. My brother and I are at a theme park that seems to be based on world War II. As we walk along, our eyes are caught by what looks like an indoor mini golf course. When we enter, however, the attraction is a kind of real-life platformer. Fiendish puzzles of moving boxes are suspended above pits of water or water colored to look like "lava." It takes a lot of time and creative thinking, but we clear a bunch of levels together. Eventually, however, we reach the final stage, presided over by a cigar-smoking wax statue of General George Patton. In this stage, we have to carry a box of supplies over a very unstable path of floating and sinking boxes. I empty my pockets, knowing that I'll probably fall. They have my real-life every day carry in them, including my wallet, cell phone, keys, and Swiss Army knife. My brother and I then start to carry the boxy, but soon we simply give up.

2. I'm exploring the University of Tennessee in a kind of Space Station 13 style setup. The dream is set during a Latin convention, so the place is crowded, and I get up to a variety of hijinks. Highlights include leading a round of spiritual songs on the dance floor, climbing up recently painted ladders, tracking my friend H's little sister, and causing sonic annoyance on the football field. Lots of activity, but little in my notes.

3. A suit clad woman is driving a car of research station students back from a movie. The scenery isn't rural at all, but instead a kind of cyberpunk corporate hellhole. She convinces us to make an unnecessary fast food stop at a White Castle, and we enter the drive through. As we do so, however, she nonchalantly says "By the way, you're dreaming." I realize that yes, I am, but having a DC tell me straight up is enough to snap me out.

1. My brother, dad, and I are at the animal shelter adopting a new cat. For some reason my brother empties his pockets, but all he has in them is a large and unwieldy knife-wallet hybrid with a combination lock. An Asian man grabs the lock and starts cracking it. He soon solves it and tries to leave, but I hook my finger in the lock and pull to make him stay. We struggle for a while and he calls me racist names, then pulls out a pistol. I then proceed to knock him out with my other hand and escape with the family.

2. I'm playing DDR in an arcade with some of my college friends. It only costs two tokens, but the machine has been modified to float and is very unstable on a pool of water. My friend Q starts to bash arrows on the machine, and I try to stop him from messing me up. I lose my balance, however, and fall into what turns out to be putrid water.

3. I am watching a Tupperware container with a hot dog and a bunch of Cincinnati chili. Suddenly the hot dog grows a tiny mouth and starts to eat the chili, eventually leaving the container spotless!

4. I can see my own aura, and it is green. Someone else (unintelligible notes) also sees it and comments.

Originally, I was going to be writing about helping some DV members build a literal dream house, but an afternoon nap cropped up this gem. Part 2 will follow later tonight.

23.07.2010

Good Cop (Part 1 of 2) (Non-lucid)

★★★★☆

NON-DREAM DREAM LUCID

Feeling less than safe, even with my Riot Shield and full SWAT uniform, I quickly crouched and raised my shield as two thugs came up the stairs. I turned as they moved past me and MTM, making sure to keep the both of us safe in case they decided to start shooting. Glaring as they passed, I could see they were making their way further up into the mall. Maybe we should be going down, then.

Motioning to MTM, who was armed with a G36C, we began moving down the stairs. As we went, I would jump over the ledge each time we reached the halfway mark, making the descent even faster. Soon enough, we were on the tiled ground floor of this vertically structured mall.

PING! PEW! PING!

Becoming very much aware of the bullets ricocheting off my shield, I ducked down, protecting the both of us from the fire raining from above. I looked up to see the thugs from before firing at us with a G18 and a Mini Uzi from a balcony several floors up. Calmly, I took out my Intervention, and peered through the thermal sights. Taking a breath, I fired a warning shot at each, hitting the barrels of the assault rifles hanging from their necks. Although, they seemed un-phased as they switched to their ARs, which were functioning perfectly fine despite the holes I had made. . .

MTM took cover behind the stairs and lay down suppressive fire; I moved in closer to try and stop them. I made it a good distance, but a stray shot clipped my arm rather badly while I was putting my Riot Shield onto my back. Just like that, I was down for the count.

The world faded in and out, as the amount of gunfire increased twofold. An old squad-mate ran over to me, unconcerned for her own safety, as she stood over my failing body, firing up at the goons who started this mess. It looks like the calvary has arrived, I thought as everything turned to black. . .

Images flashed before my eyes. First, a scene of the two low-lifes explaining their position and admitting they were wrong to start shooting me like that, especially when they realized I could have taken them out at any moment. They showed the camera the damage I had done to their guns. Then, my time in the hospital drifted past my faint consciousness, and I became painfully aware of the toll the recovery process took on my psyche.

A meaner, more bitter cop than before, I would no longer hesitate to take out a perceived threat if they even looked at me funny. The only thing that kept me from going off the wall was my family, who weren't taking my personality change very well. I feared they could leave me at any time. . . .

1. I'm making a thrilling video-game style escape from an industrial type level. I'm not so much running or parkouring, although there is some of that. Instead, I'm solving puzzles where the penalty is falling down large pits. For example, to cross one I have to latch a carabiner shaped like a hummingbird to the right track above the pit and glide across. Below me is a horde of giants, reaching up to grab my feet and eat me. I think I may actually have failed once, but I re-spawned and took the right path. In another puzzle, I have to figure out the motion of a series of ladders and trains. I jump from one to the other, whirling almost out of control before I land on solid ground.

Finally I manage to break out of the level into a building (which I recognize from another dream after the fact). I take the wrong elevator but eventually break out into my hometown. For whatever reason I walk through a combination strip club/liquor store, then exit from there into a strip mall parking lot. I get surrounded by police, who accuse me of shoplifting and try to tase me. I start getting really scared and half-lucidly force myself to wake up.

2. I'm at a beautiful Japanese university with Dr. C from my research station. He drops me off by a riverbank and tells me to wait as he performs some errands. I dutifully wait, pulling out my laptop and playing Age of Empires II to pass the time. My mom randomly shows up, bringing hometown pizza and her homemade pie, and asks about my general health. By eating and conversation I manage to ease her worries and she goes away. I then wander off to take a leak. When I return, I see two kids in a pickup truck have stolen all my stuff and are driving away!

Frantically I run after them and end up in the main building of the university. I find all of my stuff set up just as I had left it in a hallway of the building. I play some more, then talk to a janitor about the school's study abroad program. Soon I wander into a busy stairwell, where Dr. C passes by, then the two kids who stole my stuff. V passes by me; she then passes by me again in the same direction, and this time she kicks me into the stairs and starts screaming that I deserve the pain. Apparently she heard something I said as "I want a domestic divorce," but this was the opposite of what I meant. I panic to tell her the truth, but the dream ends before I meet up.

3. I'm in some cartoonish epic of wizards and wizardry. A white wizard (white as in race) is on the run from a horde of black wizards led by his archrival and former apprentice. He runs into his house and sets the locks just in time to have the horde crash on his door. He draws his wand, then turns to face the nemesis he knows has teleported right behind him. The two draw, and they launch volleys of magic meant to kill.

4. The scene is set in an exotic hotel, where people are exercising nasty fetishes about the Warhammer 40K universe. Soon things shift to the hotel's courtyard, where the lead singer of the band Foxy Shazam is teaching a dance class.

this one starts out in my ants house, or at least its similar. im on a couch, playing the new Super Mario Bros for the wii with my two cousins that i watched a couple weeks ago. the game looked weird though, the characters were all messed up. then my ant walks in, and starts talking to me, i talk back i think, thats all i remember sadly, i had to wake up w/ an alarm.

1. Once again I find myself in a mall arcade with my parents. I find a DDR machine where someone has left credits, and happily I jump on and select double mode. I have a lot of trouble selecting my first song, though (and with text menu, another failed RC), ending up on a Paul McCartney solo work. The stepchart is silly, and I barely manage to pass, feeling acute embarrassment. For my next song, however, I go to my old fallback "Heaven is a '57 Metallic Gray" and rock the house. Arrows seem smaller than in real life, but otherwise the interface is fine.

2. I play the main role in a music video for one of my favorite bands, The Dear Hunter. I don't remember details, but I do remember that it ends in a passionate and particularly real-feeling kiss.

1. I'm completely out of money at a mall, so I get my dad to give me some quarters. I then take these to go play DDR at an arcade. I'm able to find a freestyle hands-and-feet mode (menu is in text, so failed RC) and happily punch in to play. I am disappointed, though, since the interface isn't the clean shining one I know and love. The whole thing is grainy, and there are no arrows, only solid streams of pixels for notes. I enjoy the techno nonetheless, performing for my parents and some random guy, and I get a high score. As I enter my name in all caps into the machine, my dad makes a wisecrack about how freestyle should be "horse behind the ass" style.

2. Mom is having an affair with some man in New England. She hides it for a while, but eventually she's found out to be pregnant and everything turns to shit.

07/12/10

Do motorcycle chases ever end well?

I hop on my motorbike and speed toward the highway, mindful of being chased. It's been far too long since someone tried to kill me.

I pass my exit, turn sharply onto the next ramp. I'm going against the flow of traffic. I don't have time to do an RC, but since this is a dream, it's the perfect time to try out a trick from Saints Row... go against traffic, and it's harder for anyone to catch up to you.

At least, I think it's a dream. I'll risk it.

I'm pedaling my bike up a hill.

I take a sharp turn onto the exit, shift gears and find myself on the open highway. I speed up, watching the colours blur around me, faster, faster! Something's wrong, though. I'm on the right side of the road, going the right way! There goes my advantage.

I'm catching up to a row of semi-trucks. I focus on them, trying to force the images to turn around and come this way -

A truck hurtles toward me. The grill gets bigger, and closer, and I swerve into the far lane. The truck drives by me, honking. I skid over the pavement, tumbling head over heels. When I've stopped, I find myself staring up at the blue sky, trying to calm my breathing.

I get up and pick up my bike. I hop on. It's still running, but it's going really slowly up the next hill.

Someone taps me on the shoulder.

I spin around, catch the faintest glimpse of a man with curly hair before I'm back on my bike and pedaling fiercely down the exit ramp. This feeling is elation; I'm speeding down the steep ramp without a care for the wall that's suddenly appeared before me - what?

I brake and abandon the bicycle on the ramp. I'm inside of a mansion, which I know is the headquarters for my enemy. I peer around the corner, and snap back. There are two guards inside. One of them might have seen me.

"Hey," says a voice from beside me.

I jump and turn around. Shego is leaning on the wall next to me, filing her nails.

"You coming to girls' night?" she asks boredly, "We can get an action movie in if you're there."

"Sure," I say, risking a glance at the guards around the corner.

"I never saw you," she says, rolling her eyes.

I pick up my bike from the ramp. It's a stunt bicycle at this point. I peek around the corner again, looking at all of the interesting obstacles that are in there.

Minutes later, I'm ramping through the lobby of a movie theatre, being chased by out-of-breath security guards.

Zero CCs. Scare Factor: 3.

Friday, June 25, 2010

Apparently, psychopaths are drawn to the martial arts.

I'm in the middle of a karate class. I don't know the instructor, and I think I'm new to this dojo. The students are preparing for an upcoming tournament, concentrating especially on their kata. One man is leading a bunch of other students in a kata, but I notice that he moves with a limp.

The head sensei, an old man, shows up beside me. He explains that it was he himself who crippled the other man. You see, he explains to me, this man was my student at the time. Apparently, the other man was using what he learned in martial arts to abuse women he was in relationships with over the years, and the head sensei put a stop to it. The other man's punishment was that he would no longer be able to reach his full potential as a martial artist.

I'm talking with some of the other students, when I remember I have to check something. I sit down on the grass with my laptop. Firefox is already open, and I start to type something. Or maybe I'm clicking the Stumble button, I don't really remember.



A girl from high school shows up and sits on my lap, taking the computer. I look over her shoulder as she types something in.

I'm playing a video game that's a cross between Saint's Row 2 and Assassin's Creed 2. Why all the sequels?

I tell my brother about a bug in the game. I load my save game and see my character collapse and die. The game reloads, in a different place. I collapse and die. Cue loading screens to a bunch of different characters and places. Collapse and die, collapse and die, collapse and die.

Finally, we see a cutscene. An old woman is the queen of the land; she's bedridden and giving orders to messengers. Apparently, she was my character's mom at one point, only I keep dying and getting reincarnated, so I've been missing for the last thirty years.

"Change in next music and chocolate."

...what?

Lucid moment. I look at my right hand and notice that the three little fingers are bent, but it feels like two of them are, and the other three are extended. Wait a minute. I glance up and look around, but the dream is already over.

Sensei. Scare Factor: 2.

I'm waiting for my brother to pick me up at home and take me to the mall. He's running late, so I go downstairs and fire up my computer. It has a projected user interface, as in Jarvis from the Iron Man movie, and a very large high-def monitor. I start to browse Wikipedia (text, so failed RC), looking up Super Smash Bros. Brawl, and from there link to an obscure Japanese game that takes place in the Kingdom Hearts universe. It download it and proceed to play.
The only relationship to Kingdom Hearts is the use of the Gummi Ship. This vehicle is presented in top-down perspective, scrolling in a traditional manner as in Galaga or Galaxian. The enemies follow colored tracks along with a soundtrack, as in Audiosurf, and special flight maneuvers are also order with the music as in DJ Hero. The interface is intuitive and the gameplay frantic enough to keep me engaged for several rounds, and I start to reconsider going to the mall at all.

It's evening at a summer camp, and I feel incredibly bored. My brother invites me to play video games with him, so I go to the living room of our house and join. It's some sort of superhero fighting game with SNES-level graphics, and I play as Wolverine against his Hulk. The cartoons have a good level of violence, with blood flying as my Wolverine claws dig into the Hulk's skin. Eventually I get bored again and wander outside.

I find a book of idea for things to do when bored just lying on the ground. I pick it up and start flipping through (yet another failed RC). One of the ideas is shooting a watch battery with a nail to produce some sort of cool reaction; the book warns that after the 41st nail is shot at any battery, both objects are coated with a slow-acting contact poison. I proceed to idly shoot the battery 42 times, watching sparks and corrosive fluids form, then touch the damn thing. Nothing happens immediately, but in a minute or two my left arm feels incredibly numb. I look down at it, and the skin is turning a sickly shade of blue (failed finger RC). I run to the camp's bathroom, but faint out of the dream.