Dreamlog

The Reservoir:
I'm at my Grandma's current home in the basement with my niece. She wants to show me "the reservoir".
I have no idea what she means, but she is gesturing toward a small crawlspace door on the wall. I follow her through.
Feeling is definitely creepy in here. A ladder leads deep down below the house.
When we get to the bottom, it resembles the basement we just left, but darker and more decrepit.
Over in the living area, there are some wizards having an argument.
Each of them has a staff with a jewel of a unique element (Fire, Ice, Electricity).
There is a sort of alert, and everybody has to hide.
I stay out, and try to get stock of the situation.
The situation resolves, and I try to indicate to a group hiding nearby in alcove that the coast is clear.

Before WBTB

Ghost Data:
I'm playing N64 with brother. It's Mario Kart.
We're playing against ghost data, trying to win against difficult race times. They had been set by Youtube streamers.
He hands a controller to me and it is sweaty and coated in Cheeto dust.
My brother couldn't beat them, but when I try I start doing well. This excites me.

After WBTB

Time Travel:
I'm floating in the air above a living room setup in what may have been JH's basement from my childhood, it's a tense situation.
There's a limited time to make a time travel portal work, or else we will the stuck.
There is a thin grocery bag tied around my leg, that needed to go into the portal.
But I'm all jumbled up and can't get my body to move the way it needs to.
I pull off the trick, and then I see a potential future.
It involves an alternate version of my Dad, but then it stabilizes into the current version.
I'm through the portal, fall face first onto the floor. A girl says "Oh we don't mind this guy!"
The world has been saved.

Road Trip:
I'm in a neighborhood waiting in the backseat of a big car. It's a family road trip.
My Dad's friend has offered to drive us with his car on the trip.
Something is wrong with the car though, so we are waiting around.
My Dad, Mom, My brother, his wife, her Grandpa, my sister, nephew, niece, Grandma and some others are there.
Eventually, the car gets running, but somebody had stepped out of the car.
We start driving to go to where he is. I roll down the window and say "GET TO DA CHOPPA!"
He looks like J from high school marching band.
He fits into the car, but now it is pretty cramped. I'm curled into a ball shape to fit between the seats near the back.
My brother and sister are fighting about something, and eventually my brother comes to hang out in the back with me.
My parents give him some shit about getting along and my brother says "nah it's fine, I'm just the grumpy grandpa!"
"Yeah, me too." I say sarcastically. Peace ensues in the back seat.
...
We're driving through a mall-area, and my Grandma points out a Chuck-E-Cheese to me.
I wonder how old she thinks I am.
Eventually we end up at a ninja-themed Barcade, and apparently it has been decided that this is a suitable place for family dinner.
There is a girl there that I think is cute, so I'm focused on her.
I'm handed some drinks in a plastic bag, some monsters.
For some reason I decide to dump water in the bag with the monsters.
Later I regret that and find a way to dump the water and just keep one monster.
I go behind the bar and do that, and then weasel my way around, apologizing for bumping staff as I go.
I found a bathroom, and the girl tells me there is a small one and then a big one for me.
I don't know what that means, but I go and find out.
The "big one" is a urinal game where you shoot your pee into targets for a score.
Apparently somebody can see me and says "Ah, I didn't think somebody would try it...go for it!"
I hit some targets, but I don't have that much ammo in me. I resolve to start chugging some monster so that I can be better prepared next time.

Fragment:
I'm in a big open convention space, with thick carpet and lots of red/gold colors.
It turns out this is a hotel, where there is a mixup with where we were supposed to stay.
I'm on a school trip with the cast of My Hero Academia.

Grocery Store Flight:
I'm in a grocery store that reminds me of one I went to as a kid.
I'm running a sort of tower defense game, where people (mobs/creeps) will attempt to make it past my shelves and reach the goal.
I add some bricks to a back area, forcing a specific path.
I also formulated a strategy where I would add a block completing a blockage, waiting for the group to move, and then remove and rebuild it on the other side creating a loop.
...
I'm seated at a small table with a coworker, face to face.
I'm giving her a status on something quality related.
She happens to mention lucid dreaming as a topic she is interested in.
"Oh yeah! I just had one of those last night!"
I pause, and with all the mental quickness of a drunken sailor, come to the conclusion that since we are talking about lucid dreaming, perhaps I should complete a reality check.
I plug my nose and try to breathe. I can...but I don't draw the conclusion...then I do a second check and it falls again.
"Hold on, am I really dreaming right now?"
I look at my hand as a third check, and sure enough, I have five fingers plus a thumb. This is a dream!
I immediately take off and start flying [1]. As I float into the air I wave to my coworker.
"Have fun working!"
I fly off into the heights of the grocery store, and happen upon a ledge high above the shelves.
I start going through what I need to do for goals, and remember my first goal is to summon (I forgot that I already achieved this in my last lucid).
I decide to try and summon a puppy. So, I wish for a puppy to appear on the upper ledge area when I land and it comes fully into my view.
No puppy. Boo. However, there were vases all around, so I decide to break them for fun.
I lie down on the ledge, and remember that I was trying to teleport before.
New tactic: I'm going to lie down, pretend I'm on grass, and then hope the rest of the scene transforms to match.
It doesn't. Boo. I also find some doors and try to use them to teleport. Nope.

[1] Fly.

Before WBTB

Fragment:
I'm at work, being questioned about a quality process. LC is there, gesturing toward an area of the production floor.
There is a grid of square objects that I'm not familiar with.
We're at the part of the floor where the fitness section used to be.
Feeling is neutral.

After WBTB

Smol Pup:
I'm driving with my girlfriend around our neighborhood. I asked her why we are out here, and she doesn't know.
Later I've walked down to town and wandered into a store.
My arm is resting on a side table, and I notice a small puppy's tail wagging and hitting my hand.
He's a small little guy, and seems happy to see me. I feel a strong emotional bond immediately, but I don't RC.
I start talking to the store clerk, and they are trying to sell the puppy to me.
There is a second puppy, that is bigger, but also cute.
...
I tell my girlfriend about the store and she wants to see the puppy, so we go back.
We go back to the store and there is a back area with a bunch of cages and even more cats and dogs.
There is a security guard there that isn't happy about our trespass, and the fact that we woke up the animals.

You Can't Hurt Me:
I wake up in bed, but I remember that I had just been doing a WBTB, so I do a nose RC.
I can breathe. I'm dreaming! But my body feels really heavy. I remember what I read recently:
The first thing I should do is take stock of the situation to help it stabilize. So, I stay in bed.
"This is a dream. I just became lucid. I'm in a dream bed in my dream house."
After a few moments, I try to get up again. It works. My body is free.
I get up and out of bed. Closing the door behind me, I notice that the hallway is dark.
"Lights up!" - but nothing happens. Oh well.
I turn the corner into where my kitchen should be, but there is a wide open living room-kitchen setup.
It resembles my landlord's setup, with the kitchen on the right and a bigger living area straight ahead.
My girlfriend is on the right in the kitchen, my brother is further back in a living area, and his wife is further back in another den area.
I try to make my girlfriend naked by looking at her and then looking away, but no cigar on that.
I recall that I should start going for points...what was my three-step? Summon! My first step was summon!
I vaguely consider what I should summon, and decide on a weapon. I think about a machine gun, and when I turn to look at a nearby kitchen table, there it is [1].
I pick it up and it reminds me more of a paintball gun than the real thing. Whatever. I don't actually want to hurt anyone here, so I start dotting the ceiling with bullets.
The gun makes a muted sound, and leaves perfect bullet marks like in Goldeneye 64. My brother notices me doing this and asks me what the hell I'm doing.
He pulls out a desert eagle and points it at me.
"Go ahead and start shooting. This is a dream. You can't hurt me."[2]


Come at me, bro.

He starts unloading his weapon into me, and I feel nothing [3]. Rather than shoot him, instead I grab him by the leg and start throwing him around like a ragdoll [4].
He doesn't end up injured, but this does end the altercation

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OSbc1vn6O6I
Not going to lie, it felt pretty damn good.

Then I make my way over to a side room where my girlfriend is and do some naughty things with her. This wakes me up.
I'm back in bed, but I remembered I was just dreaming, so I do another nose RC[5,6].
Still dreaming! I'm super excited that I had hit two out of my three tasks (I've never completed the three-task before!) but I forgot the middle one is "ask for advice" not "interact with a DC".
Regardless of that, I decide that I want to try for #3: a teleport.
I get up easily from bed this time, no body calibration needed. Though in retrospect maybe some stabilization would have been good.
I open the bedroom door and enter the hallway. I decide that I will imagine Silverlight Forest on the other side of the wall, just out of my view.
Rather than try the slower "turn and wish" method, I change up my style and take off at a sprint around the corner as fast as I can.
I'm thinking "Forest! Forest! Forest!" hoping that I can finally make the teleport work.
I accelerate to super speed [7], and the world starts to morph around me. I'm going so fast, I should have hit the far wall of the house by now, but nothing is impeding my motion.
I get excited as I see a spec of green. Then another. And another. A green plains zone starts to form in front of me. It has World of Warcraft graphics.
There are Fire Elementals dotted all over the field. The visual is now half house and half Warcraft, with digital blocks transitioning between the two.
I'm excited that I'm going to pull off a teleport FINALLY!
But before I can slow down and settle into the scene, I wake up.

[1] Reality Check / Stabilization
[2] Basic Summon
[2] Interact with a DC
[3] Gain Invulnerability
[4] Super Strength
[5] Catch A False Awakening
[6] Reality Check
[7] Super Speed

Fragment:
I'm at my desk at home working on something.
I hear a blood-curdling scream from a woman I can't see.
I'm terrified. My girlfriend shakes me awake. I was making sounds in my sleep again.

Fragment:
I'm in the kitchen of my current home, sitting my a TV. I'm with my brother and we are playing a Nintendo 64 together.
It's some kind of noir-detective game, where the protagonist is a fox.

Fragment:
I've overused my hair medication. My hair is falling out in clumps.
I'm scared that I'm going to look terrible.

Dream:
I'm at the varsity football stadium from high-school.
We're performing the 2008 marching band show.
I get called out for not knowing my dots (location on field).
My Mom is on the sidelines, and she is excited that I've found socks that fit.
I go back out to the field and mess it up again.
...
I'm inside the school now. My girlfriend is there with a puppy.

Dream:
I'm playing a game that resembles Super Smash Bros, except it is in 3D instead of a 2D plane.
I'm with my friend A, and we're playing together at his house.
There are many ways to win the game, racing, knock-out, and others.
I'm playing as a monkey character.

Fragment:
I'm at my childhood home, and there are donuts downstairs.
My sister is upstairs, and there is a portal on her door.
I have a puppy. My sister is upset with me.

Horsing Around:
I'm controlling a horse, watching it run across a stereotypically dreamy plain.
The sky is an indigo-blue color, and the grass is a highly saturated green.
I feel some sort of emotional connection with the horse.
I'm playing a game of hide and seek with other horses.
The controls are similar to controlling Epona in The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time.
I'm navigating through a section with fences, and then later up a hill.


Alllllwayyyyyyys I want to beeee with you....and make belieeeeve with you...

Running:
I'm at a bar with a big group. Z from the game night group is there.
We're sitting at an outdoor both. Z seems to be the star of the night.
There are a couple of dark-skinned guys talking with my brother.
They are talking about me.
...
Later, I'm running away using super speed along some train tracks.
There is a bus that the group is trying to get me to go on.

Flash:
There is a documentary about my nephew, W.
My childhood cat Oreo is also part of it. The various parts of the video show my Grandma's previous homes.
Something about World of Warcraft makes it into the story.
Flash forward, and W is watching the video in present day.

Before WBTB

Decay:
I'm at my childhood home with Robert F. Kennedy on the phone. I'm supposed to pick him up at the airport.
I'm telling him about several other stressors that are happening at the moment, getting to why I will be delayed.
I'm also supposed to pick up my friend D from somewhere.
On the kitchen table, there is a game of Monopoly left out. I arrange the pieces in a funny way anticipating the payoff later when everyone arrives.
Looking around the home - it is in disrepair. Dusty and broken.
But Oreo, my childhood cat is there. I marvel that she is still alive somehow.
She looks like she hasn't eaten in a long time, with her fur all patchy.
My Grandma and some others in the group tell me I can't help her and I have to leave.
I don't want to leave her alone so I pick her up and bring her home with us.
...
Later we are in the driveway, and there are 3 or 4 cars all in it.
This makes it difficult to leave.


How could I say no to this?

After WBTB

Mannikin:
I'm at my Grandma's current condo. It is late at night and I'm on a couch that is further down the den than it should be.
There is a clothing mannikin out near the hallway. It is slowly swaying. I notice that it has a wig similar to my Grandma's on.
I worry about the mannikin turning to face me, and then it does.
It has two black voids for eye holes, and I understand immediately that my Grandma's soul is trapped in this mannikin.
The mannikin falls down and breaks into pieces.
I scream, and my girlfriend wakes me up. I hear myself making a weird scream-moan sound.


Well, this image exists now.

Fragment:
I'm with my Grandma and Uncle at a hotel. They are on one bed together and I am on the other.
I'm talking about how my girlfriend's family stresses her out all the time.

Before WBTB

Science Blaster:
I'm in a house that resembles my Grandma's current one. It's an upper floor but it is modeled after the basement.
There is some competition going on, related to the Youtube Channel, Game Theory.
I realize that I need to take a shower.
I notice that there is a queue of people lined up waiting to use the men's bathroom to shower.
I thought I noticed my brother in the distance, but when I got closer it is somebody else.
I realize now that we are here for auditions of some kind, related to Game Theory.
I start to stress out, but I remember that there is another bathroom further away. Maybe there isn't so long a wait there.
I leave the hallway through some double doors and end up in a grocery store. I start moving to the right, toward the other end of the store.
As I'm walking I stop myself.
"Wait a minute...high stress, video games...those are two of my prospective memory targets!"
Rather than remember to reality check or question reality, I pull up my phone and look up ways to de-stress.
According to dream Youtube, stress is often held in the shoulders, so I try to relax my shoulders.
Moving on, I reach the opposite hallway, and see a private area. There is a frame video device that plays the classic Game Theory intro, Science Blaster.
I think to myself about how cringe my old intro is. Strangely, I seem to take credit for it.
I find a bedroom and a place where I can shower connected to it.
...
I'm back in the basement-like area with my sister. I think about how our relationship is strained and maybe I should try to fix it.
We are laying together on a beanbag, and she has a laptop open. We are watching a show together.
From on top of an entertainment center that isn't there in reality, she opens a secret compartment and reveals a hookah pipe. I tell her:
"You know, I just want to say that I know you aren't a drug addict...I think of you as more of somebody who experimented a bit and then unfairly earned a bad rap."
This seems to make her happy, and it happened to be the truth, so a strong warm feeling hits the dream.

After WBTB

Fragment:
My parents are fighting about money.

Stripping Process:
I'm walking in my waking life local downtown area towards Oregano's pizzeria.
I'm with my girlfriend's family. We've just picked her up. She's back from travel.
We go into the pizzeria building on the corner, but when we get inside it is my childhood home.
I decide I need to take a shower, so I head downstairs towards the laundry room.
As I'm stripping down, the names of process specifications from work are going through my head.
I'm reviewing them, and looking for one in particular.

The United States of Not In This Room:
Now I'm watching Markiplier play some Five Nights At Freddy's-like game.
There is an inventory at the top of the screen, with two cupcake icons taking up two out of five slots.
The cupcakes can be used to determine if one of the monsters is currently hiding the room.
I think about the strategy of that, about whether it makes sense to cover up two slots in exchange for that ability.
Mark decides to use one, and it indicates that the room is safe.
"Welcome to the United States of NOT IN THIS ROOOOOOOOOOM!" says Mark with his typical lively delivery.


Hello my name is Markiplier and I'm in your dream now.

Fragment:
I'm with J from work. He's excitedly showing me some drilled holes in an assembly.
He's excited because they are super smooth.

Gamer Course:
I'm in a virtual reality simulation based on The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask.
I'm excited (maybe a little pedantic) about noticing all the inconsistencies.
The hookshot is the wrong color (using the blue OoT sprite).
The area is similar to Lake Hylia, which is not in Majora's Mask.
...
Later I'm in a warehouse obstacle course, still playing as Link.
I'm carrying a hoody, a bow-and-arrow, and a box of donuts.
I'm stressed out about trying to carry it all and also perform well in the course.
I'm firing disposable plastic teeth flossers as arrows to try and hit targets.
I come to a cafeteria-looking area, where there is a group of gamer-people talking about the course.
There is some discussion about Facebook games, and somebody who tells a story about playing Playstation 1 with Michael Jackson one time.


Lake Hylia in Majora's Mask, apparently. Hookshot is in the only correct position. Fight me.

Carport:
I'm driving home from somewhere with J and H from the Tots.
Eventually we pull into a carport. This carport has appeared in several dreams before, but I don't realize that here.
At some point I switch cars and I'm with just J now.
There is an old woman between us in the front seat who is trying to type directions into Google Maps on a dashboard touchscreen.
She is going slow, but we try to be patient with her. She eventually fails and gives up on it.
Now she is an Animal Crossing looking dog-villager outside the car, and we are looking at her from inside the car.
J calls somebody else to come are pick her up.

Fragment:
I'm hosting a party with my girlfriend's family. There is water saturating the carpet and I'm concerned that something is wrong.

Odd Pressure:
I hear my alarm go off and I reset it to snooze for 20 more minutes.
I wake up again and I notice that there is something wet on the floor. I go back to sleep again.
My alarm goes off again and this time I get up.
I go through my normal routine, and start brushing my teeth.
I feel an odd pressure on my left side. I realize that it is actually my girlfriend's body up against me on the bed.
I realize that I'm dreaming, and I don't feel the pressure anymore.
I quickly grab some toothpaste and swallow it, realizing that I could get competition points for that.
The taste is close to how it normally should be, but somehow drier. Blueberry-ish flavor.
The dream fades quickly, but I'm satisfied that I managed to do something before then.

Tot Gym:
I'm at the gym with some people from my 'Tots' friend group. H is there and also M.
The gym resembles the Crunch Fitness I visited some weeks ago.
There is a high-tech looking machine that requires a top-level membership to operate.
I'm worried that my friends are going to be lifting heavier than me.

Dystopia:
I'm with a group of people in a small hotel room, late a night with the lights down. There is a mother and three or so small kids. One of them has an Apple Watch around his head like a headband.
I think to myself that the kid doesn't know how that tech is supposed to work, but then I reason that well, how could he?
I recall that I'm living in a social dystopia. The rest of the group is sleeping, but there is still a movie playing on the TV.
I remember that we get social credit score points for watching whatever is on, even if we only listen to it.
I get up and move to a side room where a computer is. I know the show is propaganda of some sort, even if I am comfortable with it by now (and it doesn't really feel like propaganda any more).
I make sure that I can hear it at least a little, so the points are credited to me, even if I don't buy the meaning of the content a bit.
I wonder if I am really winning, or if the State planned for that, and the sounds reaching my ears are enough for them to influence me.
I push the TV from my mind and focus on the computer.
It's reminiscent of a horizontal head-to-head arcade game cabinet, like Pac-Man or Galaga used to be on.
I'm amazed that I can pull up my "spank-bank" folder from high-school, even in a world as messed up as this one.
I decide I want to see if I can move a picture from that folder to the desktop and see it in the low-tech pixels.
While I'm in the folders, the monitor shifts when my attention is away, and now it is a large monitor up high about the desk.
I manage to move the image, but then I remember I need to hide the shortcut and the file.


Grimdark spooky modern dystopia *waves arms spookily*

Fragment:
I'm at a townhouse-like home. It's raining outside. I recall that I was with a group and we were cooking something. I may have burned my finger by poking a pie fresh out of the oven.

Returning:
I'm at a small apartment or house rental with my girlfriend.
Her parents have just arrived. They have flown in.
I hug my girlfriend's Mom and sarcastically tell her long time no see.
I know that we had just been on a trip with them recently.

Fragment:
Something JRPG related, probably because I've been watching Delicious in Dungeon lately.