Dreamlog

Missed Signals:

I'm outside my house on the sidewalk.
There is a man that claims he has proof that I shot someone.
The scene transitions, and I'm now in a restaurant that resembles Bennigan's.
I'm conflicted about whether I actually hurt someone or not, I may have been drunk or high.
There is a work-meeting happening at a table nearby. They are together for a 5-year anniversary. My boss is there.
...
My dad is defending me against the murder accusations.
I wonder (while dreaming) what problem my brain is working through, or what inspired this dream.
But I don't become lucid.

Fragment:

I'm at a game night in a large home. We might have been playing hide and seek.
HM from the tots may have been on my team.

Fragment:

I'm on a grassy hill with someone and it's a bit chilly outside.
We're inspecting the hill for evidence of a person living in it.
We find an air-pipe and water-line device nearby.

Fragment:

There is a battle with a queen-like figure.
It took place in a 2D-platformer game style.

Went to bed around 10:30PM.

Smashing Birthday:

I'm at my friend JM's birthday party. There is a long table setup in a restaurant.
The restaurant resembles one we were at during festivities from my girlfriend's sisters wedding.
I'm working on a tapestry that is inspired by Super Smash Bros as a gift for JM.
I go to sit at an open spot next to his left, but he tells me it is for his girlfriend BH.
The person on the right of JM scootches over to make room so that I can sit on JM's right.

New Old Car:

I'm driving through a nice looking community in a new car.
The car is older, but it is well kept. It smells like leather too.
There are clean-looking wood accents on the doors and console.
I'm driving to a parking garage for the community.
...
I'm in a main receiving area for the community. It resembles the lobby of a fancy hotel.
It is a large open space with a desk at the far end in front of me.
This place resembles the facility a character was infiltrating from the book, Neuromancer.
...
Later I'm leaving the parking structure and I wonder if the older car has high mileage.
I realize that I never checked it before buying it.
I start to wonder if I actually got a good deal or not.
I notice some smudges on the frontside passenger door's wood trim and I rub at them with my finger.
It mostly comes off.

Both recorded at 7:16AM.

247 words for the night.

This dream with the receiving area is interesting. I was recently wondering whether locations I visualize while reading would manifest in dreams or not.
The facility location indeed has, and while the theme and tone of the situation is entirely different from the book, it is still noteworthy.

Went to bed around 11:30PM.

Berries with the Tots:

I'm with JM and JV from the Tots group. We're at a store modeled after the Pokémon Centers from various Pokémon games.
There is a deli nearby in the same store selling lunchmeat, as well as Pokémon merchandise lining shelves on the walls.
I'm looking at some berries, and the perspective changes such that I'm using a menu to scroll sideways through the different berry options.
There are arrows up and down to change the quantity of berries to buy. There is a price that dynamically updates as well.

Recorded at 5AM.

Kitten in the Kitchen:

I'm at a house. I get the impression it is a new thing, as in somebody has just bought it or started a rental arrangement.
There is a front door area with a kitchen on the left. There is a mudroom type area on the right. The layout is vaguely similar to my parents' old home in northern Michigan.
I'm standing in the kitchen near a plate with some food on it. There is a small kitten near the plate, attracted to the food.
The kitten is black and longhaired, similar to how one of my cats from childhood, Oreo, used to look.
I pickup the kitten to show it to my girlfriend who is in the kitchen nearby.
I get the impression the situation is a 'meet the parents' type scenario.
...
I'm with my Grandma P in a bedroom area from the same house.
She seems to be sharpening chopsticks to resell as a business.

Recorded at 6:45AM.

254 words for the night.

Went to bed at 10:30PM.

Teleport Sprints:
I'm in a highschool hallway that reminds me of one from the show, Stranger Things.
HM is there and she has an umbrella. We have a brief conversation about some other function the umbrella has and she leaves.
She's going to catch a bus, and I'm late for that bus. I try to catch up but I can't.
...
I'm leaving JM's house after a game-night, but my car isn't around. I remember that I teleported here.
I walk into the road and find a long stretch of open space.
I break into a sprint and close my eyes. It reminds me of what Ness does in the intro to Super Smash Bros Melee.
https://earthbound.fandom.com/wiki/Teleport
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RXs4-M-ZiOg (at 1:02).
When I open them, I've teleported to my childhood home.
My friends are inside and they have used the kitchen chairs to make a fort.
At one point a drink gets knocked into JM's face.
...
I'm with my Dad and my Mom driving on a mountain road. Dad is driving and Mom is in the front passenger seat.
There is a lake far down below us, and my Dad gets too close to the railing.
We go over the edge. We are all panicking less than we should be as we go into freefall.
I start to think about how I can survive. I think about undoing my seatbelt so that I don't get stuck underwater, or opening a door so that the water pressure doesn't hold them all shut.
We impact the water and it isn't that bad. Turns out the water was not as deep as it looked.
The car careens forward and then we do hit a larger body of water.
I wonder if I can teleport my Mom away, but then I realize that I need a runway to do so.
...
I'm at work with GO and CP. We are on the 2nd floor of our building, but it looks like it has elements of my middle school bandroom.
There is a woodshop water fountain (the same one that was in the bandroom) and GO gets water in his face from mis-operating it.
Another DC tells me "the woman is from the Maw, the Underworld".

Recorded at 6:30AM.

372 words for the night.

Parts of these dreams felt semi-lucid. As in, I was using dream control to address situations that I thought presented danger.
I'm excited that my mind gave me a way to teleport. Can't wait to try the teleport sprint in my next true lucid dream

Went to bed around 12:00AM.

Social Learning:
My girlfriend and I are at a show. Reminds me of where I saw a comedian recently.
We were seeing Game Grumps live.
I see Arin sarcastically running through the crowd giving people high-fives and think how stupid those people are for being excited.
But then he comes my way and I put my arms up, and I touch his finger. I get super excited, and think I get it now.
At some point during the show the seating is gone and there are people sitting on the ground, with some tents set up at several points.
My girlfriend and I tried to sit together but we ended up separated due to some social convention.
She is further back, due to said social pressure.
...
Later we are in an upper level area, maybe it was some sort of after party.
It vaguely reminds me of my Grandma M's patio/garden.
E from highschool marching band is there, and she looks older than I remember her.
There is a documentary about WW2 on, and she gets visibly uncomfortable because she is German.
The documentary is talking about how the war is over, but beware because evil tends to stick around.
I can recall dropping my headphones several times and then trying to pick them up, but then they were inside the documentary and I couldn't.
They are the white Bose NC700s that I no longer use.
...
At some point the dream has transitioned into more of a comic-book theme.
Captain Marvel is there, but he is a guy.
We are on a spaceship.
Captain Marvel changes into Superman, and teleports away.
Somebody else explains that he was teleported away because he didn't have a real super power.
I argue with this person and tell him that super-strength is definitely a super-power.
My landlord is present and for some reason I need to change clothes in front of him.
I'm hesitant, but he tells me I have done it before and it isn't a big deal.

Recorded at 7:03AM.

Slime Time:
I'm in a first person shooter game, where my weapons is my hand throwing green slimeballs.
The graphics are similar to that of Psychonauts 2.
I can recall thinking at the time that the person playing should aim a bit lower that they want the ball to land.
I'm now watching somebody else play the game.
The player is trying to hit green slime monsters with the slimeball.
The player makes the adjustment I am thinking about and starts to land hits.

Recorded at 7:09AM.

420 words for the night.

Went to bed around 12:00AM.

Messy Awakenings:
I have a false awakening on my couch (where I currently was sleeping in waking life).
My uncle J is sleeping nearby. My dad is there and tells me that I should move to the bed so I don't hurt in the morning.
I heed the advice and head to my bed. When I entered the room, my sister is in my bed and there are some blankets and pillows on the floor.
The room is larger than I recall in waking memory but I don't pick up on the inconsistency at the time.
So as not to disturb my sister, I lie down on the floor and go to sleep.
While I don't recall exactly, I think this is where I must have reality checked and became lucid, because I realized that I had just gone to sleep, so I should reality check.
I'm now lucid in this larger version of my bedroom. My first thought is to take a deep breath and try to stabilize the dream.
But I'm not lucid enough to follow through and start engaging the senses. I only get through the deep breath.
While I do start to think about the dream being 'biological virtual reality', I don't truly engage with the question deeply.
I see a window at the end of the room and remember that I want to go to a new landscape.
I recall the blink-and-snap method for traveling from a Daniel Love video.
I close my eyes, imagine a grassy forest environment, and snap my fingers.
The ground underneath me has transformed into AstroTurf, but no forest.
I lose lucidity shortly after this.
...
Sometime later, I've regained lucidity and I'm with a girl that I know is my sister's friend. We're at my Grandma's condo.

Spoiler for Spicy Content:

She's angry with me about something. Out of pocket, I say "Well obviously the solution is to blow me."
Surprisingly, she agrees. I'm pretty excited about this. Another girl shows up and joins her. I can see the details of their faces...and what is on them.

When the activities are over, I consider whether I actually did finish in waking life.
I'm concerned about that, but it also transfers to the dream. I hurriedly try to make my way to a bathroom to inspect myself.
I'm now at the top of the stairs at my grandma's current condo. As I head down the stairs, it makes a lot of noise to my dismay.
But luckily it doesn't alert anyone.
I find a side door that I think leads to the bathroom.
There is an in-between passage that has another set of doors past it. There is a black poodle dog in here.
My sister is hot on my heels, and she chases me into the room.
But I hide behind the door as it opens (that's a classic trick of mine) and she doesn't find me. The dog gets a bit crunched as the door opens, but it doesn't mind.
After this I sneak my way to the bathroom to inspect, but I lose lucidity along the way.

Recorded at 1:08AM.

War Games:
I'm in a war. In the moment, it felt like a training camp, but later the dream treated it as if it had been actual combat.
I'm with a group of people, perhaps a platoon. The area is sandy and surrounded by wooden walls on all sides.
We're running forward trying to reach cover. The cover is on the left, and there is an enemy soldier sitting on a chair on the right.
I can't recall, but I may have attempted to shoot the soldier in the chair as I ran for the cover.
...
I'm in a room. We've lost the war, so I'm being held there as a prisoner.
I'm thinking about whether my friends are OK and what will happen to us.
TH from somewhat recently at work in waking life arrives at my holding area.
He is there to tell me that the others are OK.
Then, back to isolation.
...
Sometime later my niece shows up at the back window (the window is up high, since the room is partially underground).
I try to hide under a desk in the room because I don't want her to have to deal with her uncle being imprisoned.
She doesn't find me.
...
A phone in the room rings and I answer. The person on the line tells me that there might be a chance of me getting out.
There is a form that I can fill out and if done correctly I can leave isolation.
I pickup the form and go outside to where the guards are outside.
I approach them and ask what my options are.
One part of the form is asking whether I actually killed any enemy combatants.
I honestly couldn't recall if I had killed the man in the chair, and the guards seemed compassionate to my memory inaccuracy.
...
I'm in a cafeteria eating, so perhaps they let me go.

Recorded at 7:53AM.

Bathroom Wonder:
I'm in my childhood home, it is about highschool timeframe.
My friend DR is visiting, and my brother and him are across the hallway playing Super Mario Bros Wonder in the basement living room.
I'm in the downstairs bathroom, trying to rub one out. I recall thinking that I had been playing Zelda Twilight Princess recently (but I'm not sure why this detail is here).
The toilet I am sitting at is on the opposite wall that it should be,
I can hear my brother and DR talking about how good of a game Wonder is, in terms of the level design and how the music interacts with it.

Recorded at 7:53AM.

940 words for the night.

Went to bed around 1:00AM.

Pizza Games:
I'm in a small, cramped space. It reminds me of Harry Potter's cupboard under the stairs.
It's messy with wrappers and junk. Dusty too.
I'm playing an online game with my brother on a gaming system plugged into a TV at an edge wall.
The outcome of the game will impact whether a pizza box near me will be thrown onto the floor.
My brother comes close to succeeding, but the pizza box does not come down.

Recorded at ???.

72 words for the night.

Went to bed around 11PM.

Ascending:
I'm in the garage of my childhood home talking to someone.
I don't recall what prompted it, but I start to perform a string of hand and nose reality checks.
Interestingly the first few checks act as I would expect in waking life. Maybe my brain was doing some next-level deception to distract me.
But then on the last nose reality check I can breathe. I become lucid.
I do an extra hand reality check to verify and it confirms that I am dreaming.
Linus from Linus Tech Tips is there in the garage, and he says "Great job becoming lucid!"
I think this might have been my brain attempting to invoke "Lucid Dream Tech Support" from Daniel Love's writings.
There are a few others there congratulating me, but I can't recall who.
I go outside through a side opening that isn't there in waking life.
The grass is long and very deep green. The world in general is dark and dim.
I try to increase the dream's brightness by requesting it outloud, but nothing happens.
I see that the moon in the sky is huge and bright.
I decide to start flying towards the moon, taking off superman-style.
As I fly, I recall that the scene is similar to that of the finale in the PC game, Everhood.
I think about how it would be fun to play the soundtrack from the game here.
I can hear the music I want to play in my head, but I can't remember what it is called.
In the dream, I falsely named it 'Ascending Heaven' and asked for it to play.
The song I had in my head was called 'Reconciliation' but even that was wrong for the scenario.
The song from the game that actually would have fit is called 'Euthanasia Rollercoaster'.
This doesn't work, but it plays something else I don't recognize.
As I accelerate to the moon, I lose my way (and maybe some lucidity too) and end up at my elementary school.
The school is just down the street from my home, so it sorta makes sense.
I'm flying high above the playground, now on a metal ring. Sorta like Goku on the flying nimbus.
The ring isn't slippery, so I don't struggle to stay on.
There is a full-on medieval war happening far below. I see two armies locked in combat.
I focus on an old man wizard wielding a staff, and then he sees me looking down.
Despite the supposed distance, he jabs into the air and strikes the metal ring and starts to pull on it.
I shake him off and dodge, but I lose lucidity shortly after.

Recorded at 12:26AM.

445 words for the night.

Went to bed around 12AM.

Chaos Bird:
I'm flying around an upscale looking restaurant as a red bird. I'm creating a scene.
I see my therapist at a table, and see that he is eating a bowl of beans.
I divebomb and flip the bowl on him so that it stains his clothes.
I fly back up out of reach and search for my next target.
People are yelling at me, trying to do something about me.
I notice Jordan Peterson. I divebomb his food as well and mess up his day.
I feel embarrassed, but at the same time justified.
I get the impression that these people deserve it, and I should ignore feeling embarrassed.

Recorded around 6:30AM.

111 words for the night.

Note: I've stumbled upon some info suggesting that the WBTB technique, as described here, might not be the most scientifically solid approach to lucid dreaming. So going forward, I'm thinking of using Stephen Laberge's suggestion of morning naps. I'll finish up the current test sequence as planned and tweak things for the next one.

Current Test <6hr/20m/None>
Test Process:
3 nights in a row: Re-establish sleep rhythm. Go to bed at 11PM and wake at 7AM.
2 nights in a row: WBTB. Go to bed at 11PM. Wake at 5AM (6hrs). No supplements. Stay awake for 20m. Return to bed.
Repeat until four WBTBs are attempted.

Test Data:
#1: Weak Lucid (The Vanishing Plant, Night of Friday 10/6/23) <-- note that sleep schedule was not 11PM/5AM WBTB at this point, but counting it because 6hr/20m was still used.
#2: Attempted WBTB, No Recall (Night of Thursday 10/26/23) <-- isn't reflected in DJ because I had zero recall before or after WBTB.
#3: Attempted WBTB, No Recall (Night of Friday 10/27/23)
#4: TBD.

Test Results:
It's starting to look like 20m without Galantamine is not enough time awake to encourage lucidity for me. I will continue and get 4th data point (maybe a 5th to account for #1's weirdness), but already planning to try 30m plus Galantamine for the next test set, and then 30m without Galantamine after that.

Previous Configurations & Results
<6hr/10m/8mg (Galantamine)>
#1: Moderate lucid (Seeking The Elusive Fantasy Forest™, Night of Friday 9/8/23)
#2: Weak lucid (False Awakening and Fade, Night of Saturday 9/9/23)
#3: Weak lucid (False Awakening, Night of Wednesday 9/13/23)
#4: Moderate lucid (Silverlight Way, Night of Thursday 9/14/23)
It's 50/50. Some great lucids here, but still not the level I'm looking for.

Went to bed around 12:30AM.

Pre-WBTB

Shitty Future Cars:
It's night and I'm riding in a van. The streets are very narrow, similar to a previous dream with LM I had a few months ago.
The car hits a bump, and a futuristic AI voice says "that will be $7 to repair, and $70 for your injury."
I reflect about how shitty the future of cars is going to be.
...
I'm now at work, telling my coworkers about this event, and how shitty the future of cars is going to be.
They agree with me, and we decide that we should just drive old-ass cars forever.
But then one of them tells me that their Mom just died from a similar bump on the road.
It was one of those awkward moments, because we were just joking about such things.
But looking back, it didn't make sense because that same person was just laughing about it.

Woke for WBTB at 6:30AM.

150 words for the night.

WBTB
I stayed up for about 20 minutes, went for a walk, and watched a meditation video about a fantasy forest. Then I returned to bed.

Post-WBTB
No recall.

Went to bed at ???

Boomer Party:
I'm in CM's condo from a few years back.
I'm getting ready to go to a party but there is some issue with my clothes in my bag.
There is a guy at one point who is going to perform fellatio on me. Which isn't my preference.
But he wants to use some smartphone app. I take issue with the app.
I tell him that maybe I'm 'a boomer' for this, but I don't trust any of them such as TikTok, Facebook, etc.
Looking back, it is strange that I didn't take issue with the proposed activity, but I did take issue with using an app.
There wasn't an obvious indication that he was going to record with said app, just that he was going to use one, so it wasn't a privacy thing.

Supportive Snow:
I'm riding in a van with KD's mom. We're going up an incline on a snowy mountain road.
We're on the phone with my uncle J.
We see a jeep going down the next section of mountain. There road there is unfinished and heading downward.
The jeep is tumbling and flipping over multiple times.
I'm telling my uncle that the situation isn't looking good for us, but I'm not concerned about it.
We make it up to the turn where the jeep was, and mentally I'm now expecting to flip and have problems.
But when we go down, the snow cushions our descent. It bunches up and prevents the car from accelerating.

Woke up at ???

250 words for the night.

Went to bed at 11:00PM.

Losing Again
I'm in a large hall with tables. Similar to a banquet.
It reminds me of the cafeteria where we got told we didn't make finals in highschool marching band nationals.
Don't know what the competition in this dream is, though.
I'm with my team. There is a girl I don't recognize. We are younger than the other team.
We are watching the announcement on a TV.
My team is represented on the left and the other on the right.
It gets announced that we have lost the competition.

Woke up at 6:45AM, feeling groggy.

Went to bed at 11:00PM.

Fragment
There is a beach on a starry night. Galaxies are visible in the vast darkness of space.
The beach itself reminds me of GP's bachelor party from a few years back.
Donkey Kong and Diddy Kong are battling each other on the beach.

Woke up at 6:45AM.

Went to bed at ???

Bad Pheromones
I'm in a school/college situation. It may have been mixed with my work cafeteria. ER from work a few years back is there.
I default to hiding my interest in her (as I did in waking reality), thinking that there is not a high likelihood of that interest being returned by her.
There is a vague situation where I smell bad (lack of deodorant, dirty clothes etc).
This makes the situation all the more tense.

Recorded at ???

I woke up from my alarm and started to get ready for work. I showered, dressed etc. But then I decided to call in for the day (and went bad to bed) because I felt crappy. So, that technically makes this a mid-morning WBTB, but I wasn't going for any kind of timing goal here.

Went back to bed around 8AM.

Getting Lost at Costco
I'm at Costco with my girlfriend.
I do a nose RC out of habit and become lucid. I also do a hands RC, and I have baby-hands branching off my fingers. Nice.
I'm thinking that this is a great opportunity to try baked goods and see what they taste like in a dream.
Ape-brain kicks in at this point though, and activities ensue with my girlfriend.
She comments that since this is a dream, it doesn't matter that we are in public.
After that, I try to find the bakery section but lose my lucidity before reaching it.

Summoning Snow
I'm at home and did a nose-RC in the hallway, becoming lucid.
My brother is there. He had a nerf gun, but I mostly ignored him.
I did stabilization (narrating, rubbing hands/feet). I had the presence of mind to try to stand still, observe the dream environment, and ground myself.
The dream started to fade, but I managed to hold on. The same dream reformed, and I repeated my reality checks + stabilization. I felt pretty happy about this.
I reflect that maybe past dreams 'fading' were just my brain attempting to wrestle lucidity from me and succeeding. But this time I beat it.
I went out to the living room area, it's a long room instead. I wanted to go somewhere more interesting.
I remember one method for traversal is association/reframing, and also that my previous attempts at portals have been lackluster.
I think about where I would like to go and decide on a snowy place. I wonder what association might help my brain generate such a place.
I decide to imagine an ice pick and search around the living room for one, but no luck. I head outside.
There is a bit of snow on the ground, sort of like when snow that had been there previously has mostly melted. I find the ice pick on the ground in the yard.
I vaguely recall seeing my brother outside too, but then there was an older woman there. Not someone I recognized now or then.
The woman tries to advise me on lucid dream ability. She tells me that I have done well, but need to move on now.
I take the advice to mean my summoning of the ice pick went well, but I should try something new.
Where there is normally brick wall in my yard, there is a wooden fence. There is a beautiful New Zealand-esque grassy field landscape beyond the fence.
I jump over the fence and fly into the distance.

Alternate Silverlight
I am in a futuristic city with silver skyscrapers, lucid, and flying around.
I wonder whether this place is another interpretation of Silverlight (a fantasy forest I've been trying to get to).
I'm in a crowd with some DCs. The DCs know I am there, lucid, and dangerous to them. They have been warned by something.
I didn't do anything with these people and just flew off again, enjoying the dreamscape. This environment is much more interesting than my typical lucid dream fare.

Recorded around 10AM.