non-lucid

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.

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.

Getting back into the swing of things with a potentially politically inflammatory dream, HUAK TUH!

QuestionMark:
I'm in a veterinarians' office with a pug-like dog. It has the "blue" fur color. The fur is very soft.
The vet tells me that the dog's name is Question Mark.
"But don't say it slow, like that. Say it fast like QuestionMark."
"Is this puppy a boy or a girl?"
"We don't know what they want to be yet."
"What do you mean you don't know? Is the dog transgender?"
The vet holds up the dog and I see a dick.
"That's a boy dog." I say.
"THESHIRECAT!" my girlfriend says in outburst.
I'm near a hole in the wall, and I see some hands come out to pet QuestionMark.
Initially I'm a little freaked out, but I realize they are kids so the creepy behavior is recontextualized into silly kid behavior.

Being Around You:
I'm at a large grocery store, maybe a cross between a Costco, Home Depot, and my middle school from back home.
I'm walking down the hall and I see a small man who seems to have a deformity with his legs.
I respectfully give him the space he needs to pass by.
Next I come across a happy looking couple.
The woman says to the man "I'm happy when I'm with you" as if in response to a question he had asked.
I take a moment and think about my girlfriend, and I get a warm and fuzzy feeling.
I decide I want to find her and express the same sentiment.
I find her checking out the groceries at the register and give her a big hug from behind.
I worry for a second she might be uncomfortable with that in public, but she doesn't mind.

Hazy Maze Cave:
I'm in a large space reminiscent of hazy maze cave from Super Mario 64.
I'm with Azula, Mai and Ty Lee from Avatar the Last Airbender.
I've won a battle and hooking up with Azula is the prize. Fairly vivid.
…
Elsewhere in the cave there is another large open section with more openings on the left and the right. The further one has a portal or time-related effect. Stuck in time.
I find some old stuff of mine there.
…
I’m leaving my car and walking through the parking lot to get to work. There is an escort standing by the turnstile with some pen and paper. She wants to give me her name and number.
I already have a sheet of paper and make a weak excuse. She fills her's out instead.
My hands are full with stuff and I finally struggle through the turnstile. My coworker B’s wife, J, asks me if I have my ant colony and my ant friend with me.
I quickly say yes, but then realize I don’t. Annoyed, I make my way back through the turnstile and head to my car.

The Body Snatcher:
I’m at work and there is a horror movie scenario going in.
There is a body snatcher or imitator alien infecting my coworkers. Similar to gameplay I’ve been watching recently.
J from my old work group is upstairs in my current building.
He is acting off. I suspect him of being the body snatcher or affected by it.

Fragment:
I'm outside and there is an army invasion.
I have a vague understanding that the attackers are from the government, in other words, betraying the people.
It’s dark and scary. The army men look fit and uniformed in dark. Helmets cover their faces.

Fragment:
My dad is being investigated by a stereotypical gumshoes style detective.

Champion of Farore:
I’m in a volcano area. Similar to Death Mountain Crater from Ocarina of Time.
There is a game mechanic where you must choose one of the three goddesses to support. I’ve chosen Farore.
She has a large wizardly looking hat. This outfit that has the best stats, but there is another more simple one with tan cloth.
There is a menu screen similar to Final Fantasy. I’m using an item called token and it teaches a move with very high special attack called Prometheus. But it won't be active until tomorrow. I understand this to mean tomorrow, real world time (not game time).
To progress, you have to equip and unequip specific gear to show support to your goddess and then talk to npcs by doors leading deeper into the mountain.
My point of view is similar to Pokemon now, where there are trainers that must be defeated with the gear equipped.
Din’s trainer is a bulky looking bald guy, and he is the last one I need to defeat.
The doors have opened pre-emptively but I go to defeat the last trainer anyway for the experience points.

Fragment:
I’m in a park area, and there is a bulletin board in front of me. There is a war happening. Chaotic scene.

Swamp Assignment:
I'm at work forwarding an email to my boss.
It’s from another team. They are complaining that they have to buy a motorboat for the swamp assignment. They've already had to buy other swamp equipment like a bucket and want more budget.
I'm concerned that my boss may have already been on the chain, and I might annoy him with making him see it twice. Also concerned about his jet lag.
…
I'm in a grassy place in the wild all alone. There are tall reeds where I suspect there is water.
There is a bookshelf with Harry Potter books. I look through them and notice that the book style doesn't have the colored metallic letters that I like.
I see some girls nearby and wonder if they are Harry Potter fans.
There are some shower-like areas nearby. They are built into a free-standing rock structure.
I reason that we are meant to choose a book and go to the shower to read it.

Fragment:
Chase sequence in a parking structure.

Fragment:
False awakening where I cant open my eyes all the way. I notice some seductive princess themed merchandise on my side table. The wrappers are pink.

Burden:
I'm on a hockey team and I know I am the worst player.
My hockey stick wont stay together. There is some mechanism to put it together that I can't get my mind around.
There is a warmup the team is doing that required eggs.
My entire carton was busted, eggs cracked and leaking inside.
Then the was an issue with my skates. The coach had to ask another player to help me.
I feel useless and like a burden.
We eventually make it to the pre-game huddle.
The coach calls me out for my bad mobility on the ice.
According to him, I struggle to turn around and keep my balance while doing so. I know it is true.
I contemplate leaving the team so that I don't drag the team down anymore.
Maybe I will practice on my own to reach base level, return, and get my honor back.
I wake up feeling defeated.

Moving:
A tall and friendly looking man wakes me up by putting his hand over my face.
I'm in my childhood home, the room on the left end of the hallway. My girlfriend is with me in the bed.
The room is empty apart from our mattress on the floor.
I tell the man that normally I would have freaked the fuck out, had he not done the same thing yesterday morning.
He also wakes my girlfriend this way. She gets up and starts to get ready right away.
I reflect that maybe I should wake her that way due to how effective it was.
I go downstairs and I'm now in what I know to be a middle school orientation day.
I walk past K and also B from marching band, who tells me a story about his dog and vet, while we ascend an escalator.
I get to a dorm-like room that apparently used to be where I stayed, but I am moving out for the next batch of kids.
The room is 90% bunk beds, with a narrow path between them.
I have a bottle of diet coke on my bed, and the new person has moved it to the top bunk.
He has put his coke zero bottle in its place.
There is a CRT monitor mounted to the wall, with voice activated ChatGPT.
My girlfriend’s mom is there and I want to show her how it works.
I ask ChatGPT what color its favorite dragon is.
It seems to address the question at first but then rambles off.
I justify that this GPT must be modified to be "hip with the kids" or something. The text is hot pink on the readout.
My girlfriend’s mom introduces me to a new packaging format for a fruit/protein drink.
It is 26oz and basically just two smaller ones merged together.
I tell here I should look into this.

Oops:
I wake up at my current home and realize I can't hold off from going to the bathroom.
I reflect that I should lay off the Metamucil. The bathroom is weirdly open to the outside on the right side.
It is also my childhood home's bathroom, not my current one.
There is more detail to this uh event, but I will not type it out here.

Before WBTB

Mount Grump:
I'm standing on a mountain, with the cliff to my left. The area resembles Pride Rock from The Lion King.
On the rock wall to my right, there is a slot hole. It appears that a hand would fit in there.
...
I'm trapped in a mountain cave.
...
I'm watching the Game Grumps play a modernized Donkey Kong 64.
They are controlling Squawks the bird from Donkey Kong Country 2.
Arin is having the bird shoot red pellets at wasps as they ascend a square-ish grassy area.
As he ascends, there are buttons he needs to shoot in a sequence.
Dan makes the comment: "This is soooo much better than the 2D original version!"
He also comments about being trapped in the mountain earlier.

After WBTB

Escape:
My friend B from back home is crawling through a vent. We are in a sort of manufacturing facility.
The vent has poisonous gas in it, so he is making a sacrifice for us.
He is trying to get a game cartridge. It might have been a Nintendo DS one.
...
Later I'm playing Pokemon with someone. The player has a "fat" Pikachu.
It's a regional exclusive Pokemon. It looks wide, sorta like Hey Arnold.


Pikachungus.
...
I'm stranded in a park-like area with my coworker H.
I believe the scene started off in a rocky-cave, but later transitioned to the field.
We aren't directly working together, but she has her own area off to my left.
At one point she has taken off her top, presumably to try and wave it around and grab attention.
I crane my neck so that I can see her, and I notice that her chest is different than I expected.
Not mad about it though.

Drinks:
I'm at a small bar with H from the Tots.
I notice there is some spilled water or beer on a hightop nearby.
There is also a karaoke setup off to my right.
The owner of the bar comes out and tells us that we can have the bar if we want it.
I start to imagine the possibilities, and the logistics of owning a bar.

Cancer:
I'm at a Doctor's office with my Dad.
He breaks the news that his brain inflammation has gotten bad.
And also that he has cancer.
I'm struck with grief. Frozen. Unsure what to say.
I slide down the wall I'm leaning against and sit on the ground.

Horror:
I'm intimate with a woman with long curly black hair.
...
I false awake into my bed and see the bedroom door slowly creek open.
A little girl who looks straight out of a horror movie quietly slides into the room.
She approaches the bed. Her mouth isn't moving but I hear crying.
My girlfriend wakes me up. The crying I heard was my mouth making noise through sleep paralysis.

North Korea:
I’m driving with my brother on an expressway.
I miss a turn and he starts to berate me.
I get upset and leave the car.
I'm in a sort of parking structure.
I have some basketball gear and am now looking for somewhere to change into my shorts.
I see a security woman and she approaches me.
She tells me I shouldn't be here, but I communicate that I'm looking for the Basketball room.
She begrudgingly lets me go, and directs me to an elevator off to the left. It’s a big furniture-moving elevator.
I get in the elevator, and notice there are a bunch of Asian-looking teens.
When the elevator gets to the bottom, off to the side, there is an exit for a “breast reduction center”.
The main entrance up ahead though, is into a hotel with red carpeting. It seems like a lobby.
The teens are speaking another language and are interested in me, getting all up in my face to the point where I am worried for my safety.
I realize that I am in North Korea.
We exit the elevator together, and I start trying to communicate.
I bounce the basketball, hoping that we could play a game and maybe form a bond of sorts.
The ball bounces far too high (but I accept this).
The teens seem friendly. I go to grab my phone and try to find a translator, but all I can find is text to text translation.


North Korea is Best Korea.

Fragment:
I’m staying somewhere in a swamp-like area. Like a hotel.
There is a patio type spot with a bed so low to the ground that it is nearly level to the water.
I tell my girlfriend that we should have stayed in this room, but I know she wouldn't have wanted to deal with the water.


Swampland Hotel.

Firelord Putin:
Two Fire Nation brothers are coming towards me, leaping over tall buildings to get to me.
They want me to come see something.
They've invented something to find the Avatar.
It’s a big ATM-like machine. It beeps and boops and makes a confirmation sound, printing out a receipt.
Then another group of guys appears and questions what we are doing. We try to keep the info secret, but they know.
…
The Fire Lord and Zuko are giving a speech to the Fire Nation on a stage in front of a large crowd.
I’m in a large group including people from every nation. Tenzin from Legend of Korra is part of it.
The Fire Lord is talking about loyalty and exceptional individuals.
My group slowly sidles onto the stage and fills in behind the Fire Lord, catching him off guard.
I notice the Avatar is with us too.
When we come into the crowd’s view, the speech stops abruptly.
The adults are sent off to a room with the Fire Lord to discuss a treaty.
…
I’m now back in a regular hotel room, with J from high-school. I notice she has a small mustache.
We are sharing a bed, but more like a field trip way than a romantic one.
I start to unpack and setup the bed. There are about six people in the room.
…
Some of the group returns from the war room, and the situation has instead changed into us being the United Nations, and the Fire Lord being Vladimir Putin.
Somebody is telling us how the UN was grilling him about things like Area 51 and similar, and how he danced around the questions.

Waves:
I’m watching somebody play a modded version of Mario 64.
There is a central town square. It’s circular and has tall buildings all around.
Mario has been modded to be Crash Bandicoot.
He has a hammer attack and the sound clip he makes when attacking is from a meme.
The player goes down an alley and arrives in a large flooded lake area.
We are discussing some seams in the edge of the rockwall keeping all the water in place.
It looks like the beginning of the second water level in Mario 64.
…
Later we’re in a store from the town.
I’m physically there now, no longer watching somebody play the game.
It seems to be a convenience store, but it is all messed up.
There is a flooded section, where a wave of water repeatedly is knocking over shelving and causing chaos.
An employee is blaming me for it.
I tell them they should move product away from that section. They get angry with me.
…
We’re upstairs in the store now. This doesn’t seem to be meant for customers.
Daylight beams in from a window.
My coworker B is here now, and somebody else.
B is talking about something he is most proud of me for achieving, but I don’t recall doing it.
I admit I don’t know what he is talking about.
The other person claims I abandoned the people I supposedly promised to help in B’s story.