Threecat's Dreamtime

I am a small duck dressed in a trench coat and sunglasses. I am a bounty hunter, and am after some guys hanging out inside a night club. It is daytime outside My awareness is positioned outside of my body. I enter the club, and exit carrying some stuff I stole from them. I then get into the car I own in WL, where my awareness now enters my body. I am trying to back up, when one of the thugs moves his car to box me in. I turn the wheel hard, ride up and over the car beside me (not possible at all in WL) and in the process, tear the head off of a thug who was trying to climb in through the back window.

I become lucid, as this is ridiculous and could never happen in real life. I continue driving my car down the street. I am now driving down some hallways (almost like I am in the back of a kitchen or something) and I realize the car is gone. I think to myself, Oh, I'm running now but then have a flash of insight--I'm not doing anything--I'm lying in bed. I also realize I have no body and really haven't had one for quite some time. Furthermore, as I am dreaming, there is really no reason to get a body anyway.

At this point, I decide to test my bodiless-ness and pass through a set of push doors. I bang my forehead against the door, and then just raise my hand and open it! I remember my discussion with dutchraptor and Sensei about pain in dreams, and realize that--as usual--I do not feel any pain from knocking myself in a dream.

I reach an open area, where I am looking down at a helipad. The helipad is about forty or fifty feet below me, and there are numerous helicopters on the ground, propellers spinning. I think that I might jump down into one of the propellors, but then change my mind, as I really have no wish to test being chopped up (dang it!). Instead, I decide to use this high point as a jump off for flying. I leap into the air, but just fall (very swiftly) to the ground. I hit the ground and then fall down on my butt.

I now stand up, look around, and just lift into the air. I fly higher and higher, really not even trying now to do anything, and travel perhaps several hundred feet into the air (that's advanced, right!? ). I then look around, and my body begins to fall. I am momentarily scared, but then remember that I'm not really doing anything, nothing is happening, and there is nothing at all to worry about. I relax, and just hang in mid-air. I then accelerate upwards again. As I am thinking these things, I realize my body is moving of its own accord, flying this way and that. I think this is kind of neat and just observe my body flying. I then relax again, and I this must trigger something with my WL body because I wake up.

On a side note, this dream has caused me to think more about meditation in dream, and has prompted me to concentrate more on my daily practice of sitting, as well as begin to integrate sitting more into my dream practice.

(7:39 AM): On my sleeping bag, trying to fall asleep. I hear a "meow" and see my little kitten on the bed, looking at me. I start petting her, but then ask, "How did you get out of your room?" as she is not allowed in the bedroom. I nose pinch and can breathe. I immediately remember the toilet task. I phase through the bedroom door and enter the bathroom.

There is a bunch of stuff spread out on the toilet seat, so I sweep all of this away and lift the lid. It's clean inside I realize I am wearing jeans so I strip these off (though I have some issues getting them off). Finally I am free, and go after my underwear, but I am having difficulties getting my legs disentangled. I finally realize it doesn't even matter so I jump into the toilet with my underwear still hanging from my leg, and squat all the way down. I then press the flush button.

The bowl fills with water, but nothing is really happening. I try to spin my body around, to get some momentum, and I do spin now--sort of like a lazy turd. The spinning has also teleported me and the toilet to an outdoors location, on a small, wooden screened-in porch. I try to imagine one of those powerful toilets that just suck shit down with ease. No dice. The cookie task occurs to me, but I keep focusing on getting sucked down. I wake up.

(5:54 AM): I am in a bathroom in the back of an old oyster/seafood bar I once frequented. Lots of people in here. I have to go pretty bad (both numbers ) so I find an empty stall. I lay the paper out on the seat, and am "getting ready." A friend from WL is now here, telling me how one of these bathroom walls was once made of dirt. Another man is now in the stall, and wants to use the sink, which happens to be right behind my toilet. I think to myself how poorly this bathroom is constructed. Turns out he only wants the roll of tissues, and takes the one I was using!

Now this dude's girlfriend is in the stall with us. She is talking about something, but I am not listening, as I am wondering why the fuck she is in the men's bathroom? I nose pinch and become lucid.

I first realize that I probably don't need to go to the bathroom at all, and that this is dream sensation. I walk out of the bathroom and pass someone from WL. This person tries to trip me, and then his leg, like Stretch Armstrong, wraps around me and tries to hold me back:



I almost fight, but then ignore him, and say to myself that it doesn't matter and just walk on. I feel his leg unwrap and fall away.

I now remember the toilet task. I turn around to head back to the bathrooms. I am now in a grocery store, and have traveled a ridiculous distance away from where I originally came. I begin running, and then just decide to fly. I jump into the air, do one swim motion, and then I am up and flying easily over the grocery aisles. I head back to the little hallway where I know the bathrooms are, and fly down towards it.

On the way, I pass by the delicatessen (which is adjacent to the RR hallway), where a friend from WL is working cutting meat or something. I remember the fortune cookie task, and think I will nail them both in one dream. "Go get me a fortune cookie!" I demand. She nods, but continues helping another customer. I wait, thinking that maybe I should get two.

Get me two fortune cookies!" I say. "And step on it--this is for a customer! She seems stressed and begins to move faster. I wait for a second more and then wake up.

Note to self: don't ask DCs for anything anymore--just do it myself!

(7:01 AM): FA with my wife. We spend a wonderful day together non-lucidly, eating delicious Italian food and what not. We decide to finish the day by sharing a lucid dream. We go to sleep.Upon awakening, we show up in an old house we used to rent, and I am (other than being confused as to how I got here) completely lucid . . . except that I think my wife is real! I am really happy we have managed to share a dream successfully! Also proud that we both transitioned smoothly, and that I did not need to snap her out of non-lucidity

We explore the old house, and walking around and going inside the different rooms. I use dream control to be silly. I phase my hand through a door, and then move my arm back and forth, moving the door with it. My wife seems slightly amused but doesn't laugh. I then walk through different walls, phasing faster with more confidence, just having fun in the moment.

I decide to phase through the floor, so I can drop below and see what I can see, but then think that my wife won't be able to follow me. I go look for her to let her know where I will be. When I find her, she is in the kitchen, sitting on the floor, drinking water. With her are our neighbors. She is talking about the day we spend together (the NLD) and in particular about the pasta (with lemon-butter sauce). I tell my wife to tell these DCs to stuff it because they aren't real, and I am almost out of dream time (I can feel the tell-tale loss of attention--I rub my hands together to hold on a bit). She hands me a glass of water and I drink from it absently.

She tells the neighbors bye, because I "want to do dream stuff." I wake up while she is still talking.

Haven't been around much due to work--it's a 60 hrs plus gig, so not much time for the good stuff. However, here are some of my offerings from last week

(??): I am in a car, flying high above the street. I realize immediately that I am dreaming, and that this is a dreamlet. Despite this knowledge, I nosepinch anyway and lose the dream.

From now on, if I know (and I mean really know) that I am dreaming, the hell with those reality checks. That's the devil tryin' to get in my head!

12:02 AM: I am back in high school, in a hallway. I am walking to class but need to pee really bad. I see a toilet in the hallway and begin using it. Some guys have their backs to the toilet so I use them as cover. They turn around, see me peeing, and start laughing at me. I suddenly realize I am dreaming, so I step back and raise my aim a bit to start peeing all over them They are super pissed , and I am laughing. I pinch my nose. I then say:

"Guess what, boys--I'm dreaming." I look at their wet shirts. "Not sure if you guys are, but I sure am." I am really celebratory about the whole thing. One of them looks down at his soaked shirt.

"I took it like a champ," he says.

I congratulate him and head off. In my mind, a goal appears: find Haruhara Haruko (from FLCL):



I set off to find her, but then remember that I did not actually plan to do this (though the goal is awesome and I may do it very soon ). I decide to try anyway. I set off in search of her, or DCs I could turn into her. None of the kids in the hallway look very close, and some of them are young kids. I suddenly remember that I wanted to do Dreamer's suggestion for TotM September (don't think I'm going to wait for that one ). I begin looking for the necessary implements for the task. As I jog down the hallway, the school turns into a mall. I am looking around in stores, but don't see anything helpful.

I then see my wife seated at one of those make-up kiosks. I run over to her. This almost turns into sexy time, but I manage to keep it together. I notice that the dream seems unstable. I rub my hands together. My wife then asks if I want pictures or something else. Sweet, I think--pictures! I could use those. She pulls out some cool-looking cards of some DBZ-style fighter. The cards are about the size of a Tarot card. I use some stretching dream control to enlarge and expand the picture. Unfortunately, I get so caught up in how neat the card looks that I forget about the task. Meanwhile, my wife is talking to me about the history of this particular card--how it has gone through several different printings due to popularity. The dream now destabilizes a final time and I wake up.

Woke up from a dream around 1:47, DJed, performed "gentle MILD" and returned to sleep.

3:47 AM: Don't remember becoming lucid. I am aware I am dreaming, but am dead set on not waking up, as I know I need to get up soon for work and don't want to risk an accidental (and failed) WBTB! I'm trying to think of where to go in this dream, and am running around a house. Every room I enter seems to be full of light, however, and "outside" I can see sunlight streaming through into this otherwise dark house. I turn away from this and retreat back into the house.

Next thing I know, I experience a man raping a girl. I wrestle him down onto the ground, and start to lose lucidity, but remind myself that I am dreaming as we are struggling. Not sure what happens to him. The girl is lying on the bed. She seems very vulnerable, and beautiful. She remarks that I will probably do the same thing to her. I tell her that I will not rape her. She seems not frightened at all now, and stretched out onto the bed. She holds her arms out to me (as to say, "Come here") and invites me to "memorize the guru." Not sure what this means, but I embrace her and the dream ends.

Gentle MILD, and then back to sleep.

4:11 AM: A lengthy NLD ends with a woman being seriously injured somehow. A man is laughing and celebrating over her, and he begins to chant so as to mock her. As she is dying, her mind begins to hallucinate, and she becomes a kitten in school. An older cat is teaching her how to use language. The cats transform into an Asian girl, and an older Asian woman.

I am now back in my body, and my dad is weeping and moaning about this woman's death. Apparently he was the man laughing and carrying on, but only later transformed into my old man . . . dreams I explain to my father that he did not even care about this woman, and did not like her in the slightest.

He wails, and cries, "You could have held me down!"

This is absurd, I think, and realize I am dreaming. I talk to him for a moment more, and then walk past him. An old lady is seated here. I nose pinch, absently, to be certain, and I meet eyes with this old lady.

"Holy shit!" she says. "You've been dreaming this whole time!" She then transforms with a little pop! into a cute, short-haired redhead with glasses. She asks me if I would like her to be my "DG for this session." I say yes. She gets out a laptop and starts typing. I start to initiate sexy time ; she giggles but says no firmly. I respect this. I then ask if she minds building me a "fun encounter." She tells me that is not really her thing, and that she wants me to answer some questions. This is beginning to feel distinctly like DC time-wasting behavior, and I look around, a bit antsy. She turns the laptop around to me. I start to use it, but then back away, as I am thinking using a computer will cause a loss of lucidity. She agrees to do it for me, laughing. I start to touch her again; she laughs, but doesn't rebuff me like before. I smell her hair--it smells very fresh and clean, like she just got out of a shower.

"Hair smells good, doesn't it?" she asks. Yes, I say She explains how her back is hurting from a skiing accident. "Let me rub it for you!" I say, a bit too eager. She doesn't say no, so I do. She starts explaining about her skiing injury. I assure her that she did a good job, and explain that she kept training even after she hurt herself. "I take a week off at the first sign of pain," I say (which happens to be true). Dream ends with me holding her body close, maybe an image of skiing.

Really need to start my waking life journal again, as the day residue is getting a little ridiculous. Due to my conversation with Sageous concerning the breath in dreams, I incubated this little gem:

I am at a restaurant. My sister is frying me fish in a small pond inside the restaurant. She has the fish pressed into a corner of the pond, and the water around the fish is boiling vigorously, as though it were frying in hot oil. The fish is supposed to be for my throat, which is apparently bothering me in the dream. My wife then explains to me that if I don't want to eat the fish, I can take an entire bottle of liquid medicine, which will have the same effect.

I am now standing in front of a mirror in a bathroom. Have just read the label on the bottle and am now trying to breathe. This is incredibly difficult. I try to breathe but feel like my throat is closing. I am also coughing, which is doing zilch to clear up my throat. My throat continues to close until I can't breathe at all. I then wake up.

Hurray for choking dreams!

Not sure what my deal is lately! Recall has been low, and dream awareness has been low as well. Woke up around 5:00 AM, didn't remember any dreams. Also couldn't find my sleep mask. Walked all over the house, looking in the office, living room, and even kitchen and dining room. Wtf. I test my state, as I am really hoping I'm dreaming. Nope, just me and no sleep mask. I go back to bed, perform MILD (using seven affirmations instead of my normal 21), wrap a shirt around my head, and fall asleep.

I am in a living room with my grandfather and uncle. A baby is here, and the baby is insulting my grandfather. He keeps laughing (not at all in character for him). The baby then apologizes. Something suddenly seems off to me.

"That's weird that the baby apologized," I say to my grandfather and uncle. They just stare at me.

"Isn't that weird?" I ask. Can't remember what happened after that, but almost certain I state tested.

I am in my mother's house with my sister and one of her friends from childhood. We are all kids again. For some reason, I think that I am dreaming. Instead of nose pinching, like I normally do, I decide to phase my hand through the wall as a test. It fails (the wall remains solid) but my hand becomes transparent. I now decide to nose pinch. I can breathe, but think that maybe there is a second nose, or a part of my nose that hasn't been pinched yet. I double pinch my nose with my other hand. I'm dreaming!

I go up to my sister's friend and invite her to go flying. She agrees (I think) and we set off. I try to phase through the glass door but can't. I just open it and head out onto the back patio. I try to fly but cannot. I decide to walk up into the sky, using invisible stairs. I am heading up, step by step, when I suddenly fall back to the ground. I continue to try to fly (even reverting to swimming motions) but keep failing (in part because I am afraid I will fall into the pool). The dream finally (mercifully) ends.

I haven't been very lucid in my lucids lately. I think part of this has to do with returning to work--I'm often wrapped up in material thoughts as opposed to dream thoughts. Looking forward to finding that happy medium: the one where I'm not thinking about work at all, and thinking entirely about dreaming!

That being said "gentle MILD," as I have been calling it, seems to be doing alright as an induction method. I wonder though if it is also partially responsible for my drop in dream awareness?

I became lucid in this dream, but then did not wake up and transitioned into the next period of sleep. I have a very vague recollection of events:

I am on a boardwalk above(?) or on top of(?) a building. I nose pinchand can breathe. I now proceed to continue with the dream plot (I think) though I do phase through a wall. My hand is having difficulties phasing through, so I phase my head through first, and the rest of my body absorbs easily through the wall.

And that's about it. Recall has not been stellar this week due to lack of sleep and overall large changes to sleep schedule. Lucidity has been sporadic but overall occurring every 3-4 days. Hoping for some schedule stability soon, as well as a return to my previous induction rate and recall. Looking forward to tonight

This lucid was particularly long, and I was quite caught up in the action, so parts of my memory are foggy--will do the best that I can!

I am in a futuristic society, and am experiencing this dream via observation (I have no body). A traitor is being drawn out of hiding by his friend, a high-ranking politician. They are sitting in a living room, having a chat, when the politician friend pulls a surprise interrogation. The traitor is caught of guard and does not know how to respond. The politician is very friendly, and suggests that even if the friend confesses, he can use his influence to get him out of trouble. It seems that the traitor has been teaching a young kid how to LD, and the dream seems to compare this to watching stars--very innocent with a bit of wonder. They have been having 33 minute long lucid dreams together.

Transition to a fellow walking down the street (may have been LouaiB, though I am not entirely sure about this). It is night, and then neighborhood scene is very peaceful and lovely. Suddenly, this man stops and says, "This is a dream!" He then realizes he has had six lucid dreams that night, and he's very put out about this, as he feels he has "stayed awake most of the night lucid dreaming"

The next moment I am aware, I am in darkness, surrounded by a myriad of loud voices coming from all different directions. "Stop!" I finally shout. "I know this is a dream!" Everyone stops shouting, except for one small voice. Hanging there in space, I decide to focus on this one voice, and use it to help me rebuild the dream from out of darkness. Slowly, listening to the voice, I find myself lying in bed (but still in total blackness). I then begin to feel my body sliding backward, and off the back edge of the bed, as though the whole thing had been tipped upwards. I realize that this is just dream sensation (similar to a WILD) and decide to help the dream by slipping backward off of the bed. I fall through darkness.

As I am falling, Al Bundy's head (from Married with Children) appears in front of me, laughing:

I continue falling, wondering what in the hell incubated this dream and realize I am in some sort of air duct. Looking up, I see some falling object, breaking the laws of gravity as they fall faster than I do: pillows! I get really excited about this, and start punching pillows. I feel my excitement begin to rise, however, and try to calm down a bit so that I don't wake up. I finally end my fall by landing in a huge pile of pillows.

I find that by directing my awareness to the pillows, I can make them explode into clouds of feathers. I do this several times, before trying to channel energy into a pillow for the same effect. This doesn't work (although the pillow does heat up) in part, I think, because I am thinking too much about it. I don't care enough to keep trying though, and toss the pillow away.

I exit the pillow room through a metal hallway. Off to the right is a small room, with my dream guide (!) sleeping in a chair. His feet are up and he has a snooze bubble expanding and contracting from his nostril. While this may have been a false memory (as I have no memories of ever having met a dream guide), I think it was actually part of the dream that I had forgotten from earlier. I decide not to wake him up, as we had already had some kind of interaction earlier in the dream.

I walk up three short steps, and enter into a large make-up room (with mirrors like you would see in an actress's make-up room). There are mirrors all around, but this make-up room has no walls, and it is not possible to explain what is around the make-up room--it is just nothing at all. I see a woman on the other side of one these big mirrors and tables, and decide to see if she is good looking. As I move to get a better look, I realize it is my sister I say hi to her, and she replies, "Good, you're up."

"Nope," I say, moving past her, "Still dreaming." I make a note that the dream is trying to send me false awakenings. I manage to see my own reflection in the mirror: I am wearing a grody white nightgown, my hair looks unwashed, and my eyes are bloodshot. Basically look like I've fallen off the wagon.

I exit this area into a smaller living room, where I see some people from waking life that I know. They are all prepared to go to a wedding, and are dressed very nicely. At this point, I receive a false memory about needing to be awake for a wedding, but I am not fooled. Two of the people are an old crush and her husband. I take this opportunity to tell old crush how beautiful she looks. The husband tries to shake my hand, but he is super tall in dream, which pulls my arm way up into the air. I pull his arm down and shrink him a bit I then pat the third person, a kid playing with a dog, on the back. The kid tells me to wait until he is done petting the dog. The dog is groaning and basically enjoying being pet. As I am watching the dog, the dream begins to destabilize. I stop for a moment to feel whether or not this is real instability, or made up instability, but it is real and I wake up.

All in all, I slept an entire sleep cycle, and estimate I was lucid for approximately 25-30 minutes. Probably one of the most novel adventures ever, especially falling through the air duct. I am constantly amazed at the creative power of the dreaming mind.

I am returning from a business trip. I have been away for quite some time, and am ready to be intimate with my wife. She is on the phone with her sister, and the door is shut. She finally emerges, and I tell her I would like to have a talk. We go into the bedroom together.

My wife then makes an odd comment. "Men are really just a pile of sex cells, so I think you just need a good fuck."

In dream, this actually sounds kind of good, and we start getting into bed (the bedroom, of course, is not our bedroom, and my wife doesn't even look like herself--but why should that seem weird at all? ). But then I realize, no, I would like to just talk and spend time with my wife. For some reason now I open up the drawer next to the bed, and find a pistol in the drawer. We do not own a pistol, and so I demand to know why there is a gun in the house.

My wife gets defensive. "You were gone for so long!" she says. "I needed some way to protect myself!"

My dream thinking then comes to this conclusion: some man has purchased this gun for my wife, and she has been having an affair. "Who bought you this gun?" I shout.

I then glance at the sliding glass door, and see a man standing there, and it hits me: this is her lover, looking in on us. I am really pissed, and jump up to confront him. At this point, a mob forms outside. The neighbors begin chasing this guy, and he runs off. One of them, an older man, beckons to me through the glass, and I think, Alright, let's get this motherfucker! A group of the neighbors drag my wife out of the house but I am running after her lover now.

While I am running, I notice that some of the neighbors are people I know from high school. Am I dreaming? I wonder, as people from high school are a dreamsign for me, but the dream plot is so demanding and fast-paced that I quickly forget about state checking and continue pursuit.

The neighbors have now cornered the man near a dumpster (and I think he may have even been in the dumpster). My first thought now is of the pistol--where is that gun, so I can shoot this asshole? I realize that I left it back at the house, though. Turns out there is now a baseball bat in my hand. It's long and black and purple, and looks like a nerf bat. It's heavy and solid, though, and I think that I could easily kill someone with it. I heft it and prepare to hit my wife's lover, who is on the ground in front of me.

Then I suddenly realize I don't need to do this. There isn't any good reason to kill this man. I back off, and feel a bit better. We then become friends in the dream (though my memory is a little fuzzy here). Once I've decided to not act in violence, the crowd begins to disperse. Soon I am by myself, walking back through the neigborhood. At this point it strikes me--oh yeah, I wanted to test reality. And of course, I am dreaming.

I am a little annoyed, because I realize I've spent a good bit of dream time on "dream drama," and not doing things that are constructive or fun. It's nighttime, and I decide to fly through the neighborhood a bit. I lift off of the ground easily, but begin to have some hangups. I instinctively revert to the swim method, but when it doesn't immediately succeed, I just hang there in midair, remember that I'm not doing the swim schema anymore, and reassert my intention of flight. I begin to fly normally, without dream body movement.

I then realize I am slowing down, but I think to myself, no, I'm flying fast, and then I am flying fast. The wind is whipping past my face and it feels really wonderful. All around me though, the dream is beginning to get blurry, and the darkness is increasing.

In the past, I have associated dream darkness with waking up, and so assume the dream is ending (as it had gone on for quite a bit already). However, I still attempt some stability techniques. I shout, "Increase lucidity!" and some sharpness and clarity does return momentarily, but then begins to fade again. At this point, the dream scene is retreating away from me at top speed, and I am stuck in some kind of dark tunnel vision. My thought at this moment (unfortunately) is "I've got to try to get back to the dream scene" and I leap forward with all I've got.


I slam into the bedside table at my old apartment complex, breaking the lamp in the process. Glass is everywhere and I assume that I have broken REM atonia and moved in my sleep (which is unfortunately something I tend to do). As I am cleaning up the glass, I hear my wife cooking in the next room, as well as Frank Sinatra singing from the stereo. I then receive a false memory of Frank singing all night. I wake up shortly after.

Side notes: The "Loony Tunes Retreating Dream Scene" is something that has happened before, and something I plan to recognize as a false awakening the next time it occurs.

4:35 AM: I am on a vacation with my wife at Google. We are on the highway driving, and being passed by little Google pod cars--sort of like roundish hover craft-like vehicles. My wife says they are probably just "spy cars." I think they look cool though. We are then standing in a train station, watching the Google monorail pull up. When the monorail arrives, I see that it is a U-Haul monorail (US moving company) and people can put all of their luggage in the nose of the train.

Then we are on the train, looking for a seat. We pass some odd-looking kids while moving through the carriages, and I decide to nose pinch. Either stuffy nose, or just not aware, because I fail the RC, but something still seems off to me. I inspect my hands, but they look fine. My wife begins to tease me.

"Are you dreaming?" she asks, laughing.

"Sweetheart, please stop that," I say, "Something is really not right here!"

I finally decide I must be awake and proceed non-lucidly (!)

We are now in Google village, shopping (sort of a Disney-like atmosphere, for those who have been). I am shoplifting small items, and slipping them into my pockets. In one of the shops, I hear my wife talking to a woman. She is discussing selling or trading something. I realize she is talking about selling her wedding band, and that some agreement has been made. The woman leaves to get her items, and I approach my wife.

I ask her what she is trading her wedding ring for, and she shows me some glass beads. This frustrates me, as the beads are worthless. I try to reason with my wife, and explain how expensive and important her wedding band is, and add that the beads are worth nothing at all. She seems to be considering.

Meanwhile, the woman comes back with her stuff. I explain to her that we may not honor the bargain. She replies that the agreement has already been made. I reiterate not to get her hopes up, as my wife will probably rescind the offer. I ask her what the beads are made of. She shrugs, feigning unimportance, and says, "I think glass." I appeal to my wife wordlessly, giving her a "see there?" gesture. My wife then reaffirms her decision to trade the ring!

I suddenly have a false memory of my wife selling her engagement ring as well, some time in the past. I tell her--almost crying, almost screaming--how money doesn't matter, and that I can't bear to see her do this. I ask why she is giving away the rings that symbolize our marriage in exchange for trash? I am conscious now of making a scene. She begins crying silently and motionlessly, and tells me if giving the rings away will "benefit other beings," then she will do it. Her tears are like diluted red water. I think this is odd but am too distraught to really think about it.

I now turn to speak to the couple--the woman and her husband--but they have gone. They have used the opportunity to abscond with my wife's rings. I run out of the store after them, and scan the village. There are people about, but the couple is gone.

"You pieces of SHIT!" I scream, but then duck back into the store as I don't want to be kicked out of the park.

Dream ends a little bit after, bits of images coming out of hypnopompic.

If you made it this far, let me know what you think

Woke up around 6:00 from an earlier dream cycle, DJed a bit, and then worked on MILD for several minutes. Here was the result:

I am at a dreaming convention or conference. I am walking around, maybe ordering food or looking for the restroom. I pass a man who seems a bit shady and scary. I am walking away so as not to cause a conflict when I decide to confront him, because this is just a dream. It now fully strikes me that I am dreaming. I nose pinch. I walk back to look for the DC, but cannot find him. Oh well.

The dream was long, so some material was lost. I decided to scope out the restroom; inside, under the stalls, I see dirty work boots. I turn around and look for the women's restroom. I can't find it. I laugh at my dream's attempt to thwart me.

Outside, I am walking across a plaza when I see a friend of mine from WL. She is quite pretty in this dream, and I decide to walk with her. I put my arm around her shoulder, and then when she does not reciprocate, I put her arm around my waist. She seems quite happy to be walking with me. I stroke her hair a bit, but firmly decide this will not be a sex dream. We chat a bit (can't remember about what) and make our way back indoors.

We are now seated in an auditorium. I remember that I want to start interrogating the subconscious more. I decide to start with her.

"You do realize this is a dream, don't you?" I ask.

"Yes."

"So why exactly am I in your dream?" I then correct myself: "What I mean to say is, why are you in my dream?"

She begins to answer. I suddenly realize I wanted to do the task of the month? What were those tasks? She is talking but I don't hear her now. I begin trying to pluck out my eyeball. I focus on this very carefully, and try to phase my fingers through my face to get a better grip. I'm not having much luck, and I think to myself, I am not tearing my eye out of my face, even if I am dreaming. I decide to do the basic instead.

I turn to my friend and ask her to tell me a word in a different language.

She says some gibberish. "And what does that mean?" I ask.

She suddenly laughs. "Oh my god," she says. "I've got my words mixed up!" She then gets up and starts walking off, laughing. I look around for someone else to help.

I see a gangster-looking fellow sitting near me. I decide to ask him.

"River," he says.

"Ok," I say, a little peeved that this is an English word, "but what does it mean?" I ask.

"Vitherur," he says.

"Virrerrur?" I ask? I'm having trouble understanding his accent. He nods and says, "Vitherur."

"Vitherur," I say. He nods again. I consider asking him to reconstruct the order, but figure the information is the same: vitherur = river. I then decide I am going to fly. I have the slightest moment of hesitation, but then decide that no, even my abilities at flying are not stopping me from flying today. I easily lift into the air and begin soaring around the auditorium. The ceiling is high and so it is easy to get some good height inside the room. As I am soaring about, I think to myself that this is why I enjoy lucid dreaming. What better way to spend the morning? Triumphant orchestral music begins to play, and I fly around, turning over and over in the air. I see a young boy I know in WL flying as well, moving some electrical cables to prepare for the show. I fly past him, smiling.

I now decide to land and go into the back room. On the way, I see some items stacked on a shelf--maybe plates or bottles--and I sweep them to floor because this is a dream and I can do that. I marvel at the realistic clattering sound they make as they scatter on the floor, and the tactile sensation I get on my hands. I decide to attempt Photoshop TotM. I will the room around me to become purple, but realize it already is purple. I then decide to change it to sepia, based on another member's dream journal (can't remember whose at the moment, sorry!). Nothing happens. I shrug, and decide I may need a schema to assist me (such as a laptop). I head back out. As I am leaving, my flip-flop comes off (?) and I am about to turn around and get it when I remember I'm dreaming and say fuck it, and walk out with only one shoe on.

The auditorium has turned into a dimly lit hallway. Ceiling fans circulate at high speed. I try to fly but just fall to the ground. I don't mind much. I begin walking down the hallway. The light slowly fades though until it is almost completely dark. I hear a sound now--growling and teeth--and some animal attacks me in the darkness. I begin petting him vigorously, telling him he's a good boy (dog activated in my mind quickest). It begins to pant and then it licks me. I am still roughing him up happily when I realize I'm squeezing my pillow. I wake up to write this all down. Hit the MILD again but can't get back to sleep.

This morning I visited the doctor to get some blood taken. During the drawing process, I lost consciousness. The time in between was basically lost--I do not have any real solid feeling of "being" anywhere, except some flitting images or colors that my mind was attempting to process. I couldn't even really claim to have had a "self" at this point--basically just a feeling of confusion and bewilderment. In retrospect, I imagine this is what animals must feel like at times, and it was highly . . . disconcerting.

As I began to come out of it, in darkness, I had the distinct feeling of being in both a sitting position and a lying position, and it became crucial to me to understand which of these my body was currently in. Once I was revived (eyes open and conscious) I still did not recognize any of the people there (my doctor and two nurses) or where I was until my doctor explained what had happened. I tried to explain my confusion: "I didn't know where I was!" My doctor very compassionately nodded, as though he understood. Maybe he did. Very unpleasant experience--basically fatigued for the rest of the day with a mild headache.

So here was what came to me: was what I experienced coming out of the state (or within the state? hard to say) an example of what death will "feel" like? If so, I can only say I expect it will be terrible--at least the dying part.