lucid

FA. I "wake up" on my sleeping mat, nose pinch and can breathe.I head into the dining room, where I attempt to fly through the ceiling. Not working too well, as I bang my head against the ceiling. I decide to just relax. I start to phase through head-first, but then get too excited that I am "really doing it" and get pushed back. Decide to phase through the front door and head out. Not sure what happens, but I wake up and

DEILD:

I roll off of my mat and fly through the transition, before slamming into a classroom. The lights are off, and the class is watching some movie. I see the teacher sitting at her desk, and thinking it would be funny to scare her, charge forward on all fours towards her. Not sure what happened, but I think I pull back at the last minute. I look around, and realize all of the students are kid-versions of people I knew in high school. I see some girl and give her a high-five!

I head out through the door, and find myself in some back hallway. I am able to fly up into the air off and on, rising and sinking, but all the while reminding myself that there is nothing here, and nothing really to do. I see some light fixtures and feel like pulling them down, so I "grab" them from a distance (using perspective) and rip them down. I then see a large ventilation thingy, and decide to crush that between my hands. I steadily press my palms together; at first, it seems as though it is not working, but then the entire structure collapses in on itself, and glass shatters. Pleased, I set off into the mall.

Lots of DCs, lots of people I know (I pass another old friend, whom I pat on the shoulder and say hello to). I end up in a food court area, with lots of food sitting out. I reach for a molten lava cake (a small cupcake), and cram it into my mouth):



Amazing. Very chocolatey. I eat it very slowly, not wanting my mouth in WL to start moving and accidentally wake me up (a problem in the past). In response to my care, the cake begins to glue my mouth shut. I also get some cake on my face. I ignore both of these effects, and continue my explorations in the clothing department. I begin looking for a DC to have sex with. I pass a few unsuitable candidates. I leave this area, and head out behind the mall (outside) behind some dumpsters. As I get farther from the mall, I find a girl lying on her back, smoking a joint. She is a cute girl I knew in high school (and whom I have not thought of in years). I lie down next to her and take her in my arms. She seems happy to see me. The dream ends.

Wake from an NLD. I lie still and wait to DEILD. Body begins to roll to the side, which signals beginning of REM sleep. I roll off of the mat and fall through space. Eyes flicker open somewhat, and I can see stars in a black sky. I accidentally open my WL eyes, though, because I can suddenly see light streaming in from beneath my sleep mask. I close them and wait for my "dream eyes" to open on their own. They do, and I see I am flying swiftly over a dark, deep purple ocean. The stars are still out. I can feel the wind on my face. Ahead of me, on the horizon, a white number one appears.

Memory is fuzzy here. Certain I did not lose consciousness, but unsure of how narrative unfolded entirely. I land down in the water, and there is some sort of game being played by a bunch of DCs. I try to persuade one of them that she is strong enough to lift me up and throw me out of the water. She says she is not. "Oh come on," I say. "Look at those triceps!" She laughs and tries to throw me. She just sort of pushed me out of the water. She says she can't. "But really," I say, "You can." I'm trying to get the dream to bend to my will a bit! She tries again (and throws me a bit higher) and reiterates that she can't do it.

I mess around for a bit more (can't remember what I was doing--interacting with DCs, asking questions and what not, and I specifically remember rubbing my hands to stabilize--and then it occurs to me to complete the tasks of the month. I think about what the tasks are, and remember the leaf task. I am in a back yard. I begin thinking I will materialize the leaves by pretending they are on the other side of a wooden fence. I say, "You're around this fence!" and run around the fence. I briefly see the outline of what looks like a pile of leaves, but then that pops out of existence. I try two more times, and nothing happens at all.

I run around for a bit, thinking I might find a pile of leaves somewhere. Nope. I then think to call for help on my phone, and pull it out of my pocket. I figure it will take too long to punch in the numbers though and toss it away. Instead, I head inside to get help from a DC.

Near me is a blond girl. She attempted to assist me earlier in the dream, but I rebuffed her because DCs are too unreliable. I now ask her if she knows where any leaves are. We go inside the house, and she nods and points to some storage boxes. One of them is black and I open it up. Inside there are only Christmas lights. "These are just Christmas lights," I say, and then get annoyed. This always happens. DCs always trick me and waste my time. I run out of the house. The DC runs after me, trying to get me to come back. I ignore her. Looking around, I see a bunch of leaves lying around on the grass. I think I might be able to rake them up, but then pull an Ophelia and scoop some up in my arms. Some of them are crackly, but others are rotten and gross. I make a very small pile. I look at it and decide I'm not jumping in that.

I try to think of the other basic. Oh yeah, tell a kid they are dreaming. I am on a path in the woods, and a jogger is coming towards me. She is a kid, maybe like a high school student, but I check just to be sure:

"How old are you?" I ask.

She stops running and faces me. "16."

"You're dreaming!" I say.

"If you don't shut up, I'm going to hit you," she says.

I back off, and she continues jogging.

I continue on the path until I find a small cabin/mobile home (don't ask) in the woods. Inside are some DCs. More conversation that I can't remember. However, I hear voices up inside a treehouse-like loft. They are discussing someone messing up their abilities to dream. I ascend the wooden ladder up, and see two people I know semi-well from WL. However, I understand that they are DCs and not their real selves. They are crouched over a dream journal. When they see me enter the room, the girl (it's a girl and a guy) moves to cover up the DJ so I can't read it.

"It's just me," I say. "The dreamer." They are smiling now in a mocking way. I sort of lose it here, and demand to know "why you guys (meaning DCs in general) always tease me?"

"Because we can," the girl responds.

"But lots of dreamers get help from their DCs. They teach them fun things like how to fly. You guys always try to trick me."

The girl now laughs and says, "You can't even fly."

I get mad and grab the guy in my fist. He instantly turns into a small, faceless rag doll. The transition was seamless and sort of shocked me. The girl disappeared altogether. I fling the doll down on the ground and leave.

Back in the house, I remember the advanced task--cut off your hand and serve it up for Thanksgiving dinner. I look around and see a half-eaten plate of food: there is some cornbread there and some other stuff I don't remember. I realize that if I hadn't scared the DCs away I could have served them my hand. I leave and begin running back to the first house (where I tried to complete the leaf task.

Once inside the original kitchen, I approach the block of knives. They all appear to be light, serrated blades, and I am not keen on sawing through my wrist. I am hoping for a cleaver, and find a small one, but it is not heavy enough. I finally settle on a knife that probably does not exist in WL, but resembles a butcher knife. I RC to make sure I am dreaming. I then (to be honest, fearing the pain) test the knife by slicing into my index finger. I don't feel anything, and think maybe I missed (lol). However, a line appear on my finger, and I start bleeding. The dream quickly fades and I wake up.

Wake up from NLD consciously, decide to DEILD. Feel body begin to roll over, but feel like I am losing consciousness as well. Fight a bit to stay lucid. Some dream imagery--bright colors--but can't remember upon wakening.Lose consciousness, then FA in bedroom. Nose pinch. Meh, can sort of breathe. Probably a dream. I get up and walk to the bedroom door. There is an envelope stuck in the door. I take it and walk into the living room. It is dark. I now remember that my wife in WL has already woken up, and so it should not be dark in living room. Definitely a dream. I find a stream of light from a window and open the envelope. A check stub for $5,004 and a ticket stub that reads JANE MOSHER BUDDHA. Cool. Cats are meowing at me but I ignore them sorry kitties.

My front door has five door handles and is also made of glass. I open the handle in the middle and push the middle section out. It occurs to me that I could phase, but I don't really care enough Outside, the sky is slanted oddly, and reminds me of a hallucination I had as a child. Weird! It is early morning out, and I magically have a grassy backyard with trees in it (and not a dirty street, as it is in WL). What did I want to do? I know I wanted to fly into space, but, eh, not now. What else? Oh yeah, TotM! I look around and see a pumpkin on the grass. Neat. I walk over to it, and realize it is mostly collapsed in on itself and is rotten. Easier to get inside! I begin digging through the black, rotten innards. At first, seems like nothing in there. But I think, Come on, pumpkin! I know you've got something! And there was something! It was a d4:


It is blue and cream swirled. Nothing super special, but still kind of cool. I look at it for a moment, then carefully place it on the patio (part of me wants to say I place it on top of an 8-ball? Not sure how that makes sense!). I then remember I want to transform into a tree. I find a big oak in the grass (there are some others in the dirt but I want to walk on the grass ). I place my hand on the trunk and begin trying to fuse with it. My hand and arm are changing color to match the trunk when I wake up.

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.

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.

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?

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.

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.

Last night felt distinctly lucid twice only to lose the dream upon reentry.

In the first, I am in a bedroom, and having a discussion on lucid dreaming (while lucid).In hypnopomia, I even review the dream so as not to lose it (if I had had my shit together, I would have simply awoken and recorded the dream). Once fully awake, the dream memory vaporizes in front of me, more or less.

Probably one of the first two dreams of the night, which historically are not great moments for dream recall for me. However, I think I have been lazy with recall per se, as I have been experiencing lots of day residue and "garbage" dreams that I have neglected to record in any great detail. Maybe this is the impetus I need to get back into recording my dreams in detail.

Second dream: I am lucid and attempting to complete the tasks of the month, but don't remember scenery or whether or not I succeed at any of the tasks, or indeed even remember them correctly. Gab has developed software to assist dreamers while they are still dreaming, and to publish their attempts at the TotM. She publishes mine (in a tiny newspaper), describing my attempt.

The dream drifts into asemi-lucid where I am running a foot race through an apartment complex (maybe my old digs) with a WL friend. He is extremely fast, and while I am able to manipulate the dream to make myself faster than I normally am, he is still beating me. We are running at night alongside a chainlink fence, and there are several hairpin turns in the grass. I epicly jump over the fence and into some undergrowth, but am still daunted by how fast my opponent is. I attribute this in dream to his long legs.

Finally, I am able to use some of my minions (apparently I had minions) to help me cheat. One of them grabs my WL friend through the fence while I am able to take off and finish the race. However, my awareness stays with my friend and is in fact shifted into that of my minion. At the moment when I feel I must release him (as he's fighting me the whole time) another minion grabs him, my awareness shifts into that minion, and then I turn mine and his hands into stone (I am grabbing him by the wrists). During all of this I more or less feel that I am dreaming, but just don't "get" it.

I tried a different method of MILD than what I am used to, and think I will continue the experiment tonight. I will keep you all updated

I am in high school again, and am walking to my bus after school. Already lucid, but not very much -- don't remember how I got there! I am walking with a short, chubby black kid. I have just done something not very nice (don't remember what) and think I need to make it up to this DC. I give the kid a big hug.

"What are you doing?" he asks in disgust.

C/R my response. I think of how I might win this DC over. I reach into my pocket, hoping for some candy. I find instead a toy from childhood:



I give this to the DC and tell him it is a chocolate bar (?) DC takes a bite and complains that it is not a chocolate bar, and that it is indeed a plastic toy. I take the toy back and try to morph it into a chocolate bar. It's outward appearance changes somewhat, but not enough to be food.

The DC then asks, "Is this that kind of candy that once I chew it, it becomes candy in my mouth?"

"Yeah, sure," I say, still searching through my pockets.

He begins eating it again.

"Oh my god," he cries, "It's glorious! It's like I'm flying through space on an imperial starship!"

I look down and see a piece of the action figure/candy on the ground. Yep, I pick it up and eat it. It tastes sweet but nothing spectacular. Definitely not flying through space. I wake up.

Good morning, Dreamviews. Lots of dreams and fragments last night, but in particular:

2:33 AM: I am trying to win my ex-girlfriend back. I know she will be on a tour of this castle (she is thinking of buying it as a home) so I plan to be there as well and also take the tour. I am somehow under the impression that we planned to take this tour together, but when she shows up, she sees me and then looks away, as though she is pretending I am not there. She tells the guide she is here for her tour. I think about staying quiet and just leaving, but then decide to speak up. I tell the tour guide I would also like to take the tour. She seems uncomfortable now.

We head up through the castle, until we finally get to a section with a garden walkway and a well. At this point, my ex's mom puts her hands under my shirt and rests them on my torso. Her hands are cold and I squirm. She tells me it feels like I have been working out. I assure her I haven't been She then comments to my ex that "she might as well hold hands with the guy who is trying to win her back." We hold hands, but I am now conscious of her crying quietly. Very odd dream, Dreamviews! Any ideas?

9:52 AM: I am in my mom's dining room. My wife and one of her friends is here. A kid suddenly shows up. He looks a bit odd but I seemingly mistake him for a former coworker. We begin discussing a dream group. I tell him his brother has already signed up, and that he should as well. We talk a bit about lucid dreaming. He says "A girl I work with does that stuff."

"Have you talked to her about it? I ask.

"Nah, she is too thick," he replies.

I ask him what he means. He then replies in a bunch of mumbo-jumbo, and then salutes me. I find this exceedingly odd, but don't want to be impolite. I ask him how he is enjoying his job. He tells me he has only been there a few weeks.

"Aren't you still working for the zoo?" I ask.

He now looks oddly at me. "Who do you think I am?" All of a sudden, I notice he is not my friend and I nose pinch.I can breathe, but all of a sudden, I go deaf! I am now uncertain of my status--is this a dream? I look at my hand: it is wobbly and weird, but when I look again, it is stable and normal. I show my hand to my wife, as though to say, "Look! What do you see??" She ignores me and continues her conversation. I decide to settle this once and for all. I set off down the hallway to find some text. However, I do so discreetly, so in the case that I am not dreaming, I don't act like a nut in front of everyone. I accidentally bump my wife's shoulder as I pass her and I wake up.

So competition goers, I'm asking you guys: was I lucid? I wrote it down in my paper DJ as a lucid immediately upon waking, but I don't want to take advantage of the system! Let me know what you think!