Twoshadows

Another LD last night. So thankful to be past my dry spell. One thing I found interesting about this LD is that I stayed in the story. Usually once I become lucid I go off and start a new adventure. But this one has me kind of sucked in. And that made it a little fun and different.

Dream:

I was visiting my friend Jim. We had been out of touch for a while, so it felt nice to get to see him, and I was able to see his house for the first time. He was showing me around. It was a fairly small house. But then at one point I wandered away from him and suddenly found this spiral staircase that went up to a second story that was quite nice. What made it even more exciting was that there was a second level backyard as well. I climbed up and looked out into the yard. It had a ground cover of dichondra and was beautiful. Jim saw me looking and smiled like I had discovered one of his secrets.

Then we were in his lower backyard which was larger. He had planted several varieties of pumpkins. The vines all had many large pumpkins growing on them. Some were the traditional orange color. But there were others that were yellow and a beautiful dark purple color, which I had never seen before. As is typical, I pulled out my camera to take a few pictures. At one point I went back to check on the pictures I had taken. I can't remember exactly what is was, but there was a problem with the camera. At that moment I became instantly lucid.

I started flying straight up into the sky. I went slowly and could see down below. I saw Jim watching me leave. Part of me felt bad. I knew this was a dream, but I still felt connected to him, like he was real. And I felt he was sad watching me just go. But I knew I had to go on to do other things, so I tried to not notice him anymore.

I suddenly was having a little trouble with my flying. I felt all awkward. Then, for a moment, I saw myself in a 3rd person view. I was trying to fly "swimming style", but my stokes were uneven. I wasn't making much distance. So I flew back down to an alley next to Jim's yard. I tired to think of a Task of the Month that I hadn't done yet. I kicked myself a little for not thinking about them before I went to bed. My mind was blank. Then a thought occurred to me. I think one of the Tasks had to do with taking an object and destroying it with fire. I looked around for something to pick up. There were some pieces of metal laying around. I was about to pick one up, when I suddenly saw Jim come running toward me. I knew I shouldn't have left him behind. But at least he found me. I told him I was trying to do a task and destroy something.

I then said, "Watch this." I held out my hand and focused on it a bit. Suddenly I saw a small glowing white spark form at the end of my first finger. I concentrated a little harder and soon a shower of white sparks sprayed out from my finger. I showed off a bit by moving my finger all around in the air, like a little kid holding a sparkler on the 4th of July.

Then I grinned at him and sprayed the sparks on his cheek. I asked, "What do you think?". He grinned back but said, "Oww". I said, "No, that couldn't hurt." Then I said, "Check this out."

And I held out my hand so he could see it better. My whole hand was glowing a hot red, and around each fingernail there was a hot white glow. I felt a little heat, but nothing painful. At this point I concentrated and sparks flew out of each finger. I spun around spraying sparks everywhere.

Then suddenly there was a transition and we were back inside his house. I wanted to ask him a few questions about his life. Part of me thought, "Don't be silly. This is a dream. His answers will be your answers." But at the same time another part of me thought, "Yeah this is a dream--I will have much better insight."

So I sat down on the couch with him and asked what had happened with him and his wife. I knew they were no longer together, but I hadn't heard what happened. He told me that it had been really good at first, but that he had done something that he had regretted and lost her because of it. I then asked him what his plans for the future were. He then smiled at me and said, "First I'm going to do this. " And he leaned in and started kissing me. He then pulled back and asked it that was alright. I smiled and said, "No." But then I leaned in and kissed him back. Then I said, "Yes". And we continued kissing until I woke up.

No LDs last night. Just stressful dreams.

In one I was asked by a lady I didn't know to do the decorations at her daughter's wedding. I had no info on exactly what was wanted. Not sure of the date or colors, etc etc.

In another I was with a guy who was stealing materials from this site. I was with him, but I didn't want anything to do with stealing. I was just wanting to disappear.

In another dream I was somehow back at this wonderful park of my childhood (in retrospect, it wasn't a real memory). I remember standing there looking over everything and feeling such strong overwhelming nostalgia. But then these teenage boys came and chased me off.

In another I was going up the stairs to what was supposed to be my college dorm, but the stairs were messed up and I would have to jump across this really big gap....or fall three stories. To make it worse I was feeling kind of dizzy and was carrying a bunch of stuff. I think a cute guy might have come and helped me. But I don't remember much of that part.

In another my friend and I were listening to a song from a favorite childhood band that had reunited. There were 3 of the original 5 members, and they were all old now. They had changed the band's name to something with the word "Order" in it. This dream seemed relevant somehow.

I had another lucid dream last night. I'm super happy about that. I seem to be back on a roll again.

I woke up at 3:00. At first I thought my alarm had awoken me and that it was actually 5:00. I was mentally preparing myself to get up, when I glanced down at the clock and was pleasantly surprised to see that I actually had time for a WBTB.

I really felt my awareness was really good these days, so I was fairly sure that I didn't need to do a WILD to get a lucid dream. I was sure that something would trigger lucidity once in a dream.

Dream:

I was involved in doing something in this very large building. I recall isn't very good for the beginning of this dream. At some point I needed to use the restroom. I left the group of people I was with and found a restroom. I walked in. It was a huge room with a very high vaulted ceiling. Very fancy. I entered the first stall. Someone had gone poop and hadn't flushed it. How gross. I moved on to another stall. Same thing. It seemed strange to me that this beautiful very clean looking restroom was full of unflushed toilets. Things like that happened all the time in my dreams. Hmmm....this was a dream sign for me. What if this were a dream? It felt pretty real. Yet, I knew I was doing so well lately at catching my dream signs. I needed to at least do a reality check. I decided to try to float.

Well, what do ya know. I was suddenly flying up to the high vaulted ceiling. Nice. Another lucid dream.

I flew out of the bathroom and found myself in a courtyard full of people. I decided to find someone to fly with. I landed next to a guy. He looked to be in his mid to late 30's. He was nice looking with sandy blond hair that had some curl and either green or hazel eyes. He looked like an outdoorsy kind of guy with tan skin that was a little rough and some brow wrinkles. I asked him if he would fly with m,e and he said he would love to.

But before we could take off I felt the dream fade. I was mad. This was way to short for a LD.

I laid in bed for a second, not sure if I was really awake of if this was just a false awakening. I then willed myself back in the dream.

The next thing I knew I was back in the courtyard. Yes. I did it.

I looked around and couldn't find the guy I had been with. I was a little disappointed. But another guy caught my eye. He was tall with dark hair that was styled strangely, coming to a point in the front on one side. He looked to be in his mid to late 20's and was a bit over weight. He was wearing a cape and I figured he was into sci fi or Dungeons and Dragons or something like that. I asked him to fly with me. But he said something like, "If you think you can get a guy like me in the air, you must be crazy." I wasn't sure if he meant that he really didn't want to fly or if he didn't think I was capable to getting him in the air.

But before I could find out I woke up.....for real.

A WBTB with a DILD.

I went to bed fairly early (between 10 and 10:30). I slept until 5:00. I remembered that I had wanted to do a WBTB. I wondered if I had waited too long and had gotten too much sleep. But I decided to try anyway. I thought about doing a WILD, but I really felt that if I got to sleep I would have a DILD. And since getting back to sleep was the big issue, I felt trying to fall asleep naturally would be faster than trying to WILD.

Dream:

I was at what was supposed to be Disneyland with my mom, sister and Becky. We rode this indoor roller coaster that had these really big hills. I remember it felt so good going down the hills. Then I remember Becky needed to leave. So we all left "Disneyland". As soon as we walked out the gates we could see that it had snowed. The surrounding hills were covered in a light layer of snow. The area looked a lot more like Sedona than Anaheim--but I didn't catch that.

I pulled out my camera and started taking pictures of the beautiful snow. At one point I tripped and landed on the sidewalk on my stomach and started sliding. I didn't care. With my camera still out I took pictures from the ground as I slid across the icy walk.

We finally got to a house that we had rented for out trip. The sun had set and it was getting dark. I took a picture of my mom and sister as they walked up the steps to the house. I wondered if the lighting was too low. I wondered if the picture was going to be blurry. I switched my camera to playback mode to check the pictures. The first one to show up was one of my mom and sister standing in the sunlight. That meant that none of the pictures I had taken that evening of the snow had taken at all. I had a second of disappointment before the thought occurred to me that I might be dreaming. Often when I think that I automatically start floating. This time I felt extremely heavy. Still, I felt that there was a good chance I was dreaming. I was NOT going to take a chance and ignore my most common dream sign.

I was carrying a very heavy purse. I felt that if I set it down I might be light enough to float. But I noticed that there were lots of people surrounding me. Even though I was now about 95% sure I was dreaming I couldn't feel right about just setting my purse down and leaving it. So I tossed it up on the balcony above me. I then grabbed the post and pulled myself up. I knew that I was able to get up to the balcony easier than I would have if it was real life. So now I was quite sure I was dreaming. I looked over at the snow covered hills. Even though it was pretty dark, the glow of the snow lit up the hills. I wanted to fly over to them.

I looked off the edge of the balcony. The hill sloped steeply down. I still hadn't flown in this dream. I wasn't sure why I was still feeling so heavy. But I figured I would give it a try anyway. If worse came to worse and I wasn't able to fly, I figured I would gently fall to the hillside below. So I ran to the edge of the balcony and jumped off. As I jumped up I was able to catch the wind and felt myself being carried upward. That was a huge relief to go up instead of down.

I started flying to the hills and finally started thinking about what I wanted to do in this LD. The Mirror! I wanted to do the Mirror Portal Task of the Month. Oh. That meant I really needed to go back to the house and find a mirror.

So I turned around and started flying back. I flew frustratingly slow. But finally got back to the balcony and walked in the door to the second floor. Inside, I found myself in a large room. On the far wall I saw an orange and white couch that had a very large mirror leaning up against it. The mirror was on its side, covering a good part of the couch. It was about 3.5 feet high and about 6 feet long the way it sat. I knew that I wasn't going to be able to run or walk in the mirror. But I wasn't planning on doing it that way this time. I had had too many failures with running at mirrors. This time I had planned to gently push my way through.

I sat down next to the mirror.

I started with my finger. I pressed the first finger of my right hand into the glass. At first all I felt was resistance. But then I could feel it give way and start to push through. This was going to take way too long. So I just decided to push my face through. That way I would be able to get a good look at what was on the other side before my body came all the way through. So I put my forehead up to the glass. It was cool to the touch. I pushed and felt it give way--like a layer of ice melts as you press something hot against it. Slowly I felt my face come out the other side. I looked around anxiously. It was a bit dark. But then things started to focus. I could see something orange....and white. Oh....no....

I had just come out on the other side of the mirror and now had my face up against the couch on the other side.

Before I could do anything else. I heard a loud door open and close, which startled me. I pulled my head out of the mirror (it left a nice, neat oval hole). A guy, maybe Jeff, had come though and asked if we had seen a drunk guy that had been wandering the area, that he might have come in the house. I said no. But before I could try the mirror again, I fully woke up.

I had a great lucid dream this morning. I had awakened at 3:30 and was having trouble going back to sleep. I thought about trying to do a WILD, and I even starting counting and relaxing, but after a while it seemed obvious that I wasn't tired enough. The last time I looked at the clock was 6:30, and I felt myself start to drift off to sleep (this is one of the few mornings I can sleep in like this).

Dream:

I found myself looking into a mirror. I wasn't happy with what I was seeing. My stomach was all deformed and hanging really weird (it looked a lot like the stomachs of people who have lost huge amounts of weight and the skin just flops and hangs). I was trying to figure out what could have happened for my stomach to look like this. Then suddenly it hits me. The mirror. I always look different in dream mirrors. I must be dreaming.

Yes! I was finally lucid dreaming again.

I already knew what I wanted to do. So much to do...

The first thing I decided to do was to practice being Poet Anderson. I found that I was upstairs in a house that was supposed to be mine, but in retrospect, I am totally unfamiliar with it. It has never been in my dreams before. I ran out of the bedroom and saw Jeff who was just coming in. I shouted out, "Can't talk now...I'm dreaming!" I leapt down the staircase without touching a single step, and out the front door.

I was Poet Anderson. I ran until I came to a high retaining wall and flew over it and down to the street below. I jumped up again and landed one knee, pulling my gun. I totally had this. I was feeling one with Poet.

Then, the unthinkable happened. I felt myself wake up. I couldn't believe the dream was over when it had barely just begun.

I found myself talking to Daniel. I was telling him about my lucid dream. I lamented with him because he had told me how in recent lucid dreams he had been having he had been walking up too soon as well....only to find out later that it was only a false awakening. I had told him (in a recent real life conversation) that he just needed to get into the habit of always doing a reality check each time he thought he woke up.

Somewhere in the middle of this conversation with him. I realized that there was a good chance that I had just had a FA. And as soon as I thought that I knew I was still dreaming. I was excited and told Daniel that we were lucid dreaming. I said, "Let's do finger lasers." There was a poster on the wall, and we pointed our fingers at the posters. I expected to see a laser light come out of my finger. But I didn't see anything. I concentrated harder. I felt like I could hear a faint hum. I looked again at the poster we were pointing at. I could see little lines starting to burn across the paper. I felt satisfied. Even though I could never see the laser, I knew we had been able to create them because I could see the damage they were doing.

At this point I remembered I wasn't done being Poet. I ran outside again and practiced leaping about and drawing my gun. I noticed at one point that I didn't actually have a gun. But I figured it was okay. I would work on that detail later. Right now I wanted to be comfortable with the moves. I also tired to practice making myself transform, like he does in the film, when the Night Terror comes and the black wraps around his body. I couldn't quite get that right. The best I could do was turn my arms a black color. I wasn't too worried about that either. There was time for special effects later. Right now I wanted to make sure I was fast and agile.

After doing this for some time, I decided that my dream was going to last long enough to do a Task of the Month. I thought I would start with the easiest one--walk into a random house and sescribe what was inside.

I now found myself next to some apartments. I saw a door near me on the ground floor. For a second I felt a little timid. But I told myself that it was just a dream and that it didn't matter. So I turned the doorknob and boldly walked through the door. I found myself in a small living room. There were several couches that were full of people....several older Navajo women and quite a few children. One of the ladies saw me and good naturedly joked how surprised I must be about walking into a house full of brown children. But I decided to act like it was no mistake at all. I smiled and , "Hi, how are all of you doing.?" And I smiled down at one of the children that was standing near me and asked her a question. I was able to put everyone at ease. We talked a few minutes. I don't remember details of the conversation. But by the time I left, we all felt happy.

I then found myself in what looked like an alley. There were more doors in a building next to me. I decided to do this again. This time as I opened the door I found myself in an old motel room. in front of me sitting on the edge of a bed was woman who looked to be in her 60s and was either Navajo or Mexican. She was smoking something. I tried to talk to her, but I soon saw that she was totally out of it. She never made eye contact or responded to me in any way. She looked quite messed up. I also noticed that there was some kind of white plastic thing in one of her nostrils.

I kind of got the creeps just being with her, and I knew that we wouldn't be having any sort of conversation, so I left.

This time I saw that I was walking through storage units. I kept walking and found myself in what looked like an outdoor mall. I suddenly remembered that I wanted to find a radio so I could listen to new Angels and Airwaves music. There was junk laying about everywhere, but I couldn't find a radio. I could see people walking around, so I shouted, "Will somebody please turn on a radio!"

And at that I heard a radio go on. But I was just hearing voices. I figured that after the talking they would play a song. I walked on.

I then found myself inside of a very large sports store. There were bikes hanging from the ceiling. The ceiling was 3-4 stories high, so there were a lot of bikes hanging. I jumped up and hung from one of the lower bikes. While I was hanging I looked over and saw this black guy who looked to be in his late 20's. He looked at me with a little smile and said, "Let me show you how this is done." and he jumped up and grabbed a bike and then proceeded to start climbing the bikes. I got quite excited at this little challenge. I knew he had no idea who I was, and that I was going to beat him miserably. Haha...this was going to be great. I then pulled myself up with ease to the next bike. I looked over and he was slowly but quite steadily moving his way up. I was impressed. SO I picked up my pace. I started moving up the bikes so fast that I was barely gripping them. I was mostly just gliding my way up. The ceiling, I noticed was higher and there was further to climb than I had originally thought. I continued to climb. I then looked over and the guy had almost been able to keep up with me. I was only a little faster. Finally I got to the top and grinned at the guy just below me. Now I was going to show him who I was. At that, I let go and jumped all the way down (at least 5 stories). I landed confidently and took off running out of the store.

I remembered that I hadn't heard the radio. I saw that I was still in what looked like a cluttered outdoor mall. I still couldn't find a radio. So I shouted, "Does anyone here have a radio with them?"

I suddenly saw Emily, she was pulling a small radio out of her pocket. I said, "Yes, Emily!" And promptly woke up. And this time I really was awake.

It was 7:03.