The Celestial Toyroom

[Celestial Toymaker]

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Welcome to my dream journal! I hope you enjoy your reading; please feel free to leave questions, comments or other feedback. It is very appreciated! I'll be starting back in early 2007 and filling in from there. Lucid dreams in bold. Frequent Dream Characters: AE: Ex-girlfriend, now one of my closest friends JA: Best friend JR: Close friend MA: Former roommate

[Celestial Toymaker]

2/10/2007 (A) #1: “Roulette at the Mall” I’m in a shopping mall, similar to a two-story version of the local mall. For the most part, the mall is normal, with two major exceptions: it is mostly empty, especially outside of the stores; and some of the stores are actually mini-casinos. For example, next to the Bath and Body Works, there is a “Black Jack store”, which looks like a regular store on the outside, but inside there are several blackjack tables and dealers. I’m not surprised by any of this, and take it as normal. I walk into a “roulette store”, which is set up like a small theatre, with downward sloping rows of theatre seats and an overhead projector and screen at the front. I take a seat near the back, and see that the dealer manning the projector/roulette wheel is KS, my property professor from law school. I think this is strange, but reason that, because it is the weekend, KS must be “moonlighting” at this mall/casino. As I sit, I notice that I am holding a playing card, and I suddenly know that this form of roulette is played using the cards. On the projection screen at the front of the room, a grid of numbers is projected. As KS reads off the winning numbers, he covers them with a small green disc. As other players react to the winning numbers, I begin to panic, trying to figure out if I’ve won or not. The numbers on the screen don’t seem to bear any resemblance to the card I am holding. I begin to make my way to the front of the room, trying to hurry before KS moves on to the next round. I think I call out for him to stop, because he gives me a dirty look, but stops the game. I am very self-conscious and embarrassed by my lack of knowledge of the game. At that moment, a player behind me begins to run his mouth. I turn around, immediately extremely angry and confrontational. I think the player was the character “Tug” from the movie “Brick”. He is criticizing me for holding up the game and my lack of knowledge. I respond angrily, and moments later, I find myself back out in the mall proper. I begin walking, and up ahead on the left is a blank wall between stores. A utility door opens, and out steps a girl who I am pretty sure was AE. She is wearing only a towel wrapped around her body, as though she had just finished showering. I follow about 10 feet behind her as she walks, and another guy falls into step a few feet behind her. He begins to talk to her in a mocking way, calling her an orca, despite her petiteness. Despite his insulting manner, AE responds to him flirtatiously, and I feel slightly jealous. Moments later we are in a utility stairwell, heading either up or down. The guy continues his insulting chatter, and AE continues to respond coquettishly. As we exit back into the mall, the guy peels off, and I catch up to AE. I tell her that I don’t think the other guy was right, and that she’s far from an orca. For some reason, this angers her, and she hurries away. I see a large glass-fronted arcade ahead. Like the rest of the mall, this arcade has a mixture of regular video games interspersed with slot machines. Sitting at one of the slot machines is AE’s mother. I enter the arcade and approach her. As we talk, something happens to make me think that the mall is closing. I can’t remember exactly what, but it may have been the lights being shut off. “Why the hell would they be closing already? Even if it’s a Sunday, this is too early!” I say to AE’s mom. “Well, it is 3:45 in the afternoon!” She says, as if this explains everything.

[Celestial Toymaker]

2/10/2007 (B) # 2: “Dancing” This dream was very fragmentary and was more a series of emotions than a narrative. It involved a girl from my law school class, who I used to be attracted to, named MB. Mostly I was attracted to her accent in real life. In the dream, we are apparently deeply in love and in sort of relationship. All I remember in terms of specific actions is one kiss, and a moment when we were at a dance of some kind. The dream was mostly a strong feeling of affection and love, coupled with a sense that it was mutual and we were both very happy.

[Celestial Toymaker]

2/11/2007 # 3: “Talking Music With Mick Foley” I’m backstage at a WWE show, talking to Mick Foley right before a match, behind the curtain. Foley is wearing his Mankind costume, and I am trying to convince him to go back to his original, dreary theme music, rather than his later theme. Foley is not receptive to my suggestions, and I got really angry after he headed to the ring.

[Celestial Toymaker]

2/15/2007 (A) # 4: “Royal Rumble 1” I am an entrant for the Royal Rumble and am very excited about it. Unlike in real life, the Rumble is actually a contest, and I am excited to try to win it. The Rumble is being held in what I think is my neighborhood, though almost all of the houses have been removed. The driveways, sidewalks and streets remain, but many of the houses have been removed, in the ring is sitting in the middle of it all. I am dressed in a pair of dress slacks, a dress shirt and tie, and am ready to go. I am thinking about what strategy I will use in the match, and have decided to be sneaky, possibly leave the ring and hide in the audience. I am also wishing I would have thought to bring rope, so I could try my “tie-self-to-ring-ropes” plan that I had discussed with Agan. As I’m preparing to go out, I realize that I probably look too much like Irwin R. Schyster with my shirt and tie, so I decide to go change. An anonymous DC tries to convince me not to bother, and he tells me that no one will remember IRS, anyway. However, I don’t want to steal Irwin’s gimmick, and I walk away to change into a blue sweat suit. When I get back to the staging area, I find out that my number for the Rumble has already been called, and that I can’t compete. I am very disappointed, because I really wanted to try out my strategy.

[Celestial Toymaker]

2/15/2007 (B) # 5: “Whacking Deadbeat JR” This may be a part of the first dream, but I honestly don’t remember. I am walking through a neighborhood and it is dusk. I see my roommate JR’s house up ahead, and remember that I am supposed to kill him. Reaching into my pocket, I discover a pistol. I walk up and knock on the front door, and JR lets me in. The house is laid out much like my grandparents’, and therefore the door opens directly in front of the stairs leading to the basement. I follow JR around the corner into the living room, and when he turns around I shoot him in the chest. He dies, and I leave. Later, I don’t know how long, but it’s daytime, I find myself back at JR’s house. Something is nagging me, and I decide to go back inside to see if I forgot any evidence. I walk in and JR is still dead on the floor. I see the spent casing laying on the floor next to him, and I pick it up. I stick the casing in my pants pocket, and for some reason walk downstairs to the basement. I walk down the basement stairs, and when I get to the bottom and around the corner, I hear a loud banging on the front door. Immediately, I know it’s the police, and a cold feeling of panic envelopes me. I peek around the corner, and I see that I somehow forgot to close the front door, so that all that is between me and the police is the unlocked screen door. As soon as I see them, the cops see me, and I know I am sunk. I decide to go up and try to bluff my way out of this, but I am doomed. I open the door and try to charm the cops, but they barge in and find JR’s body. They search me and find the bullet casing in my pocket. I’m arrested. Later, I know that I have been convicted and given the death penalty. I lose all self control and begin to sob and cry hysterically. My parents won’t talk to me and I lose all hope. For some reason, I am sentenced to spend the time before my execution in JR’s house.

[Celestial Toymaker]

2/18/2007 # 6: “Powerful Oppression” A very long dream, but I don’t remember most of it. The dream was set in a concentration camp-type atmosphere, with some kind of authority figure trying to kill me and others. There were many other DCs around in my situation. The dream was characterized by feelings of fear, hopelessness and sadness.

[Celestial Toymaker]

2/20/2007 # 7: “Benefit for a Bedroom” I am at a benefit-type event being held at a building similar to a local community center. The building shares several characteristics with the community center, but the front end is made up almost entirely of garage doors, and several mini-vans are pulled into the building for unloading. Strangely, the “benefit” is for me: everyone is there helping me move from a bedroom on one side of the building to a bedroom on the other side. There are dozens of volunteers helping to unload the vans, and I direct them to set up jugs of orange drink (like at a Boy Scout meeting) and other refreshments. Despite the ridiculousness of the situation, I do not become lucid and continue to help set up for this “benefit”.

[Celestial Toymaker]

2/26/2007 # 8: “Hopeless Date Under the Stars” I am on a date with MW, a girl from law school that I had a semi-crush on for most of the year. We appear to be in a forested setting, some kind of a camp ground. It is far from primitive: there are several cinder-block buildings scattered around the area, and cement walkways connect them all. The architecture reminds me of my old Boy Scout summer camp. I am on a date of some kind with MW, and so I am extremely self conscious throughout the dream. I am focused on winning her affections, and so am trying very hard to be charming and winning. In the dream, as in reality, I’m aware that MW has a boyfriend, and so I’m even more motivated to win her over. For the first part of the dream, we are walking around the compound, talking, but we’re not close. I want to hold her hand, but know that’s not in the cards. At some point, we stop walking and are sitting on a bench, against the wall on the inside of one of the little buildings. The building is similar to the showers at my old Boy Schout camp, in that there is no roof. We are sitting talking, still not close, and I look skyward, hoping to be able to bring up the stars and inject a little romance into the conversation. I see the stars and they are beautiful, but no dice. Later, we have transitioned back to my neighborhood. We are still walking, but now it is daylight (it was a very dark night during the first part of the dream). We are walking away from my house, on the opposite side of the street. For some reason, I ask MW if she can wait right there for me on the sidewalk, while I go do something. She agrees. I have no idea why I left, and in the dream I was concerned about how rude I was being. However, I left her standing on the sidewalk about 5 houses down from mine on the opposite side of the street, and walked back to my house. In the dream I feel as though I’m in my house doing something (no idea what) for about 15 minutes. Again, I am concerned the entire time, worried that MW will just leave and that I’m blowing my best chance with her by being so rude. Finally, I am ready to go back to her, and I look out the front window of the house. She is still standing where I left her, but has been joined by a guy that I somehow know immediately is her boyfriend. They are standing and causally talking, and I’m reluctant to approach. Her boyfriend (who I’ve never actually seen) looks like an exaggerated hippy: long black hair, headband, goofy tie-dyed tee shirt, etc. Finally, I leave my house and slowly approach MW. As I get closer, her boyfriend departs rapidly. He isn’t running away or anything, but as I get closer, he gets farther away from her until he’s totally gone. I apologize profusely to MW, and she doesn’t seem to mind or anything. At this point, I realize that it’s hopeless, and she’s probably just being nice by spending time with me. The dream fades soon after.

[Celestial Toymaker]

2/27/2007 # 9: “Flying Home” I am visiting a relative of mine at their house. No idea who the relative is, but it’s someone considered very eccentric in the dream, probably BM. Strangely, his house seems to be located either at the local fairgrounds or the local grocery store, both of which are mere blocks from my house. Although it is a private residence, I still think of the relative’s house as the grocery store in the dream, and the parking lot is still there. My sister and I are just leaving the “house” after our visit, and the eccentric relative insists that we fly his new plane home to “try it out”. The plane is parked out in the parking lot among the cars. Although I think this is strange in the dream, it’s just one more thing that is strange about this relative. Also, I know that this is something he always has people do when they visit him. I am more amused by his request than anything, because I know that my house is literally blocks away. I even think to myself “well, I guess we’ll just have to fly upward, turn downward, and go right to the house. My sister, however, is petrified by the thought, and insists we drink some more wine before we get in the plane. We go back into the house/grocery store, and start drinking Boone’s Farm Sangria from wine glasses. I comment that I have another bottle of Boone’s in my fridge at home (which is true in real life). After we finish the wine, we get into the plane and take off. The inside of the plane looked like a cheap fair roller coaster or ride of some kind. Apparently I knew how to fly the plane.

[Celestial Toymaker]

3/1/2007 # 10: “Lucid With Chicken” I am in what seems to be a Kentucky Fried Chicken restaurant. Not sure who I’m with, but I’m there with one or two friends. Suddenly, it occurs to me that I’m probably dreaming. I look around to see if my friends notice anything is going on, but they don’t seem to. I decide to do a reality check, hoping to prove that I’m dreaming. I look at a sign on the wall, hoping to see the text shifting, but I can’t read what is there. For some reason, this doesn’t clue me in that I’m dreaming! I decide to do another reality check and, being 90% sure that I’m dreaming, I walk up to a KFC female employee, and attempt to put my hand through her head…which doesn’t work. She begins to get angry and at that point I decide that this must be a dream, because otherwise I would never have done what I just did. I feel the lucidity beginning to waver, and I remember that concentrating on my hands is supposed to help stabilize. I try this and it doesn’t work, so I decide to also try and spin, which I also remember works. Unfortunately neither method works, and the dream fades. I have a brief false awakening (this dream happened about an hour before I was supposed to wake up). After this false awakening, I have a few brief images and fragments of dreams, but nothing that I can accurately recall.

[Celestial Toymaker]

3/5/2007 # 11: “Using The Force” I am taking the role of Obi Wan Kenobi from the Star Wars movies. Oddly enough, I am the Ewan McGregor version, although the action seems to be taking place between “The Empire Strikes Back” and “Return of the Jedi”. By “taking the role”, I mean that in the dream, I knew that I was not actually Obi Wan, but that I was experiencing a new form of movie, almost a virtual reality type experience. I know in the dream that this is a new technology that actually places the viewer inside the movie, almost like a ride. The first scene takes place on a large space ship I find floating out in space. I board this ship, and enter a large room, made of metal, with a large dark opening in the middle of the room. The room is filled with children, ages ranging from 7-12. They are all holding toy light-sabers, the telescoping types put out by Kenner. When I enter the room, all of these children run over and crowd around me, swinging their toy light-sabers at me and chattering. I wave them off, and demand to know who is in charge. At this moment, a short creature calls out from across the dark space in the middle of the room. He is wearing a bright yellow jumpsuit and some kind of mask. The short creature removes his mask: Yoda. Yoda calls the children off me, and they go back to training. Yoda tells me that he has established this little school to train Jedi. Suddenly, he turns to the group and orders them to do something. They all rush to the edge of the dark hole, and dive in headfirst. I follow for some reason, though Yoda tries to stop me. As we all dive into the hole, we seem to shrink, and suddenly we are flying through a metal air-conditioning shaft. I follow the kids as the fly through the shaft, until I realize that I am back to my normal size, though still able to fit through the shaft. I lose the kids, and turn a corner to find that I am back to my full size, standing up in a shaft that ends right above my head. I can’t go back, and I can’t go on. I see above my head a valve of some kind. I begin to grow worried, but then remind myself that this is all just a movie that I’m experiencing, and that I’m really in no danger. Despite this reassurance, I am growing claustrophobic. I notice one of the Jedi Children, who is still tiny, is above my head near the valve. He opens it, and water floods out. I begin to really panic, thinking that I am going to drown. I try to remind myself about the movie, but I’m panicking, wondering how I could possibly get out of here, even if I was in a movie. Suddenly, I’m free, and am in a different place. I’m not sure if I’m still playing the role of Obi Wan; I seem to be just an observer. I am in a prison-type area, and I see Chewbacca being led in by another member of his species, who I somehow know is a bounty hunter. As I watch, Chewbacca somehow gets loose, and tears the bounty hunter’s arm off before escaping. Next, I transitioned into the role of R2-D2. I had been captured by the Empire, and was being forced to work for them. I was hanging suspended in space alongside a kind of conveyor belt of similar droids. The droids would move in a line in front of me, and I was supposed to unscrew the light-sabers that were screwed to the top of them. Although I was R2, I still had my human arms, and was trying to unscrew the light-sabers with one hand, while holding the ones I had taken off in the crook of my other arm. I kept dropping them, and it was bothering me. A droid came along the line, and I somehow knew that the light-saber screwed on this one was Luke’s, and I thought to myself “I’d better make sure I hang on to this one!”

[Celestial Toymaker]

3/19/2007 #13: “Failed Lucid Crossroads Journey” (I took a brief nap today around noon, and had a lucid dream. I think I was asleep for about two hours, and this dream seemed to happen right before I woke up.) I am in my parent’s house, looking at a stack of tickets for WrestleMania. As I am looking at the tickets, I notice that the text is misprinted. Nothing too drastic, but I definitely notice that the dates are wrong, misspellings, etc. I remember that text in dreams is notoriously unreliable, and I become lucid. After realizing I am in a dream, I don’t do any other reality checks. I stand up and exit the room. Suddenly, I am in the hallway of my apartment. I first try to levitate with no success, and then fly. Failing both tasks, I decide to try something simpler. I suddenly remember a lucidity website I had visited, that illustrated a “Lucidity Crossroads” for dreamers to visit. I decide to go to the Crossroads, which I imagine as a great open space with doors scattered about. These doors, I imagine, would take me to any location or situation I wanted. Once I decide to go to the Lucidity Crossroads, I decide the best way would be for me to imagine that the hallway closet door would transport me to the Crossroads. I open the closet door, step in…and find myself in a closet. The closet is much larger than the real closet, because the real closet does not have room for anyone to enter. Despite this, I begin to think that I am not in a dream after all. The dream wavers, and I have a false awakening. Shortly thereafter, I wake up.

[Celestial Toymaker]

3/28/2007 (A) #14: “Academic Discussions and the Locker Room Sewer” (Very vivid, non-linear dream. I woke up with my alarm, and set it forward for another half hour. I think it was during this time that I had this dream, which would have been perfect for the MILD method.) I am sitting on the front porch of a house with my parents and grandparents during the summer. The screen door is open. I know that it is my Aunt JD’s house, even though it looks nothing like her house. We are sitting and talking, and I begin to get annoyed with the situation. I try to hide it from my family, but my dad can tell and starts to mess with me. Shortly thereafter, the topic of conversation turns to summer classes for law school (also true in RL). In the dream, I know that I have a class the next morning at 8, and I am mad that I have to get up early to drive from my hometown to my college town. My parents begin to mess with me about this, making jokes about my early bedtime, etc. My anger boils over, and I state that I’m not going to go to the class because of how early I would have to get up. They protest, and I begin to basically throw a tantrum, telling them that they can’t make me, they aren’t the boss of me, etc. Although I am extremely mad, I am trying to keep the voices low, because I am self conscious about the neighbors and my Aunt, who was inside the house, hearing. I keep trying to get my parents to lower their voices, but they just get louder and louder. My grandparents are on my side, trying to keep everyone quiet. I am extremely embarrassed by this point, because I could just tell that the whole neighborhood is hearing about my class, etc. Finally, my mom says “Look, you have a 1.7 GPA, so you don’t have room to think about missing class.” I get even angrier at this, because I especially don’t want the neighborhood or my Aunt to hear this tidbit! Shortly after this, the dream transitions to an area that I think is the locker room at my old high school. The area, of course, looks nothing like the locker room, but that’s how I identify it. The sound of flowing water is everywhere in this space, mostly because there are no pipes in the walls. All of the water and sewage flows along open gutters in the tile floor, with narrow raised areas between them to walk on. I am disgusted by this, as are my grandparents, who I am giving a tour to. Although I am disgusted, I think that it is normal, and remind myself that I have been there before as a swimmer in high school. I walk up to a mirror in the locker room after my grandparents leave. I am shocked to see that, instead of my usual stubble, I have grown a full beard in a style reminiscent of the Civil War-era. I rationalize this by thinking that I must have been playing my “Smackdown vs. Raw” video game (which allows you to customize wrestlers’ appearance, including facial hair.) I decide I must have accidentally given myself facial hair instead of my character! I feel an itching sensation in my mouth, and pull down my bottom lip. Underneath it (inside my mouth), I see long, coarse black hairs growing out of my gums. The dream fades…

[Celestial Toymaker]

3/28/2007 (B) #15: “Snakes on a Plane…in the Ocean” (Possibly part of the above dream, but the setting and characters changed so dramatically, I think it probably was a separate dream sequence.) Like dream # 12 above, I feel that I am “experiencing” a movie through a new type of virtual reality. In this “movie”, which I think of as “Snakes on a Plane”, my friends and I are bobbing in the ocean near an 18th century-style ship, wooden, which is covered with slithering snakes. Snakes are wrapped around the masts, the yardarms and every inch of the ship. We are trying to sink this ship, and at one point succeed somehow. An explosion bursts out of one side of the ship, and it begins to list to the side, sinking quickly. My friends and I are cheering, until I realize that all of the snakes that were on the ship will now be in the water. I begin to panic, even though I “know” that I am actually “experiencing” a movie. As the ship capsizes, I see all of the snakes slither off of the masts and yardarms and start streaming through the ocean for my friends and I.

[Celestial Toymaker]

3/30/2007 #16: “Lice at Home” (This dream was very “normal”, in that everything seemed very realistic and the people and environment acted very much like in RL.) \I know that I have somehow caught lice from my dog, Stacy. The lice are all over my body and the itching is driving me crazy. At one point, I wake up in my sleeping bag (at home for the weekend in RL and the dream) and think to myself “Thank God that was a dream, I really don’t want to have lice in real life!” Then, I feel the tell-tale itching, and begin to pick the little bugs off my body. I begin to get ready to go to WrestleMania, all the time itchy and picking lice off my skin. I am very upset with my dog for giving me lice. Throughout the entire dream, I constantly have the thought “this must be a dream, I really hope this is a dream!” Sadly, this doesn’t prompt me to do a reality check or anything useful…

[Celestial Toymaker]

4/3/2007 #17: “Fund Raising Casino” I’m in a casino that I know is run by my old school district, a fund raiser of sorts. I went to the casino in my dream because my parents were in town. We had wanted to go to one of the casinos in my college towb (which are nonexistent in RL). In the dream, these casinos were all full, so I suggested we go to the casino in a neighboring town. We drove to the casino, and couldn’t find parking. Although we were in my college town, the scenery looked like B Street in my hometown. The building was located either in the parking lot of the Wal-Mart on B, or the parking lot of the old Circuit City on B. We finally found parking, and walked inside the casino, which was housed in an old, rundown building. The casino seemed to be a day-to-day operation, rather than an established business. We walked in, and although I knew I shouldn’t spend any money, I had just gotten my paycheck, and decided to gamble regardless. At this point, my parents left, and I approached what looked like a blackjack table. The dealer was Sgt. Slaughter, which I rationalized as a charitable appearance by Sarge for the school district. On the table next to Sarge was a limit sign. I glanced at the sign, and it said “$40”. I knew I couldn’t afford those limits, but I decided that I’d just try to win big on one hand instead of several little hands. I walked up to Slaughter and handed him my money, $140, which he counted out. I must have said something along the lines of “Thanks, Sarge”, because he gave me a serious look and said “My name is Dwayne, please.” I figured he was joking, so I looked at his shirt to see if he was wearing a nametag, and saw that he wasn’t. Sarge, typically, looked pretty no-nonsense, so I decided he wasn’t joking. He handed me my chips, and I noticed that he didn’t give me any $20 chips. I started to play, and put out 2 $40 bets. Sarge said “Sorry sir, but the limit at this table is $80.” I remembered reading the sign that said $40, and looked again. Sure enough, the sign said the limit was $80. I told Sarge that $80 was just too much for me, and I stood up and walked away. I walked over to another table that had a sign reading $5 limit. The dealer was a sassy black gal, possibly BG, and old high school teacher. I sat down on the far left-handed seat to the dealer, and she gave me a weird look. I put out my money and started to play. My alarm clock woke me and I was disappointed because I was enjoying playing.

[Celestial Toymaker]

4/4/2007 #18: “Flying Through the Valley of My Dreams” (Finally, a controlled lucid dream! Not as amazing as it could be, but it was still impressive and a wonderful experience.) I am in a Wal-Mart-type building with my mom. We are shopping for groceries and stuff, when I suddenly become aware that there are zombies around. As usual in zombie dreams, I react fairly calmly, taking my mom and a few other customers back to the gun section. The employee working there asks what we want, and I tell him that zombies are trying to get into the store and he has to open up the display cases for us. At first, the employee acts dumb, so I get in his face and tell him that we need guns to kill the zombies, otherwise they will get us. Finally, he seems to understand, and says “Oh, you should have said so earlier, I’ve already opened up a case over there,” he says, indicating an open display case filled with racks of handguns. I walk over to the case, and begin looking for Glock 17s, like the one I have in RL. At first, I can’t find any, and I am pretty mad. Finally, I decide to just use whatever, and start to pull pistols off the shelf. Then I notice something strange: no matter how many guns I take, the display case always looks full. It reminds me of certain video games, where the player can take an unlimited supply of something from a supply box, etc. It occurrs to me that I am dreaming. Immediately, I am sure that I am in a dream. Despite the fact that we are trying to avoid detection by the zombies, I turn away from the gun case and yell out as loudly as I can “Increase Lucidity!” I remember to do this from my reading. Instantly, the world around me brightens, and I am no longer in the store. The zombies, my mom and the other customers are gone, too. It is night, and I am outside what appears to be my old middle school. As I try to figure out where I am, I feel the dream beginning to fade a bit, so I yell out “Increase Lucidity!” again, and the world brightens. This brightening is accompanied by a rush of happiness and elation, as I realize that I am aware in my dreamstate. I begin to run, feeling the wind in my face. Before I know it, gravity seems to stop applying, and I take off flying. It is amazing. The wind, the cold, the sound of the wind is just so real. I fly over my middle school, and see that the land drops behind it into the most beautiful snow-covered valley, surrounded by mountains. I roll over on my side as I am flying, and look up at the night sky. The stars are amazing, so clear and beautiful; it is one of the most awe-inspiring sights I have ever “seen”. I continue to fly over this valley, and eventually over a mountain. It is now light, and behind the mountain is an even more incredible mountain/valley vista, with the sun shining and reflecting off the snow below. The scenery is amazing. I decide to land and try to find a dream character to talk to. I land awkwardly, kind of dropping with all my momentum, so that I end up running and stumbling through the snow. The snow feels incredibly realistic; I can feel the powdery texture of the deep snow, and hear the crunch of the crust on top. It isn’t cold, however. I finally manage to stop near two young ladies walking along. The land is more flat now, and I may no longer be in the valley. The girls are attractive and dressed fashionably for summer. As I approach these two girls, who have stopped walking and have turned to look at me, I begin to feel my lucidity waver, and I apologize to them, and tell them that what I am about to do might seem weird, but I’d explain. “Increase lucidity now!” I yell out as the two girls look on in a confused way. Unfortunately, it doesn’t have the same effect as before. The girls look at me strangely, and the lucidity begins to waver. I try talking to them, but I am losing the dream. Then, I begin to worry about my appellate brief (which I had completed and turned in the night before). I worry that, while I am spending all of this time lucid dreaming, my brief is not yet done, and that if I don’t wake up soon, I won’t have time to finish it before it is due. Suddenly, instead of dreaming, I begin to think that I am at my computer typing, and I am writing this dream down instead of finishing my brief. I panic, and look at the line-count of the document, and see that I am way over the limit. I keep thinking that my brief is due at 9:30, and that I have spent all of my time dreaming instead of working on it. I look at the clock, and see that it is 3:00 AM. I panic and wake up.

[Celestial Toymaker]

4/11/2007 #19: “Defending My Brother” (Extremely fragmentary/odd dream. Not very linear or logical at all.) Sanjaya, the weirdo from American Idol, is my brother. He and I are in a hotel room with other people, and the others in the room are making fun of “my brother” for being gay. I am angry and begin to defend him, which makes him angry at me! We argue, and he complains that I can’t accept him for being who he is. Meanwhile, the others in the room are laughing, and I’m simmering with anger. The others in the room may have been wrestlers, because I am now in a tag-team match with Mankind (Mick Foley). We are facing Chris Jericho and someone else for the title. I knew that we had to win the match so that we would be holding the titles for WrestleMania. This tag-team match is not taking place in ring, but in a hotel room (possibly the same one as earlier), though the furniture has been moved and I think there may have been ring ropes up. I recognize Jericho as one of the guys who had been making fun of my “brother” earlier on. At one point, I managed to get Jericho down, and applied the Mandible Claw. I remember pushing down as hard as I could to knock him out. I won the title.

[Celestial Toymaker]

4/12/2007 #20: “Being Oppressed In Class” (I think this dream happened shortly before I woke up in the morning.) I’m in what I recognize as a law school classroom, but it is not one of the classrooms at my school. Instead, it looks a lot like the NFL (Speech & Debate) room from my high school. The front of the room is a stage-type area, although it is not an actual raised stage like in RL, but more of a flat, open area. At the rear of the room is a single step up to a door that leads out of the classroom (in RL, this door led to an office, I think). I think I am starting class in the first week of next semester in this room. I have not done the assigned reading for this class, and am self-conscious of this fact. The professor was a tall, thin, attractive younger woman, who was outspoken and strident with her left-wing beliefs. At one point I stand up to go to the restroom. The class is discussing the conservative bias and general evilness of Fox News, etc. They began to discuss a popular “children’s show” on Fox News that was returning to the air. As I was going up the step to leave the classroom, I snorted under my breath “Yeah, you all should try it on MY side of the fence!” Although I thought I had said this to myself, the entire class was able to hear it, and I was suddenly scared. I decided to cover up my stupid remark, and volunteer to answer the professor’s next question. She had started talking about Christmas, and I raised my hand when she asked a question. She called on me and tore into me, saying that “you can raise your hand to answer, but first I think you should apologize to me for the horrible thing you said about me last week!” I suddenly remembered, from another fragmentary dream the same night, that I had been called on in this same professor’s class the week before, and had said something that she took offense to. I remembered that she had gotten extremely mad at me at the time, but I couldn’t remember what I had actually said. She also accused me of posting a negative sign about her around the law school, something else that I had not done. I started to protest my innocence, when I looked down and saw that my pants were down around my ankles, and I was standing on this raised step at the back of the classroom with everyone staring at me. The professor continued her angry tirade, and I continued to argue that she had misunderstood me, etc. Finally, she gave up in disgust, and turned around to write on the blackboard, revealing a “kick me” sign that had been pinned to the back of her head, not her back. The class began laughing hysterically, and she of course blamed it on me. “Get out of here, I want you out of my sight!” She yelled at me, and walked out the door to go to the restroom. When I came back, the class was working on the first case of the reading, and I decided to try and fly under the radar for the rest of the class. Sure enough, she called on me first, and I hadn’t read the cases. I tried to stall, bullshitting for time as I flipped through the casebook, trying to quickly read enough to answer her question. The casebook, however, was filled with pictures of bondage pornography, with each photograph somehow corresponding to the cases, which were written in tiny text in the margins of the book. The professor is tapping her foot angrily, waiting for me to answer her question, and I am trying to read the tiny text in the margins of my book, at the same time trying to keep anyone from seeing my perverted version of the casebook. Very uncomfortable to say the least!

[Celestial Toymaker]

4/22/2007 #21: “Cruising With KF” I’ve just bought a new sports car, and am driving around Davenport at night. I stop and pick up my friend KF, who I haven’t seen in RL for years. We are driving down to a riverboat casino. Along the way, KF talks almost constantly, mostly about girls. He chatters on, and I’m concentrating on driving, so I rarely answer. We drive over the short bridge leading to the boat complex. I pull into a back parking lot that overlooks the river. As I try to pull into a parking spot, I clip the back of another car with my brand new car. KF continues to chatter about girls as I curse, and reverse away from the other car. Unfortunately, my foot can’t seem to find the brake pedal, and we keep reversing, till my back wheels go over a small drop: When I try to stomp on the brake to stop our fall, I again can’t find it, and we drop down to the lower platform. I’m so pissed about wrecking my new car that I don’t notice that we are still rolling backwards towards the water. “Hey, hey let’s get serious here!” KF yells as we near the edge. I panic, and stomp on the brake but, once again, hit the gas again. The back wheels drop over the edge, and I frantically try to shift into drive, but I’m too late. As we fall backwards into the water, I yell out “It’s not my fault, the brakes don’t work!” We hit the water, and start sinking. “Get out!” I yell, as I try to open the door. We sink like a stone, and I can’t get the door open. I wake up as I finally get the door open and swim out, leaving KF behind.

[Celestial Toymaker]

4/15/2007 #22: “Law Clerk Crush” (I had a series of brief dreams before waking.) I’m working at a law firm. Not a lot is happening in the dream, although one of my co-workers is a very attractive blond girl, about my age, who I have a bit of a crush on. At one point, I tell her that I think she is very pretty, and she just turns without a word and walks away. I begin to worry that I’ll get in trouble, and feel embarrassed that I got shot down like that. However, I receive a note from her later, which apparently means that she also likes me. I wake up fairly happy about that!

[Celestial Toymaker]

4/18/2007 (A) #23: “Road Trip to the Food Court Hotel” (Had a couple last night) I’m on a road trip with a few of my friends, including JA and JR. An older man is with us, who I know, but can’t quite place. He is someone famous, but I just can’t identify him. I can’t remember where we’re going, but at one point we’re almost to our destination. We stop at a gym near our destination so we could work out. I change in the locker room, and swim laps in the gym pool. I come back to the car after our work-out. The unidentified adult is driving, and he wants to go on to our hotel. At first I argue, but he says that we should go, secure a room, and then we can come back to the gym. I see a hotel across the street, and assume that’s where we are going. Since we’re not going far, and coming right back, I leave my stuff in the gym locker room, and we drive away. For some reason, the nearby hotel was filled, so we keep driving. After we have driven for a half-hour or so, I remember that I left my stuff at the gym. I’m embarrassed, and decide to wait until we get to the hotel, and then I’ll drive myself back to the gym to get my stuff instead of making everyone turn around to retrieve my stuff. We finally arrive at the hotel, after passing several along the way. The famous adult kept refusing to stop, saying that they weren’t good enough and we’d find a better hotel. At the hotel, we each have our own room. My room looks almost exactly like my apartment. The hotel is strange. The bottom 2-3 floors of the hotel are actually a shopping mall/food court. As I’m getting dressed, my phone rings, and it’s H. She is staying in the hotel, and I ask her if she wants to come over. She says sure, and arrives shortly after. She is looking very, very sexy, and I’m excited. I’m hoping to get on her, but I remember that she has a boyfriend. I’m kind of bummed, but almost immediately we start making out and groping each other. She tells me that she has broken up with her boyfriend, and is looking to get fucked. Naturally, I’m happy to oblige. For some reason, H wants to go down into the mall area on the bottom floors to have sex. In no position to argue, I agree. We leave my room and walk down the hall to the elevator. The elevator is not a normal elevator, but an entire hotel room that moves up and down. We get on and head down to the mall area, and I have H pressed up against the wall, making out with her heavily. I have my hand up her shirt and can taste her lips. Very vivid sensations! The elevator stops and we exit onto a floor. Turning the corner, we come into another apartment-type hotel room. H begins to make out with me, unbuttoning my shirt. I protest, saying that “we don’t know these people, we shouldn’t be in their room.” “They won’t mind, believe me,” H says, but I persist in my argument, and we leave. We get back on the elevator and head back down. A note on the layout: Basically every “floor” of this hotel was like my entire apartment: each individual bedroom was a hotel room, and my room at the end of the hall was the “elevator”. Finally, we arrive at the food court/mall area, and leave the elevator. H asks me what I want to eat, and I say “Dunkin’ Donuts”. We approach a table where a few guys I don’t know are sitting, drinking beer. H walks up to the table, grabs two “Mezcal” beers off the table, hands me one. We clink our bottle together and began drinking, never paying for the beers. We find an alcove off the main food court area, and I begin to make out with her again, putting my hand on her ass, tits, etc. She stops me, worried that people can see us. At first, I’m at a lost of where we can go, when it dawns on me. “H, let’s just go back up to my room!” She agrees, and we get back on the elevator, and go back to my room. Sadly I don’t remember what happened next, I’m pretty sure I woke up before the fun really started. The dream, though very strange, really conveyed the senses well: I vividly recall the sensations of making out with H, the taste of the beer, etc. Great dream!

[Celestial Toymaker]

4/18/2007 (B) #24: “Good News and Bad News” I’m in what I know is a law classroom, even though it looks nothing like the classrooms at my school. I think it’s Negotiations. The room was very small, unlike in RL, and there were about 10 of us in the room. I have just taken the Negotiations exam, and am about to leave when there is a knock on the door. The door opens and a professor enters who I recognize (but can’t remember now). See stands at the front of the room and asks for everyone’s attention. “Celestial Toymaker, we have your test results,” she says, and there is dead silence. I am wondering why she is announcing these in front of everyone. He looks directly at me. “I have good news and bad news,” she says. “The good news is you weren’t the worst in the class at this test…the bad news is, you failed Property I.” (First of all, I didn’t even take Property I this semester, and second of all, in the dream I had just taken Negotiations. Finally, I didn’t fail Property I, damnit!) I am really disappointed about my test results, and angry/self conscious that they have been broadcast to the entire class. “Well, what does that mean,” I ask. “Did I fail Negotiations or what?” “Yes, you did,” the professor says. “Unfortunately, the policy here at the law school is you can only fail one test, after that we have to kick you out. Since you’ve already failed Property I, we have a problem.” I follow the professor out into the hall, trying to convince her to let me take the test over, etc. The dream fades before the problem is resolved.

[Celestial Toymaker]

4/25/2007 #25: “Never Too Late” (Just a brief fragment, really, I know there was much more to it than I remember.) I am in the locker room at school, in the back corner of the room, far from where my locker is located in RL. I know that the pomp on squad from my old high school is at the school today, as I’ve seen many girls walking around dressed in the uniform. Standing a few feet away, her back to me, is M, a girl on the squad who I had a crush on in high school. She is wearing the uniform, and looks incredibly hot. M is getting books out of her locker, and I really want to go up and ask her out. I eventually get up the nerve to approach her, and reach out my hand to tap her on her shoulder…but then I chicken out, not knowing what to say. I retreat a few steps, and try to think of something to say. She still hasn’t noticed me standing there, and I want to talk to her so badly, but just can’t force myself too, thinking I’ll look like a weirdo just asking her out right out of the blue.