The Book of Dreams According to Endymion

[Baron Samedi]

wow, dude. that is cool that you can maintain lucidity through all that. I am going to become Pan and try and meet Morpheus also. That is a kickass dream goal.

[endymion]

Thanks! I only wish I was better at remembering conversations in dreams - the Morpheus ones would have been much more profound if I could've done that. If you want really long lucid dreams (or just dreams in general) consider taking 5-HTP and Melatonin before bed and/or Alpha-GPC after about 5 hours of sleep. They've improved my ability to stay lucid and have extra long dreams (they extend one's REM phase of sleep). Best of luck with your dream goal too We should compare experiences.

[endymion]

31.08.2009 Homicide on the Hillside (DILD) NON-DREAM DREAM LUCID 3:00 a.m. It's nighttime and I am horribly unsettled at my task: killing Kim (from high school). Actually, I am worried about getting caught, but have totally accepted the fact that I will murder her. That it's my fate and destiny to do so. I am walking down a dark, deserted road through a forest in the early night hours (but it's still as dark as it gets at night). Eventually I decide to camp up on a hillside about 200 feet from the road. I pitch my tent and as I'm about to get inside, I notice a car drive by slowly, which I finally recognize as my uncle Tom's. I figure he can't see me but then I worry that he'll recognize my car parked on the side of the road. I'm relieved as he drives on without stopping. I get into my tent and fall asleep in my sleeping bag. "Hours" later I'm awoken by the sound of another car passing. I think, who the hell is out driving at this hour of the night? This time, however, the car stops. I'm terrified. The door slams shut and I hear footstops coming toward my tent. I'm utterly paralyzed with fear. As the person starts unzipping my rain fly, I try to say, "Uncle Buck?" but no words come out, even though my lips make the motions. Finally I see that it's my friend from SCA in Florida, Reid B., rather than my uncle. Still, I can't say his name due to the lingering fear. Reid addresses me and says that he and his gang (there are like three people behind him) are here to help with Kim's murder. I am somewhat relieved and tell them to pitch tents nearby. I go back to sleep. Not long after this I'm awoken again. This time not by car sounds but by someone pulling on my rainfly zipper directly. I'm apprehensive but a little less scared this time. It unzips completely and who walks in but Kim! The very woman I'm supposed to kill! I think to myself, this is turning out to be easier than I thought. She's just walking right into our lap. I say hello to Kim and put one arm around her shoulder. I tell her that it's too cramped and stuffy in here and that we should go outside. She agrees and as we turn to leave, I secretly grab my pistol I've kept hidden on the floor of my tent. As soon as we leave the tent, I point the gun at her head and pull the trigger. She collapses instantly, but there is no visible bullet wound or blood. I drag her body over to a small depression in the hillside, then go over to Reid & company to confer with them about whether or not I actually killed her. They're not sure either and suggest I shoot her a few more times to be certain. I go back to her body and pull the trigger several more times, but no bullets seem to come out. Returning to my tent, I open the magazine and see that there are no bullets in the gun. So I scrounge around and find three new bullets, which seem way too big for the pistol, but fit through the cylinder shaft upon testing. I go back out to her body, only to find Reid & his gang showering her body with candy of various sorts: Smarties, fruit snacks, Nerds, chocolate, etc. I'm so perplexed that I don't even fire my gun, taking their candy barrage as the way of "finishing her off." Then I return to my tent and once again fall asleep. I awaken once more in the dawning hours while all of my accomplices are still sleeping. I call to Earnest (a rafting guide I know from Salmon, ID), waking everyone in the process. I tell him I just realized that someone has to drive Kim's car away or the police will find it and thus find us or at least her body. I tell him to do it no later than 7:00 (a.m.) and to be very careful not to leave any fingerprints - wear gloves, etc. He groans but accepts my authority and the fact that it must be done. Some time passes and the certainty of our discovery gradually overtakes me. I walk back down to the street, eager now to flee the crime scene altogether. As I'm walking down a random street somewhat removed from the one I camped next to earlier (in fact, it looks just like my old Green Bay neighborhood), a police car approaches from behind me. Somehow they've found me already! But I don't try to escape; I let them come and arrest me, throwing me in the back seat. Gradually, after talking with the cops for a while in the car, they come to really like me and enjoy my company. All of a sudden I just "know" that I'm not a prisoner anymore, just "one of the guys," and I can leave whenever I want. In fact, that's exactly what I do, and in doing so become lucid. Now I'm walking around my childhood neighborhood lucid and wondering what to do. Eventually I arrive in front of my old home (it's still nighttime) and decide it would be fun to repeat an earlier DV Task of the Month and walk on a rainbow. So I extend two fingers from my hand and make a curving, arcing motion across the night sky. A rainbow appears after my first try, though it is tiny and probably only 100 feet off the ground. I walk underneath it, then take off flying straight up. I overshoot the rainbow, going twice as high as it is from the ground, and falling back too far over to one side. As if to make my task easier, the rainbow flops around and extends itself, changing shape and increasing its surface area. It's now flatter and wider. Still, it take me at least three more tried before I can successfully land on it. I walk around on it for a while but soon grow bored. I float back down to the street and see my neighbors, the LeTourneau girls, playing in their yard. For some reason I feel compelled to join them. All I remember from this is vague images, one of which includes the face of a baby girl lying in the grass. Because of this distraction and lack of movement, the dream fades into a FA (nonlucid). In it, I'm in a school-like setting but with people from my Idaho SCA crew. The person that I know for sure is here is Ben P., and we're having a conversation about dreams. Ben acts differently than in real life; he's calm but still talkative, and a very attentive listener. Before telling him my dream, he tells me his and it includes a segment about my murder of Kim. I'm astonished that this aspect of my dream got incorporated into his and all I can say is "WHAT. THE. FUCK!?" over and over again. I just can't believe he knows about this, something I've told literally no one about. The next thing I know, though, my alarm clock wakes me up for real and it all makes sense.

[endymion]

03.09.2009 The Smell of the Sensuous (WILD) NON-DREAM DREAM LUCID 6:50 - 7:10 a.m. (20 min) After failing at entering an extended dream sleeping on my back, I switch to my right side. This helps me "let go" of wakefulness and embrace the dream much more effectively. I "roll out" of bed and exit my bedroom. Once again, before I leave the house I do a light switch reality check and it confirms I'm dreaming by failing to switch on. When I walk out the door and onto the sidewalk, I hear beautiful, crisp music play unbidden. I acknowledge this and smile to myself, but think nothing more of it and it soon goes away after playing for about 30 seconds. I see some people gathering at the office building on the far end of Moyer base, so I walk over to see what's going on. On the way there and thereafter throughout the dream, I consciously jump up and down and rub my hands to stabilize the dream and increase detail. As always, it helps, though in this dream not as much as in others (it is already very stable and vivid). Turns out people are just hanging out near the helipad, but there's a three-walled shelter they're sitting inside which isn't there in real life. I'm at the periphery of an already-started conversation and I don't feel like jumping in at this point. Instead, I decide to perform a quick experiment. I want to see if I can change the color of Sander D.'s shirt from blue to white just by pointing and "commanding" it to happen. I try this a few times but never get it to work. Then I try to change her shirt color by looking away for a split second and then looking back and expecting it to change. This works every time, and I do it about a dozen times. After a while the group all gets up and moves to the grassy hillside across the driveway. I follow them, and as I walk I come across a first year mullein plant on the ground. I remember my goal of really trying to see if I can smell things in dreams, so I pick off a few fuzzy leaves, hold them to my nose, and consciously really try to smell them. It takes a few tries, but by the end I do smell their fragrance! (faintly). Completing this goal reminds me of my other goal, the DV Task of the Month of causing leaves to fall from a tree and then reattach. I realize I cannot complete this goal here at Moyer base in Idaho, as there aren't many trees around and the ones that are are conifers. I remember my most vivid autumn colors experience at Potawatami State Park in Wisconsin and decide to teleport there to complete this goal. I jump up and spin a new scene. The technique works textbook-perfectly, with my visuals going black for a moment, my body spinning very fast and revolving dozens of times as I'm suspended in midair until I re-emerge in what looks to be a cross between Potawatami and the backyard of my childhood home. Surprisingly, the person who "greets" me there is my old boss from when I worked at Wyalusing State Park (for the Wisconsin Dept. of Natural Resources), Brian H. He says that I'm not allowed in here and that I need to leave immediately. When I make to continue on anyway, he tries to wrestle me to the ground. I easily neutralize his advances and pin him down on the ground, helpless. When I let him up he comes at my again trying to stop me. And again, I effortlessly kick and punch and finally pin him down once more. It's not until after at least three attempts that he finally concedes defeat and leaves. I continue on, but turn around when I hear my dad and brother calling me from behind. They say they're here to help with my goal. I don't know what they could possibly do, but I let them tag along anyway. Now for some reason I find this environment to be unsuitable for the completion of my goal, even though before I fought Brian there were trees with golden yellow leaves all around me. I decide that it has to be done in the front yard. I walk through the wooden gate bordering the side of the house, and as I do I achieve the highest level of lucidity of the whole dream. I verbally confirm the realness and nowness of the dream, as well as try to remember details of my waking life. I acknowledge that my real body is sleeping in a bed at Moyer base in Idaho. Just thinking about this raises my consciousness and even the detail of the dream considerably. Moments later I round the corner into the front yard. Despite the abundance of trees, I am disappointed, since all of them have green leaves instead of fall colors. Kind of silly in retrospect, since the task never specifies that the leaves have to be a certain color. But in any case, I spend a significant amount of time and effort trying to get the leaves' color to change. The tree I have in mind is a beautiful, giant live oak I see in our front yard that extends over the driveway with its long horizontal branches full of vermilliades. It's quite out of place in Wisconsin, but that's hardly relevant. I'm not sure exactly what I try to do to get the colors to change, but none of it works. I get somewhat distracted and jump up to the upper branches of the tree, then from there out above the street and fly around for a while. When I stop to pause and hover in the air, I have the amazing feeling of control because I don't fall at all. I marvel at my shadow on the pavement below. To my surprise, I can see shadows of wings attached to my body, even though I don't have any wings actually attached! This blows my mind in the dream. I make a controlled descent back to the ground and notice a line of random garbage along the curb in our front yard. Among the items are a bottle of Hershey's chocolate and strawberry syrup. Upon seeing these, I decide this would be a great opportunity to try smelling things again. I hold the chocolate syrup bottle up to my nose and sniff. It's still fainter than it would have been in real life, but I can definitely smell the chocolate, even more vividly than I smelled the mullein previously. I then pick up the strawberry syrup bottle and do the same, but the smell is fainter, though still present. Now the scene shifts to the interior of my childhood home and I'm in the computer room closet, frantically toppling things in a search for more items to smell. It would appear I've gone mad with smell-frenzy. But this doesn't last long, and I soon awaken.

[endymion]

06.09.2009 Dark Was the Night (DILD) NON-DREAM DREAM LUCID 3:40 - 4:05 a.m. (25 min) After trying to fall asleep on my back for many minutes, I finally give up and shift to my side. Soon I enter a nonlucid in which I'm attending a class on lucid dreaming in the computer room of my childhood home. The teacher is a young blonde woman in her twenties with soft features (kind of like my old Botany TA, Joie). She hands out a glossy workbook with lots of computer-drawn, clip-art like images. Then she starts teaching, but I forget the exact details of her lecture. Time is compressed, and the scene jumps to the afternoon (this is a full day class). Now we're watching a video that she has playing on the living room television. I'm lying down on a love seat, and a feeling of sleepiness takes hold of me. But I'm not so drowsy as to miss this opportunity to WILD. As I cross the threshold into this embedded dream, I sense that I'm not on the love seat anymore but in a sleeping bag in a tent in the Idaho wilderness (where my real body actually is). Even though my visuals are completely gone at this point, I just know this to be the case. The WILD is a struggle, as if things are conspiring against me to make me fail. I push off through the dark void and make like I'm flying straight up. Normally my visuals would emerge on their own at this point, but none do this time. I just keep ascending, but it gets increasingly difficult. There's a gravity-like tug pulling me back down, but also thrashing me about side-to-side as well. Further, cold nips at my skin, a rare sensation that perhaps I should be grateful for, but nonetheless at the time bothers and disheartens me. With the combination of these things I fall back to the ground (still purely tactile). I'm not about to give up yet, though. I fly straight up in the same manner again. This time I put a lot of mental energy into simply "willing" an image to appear before me. Eventually, begrudingly it seems, one does - the moon. But it's drastically out of focus and blurry. I make to "put glasses on" to trick my mind into fixing the clarity, but before I even put my hands up I sense that glasses are already there, that I'm wearing them (and that they don't help). Then I try shouting "Increase clarity now!" and "Increase clarity x1000!" several times, but these don't help either. As I shout I slowly drift back to the ground again. The next thing I know I'm back inside my tent, though luckily I can see what's around me due to the strong moonlight. For some reason I decide to trace a rainbow in the night sky with my fingers. When I make the arcing motion, nothing happens at first, but seconds later a faint glowing white arc appears, which later transforms into a colorful rainbow (but the colors are still rather muted due to it being nighttime). Very soon after this the scene shifts into a FA back into the other dream scene. I'm once again on the love seat in my childhood home. The video has apparently stopped playing, and I am the only one in the living room; the rest of the class must've moved back into the computer room. I get up and walk there to join them. When I arrive I notice that they're all doing a silent excercise from the workbook, but it's all very relaxed and the teacher isn't even that upset at me for dozing off during the video (with the result being a WILD, she shouldn't be!). There are three computers in the room, and I go to the one on the wall facing the street to type up the dream I just had. The teaching is on the computer furthest away from me, surfing the internet or something. When I try to navigate to the DreamJournal program, I'm frustrated because the computer is old and slow and it's basically hung up trying to do this simple task. So I move to the unoccupied computer (what I sense to be "my" computer). Even though it's a laptop, a full tower computer case is connected to it right where the chair is supposed to be, making access and comfort difficult. On the computer I see a DreamJournal program open already, but it's not mine - it's my brother Alex's! Curious, I'm about to start reading his dreams (of which he has about 40 recorded) when he comes into the room and closes the program. He also takes away the full tower case - apparently that's where his dreams are stored and he's just using my laptop for its monitor. Anyway, I'm about to finally start typing when I get sidetracked once again by a burning desire to talk to the teacher about dream journal programs. I ask her if she uses one, and she says yes, one called "Dream Storm." I then ask if it's a software program or a browser-based one, and she says it's browser-based. In response, I start proclaiming the virtues of the program I use, DreamJournal 2.3, which I can use offline and which has a "publish" feature for easy formatting when posting online. She doesn't seem to be impressed. Then the scene shifts into another FA, this one frighteningly accurate to real life. I'm in exactly the same place my real body is - in my sleeping bag in my tent. Immediately I make to write down my dream. Along the way I discover my lost blue pen (this is the only clue that it's not real, but I don't recognize that at the time). As I begin to write, I awaken for real (and, for the third time, go to write down the dream - hopefully this isn't a FA too!) LOG: 09/05/09 - 09/06/09 Supplements (& dosage) taken before bed: 100mg 5-HTP, 2.5mg Melatonin Supplements taken in morning: 8mg Galantamine, 400mg Choline (Dreamamins), 600mg alpha-GPC [NO MUCUNA PRURIENS] WBTB session length (if applicable): 30 min Exercises done after taking supplements: Repeating my intentions x2 How long did it take to fall back asleep after taking supplements? ~40 min Sleep position: on my right DILD or WILD? DILD Transition details (if WILD): Dream quality: 7 Ability to recall dream: 9 Lucidity level: 6 Lessons or theories: Since this "blindness" problem is popping up again and again, I should find a solution to it that works consistently.

[Baron Samedi]

Dude, that is so crazy that you "WILD'ed" into a lucid dream from a non-lucid, then had an FA, and were right back where you left off. I had a Morpheus dream! Check it out. I am going to start taking those supplements once I can afford it.

[endymion]

12.09.2009 Magnolia (WILD) NON-DREAM DREAM LUCID 3:30 - 4:45 a.m. (1 hr 15 min) The transition to sleep features punctuated moments of consciousness, but the overall thread remains solid, so I'm considering this a WILD. In it, though I forget a lot of the details, I "roll out" of my sleeping bag, possibly after somehow "jumping up" first. I don't know where exactly I start, but it's not my immediate surroundings (non OBE-like). I think it's a very open, outdoor area. I know I am very lucid at first, definitely saying, "This is a dream. This is happening in the here and now. Stay aware and focused and in the moment" several times. The scene shifts to a crowded mall or mess hall. Some of my SCA Idaho crewmates are there, along with many pretty girls. I'm not sure, but I think I go up to some of the girls and start kissing them. Eventually I remember the DreamViews task of the month of causing leaves to fall off a tree and reappear. So I spin a new scene, just wanting anywhere with a foliated tree. I end up just outside the building I was just in, and it's cloudy and dark. There are still many people around, as I am near a courtyard or pavilion where people come to eat lunch. Luckily, there happen to be a few scraggly trees around (obviously planted by the maintainance staff). However, once again my eye catches the sight of a pretty girl sitting down and eating lunch at a table. I can't resist going over to talk to her (which eventually leads to kissing) before I start. Finally, I gather an audience to witness the amazing feat I'm about to perform. When they're all watching with rapt attention, I make an elaborate "sprinkling" motion with my fingers, bidding the leaves on the tree to fall. Unfortunately, not a single leaf falls. The crowd laughs caustically and begins to disperse, disappointed. I desperately call them back, promising that the last time was a fluke, that I can get it to work this time. Some people stick around to watch me make a fool of myself again. They are right; when I try the second time, in the moment when my gaze is slightly off the tree, all the leaves turn into porcelain cups and plates. When I make the motion for the "leaves" to fall, then, all the china falls to the ground, crashes, and breaks! Everyone laughs even harder this time. Then there is a long stretch where I am pursued by the facility's "security force," but my memory's blurry and I just remember flying around, trying to escape, but every now and then facing them and fighting them. While still being chased, I keep trying to find a suitable outdoor spot with a tree to try the task. Eventually I come to a harbor/marina on a rough and choppy sea. A little kid is following me, wanting to play. I don't recall all of what happens, but he eventually jumps in the water and I follow. Perhaps to impress him, I try to fly before hitting the surface, but I fail at this, plunging down into the water instead. While I'm below the surface, my visuals go black for the extended amount of time I'm down there. When I resurface, I find that now I'm able to fly better; now I can at least float across the surface of the water, but with periodic dips back down. Then the perspective of the dream shifts into a third-person observer view, and I'm watching myself do this awkward float/dip sequence for a while. Eventually I have a FA into a strange bedroom, possibly my parents' bedroom. I manage to WILD back to the same harbor scene, this time back on land. My brother Sam is there, telling me to "cut out my antics." A group of his friends are on the "security force" coming to detain me. When they arrive, I detain them instead by flying up to a platform lined with all sorts of candy on various shelves. When they reach me, I give them a bunch of candy and they start eating mindlessly. I taste a few treats too - one I specifically remember is a large gummy treat covered with sugar - and it tastes extremely realistic. While they're occupied, I go back to the lower level of the harbor, and, upon seeing a small Magnolia tree, decide to once again try the DV task of the month. Slowly and carefully this time I make hand motions like a conductor of an orchestra, signaling the tree to shed its glossy leaves. To my delight, this works perfectly. When they are all on the ground, I get them to attach in the same careful, coordinated manner. With the task completed, I move on and spend some time exploring the labyrinthine complex that I believe is all connected, all part of the same facility I was in earlier during my failed attempt at the monthly task. Along the way I taste and smell many things (part of my continuous goal of enriching my senses in my dreams). I don't recall this exploration phase in much detail, but eventually I have another FA, followed by a re-WILD in the same manner. This time I appear next to a war procession; there's an army marching through part of the same giant facility in a large, open hallway. I observe this for a few seconds, hidden behind a pillar or something. After a while I spot Kayla R., dressed in an elegant, ancient-looking brown and black dress. For some reason I assume that she's a teacher (I think she might actually be studying to teach in college). This triggers a memory of the basic task of the month of giving an apple to a teacher. I resolve to give Kayla an apple. Stealthily I reach out and grab her arm as she passes the pillar I'm hiding behind. We're pressed together in close quarters, and somehow just wordlessly "fall in love" right then and there. But I tell her to meet me later (if we daudle here her absence from the procession will be noticed). She specifies a place, a beach of some sort, then returns to her army. The scene then shifts to a third-person view of the army's high command in a war room, discussing plans on how to capture me. Apparently my meeting with Kayla did not go unnoticed. They have a map on the wall with a list of possible locations including "Alcan Joe," "Buffalo, New York" and about three others I don't recall. When the scene shifts back to first-person, I write all the locations I remember seeing on the map on my hand with a Sharpie. Kayla somehow tricks them and we meet on a sandbar/beach next to a river. I arrive first and wait for her. When she arrives we embrace and I forget all about the apple task. But then the scene shifts to a desk/office area indoors. Kayla's sitting at the desk when I approach and sit down at her side. I take out an apple which I've already eaten about 80% of (mainly just the core remains). Regardless, I give this to her sincerely. I spin it around a few times with my finger, then apologize to her about the state it's in. Before I can see her reaction, I force myself to awaken so I can write this all down without forgetting it. LOG: 09/11/09 - 09/12/09 Supplements (& dosage) taken before bed: 100mg 5-HTP, 2.5mg Melatonin Supplements taken in morning: 8mg Galantamine, 400mg Choline (Dreamamins), 600mg alpha-GPC [No Mucuna Pruriens] WBTB session length (if applicable): 30 min Exercises done after taking supplements: Repeating my intentions x2 How long did it take to fall back asleep after taking supplements? ~40 min Sleep position: on my back DILD or WILD? WILD Transition details (if WILD): I "roll out" of my sleeping bag, possible after somehow "jumping up" first. I don't know where exactly I start, but it's not my immediate surroundings (non OBE-like). Dream quality: 7 Ability to recall dream: 5 Lucidity level: 4 Comments/Lessons/Theories: I can't really explain why I failed the first time to do the advanced task, yet succeded the second time. Perhaps it was because I was affected by the gathered crowd. I should learn how to be less affected by peer pressure in dreams. Actually, my whole level of rationality in this dream was quite poor.

[endymion]

17.09.2009 Recording Device (Non-lucid) NON-DREAM DREAM LUCID ~4:30 - 5:50 a.m. (1 hr 20 min) Sleep Position: on stomach I think this dreams starts in the computer room of my childhood home. My brothers Sam and Alex are there, and Sam accidentally stumbles across this video tape. He's curious about it, but has no idea what it is, so he puts it into the VCR and presses play. On the screen appears a grainy, flickery, black & white video of my face (though I look about ten years younger). Instantly I identify the video as a recording of the dream I had earlier this morning. I tell them that in that dream I "clicked" record, but afterwards I didn't think this was even possible, that it could actually be played back somehow. I'm unbelievably excited (as it turns out, my earlier dream was long and intricate and I couldn't remember much of what happened, but it was definitely different than what this "recording" suggests). As I watch I frantically sketch what I see on the screen on a drawing pad, using up dozens of pages over the course of the video. As I do this I'm almost in a trance, working feverishly and out of fear that this video may be lost or destroyed somehow. After the image of me narrating something into the "camera," we see a short scene of Sam and I rowing a canoe on a seamingly endless sea in the dead of night. Instead of being poor quality, though, the image is extremely high quality, even the sound (I specifically remember the sound of the waves undulating on the surface of the water). By the time the vessel hits the shore, it has transformed into a gigantic, skeletal-like ship; it's hollow, and it's "hull" looks like a set of giant ribs. As it crashes into the shore, it's form collapses, but Sam and I escape unharmed. Still in the video, time jumps ahead, and it's now daytime. Vibrant color is added to the picture. Somehow I enter a yellow aircraft that hovers around over the beach and drops little yellow "pods" that fall a bit and then just hover in place. One of these pods says "The Cat Empire" on it. The others have what look like aluminum wings in an inverted bowl shape near their top. Here I reach a memory block. I know the video keeps playing and I keep drawing frantically, but I can't recall anything specific that plays back (though I know there's a lot - the majority of the video in fact). I get distracted by a bunch of Sam and Alex's friends that barge in and start watching the video with the rest of us. They talk obnoxiously during it and it's very annoying. I have to continually explain to them what it is that we're watching. Eventually the video ends and the dreams skips forward in time, to when I'm showing my dad the drawings I made while watching it. He seems unusually interested, asking many plot and chronological questions. As I look at the drawings I made, I marvel at their detail and quality, thinking I must have channelled some master artist because there is no way that I normally would have been able to draw that well. All in all, there are like 30 drawings. What's very odd too is that they begin to move and animate very subtly on their own. For example, if there is a picture of a man, he will blink every few seconds. Or whole masses of people on a boat will sway back and forth with the current. This realization almost leads to a renewed lucidity, as I realize the absurdity of this within the dream itself, but ultimately pass it off and ignore it. Eventually, while we're looking at my drawings, Megan P. walks in and approaches us, curious about what all the commotion is about. I proudly show her my drawings and explain the whole story. She seems both amused and interested, and I don't remember all her coments but I think they were playful insults as is her style. Some time later, when I'm typing this up on a computer, I'm approached by two federal agents in suits. They tell me to come with them, and I'm in no position to object. They take me to this austere, eerily-lit "interrogation" room, where they say how they've learned about my dream recording device/ability and what a revolutionary technology it is. I get the implication that they want the video as evidence to study, if not the device itself. I'm rather surprised when the first thing they ask for is the computer file of my account of all this, which I had been working on. I give it to them, but when they see that it's unfinished, they ask me to finish it right now and then give it directly back to them. I go to do so, but the dream ends there.

[endymion]

21.09.2009 Elite Games (WILD) NON-DREAM DREAM LUCID ~3:40 - 4:30 a.m. (50 min) (DEILD) After awakening briefly (really only enough to sense my sleeping body rather than my dream body - I didn't even open my eyes) I re-enter the dream fully lucid. I may be back in a bedroom, but only for a moment. I jump up and start spinning, hoping to end up at the Hanging Gardens of Babylon. Where I teleport to instead is far more interesting. So interesting, in fact, it seems like a portal to another whole independent world. It's a place of dazzling colors, otherworldly beings, and intrigue. A place where death is risked on a moment-to-moment basis. A place where love is won and lost in the blink of an eye. It's the world of the "Elite Games" (for lack of a more appropriate title), and my description cannot possibly do it justice. I arrive right at the entrance to the Games themselves. Though I don't realize it at the time, this is just a tiny (but important) section of a massive facility (all indoors). Right at the beginning I'm in awe and all I want to do is explore this world. The Games take place in a series of rooms. After the steps of the entrance, there is a long hallway and each of the rooms branch off from it. Then at the gateway to each room is a group of representatives from that room, fishing for challengers. The goal, at least as I first understood it, is to come out of each of the rooms alive. Everything about the design of the place is elegant, sharp, and unique - I can't stress enough that the design of the facility makes a huge impression on me. For example, the room I am drawn to has a glowing green columnade that constantly shifts colors between shades of green, accented by roots or vines crawling up the columns. At the entrance are about four vampires; as they tell me when I approach, this is the Vampire Room. They persuade me to come inside and try my luck. When I enter I discover that the interior is very dark, illuminated only by discrete glowing points of light of all colors. It is enough for me to discern that this is a maze. Since I'm still lucid, I use my power of flight to float through much of it. I don't know if the judges would consider this cheating or not, but I get away with it. Near the end though I'm on foot. I think I'm going to make it out without a scratch when I see the light of the main hallway up ahead. Apparently though this is just an illusion; when I'm about 50 feet from the exit, I feel a sharp bite on the right side of my neck! In addition, something small is clinging onto the backside of my body. I writhe and toss around, trying to shake the creature off, but it stubbornly keeps latched on. All this time I feel that my life force is being sapped from my body, sucked away by this vampire-creature. Soon I'm delerious, going into shock. Luckily I stumble across a fellow competitor, a large giant, who has pity on my and tells me how to release the demon on my back. He points to a nearby panel with several large buttons. With great effort I lumber over there and just frantically push all the buttons without even bothering to read them, such is my panic. One of these must've been the right one, as the creature disengages and scurries away. As it does, I catch a glimpse of it: it's like half the size of a man and looks more like a goblin than anything, but with pale skin and vampire teeth. When I finally leave the room the vampire operators are mad at me for carelessly pushing all the panel's buttons, which had a whole host of other effects. All the same, they say, I'm lucky to have escaped with my life. I hurry out of there, still very much shaken up by the whole ordeal. I exit through the glass doors at the back of the main hallway and find myself in the midst of a vast commercial sector, still inside the giant facility. All along the way are gypsies, merchants, and other vendors selling their wares in customized booths of incomparable style. The atmosphere is positively bustling with activity. As I walk I repeat one phrase over and over to myself like a mantra: "Must find a weapon. Must find a weapon." I have it in my head that the only way to survive the games is to procure a deadly weapon. I go down a whole separate hall leading to a whole separate wing of the facility that is by chance dedicated specifically to weaponry. I ask the nearest passerby, a surly, glowing green giant, where to find the best weapons. He agitatedly points down the hall to a central kiosk and says "follow the voices," afterwards hurriedly leaving my sight before I can even thank him. Indeed, soon after I hear the echoing oratory of a magnetic speaker. As he stands on a raised platform and shouts, he draws throngs of curious passers-by. I forget exactly what he speaks about, but I think he's proclaiming the virtues of his company's line of weapons. Behind him are sparkling gem-studded daggers, krisses, katanas, and blades of all kinds. There are even discus-like throwing weapons. I go around to the back of the kiosk and when the rest of the crowd disperses, I stay behind. I talk to one of the company's vendors about their weapons, perhaps even holding and trying out some of them. The dream gets hazy here but I think I then get approached by a cocky gang of youngsters who challenge me to a fight later in the arena, which I accept. After I leave them I go on exploring the massive facility some more. Everywhere I go is packed with people until I fly up to some of the more remote, inaccessible areas. When I get to the upper reaches I marvel at how I'm creating this all in my mind, but even as I think his the quality of my surroundings diminishes, becoming more drab and less detailed. Perhaps the creation engine of the mind is better left to the subconscious. Overall the setting is quite futuristic-looking, despite the fact that it is inhabited by vampires and giants, among others. Eventually I descend back to where all the people are, getting on a moving elevator (which has glass windows open to the pavilion below, like you sometimes see in malls). When it stops a few floors above, I get off and start walking. In the passing crowd, out of the corner of my eye, I notice my old high school girlfriend, Kate S. Immediately I go back, take her head in my hands, and start kissing her. She recoils in horror pretty much before it even begins and runs away. This embarassing scene leaves me feeling bitter, but my hopes are buoyed instantly upon seeing Megan P. in the crowd. I walk up to her and discover that she's with her girlfriend, who could be her twin they look so much alike. Apparently her friend is out shopping for wedding paraphenalia, as she is engaged to be married soon. Megan, once she realizes my intentions, starts walking away briskly. Her friend leads her on and is castigating me all the while, telling me to leave Megan alone. I follow them down some stairs and through a plaza but then give up, realizing that it's hopeless. Coincidentally I end up near the arena, the place where I agreed to fight the group of thugs. A judge pulls me aside and prepares me for the match, telling me all the rules and such. I seem to be swept along in the current of activity, realizing only belatedly what an important and highly anticipated match this is; thousands of spectators have gathered to watch this battle. At the moment I feel less like a gladiator and more like a pawn. Finally I'm let loose into the arena, whic I discover is really the hallway and many of the rooms where the "Elite Games" are played. Ultimately I realize that this is the Elite Game, and that I have a starring role as the underdog. But how to dispatch multiple trained opponents? Lucid powers, of course! At first I just fly around, evading my enemies' attacks. But later I think of more creative things, like shooting fireballs from my hands and lightning from my fingertips. The latter is especially effective, as I see sparks of electricity on my fingertips, which I discharge as lightning showers on my foes while hovering in the air like a god. In this manner I eliminate whole swathes of enemies at once. When the dust settles, I have handily defeated them, and am declared champion by an awe-struck committee. After this is done, though, I have no idea what to do. I wander around the facility some more until I come to this massive candy factory. When finished, the candy is deposited in great heaps on dozens of giant circular platforms, all rotating around a central vertical axle. The platforms are stacked in a tiered fashion, about five per axle, and there are dozens of axles as well. It is all one giant, well-oiled machine system, run by dictatorial taskmasters and their submissive worker-slaves. Upon seeing this, I have mischief in mind. I fly up to a random platform and start tossing candy off every which way. The taskmasters see this and start yelling their heads off at me, but that's about all they can do from ground level. Meanwhile I'm creating as much havoc as possible and enjoying myself immensely. Eventually the taskmasters call the facility security force, and I fly down once again, mainly to humor them. As a mob they tackle and restrain me, and I don't offer any resistance. Just as they're escorting me away, a contingent of warriors from the Elite Games arrives and demands my release. "Upon what grounds?" asks a security officer indignantly. "The man you have under arrest is the Arena champion!" shouts one of my defenders, pointing to a magazine on display behind a glass case on the wall. The cover of the magazine shows the face of a warrior painted green, with metal spikes coming out of his neck. Do I really look like that? I think to myself in the back of my mind. But it is more than enough to convince my captors to let me go, perhaps if nothing else fearful that I will bring my almighty wrath down upon them if they don't. I coolly walk over to my rescuers, who are proud to be in my presence. Among them I spot a sexy black-haired vampire chick, who I procede to make out with while feeling up her ass and legs. It feels great and totally authentic, and as the dream turns black I don't try to stop it from fading, as it has gone on quite long already and I don't want to forget anything. However, the dream continues on, and after a few moments of purely tactile make-out session, my visuals are restored. Then some X-rated shit happens (which I'm not going to post here )

[Baron Samedi]

Wow dude! That was so EPIC! I like how you looked like a crazy green spiked badass and didn't know it.

[Mancon]

Your dreams are so awesome! Im definitely going to keep reading your dreams.

[endymion]

Thanks guys I've been busy wrapping up my SCA trails program here in Idaho, but in a few days I'll have a lot of free time for dreaming, hopefully something exciting will happen...

[Novise]

This is some really good stuff. Read a few of them and liked what I saw. Will definetly check the rest of them out. You are also a good writer and that makes it easier. Though I don't see what you have against non-lucid dreams. Some of my best dreams have been non-lucid, just well recalled. I guess lucid dreams are often better recalled than non-lucid, but it's very possible to get great detail in a non-lucid. I'm curious if someone were to ask for what you call your more "boring" dreams, would you share them?

[endymion]

Novise, I have nothing against non-lucid dreams - in fact, a lot of them are better than my lucid ones. I think the reason I've posted so many more lucid ones mainly has to do with the fact that I put a lot of effort into dreaming on nights when I take supplements (generally once every three nights). On those nights I do the whole shebang, WBTB, WILD induction, etc. On these nights I have an almost 100% lucidity rate. Consequently, I have much greater recall and detail to write down and share. On the other nights I don't often even write down my dreams unless they are really good or profound. As far as my "boring" dreams go, I'll give you an example, though I doubt most people here would find it interesting: 22.09.2009 Kasey's Wedding (Non-lucid) NON-DREAM DREAM LUCID I find myself near a church facility where there is a lot of activity in preparation for a wedding - Kasey H.'s wedding. I have no idea who she is engaged to marry, but in a hallway out of the corner of my eye I see two people I knew as boys in gradeschool - Shawn C. and someone else, perhaps Mike G. Anyway, they follow the groom into a bathroom or dressing room of some kind. I'm intrigued, but I don't follow them. Later the scene shifts to the main part of the church where the ceremony is about to take place. I find my mom in a pew somewhat far back from the front, then walk over to sit next to her. Along the way I realize that although I'm wearing nice black pants, I have no shirt on and my hair is let down. When I sit down next to my mom she is ecstatic to see me, smothering me with hugs and kisses. After a while she lets go, but I notice something very curious up on the main "stage," near the altar: an image of myself as I currently look, almost like a hologram. This image of me is moving and breathing, but not saying anything, just staying still for the most part. Ben P., who is sitting in the pew behind us, stands up and shouts towards the image, "I can see your ribs!" (it's true, I'm very skinny). Laughter erupts around the church, then the dream ends. Like I said in my first post, I'm trying to make this journal as enjoyable for the reader as possible, not just a place where I post everything.

[endymion]

04.11.2009 Awakening Ancient Spirits (DILD) NON-DREAM DREAM LUCID 8:45 a.m. In the first moment I remember I'm in the wilderness on a snowy plain (it's snowing lightly and there's a thin layer of the stuff on the ground). I'm with some others, and we're running from something. I get the feeling that this is set in the past, and that we're trespassing in someone's domain. Our flight is fast and desperate, which unfortunately draws the attention of a nearby bear, once we get into a more forested area. The bear is clearly pissed off and starts mauling some of my companions, but I manage to barely escape. My luck runs out, however, when a troupe of mounted Indian tribesmen spot me and begin showering me with arrows. Knowing I'm doomed if I keep running, I surrender and am taken prisoner. The bring me back to their lodge, a chalet-like structure with moss insulation that's open to the air around the bottom (just a few inches). It looks like a hybridization of indigenous and Western construction. Here many people from the tribe are gathered around a fire (inside the lodge) and are discussing my fate. I can sort-of hear what they're saying, catching little bits here and there. Stupidly I yell to them to have mercy, to let me go because without Western influence and materials they never could have built this lodge. They aren't paying much attenion to me though. After a while they lead me back to a room to spend the night. I then go to sleep or at least I imagine I do for a while. When I awaken, I realize that I'm not really bound or anything; unless the door is locked, I can sneak out at any time. So, of course, I test the door and discover that it is in fact unlocked! Quietly I try to sneak through the hallways, but before long I hear noises. I encounter a group of people first, and I'm not sure exactly who they are, but they might be my comrades from the expedition; in any case, they're not Indian. We travel together, all of us apparently wanted to escape this place. But before we can get very far, we hear strange chanting from a voice coming ever closer to us through the halls. Further, we know he's Indian because the language is clearly indigenous. Frantically we scramble to find quick exits or at least hiding places. At first we are relieved because the man seemed to have passed by without noticing any of us. So we keep on walking, not exactly sure where we are going. Unfortunately, the lodge is pretty convoluted and we end up in the same room as the man chanting (clearly, a powerful shaman). This time he notices us, but other than a stern look does nothing about this discovery. His attention instead is focused on what looks like a cellar in the center of the room we're in. I walk over to take a closer look. Although we can't speak the same language, I somehow just know what within that cellar lies an ancient evil spirit that the shaman is trying to banish. In fact, periodically I hear moaning sounds originate from down there. The shaman knows someone must go down and face the spirit but, despite his best efforts, is visibly afraid to do so. I feeling of guilt washes over me, as I feel it is I who caused this dark spirit to emerge in the first place. Yet right now I cannot bring myself to face it, recoiling back in horror and leaving the room with haste. I wander around for a while all alone, still looking to find a way out of this place but preoccupied with the scene I just witnessed. Some things happen that I no longer recall. In the next scene I remember, I'm back in the room with the cellar, the shaman, and the evil spirit. Others are there too, and it's as if they we all just waiting for me to return. Now I know I have to go down and face the spirit alone and rectify this whole situation. As I stand right in front of the cellar, I feel a eerily cold stream of air coming directly out from it. The shaman shouts a chant of protection over me, and right before I plunge forward I have a strange feeling of calm and assurance that everything will be fine, a pre-lucid sort of realization. Then, I open the doors and plunge inside. For the first few seconds I'm just falling in complete darkness until I gently land on some mysterious plane. Darkness is everywhere still, and the moaning of the spirits rushes around my body in gusts. Desperately I flail my arms about, hoping some weapons will materialize from thin air. But soon the sounds and chills of the spirits cease, and I'm left in a perfectly ordinary void. I try shouting back to the shaman and the others, telling them I can't see and thing, but I don't think they can hear me. After a while a faint point of light appears far above me. A star, perhaps? Soon it's joined by others, and these celestial forces faintly illuminate my setting, which is a fairly ordinary mown lawn at night. At this point I just casually say to myself, "hey, since this is a dream, I might as well enjoy a little flying." As if I already knew that and had chosen to ignore it all this time! My lucidity, however, is extremely low, and all I can think to do (a knee-jerk reaction, really) is to fly straight upwards. I'm even looking right back down at the ground as I ascend this way, essentially floating several thousand feet in the air. I'm surprised I make it as far as I do without falling back, what with the whole staring at the ground thing and all. At any rate, I lose lucidity fairly quickly and although more happens after this (I'm pretty sure I emerge from the cellar and wander about some more in the lodge) I can't recall any of it clearly.

[Baron Samedi]

wow. that would be cool for you to visit that shaman again

[endymion]

08.03.2010 The Blood House (Non-lucid) NON-DREAM DREAM LUCID 6:30 a.m. I am part of a team of detectives charged with solving what appears to be a murder at a quaint little townhouse. My partner is an average-looking, skinny man in his 40s. When we arrive at the crime scene, nearly everything in the main living room has been removed - furniture, appliances, etc. - leaving pretty much only the dead body. We go in and find the corpse of a skinny Asian girl covered in blood. We are stumped and can't seem to find any useful clues. Then for some reason, maybe out of frustration, we play a game of dice. I don't know exactly how it works, only that my partner wins nearly every time. On the last roll, though, I take about 20 dice and fling them across the floor (maybe this is a weird form of divination?). We both observe the numbers, and I remark that an uncannily large percentage of dice have come up 13. Only 3 of the dice aren't at 13. I offer some sort of bet to see if I can re-roll 13s with the remaining 3 dice. He ignores this but says I can roll anyway for fun. So I do and get two out of 3 to land on 13. Then I re-roll the last one and get 13 again. Unbelievable. When I go to collect the dice, the act of crouching down somehow draws my vision up to the ceiling, and I am shocked at what I find - a fairly large plastic pouch containing (entirely) blood. The pouch is attached to the center of the ceiling. There's also a tube connecting the pouch to a larger blood source somewhere outside the house, as the rub stretches to the edge of the wall and beyond. I tell my partner that it's a good thing we rolled the dice or else I would've missed this clue. Which remains puzzlingly enigmatic even after a few minutes of inspection. I think I call in a different expert of sorts to come look at it after I fail to grasp it's significance. I leave my partner inside and take a brief break outside to get some fresh air. I'm only out for a few seconds when, on a whim, I rush back inside, only to find no trace of my partner, just the little Asian girl, standing, alive, near the blood sac, with blood covering her mouth. Clearly she had just bit into the sac out of an unstoppable compulsion. I panic and rush back out, running away as fast as I can, my heart racing. After a few dozen yards, however, I look back to see if the girl followed. She's just outside the house, on the front patio, standing still and staring directly at me. I have a rush of realization that if she were allowed to escape, she would infect everyone else with the blood disease/curse and start a viscious pandemic a la 28 Days Later. She reads in my expression that I've realized this, and when I yell to her to stay inside the house, she just smiles knowingly, about to run free and thinking I can't do a damn thing about it. I, however, don't give up that easily and sprint back over to her, hoping to catch her before she gets away. I cut her off, and leave her no choice but to retreat back inside the house. I follow her there and shut the door behind me. At this point I know I'm the only thing standing between this girl and a blood pandemic if she bites or infects me, so I resolve to kill her on the spot. All I have with me though is a strange inflatable rubber mallet, but I suppose it's better than nothing. I chase her around the room for a while before contemplating chucking the mallet at her from a distance. This is when the dream ends.

[Baron Samedi]

It's good to see you writing your dreams again!

[endymion]

Thanks man I know, I've been slacking these last few months. Being in the city again is just too distracting...once the summer starts I'll have more free time and fewer distractions.