Eternal Equinox & Chuck E. Cheese

Note: Normal dreams.

I wake up in my Grandfather's house (yes, again with this place... You'd think I'd have realized by now...) from a nap.

I make my way into the bathroom, not bothering to turn on the light. As I stand at the toilet, the darkness begins to un-nerve me. The window is right above the toilet so I reach to pull the shades up. When the shades are raised I notice that it is light out, and a shock runs through me; crap! I must have slept all night... Now i'll be late for work!

I run into the kitchen, and noticed that the clock says 1:30 (somehow I know that this means 1:30 in the morning, not the afternoon). Now I am confused. How could it be the middle of the night and light outside?

I walk out of the house, and begin to make my way up a trail through the forest to my own house. I see my old friend, Nevin, along the way. I ask him why it is light out in the middle of the night, and he says "Relax. It's just the eternal equinox..." Oh yeah... of course, I think (as if that made any sense at all). I continue up the path to my house.

When I reach the house I find my father on the front porch. My son is also there, riding his bike in the front yard.

Something catches my eye in the sky. I point it out to my father. The middle of the sky is covered in dark red/orange clouds surrounded on all sides with darker gray/black. The red/orange clouds are tumultuous (like churning magma or something), and there is blue lightning spouting out in all directions. The lightning doesn't flash towards (or from) the ground though, it wriggles about and moves around the cloud like a giant Tesla coil.

The whole scene is not threatening; in fact it is very beautiful, and my father agrees. We both sit down on the edge of the porch and watch... completely content. Everything has a strange but familiar calm to it... I imagine this is the type of calm that would descend upon the world just before the end. I am absolutely relaxed as I observe the sky, occasionally glancing to my son enjoying his bicycle, and enjoy the long moment with my father.

JUMP

I am with my wife and son in a Chuck E. Cheese type building. I am becoming more and more agitated by the minute. I am very worried about the amount of sleep I got the night before (if you could call it that) affecting my work day, and every minute that slips by in this place is another minute I won't be able to catch a nap before work time.

Finally, my wife rounds the corner with a bag containing three giant sesame seed burgers and I recount my agony to her in hopes that we can leave sooner. My son rounds the corner from playing some video games and I ask him if he is ready to go.

AWAKENING
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BTW, I had this dream the other night where I was being chased by a bunch of bloated, disease ridden cattle. Their skin was cracked and bleeding, and they looked like walking corpses. I tried to jump on top of a truck to avoid them, but they overturned the vehicle in their rampage.

They never actually hurt me, but every time they would catch up to me they would charge in just close enough so that my hand would touch their festering, sickly swollen skin before I could escape again... *shudder*

Meatballs & High Tech Boots

Note: All NDs.

I was cooking meatballs with my wife. She takes a bite of one, and her face twists as she chews through the gristle. Apparently they are not good meatballs.

Even so, we plan to go to lookout point and enjoy them with the family (I don't know where lookout point is, I must have made it up).

JUMP

I am lightheartedly chasing my wife through crowds of people in a college campus, a mall, and eventually even down a sidewalk.

Every time she outdistances me she hides, and I have to search for her as I reach the point that I last saw her. Each time she pops up somewhere nearby.

My wife runs up a hillside staircase that tees with a sidewalk and vanishes. As I reach the top of the stairs I look both directions and can't see her.

There is a young man standing there and I notice he is trying to lace his boots. He says that he is in the Navy and is trying to lace them properly. I pick one up and run the laces through. He tells me I did it wrong and pulls the laces back out.

I notice another man with the coolest boots I have ever seen. They are up to his knees, and bright white. I remember all kinds of gizmos attached as well.

He notices my interest and takes one off; offering to let me try it on. I take my shoes off and slip into the boots. I say "Dang, these are a little heavy."

The man points to the sidewalk across the street, and I see my wife who has re-appeared and is waving at me. My attention is drawn back to the boots...

I notice that the boots actually have speakers and a subwoofer attached. I see an LCD display that extends from the calf section as well. I exclaim how freakin' cool that is, and wonder what he displays on there. The man points to an entire computer system off to the side, and I imagine that he uses it to make flash presentations and such to show on his boots.

JUMP

I am in a building now and have taken off the uber-cool boots. I look around for my own shoes and find the pair. As I put them on I notice that only one of the pair is actually my own, and assume that someone must have grabbed one of mine and taken it upstairs with them.

The building is dormitory style, and I knock on the door of the first room. There is a man on the bed and I ask him if (insert name here) is around. He says no, but looks suspicious so I tell him what is up and press him a little harder.

He gives in and a couple of guys come out of hiding (one of which is the guy I am looking for). I explain the situation, but he says that he didn't take my shoe.

I give up and go back downstairs. I look at my shoe again, and notice the other one has re-appeared. As soon as I attempt to put them on, I realize that I have no socks.

I see a dresser with an overflowing drawer marked "Community Socks", and take a pair for myself. They look slightly used, but for some reason I would rather wear used socks than put on my shoes without any.

I finally slip my shoes on and leave. I wonder if my wife will be mad at me for being gone so long.

AWAKENING

Snoring Contest & Losing Friends

Plenty of dreams tonight, but I only remember two, as they were close to awakening.

I am listening to sound bites that people have sent in (to where, I don't know). I am judging some sort of contest for the best snore.

I decide on a winner. It is a disgusting, wet sounding snore... Loud and persistent, and had I not been judging the contest would be the type to really tick me off.

AWAKENING

I awaken to find that the obnoxious snoring is coming from my wife. It is the most nerve grinding sound I have ever heard. I get up to use the bathroom after about three hours of sleep, and think this might be a good time to attempt a WILD.

I lay back down and decide to try using a spiraling technique I read about recently on LD4all.

The snoring is so bad that I have to shake the bed to try and make her shift. No luck. I am so annoyed by the snoring that I forget to WILD and eventually fall asleep stressed out.

(dreaming now) I am a little depressed that two of my good friends are moving away.

There is a knock at the door and I answer it. It is Leah, one of the friends I had mentioned. I realize that she is here to exchange small coins with me (apparently this is one of those things that you do on a regular basis, such as drinking coffee with a friend).

We both stretch out on the couch and I begin counting out dollars worth of coins to trade bills for.

I decide to breach the subject, and say "I wish you and Matt would not move away" (or something like that). She looks at me puzzled. I add "I mean there is no good reason to anyway." out of desperation. "Seriously. All Matt is moving for is to get a tan." This made sense at the time.

We continue to talk about how I felt on the subject. Eventually I end up giving in. I feel very saddened that I am probably losing two of my best friends.

After we are through counting coins, Leah makes her way to the door. I know this may be the last time I see her. The dream ends in a long depressing hug.

AWAKENING

Snakes & a Counter-productive Subconscious

Note: Brief lucidity

Ok, so I had a mess of dreams last night, but I couldn't be bothered to remember most of them since I was woken early by my wife and son not feeling well. I'll just recount the very short moment of lucidity for you.

I was on a path on the outskirts of a large field with a few other people. It must be fall because the tall grass is mostly yellow. The sky is very dark as it quickly moves towards on towards nightfall.

I'm not sure why, but suddenly the grass is filled with aggressive snakes. We can't see them until they pop up to attack, but I know that they are all around.

It is too dark to see now, and we begin moving quickly. The only chance I have to see the snakes before they attack is to catch their silhouette against the dimly lit sky when they stand up. I move on quickly, trying my best to kick the snakes in the head as soon as they pop up like some sort of twisted bop a mole game.

I run off of the trail, and find myself running through the front yard of my childhood home. The snakes are all around, and I can see them now in the freshly mowed lawn. The porch light is on, illuminating the entire yard. I begin to move quickly towards the house.

At this point, for no apparent reason (I have had much stranger dreams that did not trigger lucidity), I begin to realize that I am dreaming. Something strange happened, though; I began to rationalize with myself. I told myself that my sleep was too shallow, and that if I were to gain full lucidity I would surely just wake up. For a moment, I almost decided to let the dream continue normally. Luckily I couldn't let myself waste the opportunity, and made up my mind to take control.

I look at my hands. It is more of a reflex than a necessity, as I knew I was dreaming anyhow. That familiar rush blows in as the detail of my surroundings flood towards me. Its sort of like standing in a wind tunnel for a second, but shapes and colors are blowing at me instead of wind.

I only get a second to take it all in before I am pulled back into my sleeping body. As I am transitioning, I think "I knew that was going to happen". I struggle briefly to keep from joining back up, but it is no use and my bodies are realigned.

AWAKENING
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At this point I open my eyes shortly to perform an RC in case I am having a false awakening. No such luck. I can hear my wife and son in the living room. I close my eyes and attempt to chain, but I cannot fall back asleep.

All in all, I am just happy to know I can still do it. Even five seconds of lucidity is refreshing.

I realize that this is probably not the first time that my subconscious has tried to talk me out of becoming lucid. Unfortunately, I tend to rationalize a lot in WL, so it's no wonder I take the same approach to situations in my sleep. My SC was right of course, I did wake up, but why should I give up even a few seconds of lucidity in exchange for a longer ND?

What's Happening?

Holy crap!

No dream recall and LD4all is down! What is a dreamer to do?!

I've made an observation recently. Apparently, even though the only way that I can fall asleep quickly is by wearing earplugs, they also seem to have a negative effect on my dream recall. I just wish I wasn't so distracted by noises... I can barely fall asleep if trying to listen to induction MP3s too.

Blah...

Birds, Short Shorts, Castles & Junk

Note: All normal dreams.

Fragment: Looking at an annual credit report in the mail and being distraught that our rating is a 30. I look again later and it says 50. HELLO!!! DREAM SIGN!!!! No such luck; instead I am happy that it is at least up to a 50 now...

JUMP

I am with a couple other people who I know are friends of mine. There is a large egg on the floor, and we are lamenting the fact that it didn't make it. Apparently it is never going to hatch.

One of the people with me begins to handle the egg, to our objections. The shell begins to crumble away, revealing a creamy red membrane beneath. For a second I am a little revolted, and angry at my friend for disturbing the egg.

Suddenly I notice movement beneath the membrane, and I draw the others attention to it. A beak tears through; followed by a feathered head. Soon the entire creature has emerged from the shell. The critter is a bird of sorts with a huge smiling beak that dwarfs the rest of its body. "It must be a Dodo!" I exclaim.



My mind flips on, and I begin to process that statement. Once again, logical thinking floods in, as I realize Dodo birds are extinct.

AWAKENING

I am standing just inside the huge wooden gates of a castle. I know that the castle is under siege, and I am inspecting the gates because soon they will be subjected to the battering ram. I look at the huge timber that should hold the doors closed, and assume that it will do the trick.

The pounding of the ram begins, and the stone around the gate starts to shake. Dust and gravel showers from the ceiling with the impacts. The doors creak, but seem to be holding. The position of the battering ram seems to change, and it now begins ramming the top of the doors as opposed to the center. I know that the gates can't hold like this because the timber is only stretched across the middle. The wood begins to weaken.

I panic, and wonder why there are not archers firing on the ram from the parapets. I run in that direction, but have a hard time finding the stairs up. When I finally find the way, I see that no one is there at all, in fact there is no defense whatsoever.

Just as I ponder the lack of defenses I hear the gates splinter (actually, I see the gates splinter in a sort of cut-scene format, which should have lead to a reality check but didn't), and see the enemy reach through the hole and release the timber.

I run into the center of the castle, and search for a place to hide. I run through a maze of corridors and end up at a dead end in a bedroom on the third floor. I know the enemy is hot on my tail, and look for some place out of sight. The wall is all windows from top to bottom, and I climb through one, intending to hang from the ledge where I would not be seen.

A man enters the room, and spots me right away as apparently I didn't take into account the fact that the whole wall is windows, so hiding outside of them was really pretty foolish.

JUMP

I am in the center of the castle again. I am with a woman who I know as the princess, and we are both held captive.

We are to be transported somewhere, and will be accompanied by a pudgy blonde young man.

We make our way through a system of underground tunnels, filled with ancient stone architecture. It is very dark, as we come up a staircase into a mansion. The rooms are only illuminated by moonlight pouring through the windows. I can make out the shapes of antique furniture (ok given the time period the furniture is probably not antiqued yet), with elaborate designs.

We walk up to the second floor and into a dining room lit by candle light. I catch sight of an object on the table, and quickly pull it from it's holder. It turns out to be a pitchfork shaped cooking utensil, but the ends are sufficiently pointed to act as a weapon.

Before our capture can react, I am behind him, holding the utensil to his neck. The princess is shocked, and asks me not to hurt him.

JUMP

We are still in the dining room, and have devised a plan to escape from the captures for good. The plan involves taking the young man to the airport and putting him on a flight to another country. Ok, this in itself should have been a huge dream sign, since the time period was not correct for airplanes, let alone the fact that the plan doesn't make any sense. Maybe it triggered something after all, since I don't remember any more of the dream.

JUMP

I am at a party of sorts, and anticipate the fast approaching event that we will be playing as a band at. I think it is some sort of festival or parade.

I am running through a list of items that I was supposed to bring with me, to ensure that I didn't forget anything. I am also wondering if I wore the correct type of shoes.

I grab a soda, and begin to chat with my friend Matt. Suddenly a feeling of dread hits me, as I remember I have forgotten the most vital thing; my trumpet! I tell Matt "Oh my God, I forgot my freaking trumpet!!". I ask what time the event is, and how long I have to go back and get the instrument. Matt tells me the time of the event, but I cannot make out the clock to see what time it is (darn it; this could have made for a good RC!).

I run into a room and find two women, and know that one of them had driven here. I relate my story, and ask her if she can drive me back to get my trumpet. She seems very suspicious, like I just plan to get her back to my place. She asks where I left it, and I say it's at my sister's house. This just heightens her suspicion for some reason, but just as she is about to tell me to get lost, the other woman speaks up and assures her that I am telling the truth.

We are on our way out the sliding glass door when I turn around and see my son wearing some very small shorts. I belt out "nice knickers!", and see that I have hurt his feelings. I add "Just kidding." as an inadequate afterthought, but it doesn't seem to help, and I feel like a jerk.

I realize that everyone is wearing the odd shorts, and suddenly remember that we are dressed in a German theme. I ask someone whether I am supposed to be wearing the shorts too, and they confirm my fears. Now I am missing my trumpet, AND the shorts I should be wearing!

AWAKENING

My wife and I enter a used furniture store. We are walking towards a room in the back, as she apparently has something in mind. I look into another room to the left, and see some odds and ends that look rather antique.

JUMP

We are in a room with a bunch of junk and a huge grand piano. There are two salesmen in the room, and my son is there too.

My wife is trying to convince me to buy the piano. I look at the item in question. It is that horrible yellow/orange 70s color finish, and when the salesman opens the door over the keys, I see that the interior is painted in pastel shades of blue and green, with some bowl shaped art deco ornaments fastened to the sides. The whole thing is gigantic as well.

I ask my wife what the heck she plans on doing with it? It won't fit in our house, and besides that, neither of us know how to play the piano. She replies that she wants to buy it for the music club on our cruise ship (um, riiiiight)... Then she asks the salesman how much he is asking. He says $700.

I begin to get angry and say there is no freaking way I'm paying $700 for an ugly piano that we can't even use. The salesman then says that he will give it to us for $500, obviously misinterpreting my intentions. Exasperated, I say "Fine, how about I give you $700 for the damn thing, and you guys re-stain it?" He says he wishes it were possible, but they cannot do that.

Desperate to deter my wife now, I blurt out "Hey, how about we get you a guitar instead?" (in real life she has been oohing over cellos and violins, not guitars), and her eyes widen in anticipation.

The salesman shows her a few stringed instruments, and she picks up something the size of a violin. After a few minutes, she inexplicably begins tossing the instrument up in the air and catching it. This confuses me, and I am about to say "You break it, you buy it..." when she fails to make the catch, and the instrument slams to the floor. I am extremely stressed out now, and run over to the remains, only to find that it is just a painting of a violin on a wooden block cut to fit the shape.

Out of the corner of my eye, I see my son sitting indian style on the floor tossing some fine china in the air. I can't take it any more and yell at him to get on the freaking bench and sit on his hands! The second salesman is startled when I raise my voice, but the first one gives him a look to stay out of it.

I can't wait to get out of this store.

AWAKENING
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Interesting stuff, eh? The last dream was in a very shallow sleep, and around the cruise ship part I was aware of myself lying in bed and consciously though about performing a reality check in the dream, but decided against it due to the fact that it would probably just wake me up anyway (boy I wish I had thought twice about that).

Also interesting is the fact that I had been drinking heavily the night before, and I had always thought that DR was supposed to be virtually eliminated with alcohol. While I didn't really remember anything immediately upon waking, all of these dreams came back gradually over about an hour's time.

Bathrooms & Issues Parking

Forgive me for not posting the last couple of days, but most of my dreams have been rather bland. Today is no exception, really, but I'll type it out anyway for the sake of practice.

Normal Dreams.

I am in a movie theater, and someone is telling me about a guy who has folded down a few seats in one of the rooms, and has been sleeping there. I wonder if the employees have to deal with homeless guys in the theater often.

I enter the room, and recognize the man he was talking about (an old boss of mine). He has bags under his eyes and looks strung out. I wonder whether he failed to pay his rent while he was on vacation, and got evicted.

JUMP

I am trying to use the bathroom in the theater, and all of the toilets are out of order. I know there is a second bathroom, and I head in that direction.

When I find it, there is a sign hanging on the door that says it is out of order, and to use the other bathroom (the one with no working toilets). I am pissed, and tear through the sign.

When I enter, I see that I am not the only one who ignored the sign. There is also an employee trying to mop the floor who looks clearly exasperated that we are all in there. I have no sympathy for him, and approach a urinal.

SHORT AWAKENING

I find myself driving into a mall parking lot. It is snowing, and I am reaching the end of a parking row.

I attempt to slow down, and the car begins to do one of those two MPH uncontrollable slides towards a number of parked cars along the sides.

Having apparently lost my mind in this dream, I exit the moving vehicle, and begin attempting to push and pull the car away from any potential impacts. I tug the bumper in one direction and then the other as the car continually overcompensates. Eventually the vehicle bumps into the rear of another car before I can redirect it again. I grab control of the front end and finally slide it to a stop in an open space.

I check the front of the car for damage (while i'm looking at it the car appears to be on a lift, because I can see the belly while looking up, however it is still in the parking spot. DREAM SIGN!!), but everything looks fine. I am very relieved.

JUMP

I am leaving the mall, and see that all of the snow has melted now. I get in the car which now appears to be a 60s style Mustang. The interior is completely white.

The car is now parked parallel on a hill between two other cars (even though I parked in a flat parking lot earlier. DREAM SIGN #2!! Where is my brain!!! ).

This would not be a problem, except that the dream is very realistic this time, and I am not familiar with the clutch (even though this is apparently my car). I worry about rolling into the car behind me as I feel it out. As it turns out, the clutch is shallow, and I lurch forward awkwardly onto the road. Everything feels very real, and reacts exactly as I would expect in WL.

JUMP

I am at home (although I do not recognize the house at all. DREAM SIGN #3! Congrats, I'm officially retarded!), and standing around in my underwear for some reason talking with my wife.

The door bell rings, and I ask if she knows who it is. She says no, and I say I'll answer it.

I see a big pile of clothes on the floor, and frantically dig around for something easy to slip on. As I dig, I hear the latch come undone, and look for frantically for some pants. The door begins to swing open, and I grab whatever is in my hands and toss it on. It was a shirt, so I am still standing there in my underwear.

An older man walks in, and I say "Can I help you?!" obviously annoyed that someone has the nerve to let themselves in. The man is holding a box and asks if I can sign something (he is not distracted by the fact that I'm half-naked). I hear my wife walk in and say "I wouldn't sign anything for Fred." Jokingly. I realize this must be the mail man, and then everything is OK.

AWAKENING