"Scare Tactics" - 12/24/2008

"Scare Tactics"
12/24/2008

I was part of a S.W.A.T.-type unit and dressed up in tactical gear. My partner was a petite, young woman - a bit younger than me - who I was really close to. (I feel that it was someone I know in waking life. Just can't remember who. Small white chick with short, brownish hair. Maybe it'll come to me later.) We were on a call in some sort of school, which seemed nearly deserted. There was a large, senior officer there with us, and something happened to where he completely flipped out, went pscyho, and began attacking his own squad. We got into a firefight with him, and it became apparent that, no matter how much we shot him, he just wouldn't die. I vaguely remember something happening to his face, like it distorted (demonically) or something, but I can't recall it in detail.

We had - somehow - gotten locked inside the school and had to break our way out through the glass. Then, we got into a running shootout with the superhuman guy as he stalked us like Jasoon Voorhees, while dumping fully-automatic ammunition at us. We sprinted away from him with bullets streaming in on us from behind, showers of debris blasting off all around us from those shots which missed us by mere inches and a few lucky steps. It was all very intense; ducking and dodging around obstacles while scrambling down the city street. There was one time, specifically, that I rolled up and over some wood and metal-pipe structure, and the detailed sound of how the wood planks and metal reacted to the bullets that rained in behind me really sticks out in my head.

Somewhere along this foot chase, my partner was shot and killed, and I was instantly devastated. I tried to hook back around and check her, but this guy just kept stalking toward me, constantly firing - still keeping up, somehow, even though I was running and he was walking. It was like being chased by a tank. I believe I only had a pistol at this time, but I'm not too sure. (My notes on this dream are actually out in the truck, so I'll get them later and confirm whether or not I noted anything about only having a pistol. :P) I had to keep going, so I continued to run, getting hit by a passing car, at some point, rolling over the hood and crashing to the ground on my stomach. I was really all that hurt, though, so I got up and kept running.

Suddenly, I was back in the school, so was my partner, and so was the senior officer. It was like deja vu, though. The guy flipped out and turned on us, chased out in the street and killed my partner. Seconds later, I was back again, reliving the whole thing for a third time. I began to catch on to this, though, and started questioning how strange this was that all of this horrible shit was happening. Then, as soon as I started piecing together that none of this was real, the senior officer takes off his mangled mask and says something like "Gotcha! This is all part of a t.v. show. Your friend set you up!" (I had been watching Scare Tactics before bed. Haha. I love that show.)

A camera crew instantly came into view, and I could only stand there; eyes wide open in shock. My partner was apparently the one who set me up, and she was grinning from ear to ear. All of the bullets were supposedly blanks (which I, just now - at the time of writing this journal entry - realize doesn't make any sense, because of how vividly I remember the sound of the bullets ricocheting all around us. Damn dream logic trying to pull a fast one on me. Lol.) Basically, the whole thing was faked and, after I got over the initial shock of it all, we all had a good laugh about it. All was well.

[Edit: (I went through my work papers and found the notes that I scribbled down for this dream. I completely forgot to add this part but, after reading it I remember it again...)

At some point in this dream, my partner and I were in some tall, ancient building. I think it was the fact that I didn't remember running on the walls, in a previous dream, that sparked this - but I remember her hanging back, while I had to do a Prince of Persia-type wall-run in full SWAT gear. There was a huge pit and I had to run across the wall to get to a rope that was hanging down from the ceiling. Once I got on the rope it slowly descended with my weight - as if it was on a pulley or something - and dropped me to a lower platform. There, I had to hit a switch and then climb back up the rope, then swing back and forth on it to build up momentum. I jumped off during an upswing, wall-ran across the gap again, and finally landed back to the ledge where my partner was waiting. ]

"Magic 101" - 04/11/2008 (Lucid)

”Magic 101”
04/11/2008
(Lucid)

I was at a party, and I think it was Halloween. There was an inside joke running around where yelling “Free Ghost!!!” was supposed to be a hilarious reference to something, but I can’t remember what. This guy had a snake for a pet and I didn’t want to mess with it, because I knew it wasn’t a constrictor and actually had fangs.

Later, Tony and I were walking down a short stairway, leading out into a field, obviously on a school campus. We passed this group of teenagers. There were three of them and I just got a bad feeling, when we passed them. I sensed there was some trouble brewing. No sooner did that thought come into my head, than they rushed us from behind and tried to rob us. I was worried for just a moment, until I realized that the weapons they were trying to rob us with were just lighters - not guns! :P We ended up smacking these kids around a bit, and wrestling them to the ground. I grabbed two of them in a choke-hold, and Tony grabbed the other. We dragged them back to the on-campus housing and took them to their parents (somehow knowing exactly where they lived), who chewed them out pretty good.

As we were walking back the way we came, we split up for some reason, and I began walking across a basketball court, right beside a fenced-in tennis court. There were a bunch of huge, roughneck brothas playing football on the basketball court, and I noticed that my walking across it would inevitably put me in the middle of their playing field. I tried to maneuver my way around them, without disrupting their game and/or getting trampled over during a drive. I was gonna walk through the tennis court, but the gate was looked, so I stayed to the side of their field and walked around it.

Immediately after leaving the basketball court, I spontaneously realized I was dreaming. I passed a group of like 6 girls sitting down in the grass and drinking bottles of something. It was still night time, and there was just enough light coming from the basketball court to see them. Just to double-check whether or not I was dreaming, I looked at a freckle that I could see on one of their backs, and made it disappear. (What a random reality check, I know, but it was the first thing that came to mind. Lol.) I went over to them and flirted for a bit, shaking their hands and being all charming. They were drinking some weird juice drinks that were named different little artsy things. I asked one of them what hers was called, and she said it was called “Creative.” I grinned at her and asked “and are you creative?” She smiled a little nervously and said “Well…I like to pretend that I am...” Without missing a beat, I responded with “Well, imagination is the first step to creativity, so it looks like you’re on the right track.” They all giggled like crazy, and I told them I’d catch them later and walked off to find something else to do, hearing them talking about me as I walked away.

Seconds later, I could hear them all nervously running up behind me, trying to entice each other to talk to me. One of them reluctantly came up and asked me if I was a teacher on the campus (which, I believe, was because of the way I carried myself. I did feel like I had a sense of authority about me). I thought for a moment and then said “yeah,” feeling like showing off a bit, “…I’m teaching a course in magic.” I asked them if they wanted to see a trick and they, and a few other people, gathered around. Still well-aware that I was dreaming, I flicked my fingers and created a small flame in my hand. Then I threw the flame out in front of me, and it landed on the grass. People were mildly impressed, but ultimately not amazed, so I figured I’d have to do something a little more awe-inspiring. Right on cue, a black bird dove out of the tree we were under and grabbed the tiny flame in its beak. As soon as it picked up the flame, the entire bird caught fire, turning into a blazing phoenix. It began to fly up toward the tree again - an almost violent display, which looked like the bird was being burned alive, though it apparently wasn't - and I immediately pointed my palm at the creature and held it in place with telekinesis. I commanded the flaming bird to liquefy, and it began to drip like water, dousing the fire. I then commanded it to freeze. With strings of water dripping down, the entire thing froze, leaving ice sickles trailing off of it. I then released my mental hold on it, and the winged ice-sculpture dropped to the grass with a dull thud.

Everybody went crazy over it, but it happened so fast that I noticed a lot of people didn’t get to see the whole thing. Other people had recorded it on their cell phones, one of whom was my friend V, and we began going through the tape, to show the trick again to those that missed it.

(I woke up while checking out the video.)

"Extinction-Level Event" - 01/31/2011 (Dream Chain)

"Extinction-Level Event"
01/31/2011
Dream #1
(Chain)


Part 1

(This was the most horrifying, emotional set of dreams I have had in a while...)

The Earth had been invaded.

High above what could have been every major city in the world, for all I knew, massive alien spacecrafts hovered. They had come on the scene and took to looking down upon us, over the span of about 3 days. We never once got to see what these aliens looked like. Instead, they communicated with us telepathically, without ever having to leave their vessels. At first, they didn't say much. I really don't remember if they said anything at all, the first few days. They just kind of loomed over our heads, apparently observing us. Their intentions, at this point, were completely unclear.

Life somewhat continued, even with the presence of our 'visitors,' looming overhead. One day, I had made a few rounds to see some old friends. I know I saw quite a few of my people, but the only ones that really stood out were my daughter's mom, G, and another old "friend with benefits." There was another ex who I believe I might have seen as well, but I'm not exactly sure. Anyway, at one point, G and Girl #2 sort of merged and became one person, with different attributes from both (and, of course, I didn't find this strange enough to become lucid :P ). This hybrid girl and I went to a fast-food restaurant and either the person on the drive-thru headset couldn't hear me, or there was some other reason why the girl(s) ended up having to go inside through a back door, while I pulled the car around front. Later that night, we were back home in an apartment, that we were apparently sharing, except I had my own room and she had one as well. Despite the knowledge that there were enormous, city-sized space-ships hovering high over our heads, it seemed like a pretty normal night. She ended up going to sleep early, and it wasn't until well into the night that I remembered she had the bag of food with her, and it was now locked away in her room. I didn't feel like waking her up to get it, though, and just shrugged it off. The next morning, she was simply back to G's normal self. All resemblance of the other girl had vanished. It was on the third day (I believe) of their occupation, that the aliens finally decided to give us some insight into what exactly they were doing here. Not bothering to pay us any door-to-door visits, the beings simply beamed their thoughts into our heads. We were informed, rather matter-of-factly, that our entire species was about to be exterminated, and that, since they had took up positions that would allow their weapons to sweep over the entire planet, any attempts of escape were completely unnecessary. Armageddon was upon us, and there was nothing we could do about it.

Panic. It barely even had enough time to set in, before the bombing began. Thunderous booms shook our apartment, each one seeming as if were right outside our window. I was absolutely terrified - not so much of death, itself, but the thought of suffering until death. G was, surprisingly, not very affected by the situation. She seemed 100% sure that we were not going to suffer; that it would be quick, painless and peaceful. The chorus of explosions - stomping around the area outside - didn't instill the same sort of confidence within me. With my eyes wide with fear, and my voice the epitome of hysteria, I screamed at her the possibility of our building collapsing, and the two of us being caught in the rubble for God knows how long, our bodies broken, buried, and left to die, waiting for hope that would never come. Amazingly, she responded with a scoff. "Pfft. That only happens in movies," she said. I was floored, immediately switching from frightened to furious that she would just dismiss such a likely scenario. I said "what are you talking about?! People get trapped in collapsed buildings all the time!! Don't you watch the news?!" My tirade was cut short by a few more deafening blasts, even closer than the previous ones. The entire building shook, and I was actually thrown off of my feet. This one apparently rattled G, as well, because we both grabbed each other and huddled together on the bed - our heads ducking in unison; hearts jumping out of our chests with each successive bang from outside.

I was a complete wreck. I don't know that I've ever been so scared. Unable to control my fear, I burst into tears, absolutely terrified of the horrible death that would soon be coming for us. But, once again, G remained rather stoic. She held me close, cradling my head to her, and actually began singing to me to console me! (It was just the most incredible situation, seeing as how I'm usually the one with my head screwed on, during stressful times.) Suddenly, there was one final BOOM, right on top of us, and everything went black. (The whole thing reminded me of the final scene in Cloverfield.) In the 3 or 4 seconds of darkness, I received a message. I can't recall if I saw it in my field of vision, or if it was just telepathic. The message was just kind of 'there.' The message was "You and your daughter..." and that was it. I have absolutely no idea what it was supposed to mean, or where it came from. (Oddly enough, my daughter never made an appearance in the dream.)

Part 1
(False Awakening)

I suddenly 'awoke' on the same bed, eyes full of tears. I looked around the room, which seemed completely undisturbed, and found G sitting on the floor. There were pizza boxes stacked on some of the furniture, and she looked as if we'd just been lounging around the house, shooting the shit all day. Sitting up with a start, I frantically asked her about the aliens, and why the bombing would have just suddenly stopped. She looked at me like she didn't have any clue what the fuck I was talking about. My mind raced. I was thinking that there was just no way I could have imagined all of that. With an extreme sense of urgency, I asked her to tell me what the date was. She didn't know it, so I asked her what day of the week it was, and she said Tuesday. Tuesday, I remembered, was the day that the aliens had actually showed up. I somehow deduced that I had been transported back to that previous Tuesday...but there were no aliens this time! The only thing I could keep asking myself was 'How is this possible??'

G looked over at the window, a bright light flooding into the room. Passively, she said "that's really pretty," and I was immediately alarmed. I looked out the window, myself, half-expecting to seeing the bright, swelling light of a nuclear explosion, ready to brace for yet another inevitable shock wave. However, there was no explosion. It was just the sun, rising into the sky, at the beginning of this new day. There really were no aliens, this time. I was so convinced of this reality that I wasn't able to believe - for one minute - that what I had experienced was a dream. Instead, I figured that I was somehow given another chance at life. I had somehow been transported back to that Tuesday, but without the threat of attack. The human race was no longer in danger of being exterminated. Relief doesn't even begin to describe how I felt. I was practically shaking. The emotions flooded back into me, and I began to cry softly. My eyes remained dry, but if the tears had come, they would have been tears of joy for simply being alive.

(When I woke up from this dream, I felt like I had a hole in my chest. I was completely emotionally drained, and I just sat and stared at the floor for a good five minutes. There is really nothing like honestly believing you are about to die, and then suddenly waking up, safe and sound in your bed. I was numb for a good portion of the day, after coming back from this insane trip.)

"Dueling Dragon" - 06/15/2006 (Lucid)

“Dueling Dragon”

06/15/2006

Dream #2

(Lucid)

In this next dream, I found myself in a large industrial yard, enclosed with high walls around every side. Everyone was hard at work at building something or other, and there was a long, inverted conveyor belt over our heads. It carried these big, bell-shaped weights that must have weighed 5 tons a piece. After watching this process for a few minutes, I then noticed that one of the bell-shaped weights didn’t quite look right. I couldn’t put my finger on the reason for it, at first. But then, the whole thing seemed to sort of unwrap itself; practically blooming, like some great dark orchid. What I first thought had been a solid, metal structure, stretched itself out to a wingspan of at least 40 feet. It was a dragon, hanging upside down from the conveyor belt like a giant vampire bat.

The very instant that I figured out what this thing was, it dropped down from the overhead belt and descended upon the yard. Yard workers started running and screaming everywhere as this thing was bellowing fire all over the compound. I remember that, while I was trying to get away, one of the huge weights fell from over top of me. I forgot who it was (someone I know in waking life), but someone yelled at me to get out of the way. I looked up just in time to see the falling weight, and then I quickly dove forward, landing on the ground just as the weight smashed down behind me. Had I been where I was, a split second ago, I knew I would have been pulverized by the heavy object.

I think the impact shook another one loose because, as I turned over on my back, there was another weight falling down toward me. I rolled to one side as fast as I could, and just BARELY got away from that one. It was so close that I think it landed on the sleeve of my shirt. I quickly rose to my feet, and discovered that I was one of the last people in the yard. Most everyone had fled through cargo doors on all sides of the yard, and most of those doors were now closed. The dragon was doing fly-bys and pretty much just napalming the area with its breath while I searched frantically for an open cargo door. In running from cargo door to cargo door - trying to stay out of the beast's sight - I saw that each door was set far enough back into the stone walls so that, even if the doors were sealed, I would still have a little nook in which to hid, even if for mere moments, while I scanned around for another door to try. Sprinting toward what might have been the last door I might have been able to try, I was running parallel to a wall while the dragon was swooping in behind me. It  had me targetted and was closing in fast. I looked at the wall beside me and had the sudden urge to try to run along it (ala Trinity, in The Matrix) Then I suddenly remembered how often running on walls has made me realize I was dreaming, in the past. Upon this realization, it then dawned on me that this, too, was a dream.

The dragon was now just a few feet behind me, and streaking in at full speed, like an falcon dashing in to pluck a rodent from the earth, upon its flyby. At the last moment, still in my own stride, I pivoted slightly to one side, dashed toward the wall and ran up it, diagonally. Following through with my changing center of gravity - as my body leaned to accommodate my now using the vertical wall as my floor - I then rotated into a sideways flip off of the wall, which carried me up over the passing dragon. Having cork-scewed my way over the creature, I landed on my feet on his opposite side, just in time to see the beast swooped back up into the sky, now in front of me. I ducking beneath the cargo door overhang and took the moment to gather. With the knowledge I was dreaming, I decided to turn the tables on this fearsome devil and I then stepped boldly out into the center of the yard.

The dragon had landed, by then, and was now standing with its back to me. As I walked out further, it slowly craned its head around toward me - followed by the rest of its body. What happened next is a bit of a blur, but I vaguely remember the dragon exhaling a huge stream of fire in my direction. No longer the least bit worried, I then put up one hand and used the knowledge that I was dreaming to keep the fire away from me, putting up a sort of invisible shield between us. Though I don't remember actually seeing a full shield around me, but - while I was standing inside this inferno - I could see what looked like a light blue 'wave' of interference, where the fire was colliding with my force-field. (Pure Neo moment, right there. Haha.) I also remember doing a little bit of hovering around the yard, and throwing some fireballs of my own at the dragon. (Never really stopped to think whether or not fireballs have any effect on dragons, but oh well.)

Anyway, somewhere throughout this little battle, my feet were back on the ground and I had forgotten that I was dreaming. No longer in control, I wasn’t making any progress in fighting this dragon and was, by now, looking for a way to escape. There were still a few survivors of the dragon’s invasion, who were scrambling toward these vents in the ground - that I hadn't noticed until now. I ran over to one of them and jumped in. Now in the company of a few of the survivors, we spent some time trying to navigate these underground vents, and they were getting smaller and smaller, the further down we went. Sooner or later, I was getting very claustrophobic and wondering just how the hell we were going to get out of this labyrinth of stone tunnels and archways. But then - as worry began to hit me - I remembered once again that this is all a dream!

So, even though I was a good 20-30 ft underground and encased in a concrete shaft, I bent down and drew all of my focus to my legs, then blasting off like a rocket and flying straight up through the ceiling of the shaft, boring through all of the earth above me and then exploded up into the yard again. I landed next to the fresh hole I'd made in the yard, and got ready for round two with the dragon. However, instead of the dragon, I was staring up a (humanoid) giant. He was big and lumbering, and he stood over me, looking down at me as if I was I was his next meal. I had been completely unprepared for this.

This surprise stripped me of my lucidity again, just as this giant started reaching down to catch me in his hand. I started ducking and dodging the numerous swings from this “guy,” and was again looking for a way out of the yard. One humorous thing I can remember is how Dumb this giant seemed. I mean he was “dduuurrrr” dumb. But he was strong and he was fast and - at probably forty-something feet tall, - that’s all the advantage he really needed. I do remember he was treating me like a toy and considered his trying to kill me as “playing with me.” Across the yard, I caught a glimpse of one of the cargo doors that wasn’t closed all the way. There was about 2 feet of space beneath it. Freedom awaited. I ran toward the door as fast as I could, and could hear the giant’s feet as he thundered after me. Having no time to stop, I dove to the ground on my stomach and slid under the door.

What I didn’t realize was that the entire industrial yard sat high atop a single rock formation. It was a column of earth and stone, which stretched up from the ground for what seemed like miles. As I slid out from under the door, I went over the cliff-side (which was about 5 feet from all sides of the industrial yard) and grabbed hold of the grassy ledge while my legs dangled over the distant cityscape far below me. The giant obviously didn’t know about this either. He just came crashing through the cargo door and the concrete above it - oblivious. I think he almost stepped on me, because I let go and ended up falling down beside the rock column just as the giant was falling as well. I caught myself on something though and wasn’t that far away from the top when I stopped falling. Hanging on for dear life, I looked down and saw that the giant had latched onto something also, and was now beginning to climb back up toward me. I started climbing also - up and to the left - moving clockwise up the rock formation like a mountain climber as the giant ascended after me. It was The most insane feeling to be scaling this pillar of rock, thousands of feet above the ground, with a huge giant coming up after me.

But, to make a long story short (as if that’s possible ,at this point) the giant somehow ended up losing his grip and falling down to the earth, from a distance so high that there had already been a few clouds between us and the ground. I don't really remember whether or not I heard the impact of him hitting the earth, though.

Shortly after this, I woke up.

"Back Through the Looking Glass" - 03/31/2010 (Lucid)

"Back Through the Looking Glass"

03/31/2010

Dream #1
(Lucid)

(This was a great lucid dream. Unfortunately, most of it was lost, when I actually woke up. =/)

The first thing I remember is walking through someone's house. The house was extremely large with a lot of inner hallways, and all of the lights were very dim, creating dark corners and nooks, all over. The blackness was accented, here and there, with small areas of yellow-orange light, from the lamps that modestly dotted the ceiling. I don't remember what I was doing in this house, or who it belonged to, but there was something about this house that seemed strange or foreboding. (I think it was just that I felt really uncomfortable in it. A lot of areas were just pitch black, and I think I just wasn't familiar with the place to feel at east.), Some time, during my aimless exploration of these rooms and hallways, I ended up gaining spontaneous lucidity.

I didn't really know what I wanted to do with myself, now that I knew I was dreaming, so I just continued to roam around the corridors of this dark house, simply taking in the never-ending wonder of being surrounded by such a vivid world created by my subconscious. Rounding a corner, I suddenly came upon a little boy - maybe 7 or 8 years old. He had his back faced to me, and I don't think he was wearing a shirt. I kept walking in his direction, and he didn't move. I believe he had a shaved head, but his image was slightly obscured by the dimness of the hallway. I never broke stride, and just watched him curiously as I passed. He didn't move at all. The boy just stood with his hands to the side, staring down the hall in the same direction I was walking. Even when I passed him, he didn't even acknowledge that I was there. He just kept...staring. For all I know, he could have been a statue. The light was so dim that I never really got a clear look at his face, so I just kept on walking, looking back momentarily and watching him. He still never moved, and just kind of faded away into the shadows, as the rest of the hallway did. I found the whole thing kind of creepy, but I didn't think too much of it, because after all, I knew that this was just a dream.

There was an open door to my left, and I stuck my head inside. I don't remember if I tried to turn on the light and failed, or I just walked in, but everything was dark inside the room. I looked at the wall to my right, and saw my reflection, staring back at me in the dark. A mirror. I stared into the eyes of my reflection, and he stared right back at me. I moved closer, and he followed suit, seemingly with his own pace - and subtle body movements that really just didn't seem to match my own. We just stared at each other as we walked closer. It was really no less creepy than the little boy in the hallway. Almost immediately, I remember the thread somebody had posted on DreamViews, saying that - the next time we encounter a mirror - we should walk through it, to see what happens. Since walking through mirrors usually causes a drastic dream scene change for me, I decided to have a little fun first. With my dimly-lit double staring back at me, I lunged at the mirror and sank my arms into it. I couldn't even feel the glass, this time, and it was like there was nothing there. I grabbed around behind my reflection, and noticed that he had done the same thing to me, bringing his arms out of the mirror to wrap around mine. I started pulling backward, to try to bring my reflection out of the mirror, and onto my side of the glass. He was a strong som'bitch, though, and kept resisting. It was pretty even. Again - like the last time I tried this, I was only able to bring him out just a little bit. This time, the stalemate made it feel like the dream was beginning to unravel, so I gave in, and let him go. Not wanting to lose the dream without doing what I'd meant to do, I stepped forward and sank my face into the mirror, followed by my whole body. The reflected image I was seeing - of the dark room behind me - stayed the same. My reflection was gone. It seemed as though I'd stepped precisely into the reflection. In the little bit of light still creeping in from the door, I saw that all the furniture and picture frames on the wall were the same way they had been, in the reflection. It was really weird. It was the first time that walking through a mirror actually felt more like walking into the reflection, through a window. Very surreal. As could almost be expected, though, stepping into the reflection - smooth a transition as it was - still made things become more unstable and, soon, the dream dimmed itself out and the scene completely changed.

I was now on day-lit plains, still lucid. There was nothing around me, except a line of very large trees. After walking a while, I left the tall grass and launched myself into the air, flying just high enough to get a better view. Within the trees, I could see large swaths of them that were cut down. Many of these tree stumps were massive. Maybe a hundred feet around, or so. Some of them had what looked like family crests carved into the flattened tops of the stumps. I surveyed a bit more and actually found a civilization of people living in the woods. They were completely integrated with the thicker, forest area and had rope bridges and huts and canopies strewn all through the trees. Dropping back to the ground, I came upon a commotion. A lot of these tree-dwelling people had wrangled some kind of very large animal, and they were having a hell of a time subduing it. Once I was able to get a good look at the animal, I could clearly see that it was a gryphon. A very big gryphon. And these guys just could not get it to keep its talons on the ground.

With nothing else to do, I decided to help out. I slung my hand out in the creature's direction and made a long string of rope manifest, attaching it to the gryphon's neck. I tried to pull downward, but was instantly lifted off of my feet. The power of this raptor's flailing around slung me around, like a rag doll. But it wasn't violent, in the least. It was as if I was weightless, and just flowing with the wind pushed off of its enormous wings. I never touched the ground after that - just kind of swung around like a kite tail. I tried to exert my will to put my feet on the ground, a few times, but I was completely overwhelmed by this upward flow that seemed to keep my afloat. It was actually a lot of fun.

The next thing I know, I'm back in the dark house again. Wandering some random hallways. Still lucid. I walked out a back door, and there were a lot of people hanging out by what I believe was a pool deck. I don't remember actually seeing the pool, though. I left them alone and high-jumped over the fence, landing on the other side. This was now more like an apartment complex, than a single house. I walked over to another one of the structures and made my way inside, into another set of dark halls. Soon, I was in another darkened room. There was a man asleep in his bed, who woke up with a start, after I walked in. He was an older guy. Had to be in his 50's.

It was right around here, that I started thinking about how long I'd been dreaming, and how much of the dream I was probably going to forget, when I woke up. I knew I needed to start writing something down, which I sometimes do to help review some of the things that have happened, before the dream ends. Knowing that I would need a pad and pencil, I looked at the man's dresser, and there was a set sitting on top of it. I began writing down as much as I could remember. While doing this, I'd thought I woke up. In reality, I had simply slipped into a False Awakening, with another dream following...

"Haitian Havoc" - 01/08/2007

"Haitian Havoc"

01/08/2007

Dream #3

I was on some mountainous, island paradise, though I'm not really certain whether I was villager or visitor. I think I was the latter, because I didn’t know much about the land until someone told me about its history. This village was on the top of a particular cliff; a flat, circular area, surrounded at the outer-edge of the hilltop by large trees and hidden from nearly all other points on the island, below, it seemed. Most of us were outside and there were a bunch of children just running around and playing, having a good time. Off to one side of the village grounds, there was a large, stone building whose roof was held up by stone pillars that seemed more fitting for a museum, than a structure built way out in some remote village in the tropics.

I don’t know how this bad blood was born, but our village apparently had a long-running conflict with a large community of Haitians that lived across a small body of water which sat a mile or two away from the bottom of our cliff. (Though I don't know that the area we were in was, specifically, Haiti, I just knew that the group on the other island was known as 'the Haitians'.) We could look down over the water, and their area, but they could not look up and see our village from below, mostly because of our altitude and the fact that we were surrounded by trees, on all sides.

I don’t remember what provoked them, but somehow a long-range firefight broke out between us and them. Most of the people in our village lived in fear of the Haitians because they had superior forces and armament, but - for some reason - I think it was our side, who had intially started the trouble with them. Whatever the case, our villagers were now shooting down through the trees, off of the cliff, and raining bullets down upon the Haitian’s territory. In turn, there were a lot of bullets coming up in our direction, from down there. The women and children around us were screaming; bystanders telling everyone to hide because the Haitians would soon be coming up here and looking for blood. Everyone scattered. All of the men took up posts in the trees, as hidden away from the open circle of the inner-village as possible. Bullets were riveting into the branches of the trees all around me as the Haitians continued firing from the distant land mass, far below. I saw one of our men - whom had been shooting back at them - get sprayed with bullets, a few feet away from me. He immediately went down; tumbling, like rag doll, from the branches which once held him.

A short while after the firing stopped, I looked out over the center of the village and saw a large group of men approaching with guns. Of course, I didn’t have a gun, myself. My heart started pounding and anxiety was like a bear hug around my chest. I could hardly breathe. Still in a tree, I was in a twisted position, trying my best to lay flat with a large branch covering most of my body so that I was partially hidden from view, staring down through the leaves at these men. They quickly corralled a few of our villagers and were making 'demands' that we were supposed to meet, so that they wouldn’t come back and lay waste to all of 'our' village's women and children. They then began destroying some of our tools and weapons, to drive home their point. One of the men slowly turned in my direction and squinted through the trees, directly at me. Immediately, he swung the barrel of his rifle at me and demanded that I come out of hiding. Reluctantly, I climbed down and walked over to him, completely unprepared for whatever fate lay ahead of me.

Once I came within arm's reach, the armed man grabbed me by my neck and spun me around, shoving his gun barrel against my back. I was then herded toward the building at gunpoint, and I could hear a frightful reaction from some of our other villages as they watched me get escorted off. I had a feeling I was about to be executed. For some reason, this man pushed me into the building where most of the women and all of the children were. Surprisingly enough, this room looked like a somewhat modern, yet impoverished, school. The children stared at us, wide-eyed, watching the man push me up against a table. He was about to make an example out of me and kill me in front of all of these children.

Even though my stomach was against the table, the man shoved his gun harder into my back, pushing me forward. The table slid for a moment but then got caught on something. The man kept on pushing, as if he was literally trying to push the gun barrel into my back, like a knife. He pushed so hard that the force of my body actually split the heavy wooden table in half and fell forward, through it, crashing against the next table down the row. He did the same thing again, driving the gun barrel into my back hard enough to press me through the table, splintering this one as well. The only thing in front of me now was the wall. With my chest forced against side of the room, I felt the gun against my back again. He started to push and he kept on pushing, really putting all of his body weight into this dime-sized point in my back. Talk about pain. I think he was seriously trying to impale me with the gun barrel. The pressure was squeezing me up against the wall, my back arching against the torturous sensation. I didn’t know what to do because fear of being shot in the back kept me paralyzed. The harder he pushed, the worse the pain got until, finally, it became unbearable. A low groan from my mouth escalated into a loud, agonizing yell. Just as I felt the gun was about to penetrate into my lower back, I woke up. The once-excruciating pain faded away as quickly as my eyes had opened.

"A Lesson in Na'vi Pain Management" - 12/30/2010

"A Lesson in Na'vi Pain Management"
12/30/2010

(Tried a little dream incubation, this morning, and paid for it. I had turned on Avatar, focusing on my intention to draw myself into the movie, through DILD. Unfortunately, it worked. Quite possibly the most painful dream I have ever had in my life. I wasn't even on B6, but I did have a good liquor buzz when I went to bed. It was just as intense, though.)

I was Jake, from the movie Avatar, standing high in one of the mighty, cloud-scraping trees of the life-harboring moon, Pandora. The war with Colonel Quaritch was soon coming, and the rest of the Na'vi were off somewhere else, preparing themselves for the impending battle. Upon a single, gargantuan branch of this tree, I was being trained by a man who identified himself as an old arch-enemy of mine. He looked human, but this dude was enormous; bigger than I was, even at Na'vi size. (He kind of looked like this picture of Heihachi Mishima, but thicker; with longer limbs, and completely bald.) According to this guy, I wasn't quite 'ready' to face Colonel Quaritch and his battalion. I was still "just Jake," and - as this guy would tell it - I was not accustomed to my Na'vi form enough to maximize its potential. So, he was about to teach me about how to manage my perception of pain, as experienced through this neuro-linked clone of a Na'vi body, that my human mind was inhabiting.. Apparently, I had somehow already known that this powerful man was renown for his skills - on an interstellar level - and my best move would be to listen to everything he said. I braced myself, knowing I was going to be in for a tough trial.

Suddenly, I was rocked in the stomach with a fist that might have caused a human being to explode on impact. Another one followed, with yet another close behind. Before I knew it, I was on my knees, in agony; my ribs feeling like they were being beaten in with a baseball bat. He didn't stop, though, screaming at me to get up, just before slamming me with another devastating body shot. This man was definitely not human - as if his size didn't immediately give that away. His strength was something straight out of a video game, and I could swear I was able to sense the shock waves jetting off of each punch to my midsection. I honestly don't know of many times I've ever felt pain like this - if any. The blows drove in on me...almost rhythmically. He was in no rush...just punching away, at his leisure. Completely unprepared for this, I tried desperately to drag myself away from him; helpless.

At this point, I didn't know if he was supposed to be teaching me or was actually trying to kill me. That was until he began to explain how I had the potential to block all of the pain out of my mind, and maintain focus and endurance for battle. He said that it was something that all warriors were able to do, and that I would be able to tap into the Na'vi's ability to do it at an accelerated rate (which was never explained as having been an actual ability of the Na'vi, in the movie. I think this DC just made it up on the spot, which is interesting). He wasn't exactly nice about it, though... Each punch would hurl itself into my gut, and I would yell out in pain - this man's only response being to yell back at me for not taking it 'like a warrior'.

...I definitely didn't feel like a warrior, at the time...

The cadence of punches continued, and I was now in too much collective pain to fight back, even if I wanted to.  Still, I dragged myself along the beast of a tree branch beneath us, which easily supported our bodies without wavering. He was all over me, though, and just would not fucking let up. He jumped from one side of me to the other, anytime I would start trying to scramble away a little more quickly. Each punch was now starting to bring me closer to tears, already having me openly screaming out with each torturous thud - and he could see it. He picked me up to my feet, my body practically limp, and glared at me sternly. Holding me up with one hand and barking at me to 'stop crying', he slammed more punches into me with his free hand, and each one was no less crushing than the last. I was being brutally beaten, and it was more than I could bear.

The gnarled look of torment in my face was slowly turning into a snarl of determination. I knew I couldn't just sit there and let him beat me to a meat-sack of pulverized bone. My eyes locked on his, and my fists tightened - every muscle in my body soon following suit. Immediately, he picked up on this and sneered, growling "WHAT?! ARE YOU ANGRY?! HUH??" through his teeth. His eyes were on fire with the a show of malice that just couldn't have been false. This was becoming a life or death situation. I felt my legs strengthen beneath me, beginning to stand up straight, slowly, but almost involuntarily. The pain was sequentially residing as the fist continued to pound away. I was getting stronger with each blow, able to sense that each punch would still have left a crater upon the trunk of the enormous tree we were in, yet I was becoming increasingly unable to feel them.

After a few more seconds of the onslaught, I was standing up tall, glaring at him with a scowl. Finally, he stopped punching, glaring back at me, still looking at me like a mortal enemy, but no doubt gauging my stoicism after such a merciless attack. From what I could tell, he had decided that I must have been successful in my ascension. My torso still burned from all angles, but my entire muscular structure felt tightened and invigorated. The pain was still there, and it was damn intense....but I just didn't care. He told me that I was now ready for battle...

My recollection of the dream skipped ahead, and I was then running and jumping through the towering trees with a female Na'vi. She swung across a gap between branches, on a vine, and I did the same, right behind her. The two of us landed on another branch, this one just barely big enough for us to fit upon. When we landed, I took a sweeping glance down toward the ground - hundreds of yards below us - and I felt my stomach turn. It was the first time that I realized just how high up we really were. I found myself thinking "what the hell am I doing way up here?" and I think this could have eventually led to lucid dream. However, all chance of that soon disappeared, when our attention got drawn to the sight of the Colonel's aerial gunships flying in over the landscape, toward our village. What might have been our last run through the trees together was now over, and it was time to go to war.

(I woke up here, and the movie was actually just getting to the final battle, practically in sync with the content of my dream, leading me to believe that some of the audio might have been seeping into my dream, when I was beginning to awaken - which happens every now and then I was hungover, and it seemed to take some time for the sensation of pain in my stomach to fade. Instead, it seemed to go to my head, which was now throbbing. Even some time after all of this, while sitting at the computer, I had to hug my stomach, just because it seemed like the faintest - probably just mentally projected - trace of that horrible pain still lingered.

Not the best sleep I've ever had...)