Lucid Dreaming Again, Holy Cow

Damn, it happened again! I was chasing a train through the city on my bike, trying to catch up with someone who was inside. The city was full of strange intersections and alleyways, tunnels and overpasses. I was going faster than a car, weaving in and out of traffic and always just behind the train.

The train went into a long and curving tunnel where I lost sight of it through a mass of gridlock that shut me out. I veered left towards the other end of the tunnel to cut the train off as it came out, and I knew I had to move fast and take some risks or I'd lose it for good.

I swerved around a guard rail over the edge of the overpass and soared downward. As my bike left the pavement, I looked down, and too late I realized how high up I had been. I was falling hundreds of feet onto the back of the emerging train. There was no way I could land and survive.

My entire body jolted with a spike of nightmare-adrenaline, and once again I felt my conscious mind intervene. "This is not real," I told myself, "And I'm not going to die this way." At that, my falling slowed to a stop. The tracks slowly rose up. I was moving the city, bringing the ground slowly up to meet my wheels, the way I had expected it to be when I first took the shortcut.

At the same time, I realized that if I kept controlling the action I was going to wake up. I was beginning to feel my body, lying on the bed, and I knew that if I moved so much as a finger it would break the spell and I would lose the dream. I tried halfheartedly to fly like a bird, but it didn't work because I had begun to question my abilities. Too much awareness, not enough fantasy. I was thinking about how best to balance the state in the future as I gradually released control of the dream and allowed it to continue.

I lost the train in the time it took me to touch down, but that didn't matter much. See, the whole chase was just a video game anyway, and I knew I would beat my score with no problem on my next try. Then it was all about swimming at a lake with the Captain, and a white and gentle dog the size of a bear was showing me a tiny kitten who was its dearest compantion. Its paw was so huge the kitten could have used it as a bed. I spent the rest of the dream looking at posters of bad anime fanart, and woke up sicker than yesterday, with my puppy curled up beside me on the bed.

Now for some analysis: So far, every time I've cut into a dream, it's been to stop a terrifying thing from happening. The jolt of full-body fear seems to be the signal, right back to the first one. So my question is: am I having more nightmares this month than I ever used to, or am I setting these terrible situations up as a trigger to the lucidity that has begun to increase? Hmm.

Every dream I have is linked to the previous one. I am aware of them as a series inside the dream, and I am comparing them with my normal logic and speed. In the dream, I am slowly learning new things about my ability to decide what happens around me, but my control is poor. Something in the conscious mind says "impossible" and I can't allow that to dictate what I do in fantasy. So my project for the next dream will be to address this issue, so I can set off better dreams before letting go of the action. I would definitely prefer to go back to normal dreaming once I've changed the terms, because it feels more free and exciting that way, but it would be cool if I could give myself abilities first and then let them play out on their own.

For one thing, think of the ideas I could have if I could set the stage in one of my story universes, and let my unconscious mind play with the parameters and go wherever. I did this once when I was 12 after some bedtime meditation, and it led to amazing fun.

Even More Lip Service For The Captain

Check out my dog's awesome regenerative powers:



The vitiligo appears to be slowly repigmenting. I've been noticing little freckles on his muzzle all winter long, but it wasn't til I compared the first and latest photos that the real scope of the change became apparent. He might get all the color back at this rate *hope hope*. He's such a handsome color without the Joker paint look.

WHO LOVESES THE CAPTAIN? I LOVESES THE CAPTAIN!

Chore Wars

Fuck yeah, my Chore Wars ranger hit Level 2.

This website is the absolute best thing ever. I had planned to make up something like this, an RPG-style planner website where you frame your to-do list as a series of quests, and gain exp for doing chores. Turns out somebody else has done it already, and way better than I would have managed.

Rah, Jesse and I formed a party yesterday and created about 20 different custom adventures. They cover everything from changing the litter box to updating Kagerou. We also plugged in a ton of zany shit as items you can win for clearing the adventure. I got a puppy, an empty condom box and 225 gold pieces for two days' worth of work. Rich beyond the dreams of avarice!

I used the empty condom box already, but it didn't give me any stat bonuses :(

I am particularly pleased with the way this system logs your cleared quests. Now I can keep track of how often I do the laundry. Also, it is insanely fun to compete with the other roomies to see who can get the most done. I caught myself doing another load of dishes before bed last night just to claim the 10 XP and bragging rights. Inking my comic gave me 40 points and put me in the lead.

Your move, dickfaces.

Anyway. Bedtime for me since it's past midnight and I'm being good for my therapist and obeying the clock.

Try that site out though, seriously, it's rad.

I Can has Leonids?

How can I best view a meteor shower?

If you live near a brightly lit city, drive away from the glow of city lights and toward the constellation from which the meteors will appear to radiate.

For example, drive north to view the Leonids. Driving south may lead you to darker skies, but the glow will dominate the northern horizon, where Leo rises. Perseid meteors will appear to "rain" into the atmosphere from the constellation Perseus, which rises in the northeast around 11 p.m. in mid-August.

After you've escaped the city glow, find a dark, secluded spot where oncoming car headlights will not periodically ruin your sensitive night vision. Look for state or city parks or other safe, dark sites.

Once you have settled at your observing spot, lay back or position yourself so the horizon appears at the edge of your peripheral vision, with the stars and sky filling your field of view. Meteors will instantly grab your attention as they streak by.

How do I know the sky is dark enough to see meteors?

If you can see each star of the Little Dipper, your eyes have "dark adapted," and your chosen site is probably dark enough. Under these conditions, you will see plenty of meteors.

-From here.

And just for fun, here's a video of the Peekskill Fireball: