Mortal Mist

[First dream since joining Mortal Mist.]

First dream since joining Mortal Mist. May 9th, 2008. Friday (None)

Not all that impressive really... but at least I recalled something. It probably has something to do with the fact that I was left undisturbed to sleep in (which NEVER happens at my house) and so I did... I slept for twelve hours.

My earliest memory in this dream was going outside in the backyard with my brother. It was foggy like all of my dreams have been, but it looked just like the pavement we had for our patio, except the door I had entered from was coming in the wrong angle... simply put, I had opened my backdoor, but when I stepped outside I had come from the side door of our garage, which is on an adjacent wall to the backdoor way... anyway, this didn't really catch my attention as much as the huge snake body that spanned the patio and dropped off the edge of the concrete.

It was limp, so we just assumed it was dead. It didn't scare my brother or myself, it was more of "this is random..." feeling. (NOTE: My recollection of this dream image wise didn't involve many people. I don't even remember seeing my brother's face or looking at him, but I had a "knowing" feeling he was there. The plotline I remember clear enough but the images are foggy and fragmented at best)

I decided to pick up its head with a stick, or some other rod like object. I lfited it up in such a way that the head would face the backdoor, that way my brother could get the rest of my family and i could show it to them. As I neared the head of the snake (which was so big it could only be an anaconda), I saw that there was blood leaking from its mouth and some sort of bugs were eating at it. They were like spiders, but they had the shiny bodies of beetles, that gleamed green or red in the light. When I lifted the head of the anaconda, some web was attached, and I asked my brother to pull it off of the head of the snake, which he did.

As I lifted it up, I held it higher than my head, and with the snake's head facing forward the body became its "neck". I think that this image, a vertical element as a "neck" with the head faced forward at the top is what made it change it change to an almost equine body. Like horses or antelopes, a neck with a head on top, the snout reaching outward. And so, the snake grew four legs and a large body. I actually remember briefly watching the front legs come together at the chest, which is something we have to do with larger forms (mannerquins) in taxidermy.



By the time the image of a four legged mammal became apparent, it was no longer a snake. It had fur, and had even grown horns. The horns were that of a bushbuck (above), but the body was way too big for that animal. I remember looking at the horns curiously and reaching up to touch them (again, like non lucids are, I don't see any of this as impossible). I must've startled it, as it ran away from me, but left its horns behind... they were still in my hand.

It must've gone through the backdoor, because my next set of memory had me in the living room (if you remember the door problem before, this is the room I had exited from the garage side door, but the animal went through the backdoor and ended up where he was supposed to be). The animal had gotten smaller now, but kept the same skin (not exactly like a bushbuck, I just recall a general brown pattern), and the same head shape. I could see a break in the skin where it used to have horns, but I didn't have the horns with me anymore. My parents were sitting on the leather couch that is actually in my living room, only it was against the wall that the backdoor is on, and thats not where our couch goes. The dog-antelope ran around playfully, jumping up and along the couch and around my parents just like a dog.

I remember watching it and saying out loud to my family "but it started out as a snake...". I didn't voice my thoughts, which were, if it had a snake brain, how was it acting like a dog? (don't ask me why I think that the brain would remain a snake... at this point I'm looking at a taxidermy form come to life, with its horns removed, that is acting like a dog... this question really isn't that weird)

The dog immediately flopped over as I said it started as a snake, and began to curl up, much like a cat does... however, it was obvious looking at it that the poor dog-antelope was trying to coil up like a snake now that I had pointed out an obvious flaw in its reality.

Not gaining lucidity here is what bothers me most. Sounds pretty weird huh, a snake becoming an antelope not bothering me as much of this? I'll explain. My world had changed because of my thought, and this cause and effect chain was VERY clear to me.

Still, I didn't get lucid, and this is the last of the dream that I remember. I can't even recall if it ended there and I woke up, or if I blacked out and then woke up a bit later.

The good thing about this dream is I can point out its origins. That day (yesterday) I was helping my dad with career day at my little sister's school. He was sick from the day before and only made it halfway through the classes before he had to go home and leave me to present. I taught the kids about Taxidermy, with the mount of an Axis deer, a few mannequins, a few skins, glass eyes, etc. This would explain why the anaconda became a taxidermy mount. One of the questions I'd always ask the kids was what some of their favorite animals were, and they could raise their hands to see if I had worked on them. I distinctly remember one kid asking if there was ever an anaconda mounted, but why this stuck with me in my unconscious baffles me. An anaconda isn't so odd when animals like hippos, koala bears, and platypuses were also questioned.

May 21st, 2008. Wednesday (Failed WILD)

After my failed WILD attempts, I actually had a dream... which has been scarce so far.

Its all very foggy as always, but I recall being in a school of some sort and our class had to present the concept of lucid dreaming to the community. This involved going outside in groups and presenting to the public. For some reason I ditched my partner, even though our project wasn't even finished and she was trying to write it up quickly before we went on. I, instead, went out and helped two others present the idea of lucid dreaming to a crowd of people.

I don't recall my helping of the first kid, or even who they were, but I do remember that I talked a lot of the time and that they didn't know what they were doing, hence I pretty much saved their ass. The second person I remember faintly resembling an old classmate of mine, but its been so long I don't even recall his name, just his face. For some reason he had a little robot miniature of himself dancing around in the street around the crowd in his presentation, and again, I was talking a lot of the time and helped him to succeed.

I don't know how it switched, but I was now in a large room with many rows of tables. There was a group of girls, one of which I somehow got into an argument about incomes. Often times when I argue in a dream, its just nonsenseical sentences, but at the time they seem like the end all be all of debate, conclusive and awe inspiring.

A guy a table or two behind them seemed to be irritated or embarassed about something or other I had said, when I had come to talk to him. He then transformed into a dragon, knocking over the table and flying across the room in a chase after me. At this point, I assumed the role of one of my Roleplay characters, named Ravage. His design is almost completely stolen from the Ravage character of the Unreal championship games, except I expanded on the design and customized it for my story long ago. My Ravage was a creature born from nightmares, an amalgamation of sharp rough metal, strong flesh, coagulated blood from fallen enemies, and shadows. He could stand on two legs or go on all fours like a wolf, crawling across different surfaces with the dexterity of a spider, as his hands and feet had razor sharp claws (and the rest of his body was a general assortment of spikes). He was probably my most vicious character in my RPing days, extremely powerful and just nasty in general.

This part of the dream is probably most important. When the concept of Ravage came to me, I had the thought process of what I would do to assume his role. My normal body leapt forward, and as I landed on all fours I felt myself transform into this character. I bounded between the tables with reckless abandon, looking over my shoulder as I quickly galloped for the dragon that was flying towards me, knocking over the tables I had just passed from. Its important to note here that the roomw as once filled with people sitting at the tables, but I noticed none of them now. The iamges weren't so clear as the plot was, but I could hear my roars and his roars. When I did a sharp turn and approached the dragon, jumping towards it as it descended upon me, my alarm clock woke me up.

As for real life causes for these dreams, I find this dream to be a mix of several things that've happened recently. I visited my high school when my sister won a scholastic award and was given a reception there with all the other bright children, and I had old memories of school and even saw a few juniors that I had recognized. Take this in with the fact that I am constantly looking up lucid dreaming, and my dream was about lucid dreaming instruction (don't you hate it when you talk about lucid dreaming in a dream and don't become lucid?). As for Ravage coming in, its probably because I was looking up Metal Gear stuff, and the Metal Gear Solid 4 game coming out has a character that moves simillar to Ravage, named Crying Wolf, a woman who is in a quadraped cybernetic suit.



It might be important to note that I recalled another dream briefly as I woke up for my WILD. However, I can't recall much except to know that it was another very odd story which I was a part of, and took place in an odd mansion-esque setting. I have a feeling that the story was rather deep, but don't we always?

(Its been so long I have to check back to remember the form when recording my dreams :/)

July 30th, 2008. Wednesday (None)

This was probably due to getting more sleep than usual all of the sudden, and having a conversation with a potential new member (an old friend of mine, who I didn't know until now had some interest in dreams) just before bed. Recall is still hazy, but I remember enough parts and enough within each part to consider it a dream and not a fragment.

I was at this park sort of place (those kind with the little play things for little kids... castles made of wood, swingsets, the like), presumably with my brother and sister but I don't recall anything before the ladder. I had climbed up this ladder and was now at the highest point of the park, which was so ridiculously high there was no way anyone would build such a towering spot for kids. I was hanging on to this wooden pole for support, and I was having vertigo and could feel myself leaning side to side, close to plummeting off the edge. My only irrational fear is that of heights... not so much a phobia (I love roller coasters) but its enough to paralyze me in certain situations. I remembered thinking that if I focus on the pole I was using for support ahead of me, that my focus would center also and I wouldn't feel like I was leaning out of control anymore. It seemed to make things worse instead.

I felt dizzy and I felt the fear of being so high (I don't even remember the climbing, just being at this spot. Why the hell would I be here?), or rather, falling from such a height when I would surely die. There was something up here with me (and this here is the only memory I have of climbing), it was a garden tool of some sort that had a long wooden handle and a metal tool at the other end. I assume its a shovel, but I don't remember specifics. I thought back to how difficult it was to climb a ladder while simultaneously bringing a shovel with me.

Because the shovel seemed dire to survival, I took one hand off the pole and grabbed it. It seemed to be a good enough distance away that I would have to stretch my entire wingspan to take it and hold onto the pole for support at the same time. I swerved when I reached for it, and although I grabbed it I swung off the edge anyway (a lot of this is really hazy. The only real images I have of this part is seeing the pole ahead of me and my vision being dizzying. I remember feeling like I was venturing towards the edge as I leaned, and I definitely remember swinging and falling, shovel with me). I swung off in such a way that I rotated in mid air and ended up crashing against the ladder that had led me up so high. I let go of the pole in the shock of the crash, and the garden instrument or shovel dropped below me. I remember as I fell down against the rungs of the ladder, my foot would collide with the shovel, its spade (or whichever tool it had on the end) would make contact with one of the rungs, the force between my foot and the spade snapping the wooden handle and bouncing me upwards. This happened a total of twice and seemed to slow my descent somehow, since I would go from free falling, the rungs of the huge ladder quickly rising in front of my face, to bouncing in the air and neutralzing the speed at which I was falling. I ended up landing on my back in the sand that most playgrounds like these have.

I remember looking at the shovel, as it was important now that I examine it after the fall. I look on the wooden handle that is snapped apart in three places, and see marks in red (sharpie?) that have "break" scrawled above them. I notice that the breaks I caused were merely inches away from the lines I had predicted, and I remember thinking "I was so close!" o0 even though while I was up there, I had no prior knowledge of making these marks, or that falling from the ladder was an effort to break the handle at the marks I had predicted. Apparently, though, this crazy shit was preconceived, and I became aware of things midway through it (not aware I was dreaming, but thats where my recall started anyway).

I have a brief memory of work. Apparently that handle of the shovel had become horns for a clients mount, and I was sure I was going to get in trouble for marking on it with red sharpie. I didn't seem to notice that what I had used before was a shovel and what I was holding now was a set of horns. They are the same color and very roughly the same shape, and in fact these horns actually have lines with the word "break" scrawled above them... I just didn't seem to be shocked that the shovel that saved my life (or the shovel I had used in some falling experiment o0) had become a set of animal horns. The horns dug deep enough into the mannequin that the skin surrounding them would cover up the marks (the horns never into the mannequin in real life, they are merely mounted withs crew on top of the head. I seemed to shove them down to hide the writing). I was relieved that no one would notice the marks.

Now another scene, perhaps it was another dream but I never space these apart in my head. One dream didn't end and another begins, my recall simply picked up elsewhere. I remember talking briefly to Vanessa, a girl I had met on youtube a few days ago because she was a fan of Ayn Rand. I don't remember the content of the conversation too much, but it seemed school related in that we were talking about assignments or exams or whatever.

Skip to another scene. I am at a banquet or ceremony of some sort because I have been nominated for an award. The awards are centralized around the lucid dreaming community for best of certain categories. DVs, MM, and LL people (basically, any dreamers that I know) are the ones voting and receiving awards. I have gotten the award for best post (writing wise), and for some reason the thread that is marked by my name was the @$!&% Dreamviews thread, even though I didn't write it. I didn't seem to remember that I didn't write it... the little sign that had the categories and who won them with which thread said I had, and I didn't question it. I felt proud for being nominated for this award. There were other awards on the sign, I think I remember Kromoh having something for best images, but I don't remember enough.

Everything else is fragmented too much to recover. The dream ended around here when I woke up.

[August 2nd, 2008. Saturday (None)]

August 2nd, 2008. Saturday (None)

This dream had more of a flow than the ones I had last time, so I'm chalking it up as an actual dream. Recall could still very well be improved on this, I remember clearly being in other parts, but they're missing from my memory now.

I had this new phone (probably the iPhone I have on order right now that hasn't come in yet) and I looked through it to find pictures of this girl I hardly knew chocking an ex of mine (initials SB, I'll call her S for this dream). I seemed to have knowledge of her earlier in the dream, but its foggy now. S herself wasn't out of place but to see this new girl (apparently, a significant other in this dream or potential one o0 someone I had seen for a little while or something. I don't remember who it was now, but in the dream, she wasn't random at all). It seemed that the feeling I got was she was fighting S, my ex, away from me. I send these pictures to ex and get no response.

S lives far away in reality. In this dream, she doesn't. Because my parent's truck is stolen, and I know she did it. In another car there seemed to be a clue of some sort, a slip of paper or something... or maybe I'm just creating the clue. For some reason I knew she went to the university (even though I've never been in a university... just my community college, and thats not where she went). I asked the neighbors if I could borrow their car, and apparently the husband was a professor of some sort. I remember having an odd and pointless conversation with him until eventually they let me have their vehicle.

I can't drive... or can't drive well, in reality. Maybe thats why I completely forget everything that happened on the way to the university. Apparently, something had happened on the way, because as I sifted through the crowds of people in the hallways, who apparently knew what was going on (I could somehow tell that the thing between S and I had spread throughout the student body like a good rumor, and people seemed to stop whispering and give me a knowing glance as I walked by), I remember clearly saying "I crashed two cars on the way over here. Where is she?".

On the ground was a box, a small one, and inside was a latter. It was terribly scrawled like a four year old did it (why is the handwriting in my dreams so terrible?), and it was from her. Said "I love you" a few times and something about running away together somewhere really cheap o0 and I don't know how money became involved. When recalling this after waking up, I suppose that its because our house was foreclosed upon recently and we keep looking for houses.

Someone who had apparently seen where S went and was waiting for me so he could drive me there. He said something that seemed to be of importance, but I woke up somewhere right here and don't recall. This dream is odd to me because I haven't given S much thought lately. She left me a few years ago (people break up with me, it never seems to be the other way around) and we still keep contact today. Not the typical ex tension with her, she's a really good friend now.

And now, some fragments. You see after I woke up with this, I discovered my physical dream journal had no pen in it like it usually does. So, I quickly went to my laptop and opened up a copy of pj's interview from long ago and wrote little bits and pieces as I would in my actual dream journal. I read these before posting here and they helped recall.

My family was leaving me alone for some reason this morning. Although I had good intentions on sleeping earlier than usual last night, I tossed and turned and ended up sleeping around 3... which was 3 hours past when I had tried to go to sleep. So of course, I sleep in. After typing some little notes on this dream in wordpad, I went back to bed and woke up several times, producing fragments.

In one, I had frozen my little sister. Just like Sub Zero from Mortal Kombat. I watched the ice climb up her body and enshroud it, ending around her face. Her expression was first of shock, then of annoyance (the same look she gives me when I bug her in reality XD). I decided that she was my sister, so I wouldn't roundhouse kick the ice block and shatter her into a million pieces, as what happens typically in the game.


I had another fragment with Doug from Weeds in it. He seemed to be telling me something that was deep and important, but I don't recall what it is. This is odd of him, because in the show Weeds he's usually the lovable moron.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=thPN6-5tA9Q   Language and very slight image warning. The "runway" guy is Doug.

As I went to sleep again after this one, I was thinking of something and it randomly popped up as the onset of a dream. Once I realized this, I'd regain consciousness. I tried it again but when I will it it doesn't work. Then not trying, it works again. It was the onset of a dream, not a full fledged one... similar to what I get in my WILD attempts. Very odd.

[July 10th, 2010 (Hypnotic Suggestion? mu's SP summon technique?)]

July 10th, 2010 (Hypnotic Suggestion? mu's SP summon technique?)

Click here for a lengthy explanation for methods and other factors that may or may not have contributed to this dream.

I woke up naturally today somewhere in the seven hour of the am. I didn't seem to have any reason for getting up, except thats when I've gotten up for work in the past few weeks. I had very decent recall from this, and went over it in my head a few times before going back to sleep.

Later on around eleven my sister woke me up looking for an iPhone charging cable, even though it was exactly where it was supposed to be. This not only annoyed me, but it completely slaughtered my recall, although I know for certain I had a second and just as long dream.

The dream I remember was enough for me to consider a "full dream" because it had a somewhat stable plot line and multiple "scenes" to it.

The earliest part I remember, I was flirting with this psychologist - it may have been a professor. I seem to remember it being not in person - perhaps via phone or email. I was beginning to consider this person as a potential girlfriend, even though I have one in the waking world (and she'll probably read this soon). This is the "blurriest" part of my dream, since it occurs so early on. I didn't have a pencil when I woke up, so I couldn't jot details down unfortunately.

In another part, I was in a nondescript city. There were more zombies (last night, I was talking to a few people about how I keep having zombie dreams, and I think that just reaffirmed their prescence in my dreams). There was just a knowledge that the city was in zombie epidemic/survivior colony panic mode. I went to a book store - for some reason, this is related to the psychologist from before. I may have been looking for a book she had written. I seemed to somehow brag about her to the store's clerk (this is likely just waking world rationalization; the psychologist, and me bragging about her, was more of an essence than actual words to the clerk. So I probably rationalized "I'm involved with the psychologist who wrote this book" upon recall). I do remember specifically asking him if he still accepted money, or if there was some sort of bartering system now (y'know, with the zombie apocalypse going on). Looking back on it now, its actually a good question; and as if because I was asking him that, the clerk happened to be stacking big piles of change, particularly quarters. I'm not sure what he answered, but I remember leaving the store and seeing their store front windows clearly when I walked out.

In another scene of the dream, I was running from a zombie. There was this section that I believed to be the entrance to a "safe house" of sorts that survivors could get to. Describing it now, I don't really understand how it could possibly work, but in the dream it made sense. It was this large rectangular area, sort of like an awning separated from a building, but coming down the sides were those vertical plastic flaps that you might see covering a freezer, or a loading dock in a warehouse, or a hospital, or sultry other places (if anyone can tell me the proper name for this, it'd help me out). It obscured sight but it was easy to run through, and somehow I processed that to mean that it was helpful for getting rid of zombies that were chasing you (this "hallway" of hanging plastic also lead to the entrance of the "safe house" so combined they must have seemed like a good strategy).

So I'm being chased by this zombie, the fast kind, and its gaining on me so I run through the plastic so that I'm under the awning, and then quickly back out. My reasoning here is that when I enter the end of this rectangle, the plastic will obscure me from his vision, so when I cut at 90 degree angle and run through the side of the rectangle really quick, by the time the zombie catches up and enters the awning, I will have effectly "disappeared" by running from it at the side. Looking at it now, its actually a damned fine idea, if not for the plastic flapping when you run through it. But I suppose a zombie wouldn't be able to process that.

I do this a few times and elude the zombie quite well, and finally enter the safe house of sorts.

This next part feels like its part of the same dream, but since the zombies and psychologist aren't entirely involved, it might be a separate fragment. I seem to have the "knowledge" of the psychologist and the zombies, so I feel it is linked.

I am in a computer lab, like one at school. I don't remember what I was doing, except I did something I thought was hilarious (and other students found quite funny too). I took the little headset head phones these labs are always equipped with, open them up and turn them on myself, then press them to my chest as if they are defibrillator paddles, and say "clear!" and make a shocking sound and voluntarily convulse as if I'm being shocked. I do the same and shock other people too, something I think would be awkward but I as well as everyone else seems to find it hilarious.

My fragment after this, the second time I woke up, was completely annihilated. Waking me up and then asking me to process a question in the first fifteen seconds I'm awake is a good way to both annoy me, and ruin any recall. I'm recording a fragment here, but without details, I wonder if it even counts.

Possible Causes:

As I said before I was explaining both to WIA and ribbons last night that I keep having zombie dreams, and this undoubtedly came back. I'm not sure where the psychologist and bookstore come from; although I did read a very very very old post I made here at MM yesterday about an experience I had at a book store. The vertical hanging plastic thinggies (STILL don't know what to call them, I hope everyone knows what I'm talking about) I've come into contact with loading stuff into a Bass Pro shop, I've seen it in a movie a few weeks ago for a makeshift human body freezer, and a month or so back played a game with zombie-esque creatures in a hospital that had them. I don't think any of these really caused that, but I'm looking for anything possible really.