Monday 28 March 2016

Dream 596 (SHORT FALSE AWAKENING)

'Going to NYC x 4'
Dream date: 27 March 2016

This is Day 28 of my Dream Incubation Experiment. You can read the details and methodology of my latest Dream Incubation Experiment by clicking HERE

At the start of this dream I had a brief false awakening. I had been attempting to have a WILD (Wake-Initiated Lucid Dream) when I first fell asleep and had managed to start the process of hypnagogia and sleep paralysis. My body had started to feel heavy and disconnected, so that by focusing my mind from my body I was able to no longer perceive it. I must have fallen asleep, because I then 'woke up' to the sound of my doorbell - although the sound of the doorbell was a 'ding-dong' rather than the broken buzzer sound of my actual real-life doorbell. I thought (lucidly): 'This is a false awakening' - I used the sound of the doorbell, and the fact I had been writing on this topic just before I fell asleep, as a dreamsign. I then heard a noise - which sounded like claws scratching - coming from inside the built-in wardrobe at the bottom of my bed, and felt worried about what hallucination I might experience. I must have fallen back to sleep properly again, because I then entered a normal non-lucid dream.

Scene 1: An Interior Scene (Location Unknown) - Time Unknown

I was in an interior scene with NN, my friend from school. We were trying to dress Barbie dolls. I picked up a skirt - a black and white tartan mini-skirt, which resembles one I own in real-life, but which no longer fits me. Now it was Barbie-size and the act of dressing the Barbie 'represented' me dressing myself. I thought that the skirt would be too small for the Barbie, but I was surprised to find that I could pull it up over her hips and fasten the buttons at the back, meaning that it did fit. I felt happy.

Scene 2: An Interior Scene (Location Unknown) - Time Unknown
I was then with 2 young adult female dream characters - one was Caucasian with brown hair (name unrecalled) and the other was Chinese and her name was 'Morag'. Both these females were my friends in the dream. Morag in particular wanted to be a stand-up comedian or actress and was hoping to get 'her big break' soon. All of her acts revolved around her doing a monologue about her ill health - she just had a viral infection or the flu, but every single piece of comedy or acting she did involved her sitting on a chair, tilting her head back and crying because she felt unwell and 'needed a tissue!' (she would scream this line out at the audience). 

Scene 3: 'New York' (actually: High Street, Sheringham) - Day
I was then told by my Mum that she had a friend who would let me use her 'studio' in New York to work in. The 'studio' in New York would be empty for half of the week because my Mum's friend (in the dream) worked as an actress with a big show, and had to travel to do gigs. I was very excited by the prospect of visiting New York regularly. 

My Mum's friend 's New York studio was actually located in Sheringham High Street. It was where my Mum's real-life friend, MF2 used to work, in a small lingerie shop called 'Bloomers' (see Google Street View image, below). The studio was relatively the same (very small) size of the shop, but it also had an open fireplace in it. I found myself sitting by the fireplace, performing a task related to my use of the 'studio' (I am not sure what it was, but it was a creative task). At some point in the evening, I decided to 'travel back' to the UK from 'New York'. This journey was just a short car journey

Scene 4: My Nan's House (Sheringham) - Day
I returned to my Nan's house. EB and another male dream character were there waiting for me. We were in a room which was not one that exists in the house in real-life. EB forced the other male to leave so that he could be alone with me, but I was not happy. I was aware that EB was 'trying to win me over'. He took off all of his clothes and I found that his mid-section (torso) was wrapped in silver tape. He was wearing blue tartan boxer shorts and was getting ready to have a shower - there was a shower in the room we were in. He started to profess his love for me, but I didn't want to hear it. I definitely did not want to have sex with him, and this seemed to be the implication - that he wanted me to shower with him and have some kind of sexual relationship. I was refusing and he was trying to plead with me to stay with him there, at my Nan's house. EB then showered alone. I decided that it might be easier to stay there with EB, but wondered if I could get RBA to come along instead (EB and RBA used to be friends when they both lived in my local area - i.e. before RBA moved back to Scotland). EB and I then went into my Nan's back garden and EB was excited and happy. Seeing him in this mood made my hostility towards him cool a little and I started to enjoy his company more. This felt significant in the dream.

Scene 5: 'New York' (actually: High Street, Sheringham) - Day
I decided that I had to leave to go back to the New York studio, and I found myself there. It was daytime, but quite dark outside. I looked out of the window and saw that the town clock (see image) was now made of some kind of brown rocks or ice - as was the street around it. No cars could use this section of the road anymore - it was pedestrian only. The purpose of this new town clock was to get people to stand there, naked in the street, so they could be 'liberated'. A male dream character was standing, arms raised, completely naked outside the town clock. I thought that I would love to experience this 'liberation' and decided to go out and take my clothes off too. I walked out of the shop, which was only a couple of metres away from the town clock (as it is in real-life). I noticed that the naked dream character male - now dressed - was my American Facebook friend, SS, who I care about a lot. I was so pleased to meet him and was excited. I told SS that I now had a studio in New York so could hang out with him regularly. SS also seemed pleased and excited by this prospect and we hugged.  My Mum then appeared in the doorway of 'the studio' and said we had to leave. I discovered it was night. I thought: 'I left my phone in the studio [I could picture it beside the fireplace]...I bet it's been stolen!' However, when I went into the studio, to collect my belongings, I found my phone was exactly where I left it and was relieved. 

My Mum and I then drove (my Mum driving, me in the passenger seat) up to the top of the town, by the roundabout - as if we were going to my Nan's house. See the image from Google Streetview, below - and note the railings on the left of the picture. When we reached this part of town, my Mum informed me that I could not use the New York studio anymore, as her friend had to end her tour early because she didn't have enough entertainers to perform. She would be returning to use her studio full-time. I looked at the railings (to my left) and saw my Mum's friend behind them, surrounded by what looked like a huge billboard with flashing lights, advertising her show. The friend said (so that we could hear this from inside the car): 'I haven't got an impressionist for my act...' - I looked and noted that my right of the billboard was an empty space for the photograph of the impressionist. I said (to my Mum and her friend at the same time, as we were just parked by the railing, or waiting in traffic, so not moving): 'My friend Morag could be the impressionist!' My Mum and her friend thought this was a great idea and agreed that Morag should go on tour with the friend. I then saw a scene of Morag performing her 'illness' sketch while sitting on a chair, her head tilted backwards, while she wailed: 'I want a tissueeeeeeeeeeee!' This act was very successful and I felt overjoyed to have solved the problem for my Mum's friend and maintained my access to the New York studio. 

Scene 6: The Kitchen in my House (Norwich) - Day
I was then with my Mum and a number of male (unrecalled) dream characters in my kitchen in my house in Norwich. I was leaning on the work surface, with the males standing nearby. My Mum was crouching on the floor. I told the males: 'I've been to New York 3 times this week'. The males (I think there were 3 - 4 of them) were denying this was possible and telling me that there was no way I could have gone to New York that many times in one week. I looked to my Mum to back me up. She raised one hand and counted on her fingers, saying: '1, 2, 3, 4 - she's been to New York 4 times this week already!' The males seemed to accept that my Mum was telling the truth and I felt vindicated. 

Scene 7: An Interior Scene (Location Unknown) - Day
I was then with my Mum, EB and some other male dream characters. We were going to present a model we had made - a scale model of a house/building. I was holding this, and was apprehensive, because it was made simply of paper and was very fragile and I thought I might break it somehow. We were standing in front of a table. There was nothing much going on in my field of vision, but I was aware of some action happening behind me, as we were in a busy room. My Mum told me to be careful with the paper house. I then placed it down on the table, but the table was wet with water, and the paper house absorbed the water, became wet and collapsed slightly. I was annoyed and shouted: 'I don't want the responsibility for this anymore!' My Mum was surprisingly OK about the fact I ruined the paper house model (even though there was the implication that we were to present it for some form of judging or competition). She didn't seem annoyed with me. One of the males then showed my Mum a 'double-ended cigarette' and my Mum was fascinated by this 'new invention' (even though she doesn't smoke anymore). 

I cannot recall anything else about this dream, but I feel that I may have forgotten some of the details.

TIME: 22:30 - 07:30 hours (I woke up from this dream)
LUCIDITY: LUCID DURING FALSE AWAKENING
SPECIAL NOTES: NONE OF NOTE

Dream Information:

  • Just prior to going to sleep, I had been writing an article on hypnagogia, false awakenings and sleep paralysis. I also attempted to induce a WILD lucid dream
  • EB is my former male best friend

Dreamsigns:
  • My skirt was now Barbie size, and dressing the Barbie represented me trying to dress myself
  • The 'studio' in 'New York' was actually in a shop in Sheringham High Street - a shop which is no longer there in real-life. The town clock in Sheringham was now an area where you could stand naked in the middle of the street. 'New York' was a short car journey away from Sheringham, in the UK
  • My Nan's house appeared differently in the dream
  • I met my American Facebook friend, SS
  • The scene with my Mum's friend and the giant billboard at the roundabout, Sheringham

Recurrent Dream Themes:


Potential Day/Dream Residue:

  • Themes from my previous dream, Dream 594 - 'Going to America!' seem to have influenced this one - including clothes which seem like they may not fit, and going to 'America', but 'America' being a seaside town, like areas I am familiar with in Norfolk
  • A ginger male wrapped in tape mirrors what happened in Dream 592 - 'Don't F*ck with the Chuck!'
  • Several days before this dream SS had told me that he was going to move to New York and would eventually like to come to the UK - and meet me!
  • The day of this dream I watched an episode of The Office (S02E01) in which David Brent (Ricky Gervais) makes a bad joke about how his parents 'had a paper shop until it blew away' - note that the shop, Bloomers, which appeared in my dream was owned by the same family who also owned 'the paper shop' (i.e. the newsagents) next door
  • The day before this dream I had been watching an episode of Human Remains (S01E06 - 'More than Happy') in which Rob Brydon and Julia Davis play a weird couple who have moved to Brighton (a seaside resort) and run an unsuccessful shop - which sells ladies' lingerie, but has no customers

Waking Thoughts & Emotions:
This dream was not related to my Dream Incubation Experiment. 

However, it was really interesting to experience a false awakening just after writing about the topic and having an unsuccessful WILD experience. I had written in my article about how failed WILD lucid dreams often trigger a false awakening. I had also written about the common auditory hallucination of hearing a doorbell while in the hypnagogic state. The rest of the dream was also interesting, as it seemed to involve a lot of recent recurrent dreamsigns, although I did not recognise these within the dream. 


I found this dream really enjoyable and it felt significant when I woke up from it.

* I think that I may have forgotten some aspects of this dream. If I recall anything else later, I will record it below.


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