Dream 540

'I Think it's a Dream Within a Dream'

Dream date:  28 December 2015 (Day 28 of Lucid December)

This is Day 28 of Lucid December, where I attempt to induce as many lucid dreams as possible using various induction techniques, described below. 

Scene 1: An Interior - Time Unknown
I was in a room - I do not know where, but I was standing in front of a long table. Stood on the other side of the table were 3 young white male dream characters. My mum was also present, and it seemed that she was 'supervising' the males - or checking on them in some way. The males all had tall plastic containers of fruit smoothies, which they had made. The male who was standing closest to me then said that he had forgotten a vital ingredient for his smoothie - a mobile phone sim card. He drank the smoothie down quickly. My mum then said she had to go and collect 'a little girl' and left the room via a door to the left of the long table. I was to await her return. 

Scene 2: A Large Tent at a Festival - Day
I was sitting just outside a large tent (the kind that you can use for mobile stores/shops - so are more like small marquees) on a plastic chair. It was a sunny day and I was aware that we were at a festival ground, although I am not sure what kind. Sitting on chairs nearby were a number of people known to me, including my mum, DL, CMC and RZW. My mum started laughing at something and she had the weirdest laugh I have ever heard, which was making the others (all males) laugh. I wondered if my mum was putting on the laugh for the benefit of my friends. I stood up and wandered away.

Scene 3: A Downstairs Room in 'Treelands', Sheringham - Day
I had walked into a large nicely decorated (in beige and white) room - a kind of reception room or lounge, which I recognised to be a dream scene location called 'Treelands' (see Dream Information section below). I was excited to find myself in 'Treelands', and went over to a chest of drawers, hoping to be able to look through them (I am not sure why). I have to add that although I realised this was 'Treelands' and 'Treelands' only exists in my dreams, I was not aware I was dreaming - lucidity was not triggered. I accepted that this was 'reality'. I could hear DL in the background talking about WL and ice cream. I shouted back (to where he was still sitting at the tent - although I could not see this area from the room I was in): 'Why don't you just fuck her then?' to which DL said: 'I can't her father is the CEO of the company'. 

Scene 4: A Kitchen - Time Unknown
I was then in a kitchen with my mum, SF and RW. We were all baking. I was making 3 cakes - pineapple flavour, 1 big and 2 small. I put my cakes in the oven. I felt disconnected from SF and RW, who were working together, whereas I was working alone. I tried to make some decorations for my cakes (I think we were entering some kind of baking competition) - from a red rag which was on the table and some white paper, on which I was trying to sketch some shapes to cut out with scissors, but failing. I was frustrated. SF and RW were taking their (perfect) cakes out of the oven and I was jealous that they would be better than mine. My mum was praising them. 

Scene 5: The Crown Public House, Sheringham - Afternoon
I was standing just inside the entrance of the pub with my aunt, VF. I was asking her if she wanted to come back later for a drink when it got more busy and fun. VF was unsure and said that maybe we should come out at either 11:00 pm or midnight (this would be impossible as the pub closes before midnight). I told her that we should go out earlier than that. A male (I cannot recall who) joined us and started trying to convince VF that she should come out for a drink later. There was something to do with eating meat (?)

Scene 6: A Kitchen - Time Unknown
I then returned to the kitchen, worried that my cakes had been in the oven too long and would be burnt. I got them out of the oven and they were fine, but I wished I could decorate them. I saw SF and RW having fun together and felt alienated again and wondered why I had bothered making the cakes.

Scene 7: A School Gym/Hall - Time Unknown
I was then in a school/university gym/hall. There were a number of people in this room, although I do not know why we were there. Sitting on a bench against one wall of the hall were a young male and female - I recognised them as being characters from Coronation Street (I am not sure that either of them were actual characters. although the female may have been 'Rosie Webster' as formerly played by Helen Flanagan). The male was the 'boyfriend'. Both characters were crying and covered in sweat and dirt. I was aware that they had committed some kind of grave crime and were worried about the consequences. I just stood staring at them, not communicating or interacting with them. Although the actual gym/hall was well-lit, the surrounding area around these two characters was very dark. It reminded me of a prison cell and I wondered if an imminent disaster was about to happen as the characters were so terrified - clinging to each other and crying. 

There were a group of astronauts also in the room, sitting elsewhere, in a line, and talking about something (I am not sure what). This scene seemed to last for a long time - although I think I have forgotten some details about it which I had originally been aware of during the dream. I thought to myself: 'This is their dream within a dream' and then wondered if I was part of their dream, within my dream (again, I did not become lucid, although this is what I would describe as pre or semi-lucidity as I am questioning whether there is a dream taking place although I am not fully conscious of the fact). I then started worrying if I could remember all the details of the 'dream within a dream' in order to record it (in this Dream Journal!), so I started trying to remember what was happening around me for the purposes of committing it to memory and recording it when I woke up (again, I would not say I was lucid at this stage). 

Scene 8: A 'Law Firm'- Time Unknown
I was then working in a Law Firm - with a former colleague who left my previous employment under bad circumstances - a female, 'SPW'. SPW was working at a very messy and cluttered desk, whereas my part of the desk was clean and tidy. We were working on a case. I saw a 'video' (well I saw a cut-away scene/re-enactment of a nightclub) of the case we were working on. In this scene, a crowd of people were in a nightclub. In the middle of the crowd was a large blonde woman, being hugged by a 'chav' looking man (her partner) from behind - they were staring directly at me (or the 'viewer'/camera lens etc).A bracelet had been stolen while these people were queuing outside the club - so the legal case was one of theft. SPW said: 'I've confused the whores with retards'. I did not know what she meant - I could not see anyone who looked like a 'whore' or a 'retard' - not that I would ever refer to someone with mental disability as a 'retard' as it is hateful, ignorant and discriminatory. 

SPW then left her seat and asked me to cover her work. I wondered who made her my boss and why she was able to give me orders. I did not want to work at her desk as it was very messy, so I refused to sit there. I found that I had my notebook (my actual notebook in which I record my dreams upon waking) with me and was pleased that I had something of my own to write in. I then discovered that my 'desk' in this office was actually my bed (with the same purple and white duvet as in real-life currently) and I was pleased to find I could work in this casual way. SPW then came back into the office (she had walked out when handing the work over to me). She said: 'I know how you feel about my dog'. I wondered what this meant, as I love dogs and she seemed to be indicating that I disliked hers. She asked me to feed her dog. I went into the kitchen - which was my nan's kitchen in Sheringham. SPW had been doing the washing-up (this is why she had left me to do the legal work), and she had placed a joint of beef (raw) in a sink of water (to defrost?). There was another joint of beef on the top of the washing machine (which is next to the sink in real-life). I thought that this beef was to be fed to the dog. I started scoring and stabbing it with a sharp knife, leaving marks in the fat. I went through to the 'back room' (the second lounge) where I knew SPW was - to ask her how to serve the beef to the dog. The room was very dark. SPW said: ' I'm going to cook that in your house, but the dogs have to eat yoghurts and biscuits. My partner will feed them some meat later'. She then handed me a massive bag of dog biscuits. I noticed that where the sideboard is in real-life, there was an artist's easel and SPW was about to start painting. I thought it was wrong of her to pass all the legal work onto me so that she could do washing up and artwork instead. I went back to the kitchen. I was worried that my scoring/stabbing the meat had ruined it. I used my hands to smooth the fat of the beef and was pleased to see that the fat melded together and hid the marks I had left in it with the knife. It felt really nice to touch.

TIME: 02:30 - 09:30 hours (I woke up from this dream)

LUCIDITY: Pre-Lucid or Semi-Lucid - recognising a dream was taking place and that I needed to recall it

SPECIAL NOTES: 

• Cognitive induction techniques, adapted from the MILD Technique & Tholey's Combined Technique to induce a DILD (Dream-Initiate/Induced Lucid Dream) - critical reflection (in conjunction with reality checking - see below); intention; auto-suggestion; affirmations before sleep and during WB2B - 10 minutes prior to sleep; 10 minutes during WB2B 
• Reality checks (target: 15 - 20 a day); actual: 4 (very poor)
• Wake Back to Bed Method (WB2B) - sleep for approximately 5 - 6 hours (to attain all necessary deep sleep; or where sleep deprived, wake naturally without an alarm), wake for 10 - 15 minutes; perform cognitive techniques; sleep for a further 45 - 90 minutes, during which I will hopefully be in the 'best' REM stage of the sleep cycle for lucid dreaming - no WB2B performed
• Potential REM Rebound Effect from cannabis smoked recently
• 100g of Vitamin B6 taken just before sleep

Dream Information:

• 'Treelands' is a dream scene location from one of my favourite dreams - Dream 391 'Treelands' (21 March 2015) - click on the title link to be taken to this Dream Journal entry

Dreamsigns:

• See all yellow text - there were many dreamsigns in this dream!

Recurrent Dream Themes

• Space travel
• My nan's home in Sheringham as a dream scene location

Potential Day/Dream Residue:

• Just before bed I read an email from the leader of a course I have been taking at university - the teaching in higher education course. I was also watching modern/contemporary art documentaries. In the teaching class, there is a male who is a postgraduate student and teacher of History of Art (I have also done a degree in History of Art) - he always brings 2 large plastic containers of smoothies to class 
• Before I went to sleep I had been playing Sims 3 
• DL had been talking about WL recently
• SF and RW are school friends of mine who I have lost contact with (they are not on social media) - but I had been thinking about them recently and wondering what they are currently doing
• The day before this dream RBA and I were chatting on Facebook person message and we were trading joke insults - RBA mentioned making me kneel on a rag to worship him as a god
• The day of this dream I saw references to both Coronation Street and Inception (2010) online
• The day of this dream - in one of the art documentaries I watched, there was a scene in a prison (HMP Pentonville) where an artist (I cannot recall who) had made a video installation of time passing in an empty prison cell
• I watched a space documentary and some scenes from Interstellar (2014) before I went to sleep
• I had stabbed some meat with a knife (a duck for roasting) a few days before this dream
• The day of this dream I saw people discussing how to get a dog to eat dry food on a dog page I follow on Facebook

Waking Thoughts & Emotions:
I woke up confused from this dream as it was so weird and complicated and it took me ages to get the memories straight in my mind. It was odd that within the dream itself, I seemed aware that there was a dream involved, but did not become fully lucid!

* I may have possibly forgotten some aspects of this dream (although I am not sure) - if I recall them later I will record them below.