Thursday 22 February 2018

Dream 919

'3 Bad Things'
Date: 21 February 2018
Time: 04:30 - 11:00
Type of dream: Normal dream
Dream recall: Normal recall 

This dream was part of my current Dream Incubation Experiment - Anakin Skywalker Dream. Please click HERE for my post on the Dream Incubation Experiment, the Methodology I am using (with instructions for those who also want to attempt to incubate their own dream) and links to my previous Dream Incubation Experiments and previous Star Wars-themed dreams. On that post you will also find an Index for all recorded dreams which take place during this experiment.

Scene 1: My University, Norwich (?) - Day
I was in a room which appeared to be within my university - it was a room with various items of furniture, although I only recall some blue sofas lined against a wall These sofas looked exactly like those in my own home (which is on campus). I was with DL (who also works at my university). There were some other dream characters present, although I cannot recall them.

I was waiting to get an email from my supervisor telling me that my request for a retrospective intercalation for personal reasons had been authorised. I did receive a message on my phone and I walked a short distance away to a brightly lit area on the other side of the room to read the message. I remember that there was some kind of table or shelves in this area and it reminded me of somewhere I know in real life, but I cannot recall exactly where this was. I read the message.

My supervisor's email referred to 3 really bad things I had done while teaching last semester, and for which I was being 'investigated'. My supervisor has no input into my teaching work typically, and in fact we are not really supervised in our role as long as we do the job properly. The email listed the 3 bad things as being: 
  1. Referring to a trans person named Peter as 'Dude' in class (this is a dream character who does not exist in real life and in the dream was a FTM transman)
  2. Possessing a disturbing and scary image of a baby which was 'illegal'
  3. Making a firefighter cringe because of how bad I was at explaining Star Wars in class
I was really worried about these matters, so I decided to call my supervisor IE and defend myself against the allegations. I had an actual visual image of Peter in the classroom (short white man with short brown hair, wearing a green jumper) and the firefighter, sitting in the classroom in his full uniform and pulling a cringing, embarrassed face). I saw these as if they were flashbacks/memories in my mind's eye. I used my mobile phone to call him, while standing beside the blue sofas. IE answered the phone and said a series of weird words, which sounded like: 'Boogle, woogle, oogle oooh'. I said: 'It's me, not your girlfriend' as in the dream I assumed the words he was saying were 'romantic' words intended for a lover. I said to IE that 'Peter' had only complained about me after they failed the class and decided that they wanted to find a reason to find fault with the teaching. I said this proved I was not in the wrong. IE referred to Peter as 'her' or 'she' and I immediately said: 'Peter is a transman, so using feminine pronouns is misgendering him'. I said calling them 'Dude' was not transphobic or misgendering as it is masculine/neutral and used for all genders. In response to the allegation about the image of the baby, I explained that this was in a book called 'Amazing' which was a monograph of the artist Damien Hirst (this book does not exist in real life). I said I could prove that the image was not illegal in any way, although it was 'disturbing'. In response to the firefighter allegation, I just said I had been nervous when teaching that class and I was allowed to be anxious without having it used against me. IE seemed to accept my explanations. 

After the phone call I walked back to DL and told him what had happened. We were going somewhere, although I cannot recall where or why. I managed to find the Damien Hirst book, which had an image of spilled tomato ketchup on the front, and was actually called 'Awesome', not 'Amazing'. I found the image of the baby (which was just a normal image, not at all disturbing or scary) and showed it to DL and a couple of other dream characters, all of whom were standing in front of a large window, proving that the image was not illegal. 

I cannot recall anything else that happened in this dream.

Extra Information: 
No Vitamin B6 taken (forgot)

Recurrent Dream Themes: 

  • Star Wars as a dream theme

Dreamsigns: 

  • The allegations against me
  • The language used by my supervisor

Day Residue: 
  • On the day of this dream I received an email from the PGR office of my university confirming that my intercalation request was being processed
  • On the day of this dream I had commenting on Facebook tag page/group posts - which usually end up in conflict. On one thread I was arguing with a woman who said she was not willing to refer to transpersons as 'they' and will use 'he' and 'she' depending on whether she perceives them as male or female. She referred to herself as a 'grammar Nazi' despite her own comments being incredibly poorly spelled with atrocious, incorrect grammar. I was poking fun at her hypocrisy of saying 'singular they' is incorrect grammar and her being a grammar Nazi means she is unable to respect trans rights, yet was making so many ironic errors. On another thread we were discussing the actions of a page member who was self-congratulating and virtue signalling for not harassing a woman who had told him his unsolicited messages were making her feel uncomfortable. He posted screenshots of him not being abusive when she asked him to stop texting her weird, creepy messages about staring at/being distracted by her in class and indicated that he was a 'nice guy' for not abusing or insulting her for rejecting him. He said that other men should follow his example. Most of the commenters were calling him out for wanting to celebrate normal, basic human decency and setting the benchmark for male behaviour towards women far too low. One woman (Bonnie) was defending him, saying that she gives praise to all men who are 'nice' to women. We were asking her to stop being such a male apologist and rewarding adults for not being abusive (which should be the default, not the goal). She referred to his actions as 'amazing' which I pointed out to her as being ludicrous. Eventually another woman on the thread exposed the man as having sent her unsolicited sexual message on Facebook, which meant all his apologists/allies/supporters soon backtracked and began to see why he was being problematic, including Bonnie. Note that when I was little I used to have a baby doll named 'Bonnie' 
  • On the day of this dream I had been watching 2 Youtube channels - both of which referred to babies. The first was Grav3yardgirl - I was watching Bunny show a haul of antique baby dolls and doll parts, which she refers to as 'creepy'. The other channel was Scaretheater - I watched his video on 'The Grifter' which is a popular Creepypasta which originated on 4Chan. The thumbnail of Scaretheater's Youtube video is that of a baby (a screenshot from the alleged 'Grifter' video, which is so horrifying it supposedly causes viewers to go insane. experience nausea and nightmares or commit suicide. The myth has been thoroughly debunked and the images used in The Grifter have been traced back to a movie, Little Otik (2000). I also watched a Scaretheater video about a strange Facebook profile called 'Ahenobarbus Henocied' which allegedly targeted children and young people, sending them disturbing images, some of which are thought to have been pornographic and illegal. I have included images associated with 'The Grifter' and the Ahenobarbus Henocied profile (the original profile has been removed from Facebook for violation)
  • A week before this dream DL and I had been discussing gendered pronouns in a conversation about Justin Trudeau, the Canadian Prime Minister, who was recently ridiculed for correcting a woman who used the word 'mankind' (he said we should use the term 'peoplekind'). DL and I agreed that this was unnecessarily pedantic as 'mankind' is not a gendered word in itself when used to refer to humans. I did say that I prefer gender-neutral job titles such as 'chairperson', 'police officer' and notably 'firefighter' 
  • On the day of this dream I had been playing Sims 3 and while I was scrolling the map, noticed that the home of an NPC sim was randomly on fire. I wondered if it was possible to summons a firefighter on behalf of an NPC, but then decided to just allow the game to determine the fate of the house/sims
  • When creating the poorly edited image for Dream 917 - 'I'm a Person, and my Name is Anakin' (Dream Incubation Experiment Success) I actually thought the fisherman's yellow waders reminded me of firefighter uniforms
  • Last semester I was teaching a class in which Star Wars and Jedi were the theme of a problem question about religious discrimination
  • Last week a student emailed me to inform me that they had failed their exam and asked for my advice
  • Approximately a week or so prior to this dream DL and I were discussing Damien Hirst. I am a fan of almost all contemporary 'Young British Artists' who emerged during the 1990s (and own very many art books on this era of art), while DL is not a fan of Hirst. He was telling me about Treasures from the Wreck of the Unbelievable (2017), which is a fake documentary (mockumentary) about the (falsified) discovery of precious antiques and artefacts from a shipwreck and the mythology and legends surrounding it. Conceptually, I think this is an excellent piece of art, as did DL. I have included an image from the Hirst documentary below - mainly because I have a 'phobia' (or 'anxiety' may be a better description) of seeing images of humanoid statues underwater, particularly partially submerged ones. I may have mentioned this elsewhere on this Blog. When I was younger I used to lay in the bath and imagine the bath water was an entire ocean (i.e. all the oceans of the planet together) and I was a huge statue or giant. Whenever I moved and splashed water, I'd imagine I was causing floods (well, tsunamis, but I didn't know that word at the time), killing all the people in the world. I would then freak myself out and have to get out of the bath because the idea of being a partially submerged giant statue in the ocean was terrifying, even if I was 'safe'. I particularly hate seeing a partially submerged Statue of Liberty. This anxiety extends to images of swimmers/ships on the surface of the ocean with large submerged objects under the water, showing the scale (see image below). I have gone into detail about these issues as this is one of the weird similarities I share with Bunny Meyer (Grav3yardgirl) - at least she says she has a phobia of seeing man-made objects submerged under water. We have a lot of very specific things in common, which is one of the reasons I feel extremely connected to her as a person and am constantly amazed at how much I can relate or identify with her, her personality and her tastes/favourite things. I think Bunny's antique baby dolls and Damien Hirst's fake antiques became intertwined in this dream

Waking Reactions: 
This dream represents a fairly complex interweaving of various strands of Day Residue into quite a simple and coherent narrative. 

I think this dream reflects my anxiety about my studies, but also generally my career prospects and performance. I am anxious about many things currently, so this is just one aspect of my life causing me stress, but it seems to be surfacing in my dreams. 

You may have read my previous dream (which took place during the currency of this Dream Incubation Experiment), Dream 908 - 'One Big Confusing Day' in which I was with Youtuber Sam Chapman of Pixiwoo and we met my Nan who told me she had been with my Mum who was unwell and had to visit the doctor. In the dream my Nan told me she had been 'keeping me away from my Mum' while my Mum was unwell. I had analysed the Day Residue which may have influenced this dream and assumed that the reference to my Nan keeping me away from my Mum because my Mum was unwell could have been because I had watched a Pixiwoo video in which Sam Chapman described her depression following her stepfather's recent death from cancer. This made sense because Sam featured in my dream, linking the themes explicitly. I had also noticed that I had even less contact with my Mum than usual. This is where everything becomes more odd, and has made me feel very anxious and depressed recently. In fact I have been 'scared' about dreaming. On 16 February 2018 (so 12 days after I had Dream 908, my Mum phoned me at night and told me that my Nan has been diagnosed with breast cancer. My family have been aware of the problem and attending all the hospital appointments for a while, but were keeping this secret from me so that I did not worry. Now she has been diagnosed and the surgery is scheduled, they had to tell me. My Mum said she was driving right past my house (on campus) to take my Nan to the hospital on so many occasions, yet I knew nothing about it. The majority of my family (although not necessarily my cousins, who I believe were told by their respective parents on the same day as I was) knew about this. I am not suggesting Dream 908 was a precognitive dream in the paranormal ESP sense of me predicting the future - I think maybe I subconsciously picked up on cues (lack of contact with my Mum) and just happened to have correctly guessed the reason, if only by complete coincidence. There are a number of other weird things about this dream. In that post I referred to dream deja vu and linked an old post I wrote on that topic (because I thought I was experiencing dream deja vu in relation to a secondhand bookshop location). That post covers both dream deja-vu and precognitive dreams - in fact it is entitled 'Deja vu & dream precognition'. Again, this could just be one of those strange coincidences which it is easy to interpret as meaningful. I would go into more depth about the oddities I have spotted while re-analysing this dream with the hindsight of knowing about my Nan and her illness, but in all honesty, even writing about it in this post is making me feel depressed and anxious. I just wanted to record it here while it could be somehow linked in to the current post. I may write on this topic again when I feel mentally and emotionally stronger. 

I guess this dream had a subtle Star Wars theme, which is positive, although unsurprising given how much Star Wars related material I come into contact with on a daily basis, even without attempting an Anakin Skywalker Dream Incubation Experiment. 

Screenshot from ''The Grifter' video which are attributed to scenes cut from the movie Little Otik (2000)
The profile picture used by the Ahenobarbus Henocied Facebook account - this was used in a Creepypasta entitled 'Gurgles & Bugman', but is thought to originate from a Japanese online imageboard
Scene from Damien Hirst's Treasure from the Wreck of the Unbelievable (2017)

Tuesday 20 February 2018

Dream 918

'Bad Fruit Salads'
Date: 20 February 2018
Time: 14:00 - 17:30 (Afternoon Nap)
Type of dream: Normal dream
Dream recall: Normal recall 

This dream was part of my current Dream Incubation Experiment - Anakin Skywalker Dream. Please click HERE for my post on the Dream Incubation Experiment, the Methodology I am using (with instructions for those who also want to attempt to incubate their own dream) and links to my previous Dream Incubation Experiments and previous Star Wars-themed dreams. On that post you will also find an Index for all recorded dreams which take place during this experiment.

Scene 1: Location Unknown
I cannot recall the first part of this dream clearly, although it seemed pretty vivid while I was dreaming it - and was bordering on being a nightmare, albeit because there was a creeping sensation of dread, as opposed to something explicitly nightmarish happening. 

There was something to do with my teeth being very rotten in the back. This is a huge fear for me because I have an extreme phobia of the dentist and have not been since I was 11 years old. I was looking in the back of my mouth (perhaps using a mirror, perhaps seeing this in third-person perspective) and could see lots of black holes in my teeth. I felt worried and stressed about this. 

There was something to do with aliens also, and the switching of one for another. This seems very vague, but I just remember that one thing was being selected/replaced and these 'things' were very tall beings, which within the dream I knew were not human. I have referred to them as 'aliens' but they may have been cyborgs/robots/animals etc, I just cannot recall precisely. This was making me feel overwhelmed and frustrated, although I cannot recall the reasons why. There was a notion of magic/supernatural or at least something so out of the ordinary, that even in the dream I thought it was odd/bizarre and unexpected.

Something to do with travel - perhaps by train? I have a nagging memory that this dream involved trains or public transport of some kind.

My friend CEC was involved in the dream somehow - I cannot recall what was happening. There was something to do with 'possessions' or 'belongings'. 

There was some kind of violence - I think there was also something to do with being trapped/held hostage and that is why violence was necessary. I remember punching someone/something and someone else (a dream character or someone I know from real life) telling me to punch it harder and me trying, but finding it  really hard to swing a strong punch. Eventually whatever I was attacking either succumbed to the attack or I was able to 'win' in some way. There was something to do with a key/unlocking a door.  

Scene 2: A Canteen - Day
I then went to a canteen with my Stepdad. In the dream I knew the previous scene had just happened a short time ago, so there was chronology and a sense of normal passing of time. We were getting breakfast and my Stepdad was able to choose easily, but I was really indecisive. There was a variety of foods available, but my Stepdad was trying to convince me to select toast, which was one of the more boring things. The selection of breakfast foods was vast, but I felt that everything was sterile and dull and just put there for show. I cannot recall any 'cooked' foods either - more like items associated with 'a continental breakfast'. I didn't really want to eat anything. I felt like I had used up all my energy in whatever happened in Scene 1, which I was still thinking about when we went for breakfast. I can't really explain, because I cannot recall Scene 1 enough to describe it, yet I recall Scene 2 really vividly. It was as if I had just experienced/witnessed something magical/supernatural and now here I was stuck in a boring canteen, trying to select a breakfast I didn't really want to eat when I still felt drained and exhausted from whatever happened previously. There was the sense of some overhanging threat or unfinished  business from before which meant I could not really focus on choosing food. 

I saw there was a coffee machine, but the cups stacked nearby were really small - like standard teacups made of cheap white china. I looked at the display to find some larger mugs, and saw there was a stack of larger mugs a short distance away. These were white with blue stripes. I then looked in the fridge and saw there were 2 packs of pre-cut exotic fruit on sale. I saw one which had strawberries, apple, garlic cloves and seeds and was about to select that when a young male dream character from behind me leaned over and took it from the fridge. I then saw the second pack of fruit - also with a reduced price - but this was also taken by a male dream character while I was making up my mind. The 2 packs of fruit had been resting on top of some other boxes, which were filled with rubbish/dirt - or at least something I thought should not be in a fridge used for displaying food for sale to the public.

I stepped a short distance away and saw some more packs of fruit, at the normal price. These also had strawberries in them, and some weird white cone-shaped fruits which I did not recognise in the dream. I tried to read the price tag and had difficulty in understanding what it said, but as I focused on it, was eventually able to read that it was £3.95. I thought this was very expensive for a small pack of fruit, but reasoned that I would be paying for healthy food, so it might be worth it. I picked up the fruit, but then saw that the bottom of the pack was filled with beans in a savoury sauce, which I thought was weird and unappetising, so I left it. 

I wandered over to my Stepdad who was standing at the cash register, talking to a young woman who was in the queue next to him. I recognised her as a member of staff from my university, so I introduced them properly. I cannot recall what else happened at this point. 

Extra Information: 
No Vitamin B6 taken (forgot)

Recurrent Dream Themes: 

  • My family as dream characters

Dreamsigns: 

  • 'Alien-beings'

Day Residue: 
  • The day before this dream I had been playing Sims 3 and found an alien outside my sim's home, looking in through the window. I got my sim to kill the alien by hitting it with a metal stick
  • On the day of this dream I had been in my university shop looking at items (including packs of fruit) in the reduced/on sale section of the fridge
  • On the day of this dream DL told me he would be buying cereal to eat for dinner
  • Recently when I was staying at a friend's house, I told him I never eat breakfast as I do not have an appetite when I first wake up (I only eat one very large meal per day, and rarely eat snacks in between)

Waking Reactions: 
This dream seemed really long and complex while I was dreaming it. When I woke up from it, I felt as if the dream had been more interesting than usual, although it was - as far as I can recall, based on the record written above - unconnected to my Dream Incubation Experiment. However, I did wake up with a strong sense of having something important or exciting conveyed to me in the dream, so it is frustrating that I cannot remember exactly what led me to feel that.

I am most frustrated that I cannot clearly recall the aspect of the dream which involved violence, as I believe that this is key to me understanding this dream better. 

I think this entire dream could be a reflection of my current mental state, which is characterised by depressed moods, stress, anxiety and frustration. I will post separately on this in due course, as this does have a strong link to previous dreams I have experienced during this Dream Incubation Experiment.

As I recalled more about this dream immediately upon waking, I think that I will probably remember more detail if something is able to successfully trigger the memories. If I do recall anything else, I will record it below. 

Dream 917 (DREAM INCUBATION EXPERIMENT SUCCESS!)

'I'm a Person, and My Name is Anakin'
Date: 19 February 2018
Time: 02:30 - 08:45
Type of dream: Normal dream
Dream recall: Normal recall 

This dream was part of my current Dream Incubation Experiment - Anakin Skywalker Dream. Please click HERE for my post on the Dream Incubation Experiment, the Methodology I am using (with instructions for those who also want to attempt to incubate their own dream) and links to my previous Dream Incubation Experiments and previous Star Wars-themed dreams. On that post you will also find an Index for all recorded dreams which take place during this experiment.

Scene 1: Sheringham - Day
Unfortunately, given this was a successful Dream Incubation Experiment dream, I have forgotten many elements of this dream and can only remember a few details. I forgot the majority of this dream upon awakening, which is not surprising to me as I have recently received some bad news which has had a significant impact on my mental and emotional health, including my sleep. 

I was in Sheringham and there was some kind of celebration taking place, but it was quite underwhelming. A large bank of television screens had been set up in the town, near the seafront. I am not sure what purpose this was to serve, but I think I did know in the dream. I was with various members of my family. I remember the weather was overcast and cloudy, but it was supposedly summertime. 

A short distance away there was a group of dream characters, who I think were local residents of the town, but who I cannot recall specifically. Amongst them were some fishermen who had some musical instruments with them, outside on the pavement. I recall a piano/keyboard and a cello, but there were more. A small child was with the fishermen and I realised that it was young Anakin Skywalker, looking and dressed exactly as he appears in Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999). I did not become lucid when I saw Anakin - my strongest emotion wa disappointment that it was young Anakin, not adult Anakin. I started complaining about this to someone - I think it may have been my Mum. Anakin overheard me and became upset at the 'rejection'. I approached him and found that I was standing beside the sea wall on the promenade. He said some words which were all out of order and unintelligible, but I knew he was saying/trying to say: 'I'm a person, and my name is Anakin'. I am sure that he mentioned that his name was Anakin before he said that he was a person, so the quote may have been back-to-front. My response was: 'You're an annoying person'. I said it in an angry way. Anakin was crying, but he had no tears. He just made a high-pitched wailing sound and his face looked very red. The fishermen (2 of them, both old white men wearing yellow waterproof waders and other items of clothing associated with their profession) told me that I was evil to reject Anakin because he was just a child. I said I did not care and walked away to rejoin my family.

I cannot recall anything else about this dream.

Extra Information: 
No Vitamin B6 taken (forgot)

Recurrent Dream Themes: 

  • Star Wars as a dream theme
  • Sheringham as a dream scene location
  • My family as dream characters

Dreamsigns: 

  • I met young Anakin Skywalker

Day Residue: 
  • I fell asleep watching a comedy review (Mr Plinkett via RedLetterMedia on Youtube) of Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999) which obviously features a lot of footage of young Anakin Skywalker and includes the scene where Anakin says: 'I'm a person, and my name is Anakin'
  • On the day of this dream I had been playing Sims 3 - 2 of the 4 instruments sims can learn to play are a piano and a cello. My sims got married in a ceremony which took place in a venue with a stage with these instruments in place on it

Waking Reactions: 
This was a successful Dream Incubation Experiment as I had a dream which featured Anakin Skywalker. However, even within the dream I was disappointed to meet Anakin as a young child - my aim is to meet the adult Anakin. Nevertheless, this was an exciting dream, signalling some progress in my Dream Incubation Experiment, which I will be continuing for the near future.

Saturday 17 February 2018

Dream 916

'Guns on the Bus'
Date: 16 February 2018
Time: 07:30 - 13:00
Type of dream: Normal dream
Dream recall: Weak recall 

This dream was part of my current Dream Incubation Experiment - Anakin Skywalker Dream. Please click HERE for my post on the Dream Incubation Experiment, the Methodology I am using (with instructions for those who also want to attempt to incubate their own dream) and links to my previous Dream Incubation Experiments and previous Star Wars-themed dreams. On that post you will also find an Index for all recorded dreams which take place during this experiment.

Scene 1: A Bus - Day
I was on a bus and was aware that terrorists were onboard. These 'terrorists' were a group of young male dream characters, some white and some Chinese. There were 5 terrorists sitting on the back seat of the bus - all dressed in casual clothing - jeans and sportswear. There were some other terrorists sitting on the seats just in front of the back seat. Most of the terrorists were holding large guns - assault rifles. 

I was at the front of the bus and in front of me, further down the aisle - i.e. closer to the terrorists - was another male dream character who was an ally. Someone behind me was trying to pass another assault rifle down the bus to the terrorists at the back. This would involve getting the gun past myself and my ally. I had a plan. When the person passing the gun (a young white male dream character) threw it to a passenger seated in the middle of the bus, ordering them to pass down to the back, I would intercept the gun and pass it to my ally, preventing the terrorists getting hold of it. 

The guy with the gun threw it to a female passenger who was seated halfway down the bus. I shouted at her to throw it to me, which she did. I then shouted at my ally to catch the gun and use it to shoot the terrorists. I threw it to him and he immediately passed it to a Chinese male who was seated on the seat just before the back seat - one of the terrorists. I could not believe he handed the gun to one of our enemies when I had told him to use it to defend the bus and shoot the terrorists. 

I cannot recall anything else about this dream.

Extra Information: 
No Vitamin B6 taken (forgot)

Recurrent Dream Themes: 

  • None of note

Dreamsigns: 

  • Terrorists with guns on a bus

Day Residue: 
  • On 14 February 2018 a school shooting took place in Parkland, Florida (Nikolas Cruz) - this obviously received huge amounts of coverage in the media/on social media
  • The day before this dream I watched a Louis Theroux documentary about gun crime, murder and drug dealing in Philadelphia
  • The day before this dream I was discussing Chinese culture with a friend

Waking Reactions: 
From the limited amount I am able to recall about this dream, it is clearly heavily influenced by Day Residue.


Friday 16 February 2018

Dream 915

'Spatchcocking Chicken'
Date: 14 February 2018
Time: 05:00 - 10:30
Type of dream: Dream fragments
Dream recall: Weak recall 

This dream was part of my current Dream Incubation Experiment - Anakin Skywalker Dream. Please click HERE for my post on the Dream Incubation Experiment, the Methodology I am using (with instructions for those who also want to attempt to incubate their own dream) and links to my previous Dream Incubation Experiments and previous Star Wars-themed dreams. On that post you will also find an Index for all recorded dreams which take place during this experiment.

Scene 1: Unknown Exterior Location - Day
I was in an outside location (unrecalled) with some male dream characters who I think may have been sailors/seamen. We were spatchcocking a number of raw chickens and throwing them in plastic containers on the ground, for cooking later. I was cutting the chicken along the spine with a pair of scissors. I think I viewed myself performing this activity from a third-person perspective.

Extra Information: 
No Vitamin B6 taken (forgot)

Recurrent Dream Themes: 

  • None of note

Dreamsigns: 

  • I saw myself from third-person perspective

Day Residue: 
  • Link between sailors/seamen and semen - based on a conversation I had about semen earlier on the day of this dream. This could also have an association with the 'cock' element of the word 'spatchcock'
  • Just before I went to sleep I watched a food programme with my friend and we discussed veganism

Waking Reactions: 
I was sharing an unfamiliar bed with my friend and as a result I kept waking periodically, as I often do when in new surroundings. This is why I can only remember this single fragment of the dream, despite me remembering other fragments each time I awoke. If I recall anything further, I will record it below.


Dream 914

'A Star Wars Redux'
Date: 13 February 2018
Time: 04:30 - 11:00
Type of dream: Vivid dream
Dream recall: Strong recall 

This dream was part of my current Dream Incubation Experiment - Anakin Skywalker Dream. Please click HERE for my post on the Dream Incubation Experiment, the Methodology I am using (with instructions for those who also want to attempt to incubate their own dream) and links to my previous Dream Incubation Experiments and previous Star Wars-themed dreams. On that post you will also find an Index for all recorded dreams which take place during this experiment.

Scene 1: A Family Home (Sheringham?) - Day
I was in my family home - but not one I know from real life. I am not sure which of my family members lived there, but many of them were present in the dream - my parents, my Nan, my Aunt VF (and possibly other Aunts/Uncles) and some of my cousins. 

At first there was some interaction with VF - who appeared as she did when she was very young - in her 20s. VF had got herself into some kind of trouble - I cannot recall exactly what, but I think it involved clothing. I was talking to VF, who seemed stressed.

I saw that my eyebrows were very full and elegantly shaped and felt surprised that they looked so good. I thought: 'the Vaseline has worked'.

I was then in the lounge of the house. There was a table, around which some of my family were seated, and some blue sofas which were positioned in an L-shape. Some of my family were seated on these sofas, some of them were laying down on them. Present was also a male dream character - an older white male, who was a powerful and famous movie director, who was remaking Star Wars - I think it was the original Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope (1977), as it was going to star a young Mark Hamill as Luke Skywalker. The director was a family friend and he was with my family as they were involved in the remaking of Star Wars. I was questioning how Mark Hamill was young again and why the new Star Wars director was entrusting my family to help with the new remake. The meeting in the lounge was to go over the script for the new movie. I saw - in my mind's eye - some of the new scenes which were being discussed. One of these scenes involved ancestors of Padme - a historical King and Queen of Naboo who were riding in a golden chariot adorned with an arch of flowers. I thought these characters were sterile and not of any interest to Star Wars fans - I wondered how they would fit these characters into the new movie, given we were remaking A New Hope, and this King/Queen lived in an era which was well before the events of Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace (1999). I tried to voice my dissent from the idea of including these random, meaningless characters, saying something about 'temporal' (meaning 'time' - I recall specifically using the word 'temporal' but I am not sure of how I articulated it specifically). No-one was listening to me, and the director seemed to think my family's input was invaluable and inspired. 

Scene 2: A Foreign Apartment Complex - Day
We (my family, the new Star Wars director and cast - including Mark Hamill) and myself) were then on location. The location was 'abroad' but I am not sure where. It was a ruined apartment complex in a location which was mainly sand. The buildings were white tower blocks which were all in disrepair, and there were various dirty/old-looking vehicles parked in the area, which in addition to the sand, was littered with trash and debris. Many of the tower blocks had smashed windows and scaffolding - the entire place looked like a building site. 

It was very hot and sunny, and I realised this filming location was supposed to represent Tatooine. Everything was very pale, desaturated and dusty yellow or white in colour, other than the sky, which was a pale blue and made me think that it was very early morning. I thought this was a silly place to shoot the Tatooine scenes, due to the fact it was a very run-down apartment complex (a holiday resort?) in which we were all staying during the duration of the movie shoot. It did not resemble a Star Wars location, but rather a place on Earth and not even an aesthetic one. My family and the director were seated at some plastic patio tables on a small balcony area which overlooked the set. We were drinking coffees while we chatted about the movie. I was again trying to voice my opposition to the creative choices being put forward by my family and accepted wholeheartedly by the director. I thought that the new Star Wars movie would be awful and no-one would watch it. A short distance away, young Mark Hamill - in his Luke Skywalker costume - was standing on the back of a pickup truck, practicing his lightsaber skills. Han Solo - played by a new younger actor, not Harrison Ford was also practicing some scenes. I was not interested in what he was doing and I thought he was trying too hard to be the 'main star' of the new remake, as the actor seemed to have a huge ego and kept making up new lines/scenes which he wanted to include to pad out his own plotline.

Extra Information: 
No Vitamin B6 taken (forgot)

Recurrent Dream Themes: 

  • My family as dream characters

Dreamsigns: 

  • The unfamiliar family home
  • VF was young again
  • My family were heavily involved in the remaking of Star Wars
  • Mark Hamill was young again

Day Residue: 
  • I have been putting vaseline on my eyebrows and eyelashes to see if it helps hair growth. On the day of this dream I had applied makeup and felt that I had shaped my eyebrows really well. In a conversation with a member of staff at university (an emergency plumber who attended when my lounge/kitchen was flooded) I had referred to my eyebrows in a conversation about how Iranian women wear a hijab which in some cases must cover their eyebrows
  • On the night of this dream - as mentioned above - water flooded through my lounge/kitchen ceiling from the flat above (shower overflowed due to a blockage and soaked through the carpet). Me and the plumber moved my sofas - which are the same shade of blue as those in this dream - out of the way of the leak, meaning they are now in a different position
  • Star Wars and the fact that on many of the forums I participate in online, many fans are angered by the direction Disney is taking the franchise in and the introduction of new unpopular characters
  • I had been playing my modded version of Sims 3 on the day of this dream. My sim had visited a location in the 'Bayside' area of the city which reminded me of a really awful holiday resort - I had placed many dilapidated, rundown tower blocks, some with smashed windows and scaffolding on my map. My sim also stole a pickup truck
  • I posted a meme about the new Han Solo origin movie - Solo: A Star Wars Story, basically referring to the fact I was not interested in the Han Solo movie, There has been loads of publicity about this movie in the media - unsurprising given it's Star Wars! The fact it is the story of a young Han Solo may have influenced the fact that my dream involved young versions of the characters (the age they would have been in Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope

Waking Reactions: 
A Star Wars dream at last! In this dream, the Star Wars movie felt really sterile and unnecessary and I strongly felt that it would be unpopular with fans. Note that I love the new Star Wars movies and the prequels are my favourite, given they were the ones which were released when I was young. I both loved and felt disappointed by this dream. I loved it because it was related to Star Wars and therefore signalled me getting closer to the theme selected for my Dream Incubation Experiment, and also because it was so bizarre. I was disappointed because everything felt so misjudged and badly-conceived. 

Dream 913

'Forced & Choked'
Date: 11 February 2018
Time: 02:15 - 07:30
Type of dream: Vivid dream
Dream recall: Strong recall 

This dream was part of my current Dream Incubation Experiment - Anakin Skywalker Dream. Please click HERE for my post on the Dream Incubation Experiment, the Methodology I am using (with instructions for those who also want to attempt to incubate their own dream) and links to my previous Dream Incubation Experiments and previous Star Wars-themed dreams. On that post you will also find an Index for all recorded dreams which take place during this experiment.

Firstly, I will introduce a dream character, rather than include all relevant details in the Day Residue section. It is essential to know some information about the real life person in order to understand the possible subconscious associations/connections my mind made in this dream.

ROL is a very tall, black male who makes hip hop music. His artist name involves the word 'light' and his former crew have 'darkness' in their name. I met ROL and TD a long time ago when I lived in London and my ex-boyfriend was performing at an open mic night in Camden alongside them. At the time, I cannot specifically recall ROL, but found his crew to be pleasant and friendly. 

Last year, ROL contacted me via Facebook and Instagram (which I do not use - but which is under the same name I use for this Blog). I found it weird he would contact me on both, because although my Facebook is under my real name and my Instagram is under my nickname (the one I use on here), I had the same profile picture at the time, and I post material from this Blog on my Facebook, hence linking the accounts (plus my real last name begins with 'Ghash').

ROL started off by being OK, but then annoyed me by being to pushy to meet him, despite me saying I was not interested. He apologised for his behaviour and we went on to talk more. He then continued to harass me to meet him and each time I politely informed him I was not interested in any meeting at all. I did not remind him that I had met him several years ago in London, as clearly he did not recognise me or care about me as a person enough for that to be important. On one occasion ROL asked me to come and see him at a show he was performing at - some distance away. I refused, saying I would not travel, spending cash and time to go and see a man I am not interested in and staying with him in a hotel, as that was clearly going to be sending signals I had no desire for him to misinterpret. He kept being forceful, I kept reminding him to respect my wishes. He then told me that his 'cousin' had told him that I was 'bukie' (i.e. not trustworthy/suspicious - it's a negative slang word regardless of its precise meaning). I knew this was a sorry attempt at trying to anger me, as he had no clue who I was and furthermore, was contacting me via Instagram which is under a 'fake' name - without even realising I was the same person as the Facebook friend using my real name. In addition, when I was living in London, I rarely socialised and was always with my boyfriend. No-one ROL is friends with would even know me, let alone know anything about me to justify him making this comment. He was being a 'fuckboi' as I pointed out - unable to accept I was not sexually attracted to him and did not want to meet him or anything. He was very easily angered by me being truthful about this. I have re-read the message thread and see that I restrained myself and was quite nice throughout the conversation, despite his hostile, bitter attitude. He kept referring to me as 'Shadowcat' and 'an enigma', 'a mystery' and 'a myth', despite me being extremely clear that I was just not interested in him. He became abusive, so I blocked him on Instagram, but left him on my Facebook friends list. 

A number of months later, ROL messaged me on Facebook. I reminded him that I had blocked him on Instagram over his previous behaviour. He denied this (clearly not realising I was the same person) and demanded screenshots. I told him to just check Instagram messages for himself, as I did not need to provide proof, when he could either remember his own bad behaviour or just leave me alone anyway. I had no investment in 'proving' he had acted like a fuckboi, I was just explaining why I was not wanting further contact. ROL then must have checked the Instagram messages and seen I was telling the truth as me messaged me again, apologising for his behaviour and saying it was out of character. I said I did not care, it was fine, but I was still not in any way interested in him. He was literally begging me at this point, referring to the fact that he was going to draw my portrait and send it to me so that I could hang it on my wall and wonder about what might have happened between us. I thought this was hilarious and just stayed neutral, but firm. He also said that he wanted to show me the luxury of being around a rapper. I think he is grossly over-exaggerating his status in the UK hip hop scene, and I pointed out that I already know plenty of artists who are more popular and well-established than him - some of whom are my close friends offline. I also said that as a grown woman I was not influenced by the idea of being a 'groupie' for some low rate mixtape rapper, as this does not impress me. I spent years of my life around musicians - it's just normal to me. He was still being weird, but given we had already discussed his previous bad behaviour and he had acknowledged it and apologised (it really was really awful and harassing), he didn't resort to being overtly nasty again, just passive-aggressive and persistent. I left the conversation.

I then found out that during the period when ROL had been chatting to/harassing me he had been in some form of relationship with someone who is a friend of DL. He had acted badly and at the time of this new, second attempt at trying to chat with me, was in the process of harassing that person too. I also found out that he had acted badly to other people in his social circle and was not considered very positively - I think money was involved somewhere along the line. DL and I had been talking about the events regarding ROL and DL showed me some of ROL's artwork, which was so amateur and terrible that I wondered if he had some form of learning disability, which might also account for his other very poor behaviour towards me and inability to read clear signs of discomfort and rejection of sexual advances. The 'art' was mainly centred around his anger at the other woman he had cheated on and disrespected. If I had to describe the age I would attribute to the 'artist' had I not known it was his artwork (which he is now attempting to sell for considerable sums of money), I would say 'a talented 8 year old'. Universally, anyone who has seen the artwork finds it shockingly bad. Note that when DL and I were laughing at ROL's artwork, I mentioned that even the purposefully awful artwork I make while roleplaying as 'Force Ghost Anakin Skywalker' is more skillful than ROL's best efforts. DL agreed and said that even when I am trying to make intentionally bad art, I display better draftsmanship. 

Scene 1: A Domestic Interior (Sheringham?) - Day
So, in the first scene of the dream DL and I were looking at a large computer screen - possibly watching something. A chat window popped up at the bottom of the screen - on the left side, but very similar to when using Facebook on a desktop. The message was from ROL, saying he was coming to visit me. I said to DL that this was weird and creepy. I messaged ROL back and said he should not visit me. He said that it was too late as he was already there. I felt panicked and harassed.

There was a knock on the door and I went to answer it. I saw at this point (although it did not register in the dream itself) that the interior of the house was completely different to any interior I know in real life, but the front door and hallway area were very similar to that of my Nan's house. When I opened the door, ROL was there, wearing a Hawaiian  shirt. I said that I did not want him in my house (as in the dream, his real life interactions had actually taken place and were the basis for me disliking him). ROL pushed his way into the house. 

The dream scene continued with ROL following me around and me not being able to get rid of him. At this point DL was not visible in the dream. I felt quite scared to be around ROL. I left him for a moment, to try and go somewhere to summons help in getting rid of him. He came out of the the room he was in and tried to choke me in the crook of his elbow, really hurting my throat and neck (Anakin force chokes Padme in Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith (2005) and obviously, Darth Vader is known for force choking victims who don't comply with his orders). 

I ran away into another part of the house. I was standing in a doorway of a room when I saw DL again. He was able to see the bruises on my neck and I informed him that ROL had assaulted me. DL seemed concerned. 

I went into another room - my bedroom in the dream. It looked a lot like my childhood bedroom in my former family home in Pine Grove, Sheringham, although the furniture was very different. There was a bed with white bed covers on it in the corner of the room and a coffee table. ROL was sitting on the bed. I saw my mobile phone was on the coffee table. It was face-down and had a cork drinks coaster placed on top of it. I knew I would not have left my phone in this way, so I told ROL that I knew he had touched my phone. He said he had - he had looked through it to 'find out who I was linking' (i.e. if I was seeing other men). He then taunted me that he had been able to access my bank account details via my phone and that he could use those to steal my money. I felt angry and violated. I retrieved my phone and left the room to call my bank to alert them to the potential theft/fraud. 

At this point, I looked outside the front door of the house, and noted that it was my Nan's house - at least the road the house was on and the front garden were like slightly larger versions (there are images of this house on other dreams on this Blog, and notably dreams I have had during the currency of this Dream Incubation Experiment, linked on the main page). I could see an vehicle parked outside which in the dream was an ambulance, but which did not look like a real life one - it was bright orange and had ladders on a roof rack, making it seem more like a maintenance truck. There was a very tall black male dream character standing on my Nan's front garden. He was about 7 foot tall and very athletic/strong looking. I felt relieved to see him as I knew he was a 'vigilante' who had arrived to help me escape the abusive, assaulting presence of ROL, who would not have left my house without a larger male threatening him to do so. As ROL is extremely tall, this new vigliante dream character was the only person who was more physically dominating than him. The vigilante was very sympathetic to me and showed concern when he saw the bruises on my neck where ROL had attempted to choke me. At this point ROL came up behind me at the doorway. The vigilante grabbed ROL and they brawled on the grass - wrestling and throwing punches. The vigilante got ROL in a headlock and choked him out. ROL became comatose. The vigilante was part of the ambulance crew, so he helped another male dream character (paramedic?) load ROL onto a stretcher and place him in the back of the ambulance, ready to take him to hospital. The vigilante told me that ROL was completely quadriplegic and brain damaged now - virtually dead. I was in shock. The vigilante left in the ambulance with ROL. 

Scene 2: A Pub, Location Unknown - Day
I then found myself in a pub, which I do not recognise from real life. Present in the pub were a group of Irish travellers - all men. The head of the travelling family, a mature man, asked me to join them. He showed me a large mural on the wall of the pub, which was a series of different images which formed a circle. This mural depicted the link between my family and the travellers - via my cousin HM's paternal side of the family. The main man told me that because of this link between our families, they would protect me and help me out whenever they could. He seemed to be suggesting that it was them who had sent the vigilante to my house to sort out ROL. I was so grateful and felt very safe. I was enjoying being in the company of these men. 

I cannot recall anything else about this dream.

Extra Information: 
No Vitamin B6 taken (forgot)

Recurrent Dream Themes: 

  • My Nan's house as a dream scene location

Dreamsigns: 

  • The entire dream was a dreamsign - other than the fact that DL was my best friend in the dream, the front entrance to my Nan's house looked familiar and the history of my negative interaction with ROL (described above) had taken place in the dreamworld also, all other events were dreamsigns, so I do not plan to list them all individually here

Day Residue: 
  • Clearly the conversation about ROL's bad behaviour and artworks influenced this dream heavily
  • On the day of this dream I had been watching a deep web browsing video from SomeOrdinaryGamers on Youtube - which featured a website purporting to sell cloned credit cards
  • I had been playing my modded version of Sims 3. I noticed that one of the modded 'violence' interactions involves a 'force push' (inspired loosely by Star Wars, I guess). I also have social groups as a mod - including vigilantes. During my gameplay there was a story progression pop-up which referred to one of the vigilante NPCs sorting out crime in the neighbourhood. My sim also got into a brawl in the front entrance of his property with an NPC sim, who had arrived to burgle his home
  • A couple of days before this dream, my cousin HM had messaged me on Instagram. She is the only person to have messaged me on there other than ROL, which may explain why there was some link to HM in Scene 2 of this dream

Waking Reactions: 
This dream was so bizarre - I am sure I could analyse this much further in terms of Day Residue and potential links to the theme of my Dream Incubation Experiment. I was surprised by how cohererent the narrative of this dream was and how much it relied on my actual waking memories of events, which were then woven into the dream narrative in meaningful and coherent ways. I do think there there are many associations between this dream and my Dream Incubation Experiment. I have obviously covered some of them above, but for completeness, include them as a list below:

  • ROL and TD refer to 'light' and 'dark' - like the sides of the Force, which Anakin switches between, transforming himself from Jedi to Sith
  • Choking occured on 2 occasions - first me, as the helpless female victim, and then ROL as 'revenge' by the vigliante there to help me. Force choke is Darth Vader's signature attack of course!
  • The link between the real life ROL as an unintentionally terrible artist and myself creating terrible art while roleplaying as Anakin's Force Ghost online
  • Anakin is essentially quadriplegic after his lightsaber fight with Obi-Wan Kenobi on Mustafar at the end of Revenge of the Sith as he no longer possesses any of his organic limbs. He had already lost his right arm in combat against Count Dooku in Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones (2002), and then had his left arm and both legs because he 'tried it' (i.e. a futile advance) after Obi-Wan reminded him that he had the 'high ground'

Dream 912

'Attending a Trial'
Date: 10 February 2018
Time: 04:45 - 10:30
Type of dream: Normal dream
Dream recall: Normal recall 

This dream was part of my current Dream Incubation Experiment - Anakin Skywalker Dream. Please click HERE for my post on the Dream Incubation Experiment, the Methodology I am using (with instructions for those who also want to attempt to incubate their own dream) and links to my previous Dream Incubation Experiments and previous Star Wars-themed dreams. On that post you will also find an Index for all recorded dreams which take place during this experiment.

Scene 1: My Parents' Flat, Sheringham - Day
I was in my parents' flat/apartment in Sheringham. The lounge seemed somewhat different - larger, but in the dream I knew this was where we were. Various members of my family were present, including my Mum and my Nan. Whereas my Mum is usually the assertive, organising person at a family/social event and my Nan would defer to her on everything, in this dream, my Nan was the assertive person. 

I saw an image of some patterned fabric - I think it was floral. It seemed that I was looking at this image on a computer/mobile phone. It represented the art of a female dream character, who was not actually present in the dream. My family and I discussed the art for a short while. It then became apparent that my family were organising a trip or visit to somewhere. I was not aware of what we were supposed to be doing. I was told by my Nan that we would be going to court to attend the criminal trial of the female artist's younger brother, who was charged with some kind of offence involving a bicycle. We knew this male vaguely and my Nan said we would be going to support him. He did not appear in the dream either. I wondered if this court visit would 'annoy' my family who would find it boring, despite the fact they were the people telling me we would be attending. 

I cannot recall anything else about the dream.

Extra Information: 
No Vitamin B6 taken (forgot)

Recurrent Dream Themes: 

  • My family as dream characters

Dreamsigns: 

  • My family were attending the trial of a random young male, which appeared to relate to a real life criminal case which appeared in the media (see below)

Day Residue: 
  • Recently I had been discussing the case of Charlie Alliston with DL. Alliston was a young man who was charged with a very rare offence of 'wanton or furious driving' involving a modified professional racing bike which had no front brake. Allison accidentally collided with a pedestrian, causing her death. The case received massive media attention because it highlighted a gap in the law (offences involving cycle use causing injury/death). The male dream character was clearly based on Alliston, who was convicted and sentenced to custody in a Young Offender Institution
  • On the day of this dream I had mentioned how much I enjoyed attending Crown Court when I was working in criminal defence

Waking Reactions: 
This was a really weird dream, but clearly influenced by Day Residue.  

Dream 911

'English New York'
Date: 8 February 2018
Time: 02:45 - 10:30
Type of dream: Normal dream
Dream recall: Normal recall 

This dream was part of my current Dream Incubation Experiment - Anakin Skywalker Dream. Please click HERE for my post on the Dream Incubation Experiment, the Methodology I am using (with instructions for those who also want to attempt to incubate their own dream) and links to my previous Dream Incubation Experiments and previous Star Wars-themed dreams. On that post you will also find an Index for all recorded dreams which take place during this experiment.

Scene 1: 'New York', 'USA' - Day
I cannot recall all of what happened in this dream, but I was in a location which I perceived to be 'New York' in America (where I have actually visited before, with SL, my ex-friend). However, every location I saw in this dream was clearly in the UK - and more specifically, reminiscent of York, where I did my first undergraduate degree (where I met SL). The particular area of York it reminded me of was a residential area midway between where I lived on Milton Street (a street off the main Hull Road) and the city centre. There are many redbrick terraced houses in this area. I have included a Google Maps image of the road I lived on in York below, for reference. This was not the area I saw in my dream. I did take a virtual tour of the area on Google Maps, hoping to find the one specific little side street which appeared in my dream, but it was impossible due to memory issues and the fact the areas in question have inevitably changed in the decade or more which has passed since I was last there.

I was with BC - an online friend who I met through DL (and have met in person). We were in New York to get some cannabis and it felt like it was going to be a difficult task, which was making me frustrated. BC and I were standing at a bus stop for a short while, then we walked down a road, turning into a residential side street. For some (unrecalled) reason we had to crouch behind a small wall which was outside a house. It was as if we were hiding from someone, but the situation did not feel scary. I said to BC that the location did not feel like New York, but instead reminded me of York, England. 

I cannot recall anything else about this dream.

Extra Information: 
No Vitamin B6 taken (forgot)

Recurrent Dream Themes: 

  • York as inspiration for a dream scene location

Dreamsigns: 

  • New York was really a location in the UK
  • I was with BC trying to find some cannabis in 'New York'

Day Residue: 
  • I had been interacting with BC online - and I feel that my previous dream (Dream 910 - 'Blast from the Past') was inspired by Day Residue/waking interaction with him
  • On the day of this dream someone on Tinder had contacted me and within a couple of lines of introduction was asking if I knew how he could get hold of cannabis
  • Dream 910 involved a young man who strongly resembled Kurt Cobain. I feel that this dream may have been inspired by my interactions with BC which involved his status about mature women being unattractive and teenagers being superior. I work with teenagers. One of the teenagers I recently had to deal with in relation to complaints of smoking cannabis in his residences had the same pair of 'Jackie O' sunglasses I own - these being strongly associated with Kurt Cobain (see below image). I feel that the earlier dream involving the teenage Kurt Cobain lookalike (inspired by BC's status about young people) and this dream involving BC and cannabis may all be linked through Day Residue and connections my subconscious made
Waking Reactions: 
I have had previous dreams in which I was in New York, but it felt more like I was in the UK. I feel that the fact I was able to notice the discrepancy within the dream means that I could have lucid had my mind fact-checked more.