Dreaming. Lucidly.

The subject of dreams has always fascinated me, so when I saw there was a whole section on "lucid dreaming", I had to read it. Just so I could scoff, if nothing else.

Basically, lucid dreaming is when you _realize_ you're in a dream. The aficionados aim to take control of their dreams. I don't know why anybody would want to control their dreams -- well, there were some attempts at compelling argument -- because, besides work (trying to keep it so under control it doesn't have a chance to become a mess for me -- we try), there isn't really anything in life I want to control: it's much more fun to watch things grow, stew and breed on their own, ehe. (Except for all the things we keep organized, predictable and in their place, of course. :D ) Same with dreams.

In my dreams, I've learned how to fly (teaching myself, gradually progressing from nothing to speed-of-thought, without knowing what I was doing, just naturally). I've had premonition-ary dreams, dreams that came true. I've met people, in dreams, people I'd never heard of, who I met at a later date, in real-life. Been to places I'd never been to, that I ended up at, years later -- down to walking the identical hall, with plants in all the right places. I've gotten to know people in dreams, then, when getting to know them in real life, discovered they were just like their dream personality. A few paranormal things have happened in my life -- not least of which was entering life, aherm; well, that is, it's paranormal for everyone who has to endure me, to be sure, ehehe -- some of them dream-related.

Anyway, if you're into lucid dreaming and you don't quite have the hang of it, apparently, you get into these rituals, to induce them, like, training your mind during the day to recognize that you aren't in a dream. Which sounds like nonsense to me, because real-life doesn't at all compare to dream-life, to my senses. But I guess the point is to build the habit of "checking", so that when you _are_ in a dream, you do the same check, realize you're dreaming, then take charge of the situation. Or something like that.

Besides the fact that I'm not interested in running around controlling my dreams, I'm also just too lazy to get into any serious "try to make this work" habit-forming attempts (besides, I'm sure there are risks to such dabbling). But over the last few days, it _has_ been on my mind. I've been plenty conscious in many of my dreams, aware that it was a dream and, thus, warding off "evil" or having a better reaction to disappointing or frustrating circumstances, because I knew they wouldn't actually be a mess, when I woke up. But actually realizing it's a dream, then consciously trying to make something happen, isn't something I've tried before -- though I've made things happen/appear, by thinking of them, just not on purpose and with awareness of what I was doing.

So, the other day, I decided that, if I happened to become "aware" in a dream and felt the need to pretend to get into that whole "lucid" thing, I'd drag somebody into it -- someone who I don't know in real life and who hasn't starred in any of my dreams, that I can recall. Well, you don't remember all your dreams, so who knows, but anyway, the point being, somebody unlikely to randomly show up (I think I'm getting less creative in my old age, so things don't happen quite as randomly as before, heh).

So, last night... in my dream... there I was... walkin' along... mindin' my own business...

I walked into a lounge-y, pub-y sort of place... it was quite lively... there was good music playing, strong bass... a crowd that felt familiar to me, even though I didn't take the time to see if all the faces registered... I espied someone I know, someone reeeally tall, and friendly, who we'll call PJ, for selah-ness, ehe (you poker king, you)... he was leaning against a counter, in a leisurely fashion, as I've seen him lean at parties... it's been a long time since I've been around all you friendlies... sigh... as I bounced up, all happy, I noticed that the colors in the place were extremely vibrant, like they were pulsating, alive, not at all real-life-ish, which is when I had my lucid-style trigger...

"I'm dreaming!"

I told myself... so now, I'm offcially a lucid dreamer... haha...

I said some teasing thing to his high-ness... then I realized I had a mission to accomplish... now that I was technically "lucid", I remembered I needed to make somebody (some _thing_ would've worked just fine, too, but for some reason this option particularly amuses me) physically unfamiliar appear... now, how one does such things, I am not sure... I know in dreams in the past, I've been searching for someone in particular, for some reason feeling like I was supposed to meet up with them and I either did or didn't... so I figured I'd try that and I specifically went in search of said persona, insofar as searching in one's thoughts is concerned... "where is _____?"... fuzzy... I don't remember what happened, but... aha! success! there you are!... grab their hand and drag them away from the loud-and-happy-music-colors-and-lights place, to somewhere a bit calmer... I don't know if that part was actually intentional, so maybe I was faux lucid... :)

Ended up in some part of the same place which, although still busy and with plenty of signs of life, was quaint, much quieter and rather attic-y feeling... with a skylight... and rafters... and old fashioned furniture and rugs... the sort of place where I'd looove to curl up with a good book or laze around having a good conversation, on a rainy day... yeah... odd...

In the past, I've been a pretty good predict-er of reality and personalities, in my dreams... in this instance, where I was pretending to be "in control", things just didn't feel as prediction-ish... which isn't as much fun, in reality... I was inwardly laughing at how bizzarre circumstances were... even though I knew circumstances weren't "circumstances"...

So there we were, a quiet-er spot... and neither of us had a thing to say... although, to myself, I couldn't stop giggling about how silly it was that neither of us had a thing to say... and how unusual everything was, compared to reality...

It started to fade (dreams _always_ fade just when they're getting extra-interesting)... and I woke up...

And the moral of all that is... Perhaps I've lost my touch... Predicting life...

Or have I...