Escape the Cadre

 This morning I woke up around four, well exactly at four , thinking about a dream that came through, not unpleasant - though definitely strange. Problem was, without enough substance and being out of practice for several days, the dream soon faded out. Sitting in the darkness of my bedroom after a short bathroom trip, I couldn't help wonder what the dream was about.        

    Deciding to lay down and catch at least a few more hours of sleep was my only option. Before closing my eyes the dream began to come into focus a little more; my memory hadn't abandoned me just yet, except there still wasn't enough to pull through the eye of the needle - just a few flashes of imagery.

    Relaxing back against the chill of the room, my covers pulled up to my chin enough keeping the warmth trapped; pillow scrunched underneath the back of my neck (The only comfortable  position that works for me) closed my eyes and I quickly faded out.

I dropped into the dream unexpectedly.

Familiar place again, this is pseudo Chicago mixed in with the Bronx, and the tables are turned once more. This time I'm not the one on the run, my friend Alex is. Whenever a figure  begins to interact with me - there is the tendency to "play along" in whatever scenario is already running. This was a busy outdoor plaza but the familiarity started bringing in other elements from past dreams in order to set the stage. Was this "Tricky" playing Alex again? Odd facial matrixing didn't happen, though this was the version that didn't have to fully render, like a clay-face badly molded to look like him. The feeling that this was my buddy engaged me enough to assist in his escape.

    A crowd scene mostly kids skateboarding in the plaza reminded me of the first dream in the high-rise tower where the kids skated in the basement park. "You have to help me, they're coming!" Alex pleaded with me, grabbing both my arms for attention, he had appeared out of nowhere from my right side as I admired the skateboarders doing tricks. My mind wasn't fully in the game just yet, his fear didn't translate quickly enough for me to respond. This man is one of the few people I trust and love in this world.

    A few seconds later, my consciousness jumped into the scenario willing to help. "Where are they?" I asked Alex, mirroring his excitement "Who are they and what do they want?" The terror in his face grew while I was trying to shake the information out of him - my thought was that he caught a glimpse of his pursuers behind me in the crowd. Alex takes off running and I look behind me to see four men dressed like 70's mobsters push through the people, they hadn't caught sight of Alex talking to me or running away. Ever the opportunist, Alex pushes a skateboarder to the ground and steals the board taking off down the hill. The leader spots the action and decides that running after him would waste time, noting the direction he zipped off to.

    The men didn't notice me, I was still panicked though as they made their way off to the right, presumably to get in their vehicles to continue the chase. I begin to take off in the direction Alex skated, running at top speed. He had turned the corner near the bottom of the hill at a curved brick wall - I think he was headed to his secret apartment not far away, the one that opened up with the skeleton-key. 

    The thought of the apartment sent my mind there, skipping past any other elements that the dream would have thrown my way. Alex and I were now inside; he paced and was babbling about not knowing what to do - I was about to reason with him that we should leave this place. My consciousness intervened and realized I had arrived without being out of breath, or even why I was suddenly inside the familiar room. 

    After the realization came, the dream broke down quickly... I began waking up. 

    I don't know how long the dream took, my covers were skewed off the bed, luckily my wife is out of town or she may have woken me up for thrashing around, stealing the blanket. Checking the time on my phone it's now six in the morning, almost exactly two hours.

*Epilogue*

    All of the elements in this dream came from others, sort of a "Remix" if you will, the men chasing Alex were the same ones who were upset about the parking restrictions. The plaza and kids skating were from the High-Rise building, Pseudo-Chicago was the grand stage. The Bronx is where we ended up, inside the building that Alex had the secret wall/door in the basement level apartment he activated with a skeleton key. 

    My only concern is that - Yes, I know that "Tricky" is a slightly more Lucid representation of my inner self and the message changes with each dream. He wants me there in the dream world, for companionship, for comfort, to engage with my child-like essence. 

    Maybe he's trying to prepare us for the time when my dreams become our only reality.

Skating Past

I woke up at 4 in the morning again and headed back to sleep.

Dream:

    I was in a hall, or roller skating rink. There were a few twists and turns that took me from one end of the dream into the next - I was travelling around for no good reason. Just mindless exploration.

    I had the feeling of motion, when I looked down, I was skating - something I was never able to master. My version of roller-skating skill is legs spread apart, willing myself to stay balanced as I roll forward. In the dream I was actually skating and crossing my legs over correctly - the sensation and freedom of a perfect balanced skate routine was new to me.

    Speeding up and slowing down at will - as if I was controlled by the skill of the avatar my spirit had taken for a ride. This hallway was darkened and I continued to glide around until I saw the light from a doorway that opened up. Another skater had came through.

A woman dressed in cosplay, as a pink and white Anime Mech robot.. she nearly knocked me down as I escaped past her through the door from the dark tunnel. Exiting from the dark, the layout of where I emerged wasn't very familiar. I end up travelling up and down staircases looking for a way out, not in panic but in frustration.

    One stairway led to a landing that reminded me of a subway station and I found an inoperable escalator (I've dreamt of them before) going down. At the bottom some men were playing ice Hockey and had blocked the end with a Plexiglass barrier that had a small hole cut out for the puck to go through. When I reached the bottom I asked "How do I get out of here?" One player dressed in full Hockey uniform answered "Through there." I said "But that hole is too small" he meant that I could move the barrier, he moved it himself off to one side and let me pass through.

    They waited till I left the area to continue the game. I thought that I knew the way out from there but it took me several more staircases before I made my way outside, underneath the staircase to the elevated train at my old home station, emerging from a space between the two sections of reality, this caught my attention as I exited and stood up in familiar territory. #dreamdiary

Battle of Titans

 October 7, 2022

    Last night before going to bed, I posted my goodnight as normal on Twitter. Feeling like this routine was becoming bland, I needed to add a little extra. A GIF perhaps? Equating sleep and dreams with a tide or ocean before, I was reminded of that fact after watching a video online and thought of how it wasn’t a far-off assumption on my part due to the alignment of my theory with the presentation. Sometimes the message I try to convey might come across as deeply troubled, I opted for something simple and relatable. “Wading into a warm ocean of dreams” was the message, followed by sunlit waves undulating on a random beach. This image would play into my dreams later in the morning.

        There was action going on, a battle. Usually when my mind decides to become coherent during a dream, there has to be something that catches my attention. Since I am on the spectrum, even the smallest hint of strangeness will trigger that “We must be present” part of attention because of our “involvement”. Much of the dream becomes lost to me due to the action, several things are happening all at once as if to keep me off-balance and confused. I’ve explained this feeling of confusion as part of waking up - the thinnest of membrane between the conscious and unconscious world. Something in the dream world wants me to stay, images are coming at me like the cut scenes from a movie about NASCAR racing.

        Superheroes - a team of us (Again, I think) fighting against a force coming from the sea (Ocean of Consciousness) *Spoiler Alert*

I did watch the new “Wakanda Forever” trailer and this dream may have been seeded by that, and last night’s episode of “She-Hulk” as I am thinking about writing, there are strange similarities if not a direct rip-off and amalgamation happening from within. I will always be the first one to try an “Debunk” my own dreams before putting them in print. Our group consisted of a male/female pair that could grow in size, at least 60 ft tall. (I remember recently seeing reference to the 50ft woman on Twitter - edit) My own power was immense strength, and I could command the creation consciousness matter (That is represented by water in the dream world) of the realm and use it as camouflage. We were fighting the “Darklings” is what I can only describe them as - these were the short muscular beings that have peppered my dreams before. They’re very mischievous and cause chaos as their main goal, these masters of chaotic energy make it impossible to command the realm using Lucidity, if you become sucked into the action. 

Working backward from what actually happened in the dream is the trickiest part of recall, imagine not remembering anything at all, sitting up on the edge of the bed and finally a flicker of an image comes through - you breathe in and silently say “Yes. Dream come back.” Amazingly tiny little snippets of imagery will break out of the barrier and you start to remember. But I digress.

        Along with my group is a child that turns into a woman on command - she is the focal point of the hordes of mini-shades, I believe she is another dreamer or facsimile. Their master isn’t revealed before the end. The place at which the battle takes place is familiar but constructed differently, instead of the brick factory from the dream that I pinned in my Twitter profile feed, we are now in a cobblestoned village - somewhat like Italy. Once again, the water is coming up to the alleyway from beyond and leading out to a larger body of water - the ocean perhaps (This is the second time this type of imagery has caught my attention - the Sirena’s of Brazil were the focal point last time) For this event to play out in similar fashion means that dry land might actually be consciousness - and the water is the ocean of unconscious reality. There are several more “Heroes” available for battle and we become engaged with our enemy that come wading out of the alleyway towards us. I see the giants grow to handle most of the mini shades by scooping up handfuls and tossing them away (I know subliminal dwarf tossing). Using my power of unconsciousness, I blend in with the water trying to move past the army to hit them from behind. The child grows into the woman, she is a fierce fighter - a cross between “The Bionic Woman” and “Jill Monroe” from “Charlies Angels” for all you 70’s geeks - usually the dream will inject something from the timeframe to let me know “Where we are” in the spectrum of time and space. The fact that I referenced these two shows means that I am pointed to the 1975-1976 era when these shows first began and gained popularity.

    I forgot to describe the darkling's, they looked like little people or kids, no taller than 3.5 ft tall. They had what appeared to be a "void suit" all around, think of a black spandex shrink wrap. A pink glowing band denoting their arms, legs, and torso like a stick figure was the only way to see them the face part was a circle - when they attacked from the darkness this looked menacing.

    Their leader arose from the depths of the water looking like "Mephisto" one of the Big-Bad's from Marvel comics except he wasn't red in color, he was darkness, in blues and greens, commanding the waves of water like a chariot and his diminutive hordes expanded from beneath the wave outward in our direction for the battle. Since I could command the water as well, I used that power to grasp my partner and slide us underneath, while the giants and others clashed with the army. We emerged out from behind the advancing column. I caused a tidal wave to sweep away the evil while my team leapt above the waters. The force of my wave knocked us up against the side of the buildings, the small army turned towards us again - not fazed by my counter since they traveled the waters with ease. My partner jumped up and began retreating from the battle, I had to make a choice to stand and fight or run... I chose the latter.

The dream ended and I woke up not feeling any excitement from the adventure but kept thinking about the meaning and symbology.

The Touch Awakens

 

    Earlier this morning I wanted to write down the action from my dream that came after waking up at 3:11AM. 

My dreams are really weird when there is touch sensation involved. 

    There was the sensation of stepping into the dream from another doorway like my spirit was invading the dream space of someone else - I became consciously aware that there were two policemen with shotguns searching for someone in a room with bunk beds, they were rousting one kid awake. Initially they had brushed past me, I thought that my involvement wasn't needed in the dream, but the sensation of the two men on either side of me was like I actually materialized in between them as the action was beginning. Feeling the weight of the men I realized that I wasn't in "spirit mode" just watching; I reached out and touched one of the officers in order to "feel" the reality of the situation. The policeman felt me touch him, and I could feel the fabric of his polyester mesh uniform top that read POLICE front and back in black and yellow. Poking the shirt, I could feel the heavy Kevlar underneath. He reacted quickly by saying "Hey, what the hell do you think you're doing!!!" This alarmed me. 

    Luckily, they were after someone else in this nightmare, and I didn't get a shotgun pointed towards my face. The commotion inside the dorm room was intense. After what seemed like a few minutes, the policemen were satisfied that the perpetrator was not in this room, and they continued outside. They were part of the search teams scattered out across the area flushing out each of the buildings. Somehow, I got outside undetected (Spirit mode?) and began searching the area with them - although I didn't know who we were looking for. Part of the dream became WEIRD at this point into the Freud territory, after a few minutes of uncomfortably graphic images that reminded me of raunchy teen comedies - I rejoined the search, exiting out from an alleyway out near a parking lot at the edge of the campus. There was a lone car parked in a section with a few spaces - a light blue late model car - I was able to read the plate and make of the car in the dream but the memory of both disappeared. There were mathematical equations written in red grease pencil or marker on the trunk and bumper. A young man stepped out from behind the hedges lining the parking lot, smoking a cigarette. He saw me trying to read the mathematical formulas. ---

    I recognized the man as a younger version of the actor Giovanni Ribisi - he asked me "What's up?? looking at me quizzically - this may have been his nightmare or one of my dream archetypes messing with me. My response was put off a little by the resemblance he had to the actor, and I muttered "Nothing man, you know" shrugging my shoulders. He just flicked his cigarette, went around to the driver's side of the car and started the engine. I knew that THIS WAS THE GUY, but now he had seen me, I felt like he wouldn't just let me get away too easily. I kept walking past the building onto a sidewalk outside the campus proper that had tall hedges lining the walk. He let me get about 50 yds. away before slowly driving behind me. I decided that he might try to attack me, when I hit the corner I ran low with the bushes as cover - till I reached another dorm residence building and ducked down low despite there being too much lighting. He turned the corner and drove past - the area was too close to where the police were still too active - I think he had enough and drove away from the campus. I still didn't know what to do... 

    I woke up trying to remember the make and model of the car... Pontiac? The sequence of the license plate faded, and the mathematical symbols on the back of the car in red marker... a mystery to me.

    This time memory was my downfall - during the dream sequence that the rear of the car was presented with so much text that was readable, if only I could remember the mathematical symbols - like I said before, this didn't feel like one of my dreams.