[Terabin]

Yay, dream thread be resurrected! Arise dream thread! Now who's your daddy? Cah mon, dream thread. Who's your DAAADDY?

ehem.

I am a very warm-blooded person and when I was a kid I had a ton of feverish nightmares. The nightmare that I woke up screaming to fairly often (when I was about 6) is quite ridiculous, mostly because I can't imagine that anyone would consider it a nightmare. Basically, I'm a whale and I'm swimming around and I find out that the whale school closed down so I can't go. I start screaming as a result. All I can think of is the deep blue water in front of me, unable to see anything. Just deep blue.

This brings up an interesting question: What defines a nightmare? Is a nightmare a nightmare because it involves scary, ghoulish things? Or is a nightmare a nightmare because the person ends up waking up screaming irregardless of the subject matter?

[Fairygdmther]

I love how dreams have their own reality - Like Wormsie's ability to shrink his piano to fit in the back seat of the car, or that he carried it downstairs by himself.

Both my parents and two of my sisters are dead, yet they are often present in my dreams, like we getting together for a family birthday or something. But it's my father's presence that bothers me. I always ask him why he's there, doesn't he know he's dead? He just laughs at me and says "that's what you think!" This dream which I've had several times takes place in a kitchen I've never been in.

Every house/apartment I've lived in has given me several dreams about hidden rooms, that I've only just discovered in the dream. I never find anything of interest in the rooms, just the surprise that they exist.

I've had dreams where, when I'd been reading a good book just before bedtime, I'll continue to read it in my dream, yet it always does weird things, like having to swim across to the island to go to the shopping mall. And when I continue to read in the dream, I become part of the story. In one, I had to climb up a circular stair that wound around the outside of a tower to get to the top (I never found out why I had to go there), and I was afraid of falling off the stone stairs since they had no railing.

One bizarre dream I had, I had woken up (in the dream) to find I was sore all over and there were blood spots on my bed. My nightclothes were stuck to me in spots. I went to the Emergency room, and they sent me to X-Ray and found I had something implanted in my arms and legs and also across my belly. They sent me to the O.R. where they removed 9 long tubes. Someone recognized them as bombs, and the police were called. When I woke from anesthesia, the cops tried to find out what happened to me and questioned me, but I had no recollection of anything. They were really rude to me, too. I never found out who did this or even why.

FGM-Lyn

[Wormsie]

Recent stuff from my dreams:
-Children. Either I'm trying to take care of one or my mother is pregnant and gives birth... Last night the latter happened.
-The subway. Last night I was again travelling on a subway, to take my mother to the hosital to give birth. The hospital was more like a slaughterhouse, though. The doctors were very carefree with the knives...

[Jazhara7]

I dreamt that I was my RPG character, only he was dead (died two years ago). And he is haunting my school, and watching another person (which appears to be the sister of someone else's RPG character, who he was apparently married to.

The dream starts with that other character and his sister visiting Gariel's grave, (which is in a room - like a Mausoleum, only really open. It reminds of the Ivory tower, but less light, and more light-coloured marble). Gariel watches them as a ghost.

It ends with Gariel being angry with the other character (the guy), and flying through the corridor, not caring whom he flies through (sending shivers through the unlucky ones), until one student tells him to stop, and he snaps that he is a ghost. Then he enters the cafeteria (through the door. He can't go through walls.), and takes a tray, confusing everybody in the room.


-

[Jazhara7]

Originally Posted by ConcreteRancor

Last night I dreamt that my $5 bowl of mint chocolate chip ice cream was stolen, and the ice cream store said that they'd replace it if I filled out a form and got 50 signatures saying that I should have the ice cream back.

Possibly the most harmless dream I've ever had. Although I remember there was some kissing involved elsewhere in the dream.

I don't want to insult you or anything, but that text, in combination with your avatar, creates a strange vision.

Samuel Vimes eating mint chocolate chip ice cream..now THAT'S something you don't see every day!


-

[Elton28]

The ones that involve s..... [Wormsie can insert said word here]

Winning money is always good too.

However, keep on having this recurring dream.

Because I play Unreal Tournament more than anything else, it remains embedded in my brain. So, I go to bed and dream about it. But, not just dreaming about it, I am actually IN THE GAME, with my trusty Sniper Rifle and ASMD. Doing what I do best and racking up loads of "real" frags.

Then, I turn a corner on the map, which is always Deck16][, and I get flakked up close and personal, by a Flak spamming n00b!!

I then type "spammer" and the dream ends.

Now normally, I wake up and think nothing of it. But, the last time I had it, about 2 nights ago, I woke up really freaked out and turned on my bedside lamp and felt really jittery. I went back to sleep with the light on, leaving my g/f all confused when she got up at 7am.

So, not sure why this is happening really.

I also dream about tornadoes a lot, and I am trying to hide from them, by holding onto anything, whilst the tornado whips around me, inside random houses.

Weird stuff....

[Manhunter71]

When I was about 10 yrs old I had this really scary dream that stormtroopers from Star Wars were invading my street -


- I would hear them coming up my garden path and then into the house. At that point I would hide under the duvet and eventually they would make their way into my bedroom, look around and then leave.

I would then climb out of my bedrrom window and for some reason run imnto the garage - there was a stormtrooper there who I hit with a piece of wood and stole his gun - the stormtroopers would then run into the backyard and start firing at me in the garage.

Then I would wake up screaming and sweating.

I had this recurring dream for about 2 months - it was well scary

[Erwin_Br]

Dreams in which you're able to fly are always great. I remember I was afraid of the height, the first time I dreamt about it, though.

What's really annoying is that you can't run or walk in dreams. I once had this dream, that I was walking on the railroad tracks, and a train was suddenly appearing. And I wanted to run away, but could only move VERY slowly. (And of course, illogical as dreams are, I tried staying ahead of the train instead of jumping to the left or right, so I'd be off the tracks)

--Erwin

[Manhunter71]

I used to have this other disturbing dream where I would start off at the swimming baths with my family and for some reason I suddenly knew I had to get home - I would leave the baths and start running through the streets wearing only my towel and swimming trunks.

Unfortunately I could only run like I was wading through water and eventually my towel, and then my trunks would disappear

I was trying to run as fast as possible because I was naked but it was like my part of the world was stuck in slow motion and everything around me was carrying on at normal speed


That was pretty disturbing

[Sage]

Originally Posted by mycroft

No, my good man.
You cannot read in dreams.It is not a scientific rule.It is a biological impossibility.You cannot perceive colour either.

Au contraire, mon frere. Maybe you can't perceive colour in dreams, but all my dreams are in full, rich, living colour. I was almost grown before I found out there were people who didn't dream in colour, and I have felt sorry for those people ever since. Have you never in a dream seen the yellow of a flower, the orange of a sunset, or the vivid blue of a summer sky? Maybe colour just has more meaning for me than for other people; In my job I am required to ask people the colour of their vehicles, and unless said vehicles are red, blue, black, or white, most people freeze up and almost experience an anxiety attack at the thought of describing a simple colour.
On the other hand, I don't recall ever having read anything in a dream, so that part of your statement I cannot refute.

Thrifty

[Catnip]

When I have a flying dream, it is never pleasant. I never really fly on my own, though. Usually, there is a sort of super-fast carousel that spins, and it is a travel device, and I have to grab it and go around in circles and then let go, and the feeling is terrifying! I usually soar through the air very fast, but I never actually see myself land.

I usually have recurring dreams about suddenly being in college again, and needing to find housing. I look around and find an apartment (usually at night, for some reason, walking around dark neighborhoods, trying to find somewhere to live). The apartment is always filthy, or in horrible disrepair, and I work continuously trying to clean it up or fix it up. Occasionally, there will be secret rooms that I am anxious to uncover, but I have to fix the other stuff up before I can enjoy myself and explore. Usually, I feel overwhelmed. Occasionally, there will be the addition of a big spider web into the dream. One time, the spider web was so huge in a large, arched doorway, that it covered nearly the entire space. I walked under it and looked at the web, and there was a huge, rotting pumpkin (like a jack-o-lantern) in the web!
I have since read in a dream interpretation book that dreams that involve fixing up a home are really about fixing up your own life. I'm not sure what the spider and pumpkin were, though! I haven't had one of those dreams for about a year and a half, but I used to have them all of the time.

[Sage]

I've had flying dreams with some regularity. Flying always seems so effortless in dreams, I find myself wondering why I've waited so long to leave the ground and have wasted so much time walking.
Sometimes I dream about friends or family members doing or saying really unkind things, and the dreams are so real I stay mad at the person in the dream for hours after I wake up.

[Jazhara7]

You can do pretty much everything that works in the real world, in dreams - and also those things that don't work in the real world.


However, one thing that you can nearly never (or not at all) do in dreams is change the lighting. For example: If you were to use a light switch in your dream (lets say you try to turn the lights on), then it is pretty likely that it would have no effect - the lights would stay off. This is a good indicator that you are dreaming (that, or the lightbulb has blown), and can help you trigger lucid dreaming.

I found that the site Dreamviews is a good guide on lucid dreaming and a good source for some information on the nature of dreams.


-

[Terabin]

So what is the difference between Lucid dreaming and normal dreaming? Would you say that you can dream lucidly? I think I can't, using my understanding of it.

[Manhunter71]

Originally Posted by Terabin

So what is the difference between Lucid dreaming and normal dreaming? Would you say that you can dream lucidly? I think I can't, using my understanding of it.

Lucid dreaming is a phenomenon that supposedly enables you to control your actions in a dream but be aware that it is a dream. I think its similar to something called Remote Viewing.

There were quite a few books published about it in the mid 90s, a memorable one written by this American doctor who worked for the US Army. He described various secret research projects involving Remote Viewing and I think, Lucid Dreaming.
Apparently the government was conducting research into the military applications involved - using these techniques an agent could infiltrate a govt building in another country and gather top secret information.

I know, I know, this all sounds pretty much like sci-fi, but there is plenty of info available on the web.
Take a look for yourselves -

http://www.lucidity.com/
http://www.ld4all.com/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lucid_dreaming

http://www.farsight.org/
http://www.irva.org/

[LauraMac]

I haven't read many sources for definitions of lucid vs normal dreaming - but for me the difference is this.

In a normal dream, if bad guys were chasing you - you would run maybe panic, feel it was real and wake up perhaps glad it was over.

When I have dreams or had them (childood mostly for bad guy dreams) I would start to run and suddenly go "Hey wait this is a dream - I can do whatever I want! I can fly!"

Then I would fly off and never feel panic or afraid and when I woke up I would go "hey too bad that was fun."

So to me - lucid dreaming is where you realize or are aware from the start that you are in a dream and more importantly can affect what happens in it or alter it. For some it extends to deciding even what they will dream about or try to - say if there are issues they need to work on or decisions to make.

[Jazhara7]

Originally Posted by LauraMac

So to me - lucid dreaming is where you realize or are aware from the start that you are in a dream and more importantly can affect what happens in it or alter it. For some it extends to deciding even what they will dream about or try to - say if there are issues they need to work on or decisions to make.

I think you got it quite correct. But you don't have to be aware of it from the start. You can suddenly notice something that makes you question the reality of what you are doing. It can be extraordinary things (like a flying cow, aliens, or something like that), or simple things, that are just unusual (like when something happen when it shouldn't at that time: for example: In my school, we have Döner on the menu once a month, and it is always a friday. If suddenly it was tuesday, and there was Döner on the menu, I would notice that something is not as it should be).


-

[LauraMac]

Originally Posted by Jazhara7

I think you got it quite correct. But you don't have to be aware of it from the start.

I thought I had it worded better - but that is what I meant. Either you "become" aware or know from the start.

Ahhh that sneaky missing word "Become".

But mine never started as lucid, but shifted suddenly at some point in the dream. The same thing - something out of place, a person appearing who isn;t actually still alive etc.

The other component is that these dreams I always seemed to remember vividly after I was awake. In fact I still recall specific dreams from when I was as young as 4 and 5 years old. I have one I really like that was about Felix the cat.

[omloflump]

I had an interesting dream last night. As always it's a bit vague, but it had something to do with me being part of the Home Improvement family and having to escape from zombies. Wilson – his face revealed – was our guardian of sorts, and he carted us around in his helicopter. I sure hope Freud was wrong.

[Erkki]

I just had the craziest dream ever, and it has now become my favourite. Since I woke up 3 hours too early and probably won't be able to sleep again, I'll just have to sit down here and write this down (again).

LEVEL 1

I don't remember all of it -- the beginning is especially unclear. First there was some kind of party that turned into an orgy by the end. I was quite drunk and after the party I was talking to this girl whom I barely remembered from the party and who wanted to start dating me. Then after some confusion there were two girls driving very slowly away in a sports car and I had to follow them.
I ran behind them until the road crossed a railroad, where the pavement was inside a fence, so I kind of ran on the fence matrix-like (except I was holding on to it on all fours).
When the pavement started again and I could climb down, I noticed the police was having a raid (to catch drunk drivers, I thought). And surely one of them walked up to me and dragged me into this building (or was it a tent?). There I was sat behind a table and made to take a test. The first two questions were simple (I don't remember them though), but the latter were dealing with mathematics and programming! (and I was actually reading and understanding the questions from the paper, in a dream) It seemed like they wanted to test how a drunk person behaved in this situation -- the table was filled with all kinds of distractions: food (delicatessen even), drink, lesbian porn, magazines, totally unrelated piles of paper. And there were people all around asking me questions.
Despite all those distractions, I managed to understand what one of the harder test questions wanted me to do, at least for a second. I was thinking hard how to solve the programming problem, but was distracted by the above-mentioned paraphernalia. Eventually I somehow lost sight of the actual test questions and paniced.
Some kind of officer asked me how many questions did I answer and I said, "Zero," for I had also lost the answers I had written for the first two questions. That started some kind of strange judgement session, at the end of which some politician who was there (actually, by then the event seemed more like a party than a police raid) started talking and knew where I worked and my boss (he got his name slightly wrong though) and was making some remarks about that that I can't remember. Then it was over.
Presently I left and started going home, I think. There is another blurry part and then I woke up.

LEVEL 2
After waking up, I thought that it was a ****ing crazy dream and I should write it down immediately. I grabbed a notebook from the shelf and started writing it down. There was something weird about how I wrote it -- I was scratching words down very quickly lest I forget something and the letters had very chaotic sizes. At some point I realized I was still drunk. A few moments later I realized I was still dreaming.

INTERMISSION
This part was where I wasn't sure which level I was in -- anyway, I think I had full memory of everything that happened so far (including what I started to write down thinking it was a dream), and at some point I was manipulating the dream and putting various people in it that weren't there originally.

LEVEL 1
Back to level 1, now I watched a directors cut edition (or it was rather more like a story where you get to select a different branch) and instead of staying at the party from the beginning I hanged around with some people in the big massive building where the party was taking place. Don't really remember this part that well; then I woke up (again).

LEVEL 3
No, then I really woke up. Although it's possible that I woke up twice in a row.