Dreamlife March 19 - Robin (going lucid)

Dream One

Type: Sci-fi/ relationship issues
People: Leslie and a band of Burning-man like hippies, Laura
Featured:  Moon colonization requiring a lot of pee

We have colonized the moon (maybe Gingrich is President??).  They have found—and in the dream I saw a vivid graph of this—that anywhere someone has peed, vegetation grows.  So they want a lot of people to immigrate and pee.  They are giving away 40 acres per person (no mule).  Leslie wants to do it and I, reluctantly, agree.  For some reason Leslie wants to let a group of hippie-artist types use the land (more pee!) I say that is ok as long as they are not near us.

They end up staying right where we are.  I am sleeping and they are clomping around.  I wake up annoyed and tell Leslie she needs to control these folks.  Leslie gives me that sheepish, guilt-ridden look that says "I know you are right, but I don't want to".   I tell her I am leaving if she doesn't get rid of them right now.  She says, "You know how I am, I can't change myself."  I say, "ok, I'm going".  I call Laura and ask her if she will pick me up and let me stay with her when I come back.  She says ok.

I call UCSC to make sure my key is ready and to tell her someone else will pick it up for me.  I read the key number to the woman: 65.47.  She says there is no key by that number.  I look at the key number again and I say that the 5 might be a 6, so try 66.47.  She says that isn't right either.  After a while, she says it is here for me.

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Annotation

This is the first night we have tried our "lucid dreaming" supplements.  I go to sleep thinking about my dream signs—the things that should let me know that this is a dream—UCSC in most any form, water in any unusual situation, sci-fi setting or me in a dress.  These are the things that are suppose to clue me in that I AM DREAMING!!  Notice that I had three of these signs in this dream, but no awareness whatsoever....

Keys - I was in charge of Kresge keys for many years, to the point that I actually am still called from time-to-time (eight years since I have worked at Kresge) for a key question. I keep the database of the Kresge keys for this purpose. [Busted! I do still work there, don't I?] Thus, it is a lousy way to know I am dreaming, really. What is interesting is that the numbers stayed consistent during the whole conversation.  A reality test is to look at a digital clock and the numbers generally don't stay stable in a dream.  So, again, there isn't any easy way to know this is a dream.

Sci-fi  - I am not into sci-fi.  I am not a supporter of space exploration with people.  (Leslie is for both). So I am a bit surprised that I am the one with these sci-fi dreams.  What is up with that??  It is true that Newt has been talking about colonizing the moon, so it could come from that.  Anyway, another failed dream sign!

The hippie/art folks - Leslie and I have been to Burning Man and this whole thing was very much like that.  The group who were living with us were making really weird installations, a la Burning Man.  I think some of this came from the weird ice sculptures at Ice Art like this one or this one. The two big mantras at Burning Man are "Leave No Trace" and "Piss Clear".  So, some of the pee-focus may have come from that.  Certainly it also comes from the fact of "yellow snow" where all pee by animals is quite easy to see here.  Ziggy stops and smells each one.  Leslie likes Burning Man way more than I do and I have vowed never to return.  She plans to.  I find it to be an irritating environment, with either lots of dust or lots of mud or both.  Also loud (though we camped on the quieter fringes our second time there).

It is extremely uncharacteristic of Leslie to want people in her living space for long, particularly hippie-artist types.  She would never have invited these people in reality.  However, at Burning Man she is more social then I by a long-shot and has way more tolerance that I do. And she would love to go to the moon, something that has no interest to me whatsoever...  But she often says that she can't change her social behavior (i.e. being other than a perfect social host no matter what), which I sometimes find annoying.  She points out that I don't—can't?—change things she finds annoying either.  Fair point.

Laura is Leslie's sister and frequently picks us up at the airport and lets us stay with her when we need.  In April, I have to come back to SC for a few doctor's appointments.  She is going to pick me up then and I am staying with her.  I think this, "I'm leaving the moon for Laura's house" is a version of reality - leaving this rugged frontier for home.


Dream Two

Type:  Lucid Dream!!
People: Leslie
Featured:  Flying

I don't remember the context, but I was going somewhere by leaps and bounds, staying in the air far more than normal.  I thought, "This is a dream".  Bingo!  I can change this.  So I put my arms in the air, superman-style and started flying over the buildings. (Yes, I think it was UCSC.)  I was so pleased with myself for lucid dreaming that I wanted to tell Leslie so I woke her up—I'm still dreaming, and it is no longer lucid, of course—and told her I had a lucid dream.  She said, "I know" in a grade-school snotty way.  I said, "how can you know?"  She said, "because you started flying around like Superman in bed".

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Annotation

Well, maybe those pills helped!

I don't normally fly in dreams but I often take these leaps that don't land. Though I haven't had one since I started this dream journal, I know it is my strongest dream sign and was on the lookout for it.  I am not surprised at all that this was how I recognized that I was dreaming.

I am sure some of the Superman came from yesterday's dream 2, and the fact that I have always loved Superman (the TV show, only).

One of our next-door neighbors in Hilo is a young girl who is forever saying "I know" to things we tell her, as only a kid can.  Leslie and I imitate her frequently in a fun way.  That is what Leslie was doing in my dream.  She wasn't being snotty, but funny.