Reality Checks

When I was in Hawaii I attended a Lucid Dreaming Workshop. One of the techniques we learned to aid in lucidity is to do reality checks throughout the day - that is, whenever things seem a little odd to stop and check to make sure it isn't a dream.

The other day, for example, I went to the gas station and while I was filling the tank I noticed a very tall man who seemed to be wearing no pants, or if he was wearing pants they were shorter than his shirt, so it had the effect of wearing no pants. He was waiting at the bus stop up until it was time for me to pull back into traffic, at which point he stepped right into the oncoming traffic motioning for the cars to stop. Horns blared, cars swerved, people shouted, nobody stopped, but luckily the man was not hit. Then unfazed, still standing in the middle of the traffic lane he turned and looked at me. I shook my head at him and pointed at him and then at the sidewalk to indicate that he should get out of the road. This he did and went to the corner waiting for the light to change before crossing the street, apparently forgetting about the bus. Maybe he realized he needed pants, or longer pants.

This was followed by a couple of days of things in general not functioning. The power went out for a few hours, an application on the computer stopped working and while looking for the software the lighbulb on a halogen light blew out. Hmmm, my dreams are so normal in comparison.