Since I mentioned yesterday that the physics were dramatically different from my usual dream structure, I have decided to take a moment to explain the normal mechanics of my dreams.
- Natural color: I was never aware it was possible to dream in black-and-white until I saw a psychology textbook's sample dream recording sheet with options for color, b/w, mixed, and don't remember. Colors are balanced and realistic; e.g., my dreams aren't heavy on green objects.
- Strong sense of location: I always know where I am. Things may be a bit altered from true reality, for example there may be four copies of Knox Lecture Hall, but there is no question that it is Knox on UB's North Campus. Rarely, the building may be nameless, faceless, and unfamiliar, but I still know its purpose, e.g. a hospital. The location is often somewhere out of my memory, which makes it a pain to explain to other people because they don't know as much about it, for instance where the tunnel under my old elementary school is.
- Everyday physics: For the most part, everything obeys the standard laws of physics. Once in a while, space may be Escher-like, but it is as readily navigable in those cases as normal space. Even if the physics will depart from reality, I generally know about the altered laws at the beginning of the dream.
- People represent themselves: With a single exception, people I know never show up in any body but their own. Even that person still had the body of someone I recognized, rather than being some sort of critter or amorphous blob.
- Cinematic (for lack of a better word): I am virtually always a character in a pre-written story. Only once did I have a series of dreams where my decisions and actions affected the future.
- Emotionless: I generally don't feel emotion, even when I am acting as if I am driven by it. Half of the time, even nightmare plots don't generate any fear.
- Limited senses: I almost always dream with nothing more than sight and sound. Even if I am holding something, or sitting in a chair, the normal sensation of touch (and kinesthetics) is replaced by the knowledge that I am holding the object or sitting.