Thread: Task of the Month for September 2012

YAY!!! I actually remembered to do one of these tasks this month! It is a good thing for me to have some kind of goal in mind so I don't just fly around going "cool, I love to fly, weeeee!"

I completed the advanced task. 09-11-12 Six hours of Lucid Part 2 - Dream Journals - Lucid Dreaming - Dream Views

It was pretty cool, because in the first LD of the night I actively tried to remember what the task was and could not. Then I DEILD into another dream, and before too long a DC spouts out "Swimming in the Creaotous sea is dangerous."
I say "What?!" and he goes "Your plan to swim in an ancient sea is dangerous!"
So a DC actually made me remember the task! Pretty cool.

Awesome dream Sivason!! Giant prehistoric lobsters ftw, and you even got to eat some. Hope you had enough butter

Advanced Task - Swim in an ocean during the Cretaceous Era, and describe the marine life you come across.

Ok I say I did the advanced task and I'll tell you why. I swam in an ocean during the cretaceous Era just didn't run into wild life untill later in a bath tub. They didn't say the marine life had to be in the ocean well heres my story.

Spoiler for advanced task:

I was at a wild party and becoming lucid I ran towards the ocean willing it to be there and willing it to be from back in time. The ocean appeared and I swam in it. I was afraid of my first encounter with a dinosaur but made myself dive in. My subconcious must of known my fear cause however hard I tried to dive the ocean got shallower and shallower untill I was laying face down in a puddle in a construction site. I saw a large tank and thought of diving in that but it was bone dry. Then I found myself in a bath tub full of water. The water was blue with waves and I knew this was the ocean. Tiny Dinosaur creatures with fins that I can hardly describe appeared and it was amazing. I put my face in the water and tried to shrink and swim underneath. Unfortunatly I was unable to. I lifted my head out and saw the creatures were getting closer. I kept backing away to the edge of the tub putting my knees up. A dinasour creature grabbed my hand and I flicked it off beside me. Then sharks appeared and one bit my finger and it actually hurt. I could see blood and jaw marks on my thumb as if I had really been injured then I awoke.

Wow, the basic tasks is pretty awesome this month

Completed both tasks I think but tell me if you think I haven't and I'll try again asap
Sorry didn't know how to link to my DJ entry so I'm copy pasting:
"I was at work and suffered a massive migraine and took panadine fort to fix it, I fell asleep for an hour and dreamed.
I continued on from a previous attempt of the easy Task of the Month:
I was riding on the scorpion I had tamed through a one lane dirt track with massive, tree sized blades of grass. Walking along I'd focus in on the flying insects and see them up close (the opposite of what happened last time where they were blurry, this time I seen them in detail when I'd focus on them) I see dragonflies and house flies and looking around the ground I'd see train sized Millipedes and Pill Millipedes. Then a giant spider jumped down infront of the scorpion I was riding on looking aggressive but its eyes widened like in shock and then ran away, I seen all its pupils look at me before it was startled like it wasn't afraid of the scorpion but of me.
I jumped off the scorpion, gave it a pat and untied its claws and freed it. I then focused my 'energy' and lifted off the ground and flew super fast down to the end of the lane, seeing blurred insects along the way like when you see a tree while driving. At the end a mountain grew larger until I was at the top of it and landed there.
The panadine must have been too strong and I must have dozed off and next I knew I was standing infront of a millions of ants and they were worshipping me with a number of other insects, I quickly gathered that the mountain must have been an ant mound but yeah all the insects seen me as their god.
I flew to the beach after that and found a massive tubeworm, I grew tall again to normal hight and for some reason bit off the tubeworms head? This shocked me into taking control of the dream again (I let go and let a dream happen until I like to take control again and then let go, this happens a lot). I noticed that the tubeworm had a hole and decided to jump into it.
I ended up in the world of the second task and decided to run with it and ventured around.
I swam through seeing Ichthyosaurs and Loch Ness monster like dinosaurs, Ammonites, Tubeworms, Trilobites and all kinds of massive dinosaurs (mostly the ones I remembered from walking with dinosaurs when I was a kid) and lots of sharks. I'd swim around through the coral caves and with the ichthyosaurs for protection, not because they could defend me but I knew safety in numbers. Suddenly I seen an Allosaurus drowning for some reason with blood coming off it and decided to wake myself up, I woke up to the intense light from the migraine and decided to just lay there until it went away.
In most of my dreams I have a godlike feeling, like in all of them I feel like I am the ultimate power within them, greatest part of dreaming.
I wasn't going to do both tasks at once but it was leading down that way and decided to just roll with it and do them both at once, not sure if the second task is complete because of how short the dream was but the first one seemed to last longer :/ "

Completed the advanced task this afternoon:

Lucid #76: Advanced ToTM - Dream Journals - Lucid Dreaming - Dream Views

I jumped in. I was underwater, a few feet from the surface. It was very dark, but I could see that there were dolphins around me. They looked so cute, just a bit larger than me. There were about 5 or 6 of them, swimming playfully. Then I remembered my last unfinished personal monthly goal, which was to turn into a mermaid (thanks NoDaniel for the idea ). I was initially planning to turn into a mermaid while doing the advanced ToTM, so I'd hit two birds with one stone. Plus, it'd be easier to travel underwater and there won't be any breathing problems.

I closed my eyes and imagined turning into a mermaid. I tried moving my legs but it felt like they were glued together. They felt very light too. I looked down at myself and saw that I had a shimmery silver fin, which was about twice as long as my normal legs. It was really cool. I decided to swim down, thinking that the deeper I go, the further into the past I'd end up in. (Perfect logic seems legit ) After about 20 meters or so, I started seeing huge aquatic thingies moving past me. They moved really fast so I couldn't see what they were. I shifted upright, and stayed still. Then this ginormous crocodile-looking creature moved beside me. It was quite different though; it didn't have reptile scales, but a fish-type skin. I could see there were about 3-4 of them in the distance. There were also a lot of squid-looking creatures that were as big as me, floating around. There were seaweeds too -- I had to push some of them away from me.

I decided to swim back up to the surface. I must've lost lucidity sometime in between, because I don't remember ever reaching the top.

P.S. So I was looking up pics of the cretaceous period animals and found this, and I remember seeing it about 2 weeks ago. Good job brain, for remembering

That was an amazing read Paige! I just love underwater content, like squids and stuff

On the other hand, it's already half way through September. I'm struggling to even have a Lucid Dream.

It's a shame because I really, really liked these tasks . Wish me luck still, I'm not giving up .

Ok definatly passed advanced task

Spoiler for advanced task:

Being instantly lucid in my bedroom I tried to imagine a ocean with seagulls. Nothing happened so I left my house and kept opening house doors telling myself it would lead to an ocean. The first door reminded me of a thorn scene so I shut it. The second door had a beautiful garden and distantly I could see an ocean. I flew to the ocean. I could see seagulls. Remembering another dream where they attacked me I began to be afraid. Calming myself I told myself that nothing could hurt me as long as I stayed calm. I dived into the ocean and looking left saw a giant shark. I kepts seeing strange creatures that I cant describe but I kept looking till I saw a dinasour with fins. I rode the dinasaur and it was friendly. a stream of strange creatures appeared then being satisfied I left the ocean.

Congratulations all you taskers!! What beautiful versions of exploring prehistoric oceans. Especially Paige's, wow. You've earned your wings

And my apologies to Sivason.. I read your dream ages ago but forgot to wing you (my bad).

Originally Posted by OpheliaBlue

Congratulations all you taskers!! What beautiful versions of exploring prehistoric oceans. Especially Paige's, wow. You've earned your wings

And my apologies to Sivason.. I read your dream ages ago but forgot to wing you (my bad).

Thanks Ophie

Originally Posted by Lunatide

That was an amazing read Paige! I just love underwater content, like squids and stuff

On the other hand, it's already half way through September. I'm struggling to even have a Lucid Dream.

It's a shame because I really, really liked these tasks . Wish me luck still, I'm not giving up .

Thanks papaloo. Aww there's still half a month left! You will do it, you will.

*never gonna give you up*

Originally Posted by OpheliaBlue

Congratulations all you taskers!! What beautiful versions of exploring prehistoric oceans. Especially Paige's, wow. You've earned your wings

I have to second that. I'm impressed by the vividness, creativity, and recall in these entries. Very illuminating reading how others get there and (especially in the case of Xanous) how hard they fight to see the tasks through to the end.

After reading all these amazing entries, it's a bit embarrassing to only report another failure. I was literally standing on a seaside walkway where I could hear seawater slapping against the piers below me. It fell apart before I could physically reach the water and will it into Cretacious-ness. Here's the attempt written up in my DJ. I'll be back for more soon. Don't get too comfortable, mosasaurs.

Thanks for my wings
CanisLucidus, I don't think you are reporting another failure, I believe that you only ever fail if you don't try, attempting is success in the making so keep trying and you'll never truly fail at anything. Learning from these things helps us achieve our goals, multiple attempts isn't a sign of a failure but a sign of striving and fighting to learn and achieve.
Good luck with achieving both goals, those that fight to get there are those truly rewarded for their efforts.

Originally Posted by sketchy21

CanisLucidus, I don't think you are reporting another failure, I believe that you only ever fail if you don't try, attempting is success in the making so keep trying and you'll never truly fail at anything. Learning from these things helps us achieve our goals, multiple attempts isn't a sign of a failure but a sign of striving and fighting to learn and achieve.
Good luck with achieving both goals, those that fight to get there are those truly rewarded for their efforts.

Hey, thanks sketchy, I appreciate you saying that! I completely agree.

I think that any form of self-improvement is a cycle of first failing, then succeeding at harder and harder tasks. Then one day, you realize you're smarter/stronger/leaner/more lucid/etc. than you ever thought you could be.

And with lucid dreaming, the whole process is insanely fun. These tasks are a great motivator.

That's exactly right, there is so much for us all to learn in life and the cycle of learning is trial and error to know what not to do.
Yeah they are pretty enjoyable, thanks for creating these tasks each month OpheliaBlue they're extremely helpful and fun

Agreed!

"It only ends once. Everything that happens before that is just progress."

These tasks are really awesome, even the attempts are amazing!

Originally Posted by OpheliaBlue

And my apologies to Sivason.. I read your dream ages ago but forgot to wing you (my bad).

YAY!!! I got wingy thingies! They are cute. Thanks

So technically I was able to complete both tasks in one dream. I get excited when I have fully coherent thoughts while lucid dreaming... okay its just because the dream I was in had a pointless plot and I got bored and was able to remember I wanted to complete these tasks. I didn't do anything extravagant though. First I decided to shrink myself down and I was standing next to a cobble stone wall. I shrunk really quickly and then I was standing in the grass for a bit and decided I wanted to try to accomplish the second task and being ADHD, I couldn't wait so I propelled myself into the air and created an ocean in the horizon to jump into. I was able to fly over to it and dive in. I tried to get my mind to do the right era and focused on dinosaurs of that ear, well I saw a few things swimming out of my peripherals and ended up swimming into this under water cove with silver T-rex with a red lightening bolt on his face and awkward spikes coming out of his neck. I felt like I was in the "We're Back" cartoon movie because the main dinosaurs used in that movie were surrounding the T-rex. At this point I got thrown into another dream and forgot that I was trying to accomplish something so I went about enjoying the new dream haha I don't know if I consider that passing or failing but it was an interesting attempt at the task of the month. I have only been a member for less than a month so I am pretty proud of my attempt at it for the first time

Originally Posted by paigeyemps

After about 20 meters or so, I started seeing huge aquatic thingies moving past me. They moved really fast so I couldn't see what they were. I shifted upright, and stayed still. Then this ginormous crocodile-looking creature moved beside me. It was quite different though; it didn't have reptile scales, but a fish-type skin. I could see there were about 3-4 of them in the distance. There were also a lot of squid-looking creatures that were as big as me, floating around. There were seaweeds too -- I had to push some of them away from me.

I just want to say that this severely freaks me out. For some reason, the only real big fear I have that I've ever been able to think of is fear of being underwater with big unknown sea creatures. Video game sequences with monsters in water always freaked me the hell out as a child (think the Icythyosaur from Half-Life). I don't know what it is, something about them being so obscured and being mostly helpless... Trying to imagine actually experiencing what you describe in a lucid dream, there's no way I could handle it haha I'd be freaked out and destabilize.

Originally Posted by ThisWitheredMan

I just want to say that this severely freaks me out. For some reason, the only real big fear I have that I've ever been able to think of is fear of being underwater with big unknown sea creatures. Video game sequences with monsters in water always freaked me the hell out as a child (think the Icythyosaur from Half-Life). I don't know what it is, something about them being so obscured and being mostly helpless... Trying to imagine actually experiencing what you describe in a lucid dream, there's no way I could handle it haha I'd be freaked out and destabilize.

Hehehe. Yea i know how you feel. I've been planning to do it for the past few lucids, but I always got afraid at the last second and forfeited because of the fear of scary ocean monsters popping up. I mean, even though it's lucid and I know it won't really hurt me, it's still scary as hell! x)

Agreed to both of you! That's why it's the advanced task. It's not so much of a task as it is a conquering of fears on several levels.

As long as you make yourself remember that it's just a dream, and your real body is safe in bed asleep somewhere else, it can actually be kinda exciting! (says the girl who attempted the task in a minisub because she's scared of water AND dinos lol)

From what I've read, fear is a key thing its what stops us from achieving some remarkable things. All of us in some way or another are afraid and its this fear that confines us. For example, I've been trying to learn to astral travel and the thing that most people have to get through before they can do this is fear. Whether its fear of harm, failure, consequence or phobia its that one thing I believe that truly has a hold on us. I have no real answer on how to overcome fear, I fear a lot of things but I guess knowing that you are in control or attempting to take control frees some of that fear so I think OB is right, just relax and know that its just a dream and you are completely safe... With that said I don't think I could dream something to do with needles or razors (my phobias) no matter how much control I have over a dream so good luck and if you overcome this then hats off to you, you'll have my complete respect as a lucid dreamer

Nicely said, sketchy21. And sadly, I think the fear of failure you mentioned is the hardest thing for me. It seems like after the first time I had trouble with my vision in an LD, I'm always worried that it will keep happening, so it does. Kind of like a schema, putting doubt in my mind. I don't know which is worse: confronting a phobia in a dream, or getting rid of the fear of failure and it's consequences.

TOTM with dinasaurs - Dream Journals - Lucid Dreaming - Dream Views

I guess no one wants to tell me if I passed or failed. Okay *gives up* so much for trying...