Task of the Month for September 2012

Introduction:
This topic is for the Lucid Tasks that are assigned by the Dream Guide Team or voted on by experienced dreamers. Please attempt one or both of these tasks throughout the month.

Report back in this thread, even if you didn't successfully accomplish the task, your efforts should make interesting reading! This is required in order to get credit, it is no longer sufficient just to say that you did it.

When you complete a task: go to your control panel, then to permission groups, and request to be in the group that applies to the task that you've done. Of course you still need to post the dream here because we check.

Whoever completes either of these tasks gets the following goodies until the end of the month:

• Your name will be displayed in ORANGE in the online members list at the bottom of the main forum page.
• You will receive a special title and badge.
• You will receive access to the "Lucid Task Club" which is a limited access forum for people that complete the lucid task each month.

Tasks for this month:
Basic Task - Shrink yourself down to the size of an insect and explore the world.

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

It's 3 September here so about time??? okay of course i'm joking :D
I'll try this month's task for sure, the shrinking idea seems interesting. If I succeeded in the basic I'll start searching what's that Cretaceous Era..

I did the basic a some time ago LINK (paragraph 5). Hopefully I can do this again for the ToTM and hold it for a bit longer than I did before. http://www.xjimx.com/dreamviews/Smileys/babyangel.gif

The advanced sounds interesting. ...perhaps I'll summon a flying Delorean with a flux capacitor, then jump into the ocean once I get back that far in time. http://www.xjimx.com/dreamviews/Smileys/smokin.gif

The ocean one sounds fun!

Can I do both in one dream like walk around through 60ft grass with the bugs then dive into the water of the cretaceous and ride around on an ammonite's tentacle?

The Cretaceous oceans were badass!
http://rahuu.files.wordpress.com/2010/11/mosasaur1.jpg
http://skywalker.cochise.edu/wellerr...s/image009.jpg

These sound like AWESOME tasks, definitely gonna do them!

Ophelia SMASHES the TotM's this month. Really good tasks.

I have always been interested in exploring oceans, so I'm defiantly trying this one. The insect one also seems very awesome. Great tasks!

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Originally Posted by sketchy21

Can I do both in one dream like walk around through 60ft grass with the bugs then dive into the water of the cretaceous and ride around on an ammonite's tentacle?

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Yeah, the rules about doing the tasks in separate dreams is for the task of the year, but I don't see any reason to complete both TOTMs in one dream.

Also, great job folks on doing your research! When I picked the cretaceous era, I was totally thinking of that beast you posted Ctharlie. This one is going to be tough as nails for me particularly, because I'm scared shitless of water in lucid dreams. So I'm hoping to get over that fear this month! And the bug one was oreoboy's idea, so thanks for that man!

Awwwwyea these are awesome! And i hope i remember to do them, especially the ocean one, since oceans are my most prominent dream signs! Yessss :D super excited

I definitely want to give these a try! Though I wish I had paid more attention when I was at the natural history museum last week. There were quite a few marine fossils from the age of dinosaurs.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Ctharlhie

The Cretaceous oceans were badass!
http://rahuu.files.wordpress.com/2010/11/mosasaur1.jpg

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There's always a bigger fish:


http://boneblogger.com/wp-content/up...etoxyrhina.jpg

http://www.arcadiastreet.com/cgvista...dators_800.jpg

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Originally Posted by OpheliaBlue

I'm scared shitless of water in lucid dreams.

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Mate, you and me both. Not just in dreams for me; the ocean makes my skin crawl. I can't even watch TV shows about it without having a panic attack!

Nevertheless, I'm going to try it. I believe it could be my first non-demonic lucid nightmare, so I guess that's something. :?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by OpheliaBlue

There's always a bigger fish:


http://boneblogger.com/wp-content/up...etoxyrhina.jpg

http://www.arcadiastreet.com/cgvista...dators_800.jpg

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Unfortunately, sharks didn't get that big in the Cretaceous. That looks to be a megalodon, which lived around 40m years after the extinction of the dinosaurs. I'm pretty sure the mosasaur was the apex predator of the Cretaceous sea, so the sea monster one up Phantom Menace reference breaks down :lol:

Hmm...finally, an interesting monthly task. I will definitely try those two out, assuming I will finally be able to break this unrelenting dry spell that has been plaguing me all year long. I still need to finish the Task of the Year before time runs out...

Failed attempt at the advanced task, although it was a successful WILD and I got somewhat close to accomplishment:

Quote:

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I found myself in an oyster dive, overlooking the ocean. It looked like a delta in the everglades, that stretched out to the gulf. Only thing between me and the water was the front door of the dive and a parking lot and some sand. I went out the screen door, and stepped into the parking lot. I could see the bright orange sun getting close to setting, so I knew I needed to work fast. A little dude dressed in a white suit, who looked like that little guy from Fantasy Island, was there to greet me in his car. He said he would drive me to the shore. I said no thanks, I didn't want to drive or walk because I'm running out of time and the scene tends to change on me when I do that. So I remembered my mistake from my last lucid, and that I should have flown to my destination. So I did a little running start, and managed to fly/hop like a wounded bird and quickly made it to the shore. The little dude met me there in his car anyway. It was still light out, but the sun had just set. And the water now looked black, arrrghhhh. I think of the task and don't want to blow it, so I bravely step into the water and start walking to the deeper part, preparing to dive in. I don't know how I'm going to see down there, and I'm not even in the Cretaceous Era. So I'm about shin deep now, and as I'm pondering how I can make time travel and light happen, I see two somethings under the water, racing straight for me, creating huge wakes. I turned around and ran straight out of the water, and angled right. I looked over my shoulder, and the little dude was still on the beach. Two gigantic animatronic pliosaurs shot out of the water, and one of them ate the little dude! I just kept running along the beach. I was having a hard time running AWAY from the beach, more like I just kept running along the shore line. I lost my sight again and either went nonlucid or woke up briefly, I can't remember.

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Failed attempt here as well. Bit off a little more than my lucid skills can chew. :)

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I am standing on a hill. There is brownish grass with some lighter green patches scattered here and there. The sky is a bright blue with some wispy clouds floating about. I become aware that I am dreaming. This lucid is extremely vivid and clear. There is a town at the bottom of the hill. The buildings seem kind of run down yet still modern looking. They are made of plaster, something you might see in the desert. However this place resembles the high desert. This cluster of buildings in surrounded by hills one of which I am standing upon. There is a tree behind me and I can see the shadow of the tree splattering the brownish grass at my feet. This feels amazing. I have a very clear memory of the day before I went to sleep and I remember that I want to try the advanced TOTM. I say out loud.."go to the cretaceous era and swim in the water to see what marine life is there"...I wonder how I am going to get there since this is apparently a time when man is alive. I decide that I will close my eyes and produce a new scene. When I close my eyes, I see some shapes and faded colors. I cannot focus however, and it seems like I am trying to hard to control the content of this new dream. I realize I am losing my lucidity and attempt to open my eye; however the old dream is gone. I feel a weight pulling down my lucidity and I struggle to retain control. It is too difficult and I wake up.

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Funny part is, my next dream was a non lucid where i go underwater. Unfortunately there were no dinosaurs, just the alien ships from Battleship 2012. :)

DJ Entry

Im gonna go for the basic instead tonight. I remember doing this one before so hopefully my skills are up to the task. And yeah, especially good tasks this month!

I've been watching Planet Dinosaur to try and get inspiration for the Advanced Task. This underwater episode is really great if anyone's looking for some inspiration: Planet Dinosaur S01E04 Fight For Life HDTV Part 1/2 - YouTube

more inspiration ;)

http://whyfiles.org/wp-content/uploa.../okeefe1hr.jpg

I find prehistoric marine life scary so I'll pass. :)

Good set of tasks though.

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Originally Posted by LightofHeaven

I find prehistoric marine life scary so I'll pass. :)

Good set of tasks though.

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That's the whole point! The awesome part of lucid dreaming is that you can confront these fears, do things in the dreams that you never would have the courage (or ability, in this case) to do in waking life.

i will give this a go...wish me luck

Here's a gem for inspiration:

Sea Monsters - A Walking with Dinosaurs Trilogy (I think it also helps with the time travel aspect of it a bit too):

Sea Monsters - A Walking with Dinosaurs Trilogy (HD Quality) [Ep. 1] - YouTube
Sea Monsters - A Walking with Dinosaurs Trilogy (HD Quality) [Ep. 2] - YouTube
Sea Monsters - A Walking with Dinosaurs Trilogy (HD Quality) [Ep. 3] - YouTube

holy crap, Nigel is a badass! "The one thing you should never do is go in the water" *splash* lol

Failed attempt last night after work, I walked into a teleporter looking machine and emerged in a cloud of smoke but really small and the grass was huge. I didn't walk far before a scorpion crawled out of the tall grass and went to attack me, for some reason when it struck its stinger I was all geared up like Indiana Jones and sliced the tip of its stinger off and it looked just like a bulls horn so I carved it into a trumpet in a few seconds and the scorpion became submissive. The whole time this was going on I could see wasps and bugs flying in the distance but when I focused on them they'd blur like I wasn't close enough to see them so I decided to try ride the scorpion, I climbed on and then woke up, must have been too tired and passed out, was pretty wrecked from work.
I'll try again tonight at the exploring part and see what happens, decided I'd listen to OpheliaBlue's comment and attempt the tasks separately to better enjoy them I think.

Do both at once? I think so, I need wings.

I'll be doing both tasks this month. :cheeky: Thanks for the visuals! My only problem is I DEILD... A LOT. I always start from getting out of bed in those LDs so I need to think of an easy was to teleport from my house to the ocean. mmmhhhh. Suggestions?

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Originally Posted by Xanous

I'll be doing both tasks this month. :cheeky: Thanks for the visuals! My only problem is I DEILD... A LOT. I always start from getting out of bed in those LDs so I need to think of an easy was to teleport from my house to the ocean. mmmhhhh. Suggestions?

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Have you ever tried portals? Ask oreo, he has alot of experience with this. I use mirrors, or open doors to change scenes. That can work in DEILDs, DILDs, WILDs, doesn't matter.

Also, am I the only one who noticed that the plesiosaur on the first page is giving birth? lol

Quote:

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Originally Posted by OpheliaBlue

Also, am I the only one who noticed that the plesiosaur on the first page is giving birth? lol

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Are you not inspired? :)

The portal idea is something I need to try. Trying to control a new scene seems to fail...

LOVE THESE TASK, especially the ocean one! :D the sad thing is, after seeing all these images, I'll get eaten after just a few seconds :(

Anyways, going to try the advanced one, that's for sure!

I've been too busy to focus on lucid dreaming, but I did have a non-lucid dream earlier this week where I was a tiny piece of cheese (kind of like shrinking myself). I was on the floor of the kitchen with a piece of bread. We (the piece of bread and I) were trying to stay hidden near the base of the cupboards since we knew if the guy in the kitchen saw us, he'd pick us up and eat us. We made it to the dining room at which point we were no longer tiny and then proceeded to play poker with the people in there. It was a really odd dream.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by OpheliaBlue

Have you ever tried portals? Ask oreo, he has alot of experience with this. I use mirrors, or open doors to change scenes. That can work in DEILDs, DILDs, WILDs, doesn't matter.

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It's hit and miss for me but I guess it's my best choice. I'll see what I can come up with. I'm thinking mirror or front door to Nigel's boat.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by OpheliaBlue

Also, am I the only one who noticed that the plesiosaur on the first page is giving birth? lol

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Eeeewwwwwww! I missed that.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Xanous

It's hit and miss for me but I guess it's my best choice. I'll see what I can come up with. I'm thinking mirror or front door to Nigel's boat.

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I was thinking of Nigel's boat too! At least to use it as a time machine, and maybe borrow that spherical cage and the zapper probe lol. I'm such a chicken.

Quote:

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Eeeewwwwwww! I missed that.

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Haha I did too at first

if you always have demonic scary nightmares why are you trying to have them :/

^^ Some people like scary movies...

OMG I had a huge lucid breakthrough. Not only did I successfully WILD and have a epic LD but I did the Advanced Task for the first time ever! And Holy Shit I had to fight hard to get there! I had to swallow fear and fight confusion and use the force to get out of my house... nothing wanted to work and DCs didn't cooperate but I was so determined that I found a way. LOL.

The dream is really long but here is the TOTM part. Plus a link The Deep Blue Sea

Edit:Oh and there will be typos. You'll have to excuse that. I'll have to fix it later today. fixed... I think. Wait.. Am I the first this time?

Spoiler for The Deep Blue Sea excerpt:

I walk to the next room and see a black pod of some sort. It looks like a SCI-FI deep sleep chamber. That has to be it! I get in and lie down. The lid closes and the light dims. Nothing happens. I look by my right hand and see a control panel. I punch a few buttons and say, "Cretaceous Period!" I hear a chiming sound and a swooshing noise. Then a chiming sound and the lid opens.

I AM AT THE BOTTOM OF AN OCEAN FLOOR! I see all the fish from the Sea Monsters show. Thousands of fish swimming all over the place. I am so happy. This is way better than Nigel and his ship! I am right in it. I see a Mosasaur right off the bat. I dont see sharks. I see something like Ichthyosaurs. I see a few Xiphactinus. I also see hundreds of other things that don't belong. Like little cartoony worm like things on the floor. And cartoony looking turtles. There was so much activy and so many different things swimming around that I have hard time seeing it all. I feel like sensory over load.

I hear some silly music and a dopey voice singing. "...Here I am swimming in the deep blue sea. The deep blue see. The deep blue sea...."
I laugh my ass off at this. I laughingly repeat "The deep blue sea hahaha!"

I notice and am not surprised that I can breath underwater. I remember that every underwater dream I could always breath like no big deal. I begin to swim. I notice the coral life in the floor and white sand. I see a deep ocean floor valley not far away. The water is so clear and everything is amazingly beautiful. But the ocean life is so thick! None of the fish seem to notice me and I am not afraid. Even when the big fish with large teeth swim by I feel calm and they ignore me. The fish don't even bother to eat each other. This Cretaceous Ocean is tame. I am surprised at this because I thought for sure I would be eaten if I pulled this off.

I get kind of bored just swimming. I feel content that I completed my task and am happy with myself. I see woman in a bright red one piece. She is just floating like she is dead. But I see her head turn and one eye look at me. Her reddish hair flows in the water. I come to her from behind. At first I act like I am a fish and lightly bite her arm. Then I get really horny again the dream turns into the best lucid sex ever. I feel really guilty because I don't like wasting a dream on sex. I didn't care at that point. I'll leave the rest to the imagination...

Afterwards. I notice we are on a white sandy beach and I see a rock cliff. For some reason I think there is a road up there but I don't care. I really just want to wake up now and record my dream. At that thought the world fades to black.

Congratulations Xanous, and yeah you're the first this month!! (god damnit you suck)

Seriously awesome dream, you deserve the victory sex. I love how you saw different creatures from different prehistoric eras. I wish there had been a way for you to video the dream, I would love to have seen all that rich sea life. And lmao at your little song :P

LMAO Thanks! I wish I could draw well that would make a sweet scene!

That was a really awesome dream, I'm jealous! The 9th and the first to complete the task, people seem to be struggling again this month, haha.

I am duly impressed, Xanous! (Jealous, too.) Really nice work.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by OpheliaBlue

Seriously awesome dream, you deserve the victory sex. I love how you saw different creatures from different prehistoric eras.

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LOL. When I read these sentences and saw "victory sex" followed by "different creatures from different prehistoric eras", I had to really brace myself before reading Xanous' "spoiler" subsection. :lol:

I'm usually pretty good about breathing under water in dreams and feeling comfortable (I had myself fully convinced that I could fly and breathe under water when i was young lol) but this might freak me out a little bit. I'll try to do it if I can remember, I get a little engulfed in the current plot or desire of my lucid dreams so I don't often try random things that I think about in waking life...

I'm glad I watched that Nigel show, because it gave me the idea to have a plan first. In this case it was to go underwater with something around me to protect me. And to conjure a weapon (though I forgot in the dream). Anyway, I completed the advanced task! It was no where near as cool as yours Xanous, I was still pretty chicken lol. Anyway, it was a true DEILD this time, and here's the task bit:

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Then I think of the advanced TOTM and I bet I can manipulate this river into a cretaceous ocean once I'm underwater. Ever since I chickened out in my last attempt, I formed a plan: find water again, have a cage or some kind of underwater enclosure that lets me see but not get hurt, and one of those electrocutey things. It's a tall order I admit, but I'm really determined! Anyway, I flew up to the river bank, and I noticed a partially sunken inflatable blue canoe, big enough for one. I landed next to it, pulled it out and it immediately popped into shape. I sat down inside it, and it shoved itself on down the river. I willed it to form a glass shell over the top, which it did (but it didn't close properly, which I will discover later). I forgot about the weapon, oops. To my right in my new "sub" is a little control panel with a few unmarked buttons. I pretend I'm punching a combination for "The Cretaceous Period" and I say it aloud as I'm pushing the buttons. The submarine sinks to the ocean floor, and it's brown and murky and a bit hard to see (a little visual snowish). But I squint and pay close attention and move forward across the prehistoric ocean floor, looking for life. Sure enough, I see something that looks like an alligator at first, but as it got closer I noticed it was a young pliosaur. It was weaving left and right along the ocean floor, then it saw me. It paused for a moment and looked at me and I froze. It looked angry, like it wanted to get to me but didn't bother trying because I was protected. Then it swam off. A whole school of pliosaurs came next, weaving back an forth like the first, all in unison. They all swam past my little nautilus, and each and every one looked at me all pissed in the same way as the first, then continued on. I was so scared, I thought I would wake up. Then they were gone, and I decided that was good enough for the task and I willed the sub to resurface. As it was moving up, it started filling with water. I just hoped it would make it up before I drowned. It didn't. But I was able to breath, I just wasn't breathing water. It felt like there was always a mask of air in front of my face, and water never came inside (which is actually normal for even my nonlucid underwater dreams, there's always a bit of air there). I could see the glimmer of the water's surface just above me when I woke up.

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Edit: I didn't wing myself because I didn't technically swim at any point in time like the task stated. If I attempt it again this month, I'll do the same thing, but I'll scrap the sub and conjure one of those special underwater electrocutie sticks like Nigel had. Maybe two! Committing this to memory now.

Grr. I was FISHIE last night and I just now Realised why. Stupid stupid

Quote:

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Originally Posted by CanisLucidus

I am duly impressed, Xanous! (Jealous, too.) Really nice work.



LOL. When I read these sentences and saw "victory sex" followed by "different creatures from different prehistoric eras", I had to really brace myself before reading Xanous' "spoiler" subsection. :lol:

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Well you know different strokes for different folks. Ha!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by OpheliaBlue

I'm glad I watched that Nigel show, because it gave me the idea to have a plan first. In this case it was to go underwater with something around me to protect me. And to conjure a weapon (though I forgot in the dream). Anyway, I completed the advanced task! It was no where near as cool as yours Xanous, I was still pretty chicken lol. Anyway, it was a true DEILD this time, and here's the task bit:

Edit: I didn't wing myself because I didn't technically swim at any point in time like the task stated. If I attempt it again this month, I'll do the same thing, but I'll scrap the sub and conjure one of those special underwater electrocutie sticks like Nigel had. Maybe two! Committing this to memory now.

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That's a really cool dream. The canoe/sub was a good idea... Nigel is the shit. I wish I had actually found him in mine.

Completed beginner task shrink to the size of an insect and explore.

Spoiler for beginner task:

I was running from my brother and came to a dead end that looked like a car wreck. Remembering task of the month I willed myself to be the size of a fairy. This was esspecially difficult for me. I managed to fit under the wreckage but my hands and feet were still to big so I willed myself to be smaller. Staying calm helped though I was still afraid of my brother. I traveled under this big car wreck to find a kind of structure of parts. A man and lady owned the wreck and my brother bargained with them to capture me. I climbed up high and seeing a door way to a garden I ran outside. There I saw a beautiful chinese like garden with a small pond and tiny fish about the size of me. I jumped into the pond and a filtering system caught me and dragged me into the ocean. It was strange flying through such a small pipe. Theres not much else to report here.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by OpheliaBlue

Edit: I didn't wing myself because I didn't technically swim at any point in time like the task stated. If I attempt it again this month, I'll do the same thing, but I'll scrap the sub and conjure one of those special underwater electrocutie sticks like Nigel had. Maybe two! Committing this to memory now.

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really? so if i swim in a random river with dinosaurs that doesnt count? Give yourself some credit, come ooon :P

Quote:

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Originally Posted by OpheliaBlue

I pretend I'm punching a combination for "The Cretaceous Period" and I say it aloud as I'm pushing the buttons. The submarine sinks to the ocean floor, and it's brown and murky and a bit hard to see (a little visual snowish).

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How is that not wing status?

Failure! I found a river that I imagined flowed into the Cretaceous ocean. The dream had nice clarity and everything was looking good for me. I flew high into the air and actually saw the (hopefully Cretaceous) ocean about a mile away. Unfortunately, the wind started blowing me around like an old sheet of newspaper. I got no closer before frustration crumpled the dream.

This is the Dream Journal entry with a more complete description of my fail.

CanisLucidus: Lol awwwwwww bummerrrrr. What a naughty wind. Sounds like I'm talking about a fart doesn't it lol. Anyway, I read the dream. I wonder why the rocket shoes didn't work, you seemed to have pretty good control otherwise. Who knows. At least your subC has formed a river and an ocean that you can aim for next time if you wish.

Chimpypoo: I think if anyone else had made it that far, I would give them wings. The main thing I personally wanted to accomplish in the TOTM (and I was thinking this as I originally posted it), that I wanted to overcome my fear of swimming in lucid water. I've made leaps and bounds though, and gone further than I ever would have dared too before, simply because of wanting to accomplish the task. If there was a half wing option of give it to myself lol. Though I gotta hand it to myself, that makeshift time-sub was pretty boss. :mrgreen:

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Originally Posted by OpheliaBlue

CanisLucidus: Lol awwwwwww bummerrrrr. What a naughty wind. Sounds like I'm talking about a fart doesn't it lol.

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LOL. It's funny you should say that. Believe it or not, I very briefly considered trying to propel myself forward through the wind with a thunderous fart. In dream, I vaguely recalled that some guy posted about how this is how he likes to fly around in his lucid dreams. :)

Sadly, I discarded this for some reason and used the malfunctioning rocket shoes instead. Ah, the road not taken...

New podcast minisode is up, discussing the September Tasks of the Month and hopefully inspiring some people to achieve them!
http://www.dreamviews.com/f158/dream...r-totm-136165/

Came close to both tasks last night in my lucid dream. So frustrating! Here's the snippets:

Spoiler for Failed Attempts:

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I become lucid randomly and, as always when I become lucid, I do the most random things to stabilise. I start grabbing onto portions of my mother's hair and stroking my fingers through it. When I'm satisfied with the level of stabilisation I head over to the wall I always use to phase through in my lucid dreams. I remember the Advanced Task of the Month and will myself to go there, but when I walk up to the wall I just smack my face into it. I keep trying to push myself through, but nothing happens. I give up on this goal for now because I didn't want to waste the lucidity.

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Quote:

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Soon I get a "vision" of sorts in the darkness. I see a ventilation shaft that we can escape through. I explain this to them and we rush towards it, slipping down through the tight gap.

We appear on the other side and the scene transition has made me lose lucidity, which I'm frustrated over because I would have been able to complete the Basic Task of the Month.

We seem to be in an engine room, but I soon discover that we've simply become incredibly small, or we're just on a huge circuit board. There are transistors, a CPU and huge wires which look like vines. Everything in here is running at extreme temperatures so we have to avoid touching any of them, otherwise we'd turn into roast human.

The others leave me behind and I struggle to make my way through without touching anything. I briefly scrape against a small white box and feel the heat scorch my arm. I cringe and move on, making my way to this ladder and burning myself multiple times in the journey.

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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 :P

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 :D

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: :D

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

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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.

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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 :D

http://savethereptiles.files.wordpre...saurmiller.jpg

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 :mrgreen:

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

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Originally Posted by OpheliaBlue

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

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

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Thanks Ophie :D

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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 :).

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

*never gonna give you up*

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Originally Posted by OpheliaBlue

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

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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.

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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.

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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! :happyme:

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

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

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Originally Posted by OpheliaBlue

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

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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 :)

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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...

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Originally Posted by ssalas7

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

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I think you did. You mentioned in your post that you were able to shrink to insect size AND explore the ocean during the era with the dinosaurs. ;) congrats, i hope you get your wings soon :3

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Originally Posted by ssalas7

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

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Sorry for missing the post ssalas7, those totally count, well done!

If you achieve the tasks in the future, it helps me if you join the proper user groups because I get an alert. That way I can wing you in case I missed the post. I'd like to remind everybody about this, because not everyone remembers to join the user group, per the instructions in the first post of this thread:

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When you complete a task: go to your control panel, then to permission groups, and request to be in the group that applies to the task that you've done. Of course you still need to post the dream here because we check.

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Originally Posted by she

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

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Oh god that dream!!! :shock:

You're going to have fun with the Halloween tasks next month, I predict :chuckle:

Attempted the Basic Task last night! Even though I failed it was a great experience and I am glad I remembered...

The Dream

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As I land on the ground at the base of the trees, I become fully lucid again. I remember that I want to try the basic TOTM. There is an idea that I had and I decide go for the attempt. I get on my knees and place my head sideways laying on the ground. My field of vision is nothing but a bit of dirt and some grass. I try to make myself a part of this tiny grass mound, but I can still feel my large body. I keep trying but my lucidity is not up to the task. It is still a very cool experience having my face to the ground and feeling so small for a moment. The sky is so blue. I want to explore more but my lucidity fades...

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Originally Posted by OpheliaBlue

You're going to have fun with the Halloween tasks next month, I predict :chuckle:

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Please! A sneak peak! Just a little one (if you've figured it out already :D)

I'm going to try hard to do one of these before the months over, can't guarantee anything...

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Originally Posted by Chimpertainment

Attempted the Basic Task last night! Even though I failed it was a great experience and I am glad I remembered...

The Dream

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Hey, this sounds like a nice method. If I give the Basic task a go, I think that I'll definitely use this as my backup. (Going to give the Alice in Wonderland "Drink Me" potion a go first!)

One mildly crazy idea occurs to me for situations where you feel stuck with your big body. Have you ever grown new limbs before in a lucid? I got desperately stuck once and built a new torso and set of arms. It actually worked reasonably well. I wonder what would happen if you imagined a new set of tiny little arms and then rubbed your hands together to stabilize at this reduced size...?

Anyway, just sort of brainstorming. Nice technique.

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Originally Posted by CanisLucidus

Hey, this sounds like a nice method. If I give the Basic task a go, I think that I'll definitely use this as my backup. (Going to give the Alice in Wonderland "Drink Me" potion a go first!)

One mildly crazy idea occurs to me for situations where you feel stuck with your big body. Have you ever grown new limbs before in a lucid? I got desperately stuck once and built a new torso and set of arms. It actually worked reasonably well. I wonder what would happen if you imagined a new set of tiny little arms and then rubbed your hands together to stabilize at this reduced size...?

Anyway, just sort of brainstorming. Nice technique.

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I havent grown any limbs recently. Honestly my lucid experiences are pretty bland as far as unusual things happening. Only recently I have been able to start having some semblance of dream control. So far its just been exploration and getting my senses back.

Yeah, I like the idea of growing new limbs. Its just a matter of using my imagination to alter the dream environment. There have been a couple instances where I altered something, but not that major as of yet. My powers are still at padawan levels. :)

I tried the Basic Task :) Insect TOTM

Very cool dream VictoR, I'm inspired to attempt the basic task now. It's very interesting that spinning worked for you in terms of the transition. Anyway, well done and congratulations! :mrgreen:

The closest I came to doing this was becoming semi-lucid where I shrank myself down to a rat and ran through piping under the streets. XD

Another failed attempt at the Basic task. Though I have to say, and this is for everyone, I think it's really great that people are achieving lucidity, and even remembering to attempt these tasks. That alone I consider to be a success. I really enjoy reading all the various approaches you guys take, regardless if you complete the tasks or not. I can't WAIT for October! :mrgreen:

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But I didn't wake up, it was a false awakening! I thought I woke up, and Danny was getting up to get ready for work, and I could hear the kids getting ready for school. But then I remembered I already went through this like 4 hours ago, I should be alone right now! So I just got up out of bed and went down the hall, ignoring the pretend family members. The hall opened into an entirely new scene. It looked like a romper room: lots of kids and a few gym teachers, multicolored foam blocks, toys and books. I suddenly remembered that I wanted to try the basic TOTM, to shrink down. I looked at one of the teachers, and asked her if she knew how to cast spells, because I want to shrink down to the size of a bug. She said "I sure do!" Then she pointed me to 4 different children, each holding a magic wand. She told me to choose which one I wanted to cast the spell on me. So I chose the boy in blue. Everyone stood around me in a circle, and the boy pointed the wand at me and said an incantation. I felt like there was an invisible power, forcing me downward. At first I thought I was shrinking, because I went from being at eye level with everyone, then knee level, then finally ankle level. But they looked the same size, so I couldn't have shrunk. I looked at everyone, then myself, and I realized all that happened was I was just sitting on the floor. Lame job there subconscious. I thought I might just grab a teacher and have some consolation sex, but my dream body that was on the floor phased into my waking body in my bed. Oh well, at least I remembered and attempted it one last time before the end of the month.

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Originally Posted by OpheliaBlue

Another failed attempt at the Basic task. Though I have to say, and this is for everyone, I think it's really great that people are achieving lucidity, and even remembering to attempt these tasks. That alone I consider to be a success. I really enjoy reading all the various approaches you guys take, regardless if you complete the tasks or not. I can't WAIT for October! :mrgreen:

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I agree. What a great motivator these tasks are. It's cool to see all the different crazy ways that people come up with to get these done. Then they share with everyone how they do it, I steal all their ideas, and I still end up with no wings. :) But seriously, I think you learn so much from pushing the envelope like this. Even in my failures, I hit all kinds of dream control firsts that I may not have tried otherwise (at least for a long while.)

If I don't make the Cretaceous before September's up, that's for sure going on my long-term lucid dreaming to-do list. Too cool not to try.

I finally got some of my lucid dreaming skills back and managed to complete the basic task of the month. :)

Basic TOTM (September 28, 2012) - Dream Journals - Lucid Dreaming - Dream Views