Thread: Task of the Year for 2013

A failed attempt at Africa Task of the Year. (The Great Pyramid one.) But what an awesome-looking pyramid!

I walk out of the alley onto a windy landscape of sand dunes. In the distance I see an enormous version of the Great Pyramid dominating the horizon, probably four times larger than the real thing. Dark storm clouds roll violently above the Pyramid. At the top of the Pyramid, the wind is so strong that I see stones rolling off of the top and tumbling down the side.

I run over the dunes toward the Pyramid and as I get closer I see not just one Great Sphinx but probably a dozen of them scattered near the Pyramid's base. Some of them are in a horrible state of disrepair, but this doesn't worry me. If I can fix her nose, I can fix everything else too.

As I'm approaching the top of one dune, a pair of female ninja dressed in red appear and come racing toward me, each wielding a pair of sai. The first one leaps at me and I force-push her to the side so that she flies past me. The second I force-push directly forward and she flops onto her back on the dune. I walk past her and I watch over my shoulder as the two of them regroup for another attack. I hold out my hands toward them and jokingly say "Now kiss!" They glare at me like I'm a huge pervert and I feel a little embarrassed. (This is a nerdy reference to this meme.) One ninja gives the other a quick peck on the cheek and then they return to glaring at me.

I say something about how I was only joking and that I drank a lot of peppermint tea before bed, and as I'm going on and on explaining myself, the two ninja start making out. I realize that all my blah blah blah is only making things worse and I'm feeling sexy and distracted. I turn back toward the Pyramid but the landscape doesn't seem stable anymore. I wind up in the void.

Full dream: Kunoichi - Dream Journals - Lucid Dreaming - Dream Views

Haha I can't believe you thought to reference a meme in the dream!! So freaking funny CL. I wish I could have seen the pyramid, you made it sound amazing.

Stupid ninjas though, who would have thought

I have a question about the tasks and what everyone's take is. I'm kind of torn between wanting to do my own tasks, but I also appreciate the inspiration the tasks of the month or the tasks of the year provide. Reading CL's TOTY completion for one of the continents helped me a little in one of my LDs and was very inspiring. I think I am basically answering my own question as I I think this out,: that it basically comes down to the individual. At first I was thinking these are more for people who are looking for new things to do, but it can be used in many different ways I am seeing. The tasks can provide new things to do, inspiration during your own tasks, or just keeping you're interest at a high level which helps to LD more frequently it seems. I am sure there are other benefits too. I am Not sure if I'm going to go after next month's tasks full heartedly but I plan to at least put them in my head and leave that possibility open!

These sound like a lot of fun!

My favourite would have to be fighting in Rome, considering my all-time favourite movie is Gladiator.

I may not finish all these tasks, but you have given me some cool idea's for things to do in my lucid dreams.

Good luck all

Originally Posted by CHiLLEN_AU

These sound like a lot of fun!

My favourite would have to be fighting in Rome, considering my all-time favourite movie is Gladiator.

I may not finish all these tasks, but you have given me some cool idea's for things to do in my lucid dreams.

Good luck all

Good luck, Chillen, I'm looking forward to seeing how you do! Totally agree about Gladiator... amazing movie. In fact, I wound up referencing it in a failed Task of the Year attempt for the Colosseum task (Europe TotY.)

I didn't even so much as hit anyone with my sword, but at least I was dressed the part and recited a line from Gladiator. Even sounded like Russell Crowe, heh heh...

I'm flying over a quiet town where all of the buildings are one or two stories, all shorter than the one that I just emerged from. The oddball in this whole scene is some kind of football stadium. (American football.) I fly toward the field to find a football game going on. I want to change the scene to the Colosseum, and I have this idea that I'll start reciting a line from Gladiator to help the scene form the way that I want. As I'm flying down toward the field, I recite Maximus' badass line to Commodus about how "I will have my vengeance, in this life or the next."

By the time I land on the field, I've transformed into a full gladiator outfit and I'm holding a gladius. The football players on the field mill about in confusion. I announce that "this place needs to turn into the Colosseum." I wave the gladius around my head a little bit for emphasis. The football players seem a little put off by this and begin to wander away from the field.

Full dream: This Life or the Next - Dream Journals - Lucid Dreaming - Dream Views

"I wave the gladius around my head a little bit for emphasis. The football players seem a little put off by this and begin to wander away from the field."

I can totally picture that scene and was laughing, indeed out loud!

Great to see you back on the forums! I was wondering where you went.

Originally Posted by fogelbise

"I wave the gladius around my head a little bit for emphasis. The football players seem a little put off by this and begin to wander away from the field."

I can totally picture that scene and was laughing, indeed out loud!

Great to see you back on the forums! I was wondering where you went.

Thanks, fogelbise! I had a nice, long vacation with the wife and kids. Great time but good to be back on DV too.

Hey, Ophelia and I were just podcasting on your excellent question earlier this week. Very good one. That'll be out soon! We even had a brief discussion on how to pronounce your name.

Very nice! I have been looking forward to another podcast! It is just a screen name so no worries if pronounced differently. The way I pronounce it may get a few laughs from any Swedes out there.

Originally Posted by CanisLucidus

Full dream: This Life or the Next - Dream Journals - Lucid Dreaming - Dream Views

I too, had a good laugh at this dream. I really like the way you went about it. you tried your best but sometimes you lose the war of dream control unfortunately.

I learnt a lot of things from reading about that dream of yours. Last few DEILD's I've had in the passed week have been dark and I didn't bother trying to get it to become daytime. Least I know now, all i do simply tell yourself "no, it's day time" :thumbsup: or if that fails use the expectation technique when walking through a door or something, never tries that though.

For the Rome task, what do you mean by DC? Does that stand for something or does that actually mean fighting the super hero DC characters or
teaming up with them? Lol.

Originally Posted by Slick

For the Rome task, what do you mean by DC? Does that stand for something or does that actually mean fighting the super hero DC characters or
teaming up with them? Lol.

Hi Slick. It means Dream Character. That is anything that is filling a role in the movie or story your mind plays. You are not a DC, but if you talk with your best friend, it is a DC of your friend.

Originally Posted by CHiLLEN_AU

I too, had a good laugh at this dream. I really like the way you went about it. you tried your best but sometimes you lose the war of dream control unfortunately.

I learnt a lot of things from reading about that dream of yours. Last few DEILD's I've had in the passed week have been dark and I didn't bother trying to get it to become daytime. Least I know now, all i do simply tell yourself "no, it's day time" :thumbsup: or if that fails use the expectation technique when walking through a door or something, never tries that though.

Heh, thanks... you're right about the war of dream control, but so long as you show up to fight again, eventually you always win.

I'm glad that there were some useful bits for you as well! Yeah, I'm big on the "deny the problem" technique. If you can convince yourself that everything's working just right, it usually is. (Which is kind of awesome, because in waking life reality can remind you that you're wrong... not so in dreams!)

Hey, if you're interested in some more material on darkness and dream blindness, we talked about this for a while in the first Q&A podcast. Check it out if you're interested! http://www.dreamviews.com/dreamviews...-sleepers.html

Im definitely interested in learning more. I'll listen to the podcasts for sure. I've been wanting to listen to them since I returned back to lucid dreaming (3 weeks ago). In it for life now

Originally Posted by sivason

Hi Slick. It means Dream Character. That is anything that is filling a role in the movie or story your mind plays. You are not a DC, but if you talk with your best friend, it is a DC of your friend.

Ah...of course, thanks.

I should've realized that, but it's been years since I've been on these forums, so I completely forgot about some things that's lucid dreaming related lol.

I'm still just trying to get basic stabilization and control going, but I'll keep these in mind, they look fun! One of my goals is to play with a lightsaber, so as I don't see any rules about using ancient weapons in the arena, I may just try to combine those two

@CanisLucidus: You made my day! (At least what is left of it) I was so mad because of some terrible mistakes I made in my work, and was wandering around here and there until I start reading your attempts to accomplish the TOTY. Definitively I should try at least a couple of them if not all. Why not?. I love the way sometimes our dreams cheat us in the most hilarious ways. Hope this time my lucid mind get interested in having some fun!
You've inspired me, thanks a lot!

Originally Posted by Box77

@CanisLucidus: You made my day! (At least what is left of it) I was so mad because of some terrible mistakes I made in my work, and was wandering around here and there until I start reading your attempts to accomplish the TOTY. Definitively I should try at least a couple of them if not all. Why not?. I love the way sometimes our dreams cheat us in the most hilarious ways. Hope this time my lucid mind get interested in having some fun!
You've inspired me, thanks a lot!

Wow, Box77... and you made my day saying that!

You should absolutely go for it. Task of the Year is so much fun and I'd love to read how you do on these! I've been thinking about and trying these practically since they were posted back in January. And while I've only got two done, I've enjoyed the hell out of my many, many attempts.

Good luck! Can't wait to check out how you do with these!

I wanna try these but there's so much summoning involved, and I stink at summoning.

I think I'll have better luck next year with the *beeeeeeeep* TOTY

I wanna try these but there's so much summoning involved, and I stink at summoning.

I think I'll have better luck next year with the *beeeeeeeep* TOTY

Hey, that's not true at all. Who kept on opening that passage to hell while the rest of us were hiding? (and don't even get me started on your chick summoning skills)

By the way, I am staring to think that the challenging part with TOTY is not just summoning and changing the scene but summoning something we are usually not used to seeing. For example, I keep summoning all kinds of watery structures but AF. The last ones were fountains. So, what's so hard is getting the unfamiliar right. Maybe we need to saturate our minds with it pre bed to make it easier? Any ideas?

Originally Posted by NyxCC

So, what's so hard is getting the unfamiliar right. Maybe we need to saturate our minds with it pre bed to make it easier? Any ideas?

This. I like to call it "lucidspiration," where you basically post pics that help fire you up for the task. I just did some in the TOTM thread. Might not be a bad idea for in here too..

Originally Posted by OpheliaBlue

This. I like to call it "lucidspiration," where you basically post pics that help fire you up for the task. I just did some in the TOTM thread. Might not be a bad idea for in here too..

Before I went to sleep, my first thought was about the Rome task, then I decided that it should be better to start with the South Pole task since it doesn't involve the possibility of distracting myself with my some times uncontrollable lust for sex. Then I saw some videos on youtube about the Hollow Earth theory, etc. While in the dream, I was in a "1st person game training center", as first task I had to run an obstacle race in a straight line, where some of the obstacles coming from the sides were Roman Chariots... I failed for a couple of seconds, then the trainer sent me to another hall where I became lucid for a while.

No one has done these?

Well, since I am back, time to get busy

I know is kind of late in the year to get started with these, but this is the time I came back to the forums... so lets see if I wrap it up within this month. So far, almost did one.. but failed twice.

07.10.2013

Dreaming within a dream and failing to visit the Colosseum. (DILD)

NON-DREAM DREAM LUCID

I was with a group of people in a big room. It seems that we were in some sort of meeting group in order to lucid dream. But we were actually got together to be able to sleep. The room was big, but it had no furniture, and we would bring our own matresses. All the DC except my wife were make up here.

They turned off the lights and then we started to focus on lucid dreaming and we went to sleep.

I was with my wife in a very tiny airport and we got inside a plane. It was very dark and the plane was very wide. I was surprised because no flight attendant was there to greet us and the curtains were closed. I was wondering what was going on until a flight attendant came out, welcomed us and directed us to our seats.

While I was waiting for the plane to take off, I did not see many people and the lights were very dark (Since i was a kid, I traveled by plane hundreds of times) and not the usual stuff that happens in a plane was occurring. I started to think, "What the heck is up with this plane? What is going on?" I realized I was dreaming right away, as the plane was too dark and it was very odd the way things were happening, so I walked away from my sit and exited the plane. I went through the room that connected the plane and I left outside.

I was in the middle of nowhere and it was very sunny. There were no buildings around and I told to my self, "When I turn in the next street, I will teleport to the Colosseum to fight a Gladiator for the task of the year. As I turned the corner I was able to hear the screams and excitements of the people, but the dream vanished.

I was back at the room with other oneironauts, and I was a bit upset I did not finish the dream, oh well, failed task, I will soon induce another lucid dream.

I had various attempts, but as I was falling asleep and felt a dream forming, I would open my eyes and "wake up" from the dream. At some point, I could not sleep so I took a walk around the building. I could see all the people around me sleeping.

I was outside like at some sort of shopping mall, but I did not feel like it and went back to the room. It was hard to find the actual room, as there were many more rooms and the aisles were very dark.

As I went back to the room when I finally found it, someone else was sleeping in my mattress, so I just sat in another random mattress and then got comfortable to sleep again, but the leader of the meetup group told us it was time to wake up.

I realized this meeting group made no sense and that I was dreaming still and I just had a dream within a dream. As I left the room, I was setting the intent to find the Colosseum as I left the shopping mall.

My wife (real waking wife) woke me up as it was time to wake up.

One down... and close to a 2nd one down... do not let me win guys! I started to focus on these on October!! If u wanna go to the topic straight, go to where the images are. Italics red is the lucid part of the ToTY.

Crash Derby at the Colosseum and learning a new Stabilization technique - Dream Journals - Lucid Dreaming - Dream Views

19.10.2013

Crash Derby at the Colosseum and learning a new Stabilization technique (DILD)

NON-DREAM DREAM LUCID

I was in bed, it was night and my wife was awake in the living room. i went to the living room and it looked very dark, it appeared to be a starless night. My wife was in the kitchen and I wondered what the hell she was doing in the kitchen. She started to speak fast and she appeared mad at me.

I realized I was dreaming as it made no sense that my wife could be in the kitchen at the middle of the night and mad at me out for no reason. I realized that we had a balcony and I recalled that I do not have a balcony in my house, so I opened the doors and I stepped on the edge of the balcony, above the safety bars. My wife told me what I was doing and I told her that we were in a dream. She started to become more angry saying nonsense and told me I was going to kill myself and that I was crazy wanting to go back home to the Pleiades (very long story here, PM if interested) I told her that nah, that we did not even have a balcony and thus, we were dreaming. I jumped off the balcony and realized I did not even do a reality check, but I knew it was a dream, looked at my hand and confirmed.

As I was about to touch the trees, I glided and started to gain altitude. My dream was very bad quality and I was loosing it fast. I have never been good at stabilizing dreams, usually flyign does it. So I tried to typical "Dream Stable" but it only went to get more blurry "More Clarity" but it did not help until the dream started to fade even more.

I had a false awakening in my bed and I told my self that I had to do better, so I woke up and went to drink water. As I was going to drink water, I felt the dreamy feeling and looked at my hand. One of my fingers was about a foot long and very thin. I also touched it and followed it with my hands. I laughed at my mind trying to trick me again. Now I was in my regular home, typical place where my lucids starts, so I opened the door and took off.

It was night and the sky was full of stars, as if there was no city lights contamination. I was in awe as I love the stars as I am never able to see so many. I also saw the moon and a clock with 7:83 time, the clock was like a modern alarm clock, floating around.

As I flew to the stars, I saw a huge weird mall and decided to land. As I landed, it became day again. I realized that the dream was blurry, so demanded for Clarity with a bit of success. As I went inside the mall, it looked like a Costco store, but I realized it was outdoors, as I felt the wind and the sunlight.

The dream started to fade,and asking for Clarity did not work. So I told my self that I would pretend to put my glasses on and so, have a better view. I had to do this a few times, and I went from very blurry to a bit more clear, like when you visit the eye doctor. This was not working, so I told myself I would pull my actual glasses out from my pocket, I did with success and the dream went very clear.

I was walking by some tourist area and there were families having coffee in a terrace and kids running. I went to an area that were selling wine and I saw a bottle of "Vina Tondonia Rioja" labeled as "California Wines" I was like surprised and then reminded myself I was in a dream. A dream Character told me, "Drinking american wine is like drinking water with sugar, this ain't no wine and you know it, go European." I laughed and left.

I was now next to some expensive liquor and jewelry and there were some security guards looking at me and saying in a whisper that I was suspicious, but I could hear them. I just kept exploring the mall and reminded myself of the Task of the Year... I realizing that being mid October is late to get started, but I wanted to push my self, so I recalled I had to go to the Colosseum and fight a Gladiator.

I went through some doors and told myself I would find the Colosseum, to only find the female restroom! I tried twice and only found toilets and the janitor room. However, I saw an older door, very rusty. I focused on it and opened to find the colosseum.



It was kind of buried and in a much worse shape than it is right now but the roof kind of blew away and suddenly, I was in the real Colosseum. I saw a chariot with two horses attaced to it standing in the middle of the Colosseum







There was a gladiator looking at me and there was a second chariot that was empty. There was no one else and I said out loud, "Public!" And the Colosseum started to fill up with people, cheering at a high volume. I was surprised to be able to summon so many DCs, as that is not one of my best abilities.

As I was going to jump on the chariot, some other guy did first, but I knocked him out as I had to do the fighting. Rather that the usual Colosseum fights, this one was more of a crashing fight. The horses were gone and even though I was still in a roman chariot, it had now an engine and we started to drive, hitting each other and forcing each other to crash, until his chariot blew up, giving me the victory.

I was happy I completed the firs ToTY and decided to wake up myself to write it down.