Thread: Task of the Month for January 2015

edit: full dj: http://www.dreamviews.com/blogs/fryi...e-girls-63394/

Well after missing wings for a whole month I finally put on a "full court press" and got a short but TOTM-worthy LD:

(childhood home) I head up the front steps to the street and see on the street a medium-dog-sized green alien turtle/dog thing looks like it's made out of stone. I crouch down so as not to be seen, it walks a bit to the left towards the G's driveway with its head to the left. I think it's sort of stupid to stay hidden (because it's a dream?). I (call it to me?), it comes and stands right before me with its weird alien stone green face. I ask it for dreaming power, lucid all night every night. It raises a hand and touches my forehead. Satisfied, I head back down the stairs to the front door, and as I head in to the house I'm lucid, and do a solid nose pinch to confirm. Right inside the front door and turn to the right heading for the living room, I say "wow" because the visual representation of the house is really accurate (frequently the living room in dreams is empty/wrong). I walk by the armchair towards the middle of the room and reach down and touch the wooden tip of the arm (that chair hasn't been there since I was in high school) of the chair with my right hand briefly. Ahead and towards the right out the wide window I see in the distance a really large tall white skyscraper lit with bright light with strange very large letter/number/symbol combinations (about 3 symbols long) placed in several locations around the front of the building. I see a short sequence of zillions of bright flashes like thousands of camera flashes all going off around the same time. After this the view is muddled and just dark blobs. I turn towards the dining room and think of goals and TOTM: fireworks, wine. Definitely wine. I turn back towards the living room and expect to find a full open bottle of wine. The dream is starting to get a bit vague. I have a full open bottle of (white) wine (champagne?) in my hand, and up-end it and start to chug it. It takes a while, 15 or 20 seconds, I'm counting the seconds/gulps? I wonder briefly about the effects and I find there are none. I head out to the deck and feel like making a strong flying take-off. As I leap into the air something grabs my right lower leg, I look down and see it's my cat in a bitey/scratchy mood. As I fly it continues to bite/scratch, so I pick it up in my hands and bite its head trying to get it to stop I lose lucidity and am in some room where two girls are laughing about the cat.

Just realized the flashes may have been an attempt of my SC at fireworks, interesting. Didn't think they were fireworks in the dream, though.

Great, just great, I guess my dream guide is a weird green alien dog/turtle thing . At least I got it to fill me with dream power!

Fireworks task with a twist...

I tried to recall a lucid goal while I did this. I remembered the basic task of the month, except a conversation from waking life with AnotherDreamer had merged with my memory of the task, so I thought you had to shoot the fireworks out of your butt.

I flew outside so I had more room. I was preparing to blast some fireworks from my pants, but I felt like I really needed to pee. I was a bit concerned about what might happen if I strained too hard to get the fireworks out, so I applied firm pressure to my lady parts to prevent any wee from escaping. I made a forceful farting action and propelled fireworks from my butt. I looked up to the sky and saw golden streaks exploding from a rocket-style firework.

Full entry here

Originally Posted by ~Dreamer~

I made a forceful farting action and propelled fireworks from my butt. I looked up to the sky and saw golden streaks exploding from a rocket-style firework.

Excellent!

I was a bit concerned about what might happen if I strained too hard to get the fireworks out, so I applied firm pressure to my lady parts

Hey, any time you want any help….a gentleman always volunteers to help a lady "hold" things.

Originally Posted by PercyLucid

Basic Task ii - Chug an entire full bottle of wine and describe the effects - (dolphin)

Well, I'm little bit late because of a thing called "work" or something, but I can describe what happens when you do something related before going to sleep

Originally Posted by ~Dreamer~

Fireworks task with a twist...



Full entry here

The last girl DC I had that farted blew away, I don't know where she went

Ophelia: I don't really know... I think drunk Kestrel thinks she's being funny when really it just sounds concerning or something. I wasn't on a curb or anything haha


Dreamer, that was absolutely amazing. Gets my vote for best TOTM success, hands down.

Oh god, alright FNAF-task is top priority at this point.

Ok guys I need your help...I don't know what I did or what this counts as...

Went to bed earlier than usual (before 12:00am) and I had intentions all day to make sure to keep the TOTM on my mind. After about 5 good hours of sleep, I did a WBTB. I keep up with my mantra (I lucid dream) then every now and then I would add (I walk and fly backwards). Somewhere within the nodding in and out of NL's, I recall being lucid and I told myself don't forget to walk backwards. I did walk backwards and then for a second I stopped and told myself, "Not like that!" BTW, I have no idea why I said that. Then I kinda 'skated' backwards (like on an escalator going backwards) when I was telling myself to fly. Then all of a sudden I lost Lucy and found some guy telling me he was going to marry me and I involuntarily went with the non-lucid

So...I have no idea what this counts for (if it counts at all ).

Just trying to be honest because being an honest person has always had a lot to do with me being lucid or not.

Even if this doesn't count, I am still willing to keep trying because my stability sucks lately. One Love.

Pretty sure that counts as basic, since you got lucid, remembered the task, DID manage to walk backwards. It's just not advanced because it wasn't for the whole lucid.

Whatchoo think Percy?

I finally managed to achieve one of these!! (about a week ago)

Full entry: http://www.dreamviews.com/blogs/brot...-150109-63389/

Excerpt:

Myself and a roommate arrive in a parking lot in a former roommate's car. I immediately begin to question my reality (it feels like a dream).Tell him to do a reality check and do the same. Confirmed.

"What should we do?" I ask. "I dunno," he replies. Typical. (He is one of my best friends and the closest to my interest level in lucid dreaming. He's been in my dreams before and is never any help at all.)

"We can do anything, here, check it out." Remembering the task of the month I make a crate appear in front of me next to the car. I open it, remove a firework (8" classic looking rocket), stick it into a nearby patch of grass, and light it. In hindsight I never had a lighter or even considered that I might need a lighter. The daytime sky lights up even more with a massive explosion as I say "BOOM" and make an explosion gesture with my arms.

This is the first time I've managed to accomplish anything related to a goal at all.

Awesome BrotherGoose! And cool that you had daytime fireworks.

So proud of myself! Got to do the fireworks today... Three times!
First one I'm by a beach, gain lucidity and I summon the firecracker to my hands. I don't see it but I light the invisible cracker and eventually it starts to light up. I throw it in the air and it falls into the sea. Nothing happens and the there is a light from the water. Shortly after a flood is gushing ... Hehe
My second attempt ends up with a child attaching itself to the firecracker (again I summon the fireworks and end up with invisible firecracker)... Here too, no big show of lights.... And I had another attempt but can recall the details..Oh my.. Do these attempts count? It was fun anyways. Thank you folks!

Failed attempt at the wine TOTM: Wine Into Water

Relevant excerpt:

I wondered what to do and quickly decided to try to knock off the wine TOTM, which seemed like an easy one. So I walked swiftly to the kitchen pantry where I keep a lot of wine and reached for one at random. It was a rosé in a clear glass bottle. The level was very low, well down the shoulder, but since the cork was intact I figured it should count as a "full bottle" as specified in the TOTM. At first the bottle was the shape and size of a typical wine bottle, the more streamlined profile you usually see with burgundies, but as I set it down on the kitchen counter to get a better look, it transformed in front of my eyes to the larger, plumper form of a two-liter plastic soda bottle.

I was still determined to open it, so I picked it up and carried it over to where the corkscrew should be. It occurred to me that I should make a more detailed observation of the bottle first, since it was covered in writing printed directly on the glass. The writing was in white script of various fonts and sizes, but the white lettering against the clear glass was hard to read, especially with the level of the wine so low. The fonts were also elaborate and hard to make out. I held it up at an angle to get the best view and looked carefully. I could make out that the biggest word was "Mersault," which would make sense since (as I suspected and google confirms), this is an actual appellation in Burgundy. The next largest set of letters spelled "Farb," which reminded me of the German word for "color." I wondered if this had to do with the color of the wine, and was startled to observe that the wine was now colorless and looked exactly like water. Moreover, the bottle was starting to remind me of a water bottle. Oh dear, had I accidentally turned my wine into water? I'd better grab a different bottle! I was walking back to the pantry when I woke up.

Rocket failure.

Somehow some of the tasks seeped thru to my brain in a nap but the lucid part forgot to wake up...

It started in a Walmart parking lot where I had parked my motor-home and rented a cheap motel room with some others of my group.
While they went shopping I tried to fit in a quick shower in the Motel. As I went in I tried the lights but they didn't work, Undaunted I checked and someone had stolen all the light bulbs except one of those screwy,screw in florescent bulbs which I took to the bathroom where it produced only a dim blue glow.
Not seeing the dream signs I tried to get undressed but there was no way I was getting those pants off. Finally I gave up on the shower and went outside to pee because there was no water in the toilet and had no idea yet I might be dreaming and as I started I pee'd high into the air, Hundreds of feet into the air and it produced beautiful star-burst's and I could hear oohs and aahs from people I couldn't see in the darkness and through it all I still never had an inkling I might be dreaming until the phone woke me up..
I may be doomed.......

Managed to complete the basic task. I have copy/pasted the log entry below. The lucid portion is highlighted in blue, the task in green.

Spoiler for Dream:

Dream Log Entry, Date 14.JAN.2015


The first thing I remember is being dressed in a space suit, drifting in space, spinning uncontrollably. In the distance was a space colony that repeatedly flew across mine vision as I span and span. I've been watching that movie Gravity far too much.
At some point, I ended up on a strange planet. Everything around me--the houses, plants, and mountains--were coloured various shades of lavender. I was standing atop mushy, building-sized mushroom that stood in a lake of gooey, bubbling liquid. In mine anti-gravity space suit, I jumped to another mushroom--and another. At some point during this process, I spontaneously because lucid.
Since the firework task was the only one I could remember, I decided to do that one. With a wave of mine hand, I conjured a bottle rocket in mine left palm that appeared in a puff of smoke. I then stuck out mine right thumb, willed it to light aflame, and with it lit the fuse of the bottle rocket. Shortly after, it shot into the black, starry sky with a loud screech and exploded with a faint pop.
Once that was done with, I projected mine Wings of the Heart and began to fly toward the mountains in the distance. But, before I got far, I woke up.

Non lucid fireworks, sigh….it was pretty neat, though.

I arrive at a house on suburban street I've brought stuff for a party including packs of fireworks (like sparkler sticks) in bags, standing on street next to driveway of party house, a friend takes one and sets it off: he spins around in a circle several times and sets off the firework while spinning, and the firework maintains the spin and corkscrews up into the sky and explodes, I think it's interesting how it maintained the spin. Another friend takes one and sets it off, it doesn't go high, it forms a short word that floats around a circle from the party house driveway to the house across the street and almost hits the garage door of the other house. Friend disappointed in this but I say no it was really cool. Another friend grabs a firework and sets it off, I say "OK, do I have to go hide these in the house?" (it's not time for them yet).

Sure is quiet around here.......

Still trying, but I can't break the dryspell

Bizarre, ambiguous attempt at the fireworks task: "Propeller Arms (NREM?)"

Relevant excerpt:

Even though I didn't feel integrated into my dream body and lacked visuals altogether, the audible conversation was so vivid that I figured I must be reasonably secure in the dream state, so I figured I'd try the TOTM and see if I could coax a better REM state into effect. The fireworks task was perfect for this, since it was something I could attempt without moving much or needing anything from the environment. I imagined holding out my hand, palm up, and shooting fireworks from the center of my palm. Something did happen: I could half-see a kind of ghostly outline of my hand, like when you look at it in almost total darkness, and then above the palm emerged a faint graphic that resembled a model of the solar system, with the planets hanging in space and lines indicating their orbits.

It's hard to describe what "seeing" this was like, since it was neither seeing in the usual sense, nor was it merely thinking or imagining, but something in between, or possibly different from them all. Have you ever been in a situation where it was so dark that you looked at your hand and weren't sure that you were really seeing it or your mind was just filling in the outlines where it knew they should be? It was a bit like that, but different, because in addition to my hand I could also "see" the solar system graphic, an image I would not have expected, and because ultimately I didn't feel like I was really "seeing" any of this with my eyes, even dream eyes. Part of the problem is that I still didn't feel fully embodied, so the darkness didn't just feel like an absence of light, but like a condition—inner darkness as opposed to outer darkness? Even at the time I suspected I wasn't in full REM. The visual impression was there, but it didn't register as genuinely visual.

Originally Posted by Snehk

Still trying, but I can't break the dryspell

You and me both,
It seems lately these tasks just aint where I can get up to my stuff....
Like "Freddy's Castle".. Freddy who? Freddy Fender? "Freddy The Freeloader" maybe?.........
I Goggled Freddy's and got [About 1,480,000 results (0.44 seconds)] Only mine own fault for not coming up with tasks in the first place but hindsight don't get me any wings either.
In the end I will win

Verre: I was JUST thinking about this today!!! Like, what the difference would be between seeing something in a LD, vs imagining something in your mind while in the LD. Because it's all in our mind anyway. But so is everything. Omg *head explodes*

I do want to remember to try this in a LD: look at my surroundings, then close my eyes (or not) and try to imagine something. Probably it'll just change the whole scene, but who knows?!

Did the advanced i crystal ball task :

Spoiler for advanced i:

I find myself in a large room, looks like a mix between a shop and a bar. My awareness gradually goes up and I know I'm dreaming. I recall the task with the crystal ball and head over to the guy behind the counter. There are a few crystal balls that look like empty snow globes, but they are in the distance so I have to walk around a labyrinth of counters. I tell the DC working there to bring me the crystal ball, so that I don't have to maneuver myself all the way there. He is very uncooperative and refuses to do so. By the time I reach the counter those particular crystal balls pop out of existence.

The dream becomes very dynamic, I almost lose all lucidity while some DCs next to me fight over which cakes they want to eat. There are a number of delicious cakes everyone wants to try. I get hold of one very tasty and start eating with my hands. I contemplate on that and my awareness goes up again, after all it's a dream, so I'm free to eat any way I want. I remember the crystall ball task again, this time the (same?) DC leaves a large crystal sphere next to me and I examine it. It's a very beautiful crystal ball with no stand, and little lines and cracks in star-like shapes can be seen inside. I make a mental note about those, then proceed to see the future. I look inside but it doesn't show anything, just becomes a little blurry. I decide to cover it with my hands, concentrate and then reveal it again.

On and beyond the blurry surface, some objects become slightly more visible. I am still unable to fully understand what exactly it is showing but now it's almost as good as becoming part of another scene, while still being here in the bar/shop. Finally, I see a number of objects neatly arranged, like they are put on sale, on a sunny bright day on the street. Pretty much what I make out of the scene is that it shows some kind of a street stand with souvenirs or so. The zooming in almost transports me to the scene, but not quite. I interrupt the action and stop to contemplate on it for a while and review the task.

Originally Posted by OpheliaBlue

Verre: I was JUST thinking about this today!!! Like, what the difference would be between seeing something in a LD, vs imagining something in your mind while in the LD. Because it's all in our mind anyway. But so is everything. Omg *head explodes*

I do want to remember to try this in a LD: look at my surroundings, then close my eyes (or not) and try to imagine something. Probably it'll just change the whole scene, but who knows?!

This is a great idea for an experiment! Maybe we should propose it as one of the basic TOTMs sometime so lots of people will give it a try.

It reminds me of another oddity I've noticed in LDs: in my dreams it definitely feels like there is a difference, no less than in waking life, between "saying something aloud" and merely "thinking it in my head." But how can such a difference be meaningful when the whole thing is taking place "in my head" in the first place?

*head also explodes*

Originally Posted by Verre

This is a great idea for an experiment! Maybe we should propose it as one of the basic TOTMs sometime so lots of people will give it a try.

It reminds me of another oddity I've noticed in LDs: in my dreams it definitely feels like there is a difference, no less than in waking life, between "saying something aloud" and merely "thinking it in my head." But how can such a difference be meaningful when the whole thing is taking place "in my head" in the first place?

*head also explodes*

Percy, make it so ^^