Thread: Task of the Month for April 2015

Originally Posted by FryingMan

Well, forget jogging. Don't like it in waking life, don't want to spend dream time on it. But I'm totally going to throw down a portable hole that leads directly to a deep roman bath full of woblybil's mirror girls, smelling of perfume and whining that the lights don't work. Two wings with one action, feel free to try it out .

I wasn't really on my toes here, If I had remembered the advanced 1 task.. I would have ripped open the tub curtain to an alternate universe with plant girls that need pollination.
It seems to be feast or famine.
I had 11 lucid dreams last week, (Mostly not too exciting) after a 3 month almost dry spell and it may be along about June before I do it again

Last night I was dreaming that some friends and I were swimming in a pool. I didn't want to swim anymore so I got out and asked if they wanted to run instead. They didn't respond and then the dream ended.

So close I could have just gone alone!

Originally Posted by PercyLucid

True, but a small piece of advice. Stop saying how hard is to turn lucid, you said it three times in this post alone. You are telling your subconscious that is indeed hard to lucid dream and making it harder for you. Careful with what you think, it can be a bad schema. Remind yourself that you turn lucid more and more and becomes easier every night. Keep the motivation up

^This is very true

Sure, makes sense. I still stand by my desire to get "stuck" in a FA loop. Can't wait. Y'all can tell me "I told ya so" after I write a "it was the worst thing ever" post. I suspect however I'll be writing "it was the best thing ever," instead. But since I don't want to wake up from dreams, instead, I tend to wake up before I want to!

I think by the way that the strong desire to wake up from a "bad" (if there is such a thing ) FA loop in fact produces more FAs and lengthens the experience, just like the fear reaction in real SP actually causes the scary hallucinations. To get out, just relax and "lie down," stop reacting. Or redirect the narration into "how awesome this experience is" and it will probably finish all too soon!

Originally Posted by FryingMan

Sure, makes sense. I still stand by my desire to get "stuck" in a FA loop. Can't wait. Y'all can tell me "I told ya so" after I write a "it was the worst thing ever" post. I suspect however I'll be writing "it was the best thing ever," instead. But since I don't want to wake up from dreams, instead, I tend to wake up before I want to!

I think by the way that the strong desire to wake up from a "bad" (if there is such a thing ) FA loop in fact produces more FAs and lengthens the experience, just like the fear reaction in real SP actually causes the scary hallucinations. To get out, just relax and "lie down," stop reacting. Or redirect the narration into "how awesome this experience is" and it will probably finish all too soon!

Good luck hehehe. I like FA loops, but not to the extreme of my recent experience. Since you have read my dream your subconscious will indeed give you a FA chain soon, I am pretty sure. The end of my dream, the last layer where I dreamt that there was a company called "9 Clairvoyant Dreamers" caused my experience was super freaky... inception lol

And sorry for my whining. I get grumpy when dry spells get too long .

In fact I tried an entirely different approach last night, just deciding with complete confidence before bed that indeed I was going to have a LD at 5:00am. I woke from an incredibly vivid, present, very involved dream where dream signs hit me left and right but I was too tied up in the plot (dodging bullets from bad guys for part of it) to get lucid. After doing recall for several minutes to solidify the dream I reached for my phone to record it, and I checked the time -- it was 5:08am…..(twilight zone music plays)…

And I will go carefully review your dream again and will see how many FAs I can catch tonight .

Originally Posted by FryingMan

Sure, makes sense. I still stand by my desire to get "stuck" in a FA loop. Can't wait. Y'all can tell me "I told ya so" after I write a "it was the worst thing ever" post. I suspect however I'll be writing "it was the best thing ever," instead. But since I don't want to wake up from dreams, instead, I tend to wake up before I want to!

I think by the way that the strong desire to wake up from a "bad" (if there is such a thing ) FA loop in fact produces more FAs and lengthens the experience, just like the fear reaction in real SP actually causes the scary hallucinations. To get out, just relax and "lie down," stop reacting. Or redirect the narration into "how awesome this experience is" and it will probably finish all too soon!

I think an FA loop would be marvelous but I go in binges...Last week I did many lucid's from dream signs in the middle of an already well developed story. But!.Because of intermittent stresses, (Like I need new tires), I may have a two week dry spell, With no stresses then it may be a few nights of FA's followed by a dry spell, Then I may get a few right from the start watching myself get out of bed.. Even minor stresses can cause a dry spell for me...
If I find it absolutely necessary to get those wings come hell or high water I can go out in an AP and loaf around waiting for my body to fall asleep and I'm off to the races but that requires a lot of work... I'm going back and read Percy's FA thing tho......
The first thing I do in an FA is pee in the washing machine almost every time.

Advanced task ii fail:

I sort of WILD'd into a half lucid half non-lucid dream. I don't count it as a WILD I wouldn't even count it as a LD.

I feel strongly I slipped into a dream but also feel I'm awake and no longer in bed. The dream jumps around. I'm walking around confused arguing with myself about if I'm awake or not. I pass a RC but still am still not convinced I'm asleep for sure. I decided to try a TOTM anyways. I easily pull out a small portable hole and throw it down, it smacks the ground and is now big enough to jump through. You would think my dumbass would realize it was a dream at that point but I didn't. In fact I was now convinced that it wasn't a dream and left without even jumping in.

The setting for that dream was constantly changing. At one part I was in a field and when I threw the hole down I was in a old dirty bar.

I didn't even get the right task I wanted to do the advanced civilization one.

Originally Posted by SuckerPunch

Advanced task ii fail:

The setting for that dream was constantly changing. At one part I was in a field and when I threw the hole down I was in a old dirty bar.

I didn't even get the right task I wanted to do the advanced civilization one.

At least you were in the right place, A dirty old bar does fine dreams for me

I'll take your word on that lol. Maybe if I had jumped down there I would of landed in a place like the one you went to after that mirror dream! Why didn't I just jump!

Ok, I've tried twice now for the shower task and both times I've run into serious problems with the lighting in my bathroom(??), with the added bonus of not being able to get my jeans off when I got lucid last night. I never thought having a shower would be so hard! I mean, I can (just about) do it hungover!

I suppose it is ok to take a shower with the clothes on, it's supposed to be basic task. What does the management think?

^^ of course it satisfies!

Hey TOTMers!

Opehlia has asked me to do the honors this month. So please let me know if someone ended up with an extra pair of something or has a pair of something missing. iFix.

Got the jogging TotM just in time for my wings to get clipped, typical

Spoiler for LD:

At home, on the landing at the top of the stairs, I start to carry out my rc/sat routine. I have a dreamy feeling but can't seem to prove it. Still not quite lucid I start to freak out, wondering, if a dream could simulate all waking life stimulus, could any rc prove I was really awake, would I be stuck in an inception situation, constantly doubting reality? I'm nose-plugging over and over.. there! I feel some dream air escape my nostrils. To prove it I float up to the ceiling, and doing so reflect that dream control is probably the best recourse when in doubt. I dive straight through the spare room window, and set off on my jog. I'm at a leisurely pace and enjoying myself, stabilising along the way. I round the corner at the top of my street when black tinted cars pull up and cartel looking guys get out with guns. I wrestle a gun from one and shoot him point blank in the head, there's no effect. I tell him that if he gets shot in the head he has to die, be realistic! After that I'm able to dispatch a few, but then decide it would be better not to get drawn into this dream plot. I set off again, ignoring them. I get another 500 yards maybe when, wait... I'm back on my street. Up ahead my nan has crashed her car into another car and i'm drawn back into an NLD.

I didn't get far, but I find this everytime I become lucid and just start walking off with no destination in mind that the unconscious is desperate to draw me back into whatever non-lucid plot, usually in the form of combative DCs (inception has a lot to answer for, huh). I think this is actually really difficult dream control, see how far you can get just walking while remaining lucid.

Originally Posted by Ctharlhie

Got the jogging TotM just in time for my wings to get clipped, typical

Spoiler for LD:

At home, on the landing at the top of the stairs, I start to carry out my rc/sat routine. I have a dreamy feeling but can't seem to prove it. Still not quite lucid I start to freak out, wondering, if a dream could simulate all waking life stimulus, could any rc prove I was really awake, would I be stuck in an inception situation, constantly doubting reality? I'm nose-plugging over and over.. there! I feel some dream air escape my nostrils. To prove it I float up to the ceiling, and doing so reflect that dream control is probably the best recourse when in doubt. I dive straight through the spare room window, and set off on my jog. I'm at a leisurely pace and enjoying myself, stabilising along the way. I round the corner at the top of my street when black tinted cars pull up and cartel looking guys get out with guns. I wrestle a gun from one and shoot him point blank in the head, there's no effect. I tell him that if he gets shot in the head he has to die, be realistic! After that I'm able to dispatch a few, but then decide it would be better not to get drawn into this dream plot. I set off again, ignoring them. I get another 500 yards maybe when, wait... I'm back on my street. Up ahead my nan has crashed her car into another car and i'm drawn back into an NLD.

I didn't get far, but I find this everytime I become lucid and just start walking off with no destination in mind that the unconscious is desperate to draw me back into whatever non-lucid plot, usually in the form of combative DCs (inception has a lot to answer for, huh). I think this is actually really difficult dream control, see how far you can get just walking while remaining lucid.

I think constantly evolving mini-goals are the key. Don't think "I'm jogging as far as I can," think "I'm jogging up to that tree," then "now I'm jogging around that corner," …and so on. Yes, it seems the dreaming mind really, really wants a narrative, so frequent narrative re-framing can keep you in the dream longer focused on your goals.

Originally Posted by FryingMan

I think constantly evolving mini-goals are the key. Don't think "I'm jogging as far as I can," think "I'm jogging up to that tree," then "now I'm jogging around that corner," …and so on. Yes, it seems the dreaming mind really, really wants a narrative, so frequent narrative re-framing can keep you in the dream longer focused on your goals.

Agreed. Narrative framing is the most powerful technique (archetypal, universe control etc.)

Also, I actually got lucid from a habitual RC for once!

It seems I done the basic ii while semi-lucid.
However, it was mostly about speed, but I seen details well enough

I'm halfly lucid . I don't know that its not a dream but I know that I can do anything.
I'm in another city , Near my friends house, I SENSED.
Even though I didnt know where I was , I knew I'm halfway to the city where my friends house is
around 5km away.
I start to run in the suburban, Soonly I start to get really fast.
And then I feel energy in my legs and now I start to get veeery veery fast.
I'm dashing through the air I take steps like jumping , I run of course, but every step is around 30m long.
I'm fast as hell and I'm really happy about that.
Everything is vivid as I going through this suburban , The houses, the gardens , a school ,and then houses again.
I jump over a car passing by , then an old woman, its hilarious how fast I am.
I sense when the way changes direction and I just going through streets like water, very swiftly .
I arrive at my friends house, with my other friends, and we plan to drink something , then everything falls apart
and now the house is a void place , the ladders are floating in the nothing, even the other parts of the room,
Some weird things happen, we go up and down , then we get high.
After the party is ended I tell them I go home.
Its night , I start to run again fast As f***.
Awesome speed, the night sky is clear, stars are shining, and I'm going with godspeed.
As this way I go home and arrive in my city in 10-15 minutes.
Before I achieved home the dream ends.

Where is the spoiler?
I can't spoiler this story

Originally Posted by gab

Hey TOTMers!

Opehlia has asked me to do the honors this month. So please let me know if someone ended up with an extra pair of something or has a pair of something missing. iFix.

I was just going to post ..
"Opheliablue, Where are you?" We love you , Please come home, We wont be bad anymore, We promise

Originally Posted by gab

Hey TOTMers!

Opehlia has asked me to do the honors this month. So please let me know if someone ended up with an extra pair of something or has a pair of something missing. iFix.

I'm missing my basic wings! That is all thanks

Originally Posted by Ctharlhie

Got the jogging TotM just in time for my wings to get clipped, typical

Spoiler for LD:

At home, on the landing at the top of the stairs, I start to carry out my rc/sat routine. I have a dreamy feeling but can't seem to prove it. Still not quite lucid I start to freak out, wondering, if a dream could simulate all waking life stimulus, could any rc prove I was really awake, would I be stuck in an inception situation, constantly doubting reality? I'm nose-plugging over and over.. there! I feel some dream air escape my nostrils. To prove it I float up to the ceiling, and doing so reflect that dream control is probably the best recourse when in doubt. I dive straight through the spare room window, and set off on my jog. I'm at a leisurely pace and enjoying myself, stabilising along the way. I round the corner at the top of my street when black tinted cars pull up and cartel looking guys get out with guns. I wrestle a gun from one and shoot him point blank in the head, there's no effect. I tell him that if he gets shot in the head he has to die, be realistic! After that I'm able to dispatch a few, but then decide it would be better not to get drawn into this dream plot. I set off again, ignoring them. I get another 500 yards maybe when, wait... I'm back on my street. Up ahead my nan has crashed her car into another car and i'm drawn back into an NLD.

I didn't get far, but I find this everytime I become lucid and just start walking off with no destination in mind that the unconscious is desperate to draw me back into whatever non-lucid plot, usually in the form of combative DCs (inception has a lot to answer for, huh). I think this is actually really difficult dream control, see how far you can get just walking while remaining lucid.

There's also the theory about your subC being "programmed" to stop you in whatever ways possible from getting to the "edge" of your consciousness. So going on and on in a chosen direction puts up all sorts of red flags, and your subC will do what it can to stop your progress. When I was flying northward in my last lucid, eventually I hit that endless water. It wasn't my goal to just go as far as I could, but I wonder what my subC would have done to stop me if I had tried.

Originally Posted by KestrelKat

There's also the theory about your subC being "programmed" to stop you in whatever ways possible from getting to the "edge" of your consciousness.

My subC and I are pals. We do everything together. It helps me before I even know I need help. It does things for me I had no idea it remembered from reading the forum. We are ONE.

Originally Posted by KestrelKat

There's also the theory about your subC being "programmed" to stop you in whatever ways possible from getting to the "edge" of your consciousness. So going on and on in a chosen direction puts up all sorts of red flags, and your subC will do what it can to stop your progress. When I was flying northward in my last lucid, eventually I hit that endless water. It wasn't my goal to just go as far as I could, but I wonder what my subC would have done to stop me if I had tried.

I think it's probably more akin to if you're playing Minecraft on a poorly specced computer and the game can't load the environment fast enough. I also believe that most dream control problems come down to interrupting the dream narrative. This is why this task is pretty hard for basic; as FM said, there has to be some narrative framing other than, "welp, just going for a run, don't mind me!"

Got lucid (urge to fly again, it's coming up more and more, yay), flew, while in the air immediately reviewed my awesome TOTM plan (throw down a portable hole and jump through it landing in a giant Roman bath full of woblybil's mirror girls). But thinking of the bath/girls made a swimming pool manifest on the ground below and ahead of me, I see people in swim suits, I land. There are girls in bikinis present. FM gollum-like self-argument ensues.

- "NO! Stick to the plan! Portable hole to roman bath! There will be girls *there*, and *wings*! Just reach into your swimsuit pocket, there will be a portable hole there!"

- "The hole might lead to the void! There are girls *here, now*!"

You can guess who won. I kept it short, two very quick (unsatisfying, couple of seconds each, I was in such a rush and didn't want to risk waking) encounters, but then some threatening male relatives of the girls showed up, and a star-wars fight theme ensued, I did pretty well actually perhaps my best lucid fight yet.

But no wings! Argh!