Thread: Task of the Month for November 2008

Woop!
There was a duck in my non-lucid dream last night, then I was like hmm, I wanna hug it so i knelt down and held out my arms and it ran away ¬_¬.
As it ran off, I became sort-of lucid because it was running too fast for a duck. I was like "please, please let someone else catch it!" then someone did and they gave it to me.
Would it count as ME catching it if I willed another person to get it?

On November 2nd, I walked into a room, and there was a guy in a duck suit, I tackled him. Does that count?

I haven't done one of these in a good long while so even though I didn't decide to until almost the end of the month, I thought I'd give it a try anyway. This is what I came up with...

P.S. This is just the bit that pertained to the advanced lucid task. For the rest of the dream, go to my DJ.

...realized that I had successfully materialized a shoe on my right foot, but that I was still holding the original shoe in my hand and the one I had on was slightly too small for me. I tried to take it off and I think the preoccupation with the shoes succeeded in either waking me up or at least throwing me into a FA. While I was either awake or lying in my dream bed I remembered that even though it was almost the end of the month, I wanted to do the advanced task since I hadn't done any of the monthly tasks in a good long while so I focused on the yellow brick road (fawllow fawllow fawllow fawllow follow the yellow brick road) and closed my eyes to go back to sleep.

Now, I've been playing fallout tactics lately and so what I saw when I closed my eyes was a loading screen to dream time, which is what makes me think I wasn't really awake in between.

When the loading bar finished I opened my eyes and saw that I was looking at a reflection of myself in some sort of biohazard suit/ full body armor in a computer console. As I stepped back, I saw that the console was weather proofed for being outside. Then, when I looked beyond it, I realized I was gazing over a post apocalyptic waste land and a broken but recognizable road made of tarnished yellow bricks worked its way through the rubble to my left. I vaguely remember a voice from the console telling me that it needed my help, but I immediately set off walking down the yellow brick road.

As I walked, I decided I must have a weapon strapped to the back of this vaguely power armor like suit so I reached over my shoulder expecting to come in contact with a rifle stock or something, only to find a smallish blocky digital camera. I stuck it to my chest (where I new it would stay) and tried to reach around again but became distracted when the yellow brick road through the wasteland led me to a fully operational outdoor food court with several different types of fast food restaurants being represented. One of the cashiers gave me an expectant look like he hadn't had a customer in awhile, but I thought this was quite the let down and went to continue along the road.

Unfortunately, I realized that the yellow bricks had given way to beige fast food chain tiles a while back and had to go back the way I came to see if I had gotten side tracked somewhere. I couldn't find where the path split off and it appeared that the yellow brick road dead ended at the food court so I decided to follow it in the other direction. I continued past the computer where I had come in to the dream and found that just back behind that the yellow brick road went into a building with double metal doors, so I followed it in.

The yellow brick road inside the building became like those lines they have in hospitals painted on the floors and walls that make it easy to find things, but this one was sort of a mash up between yellow bricks in the floor, yellow cement bricks in the hospital like walls and yellow painted lines, all haphazard and patchwork like the joining of two worlds. I followed the yellow brick hospital line around a couple corners and then started to see if I really had no weapons on this suit of futuristic armor, only to realize that it was becoming more and more like my snow suit and I just had a bunch of junk in the pockets (like normal). I pulled out a little pad that I had some drawings in (they were pretty cool looking now that I think about it) and immediately there were a couple of guys following me looking over my shoulder pestering me about the drawings. I flipped through and showed them a couple; most of them looked like they revolved around the idea of skeletons riding futuristic chopper motorcycles but I think the annoyance of these guys following me finally woke me up.

Hey everyone! It's good to finally be somewhere where I can access the internet on a daily basis...therefore I have a fair number of "saved up" task of the month attempts to share. A lot of these attempts were part of very long, high-level LDs, so I won't post the entire dream (check out my DJ if you would like to read those), but just the task-relevant parts. Oh, and I mainly focused on the advanced task of walking the yellow brick road.

Attempt #1...FAILURE (11/17/08...actually the majority of this dream pertains to the yellow brick road...so here it is):

"...I snap back into a more heightened awareness and decide to leave the house, do my LD prep and attempt my dream goal of following the yellow brick road (DreamView’s November task of the month). As I exit from the front door, I notice everything man-made is the front yard is made of very finely finished (mahogany?) wood – columns, tables, even the floor (driveway) itself. As I walk then I do my LD prep, first saying “this is happening in the here and now, this very moment” (I find this incredibly helpful in boosting mental clarity). Then I rub my hands together, shout “increase lucidity now!” and “increase clarity now!” The combination of all these things is very impressive and as a result the dream is amazingly clear and vivid. I remember to remember a recent memory, but I’m not sure if I succeed or fail at this (I can’t recall the memory I would have remembered), but I proceed as if I succeed, since I don’t dwell on it. To complete my LD prep I focus on the dream scenery and marvel at how I can create such a world from my mind. At this last point, after jogging for a while, I find myself outside of the all-wooden area and am in a heavily landscaped area with stone blocks and a view out onto a tremendous city.

I decide to get down to business and find the yellow brick road. I say to myself, “I know with 100% certainty that the yellow brick road lies around the next corner” to build up my expectation. So I turn the corner and…nothing, just the same type of scenery. I’m frustrated but keep jogging around, trying to think of another way to get there. Somewhere along the line I decide to take to the skies and fly. Not long after I’m airborne, I spy a bridge with some people on it. I descend onto the bridge near two girls, one blonde and the other a darker-skinned brunette with a large face that I recognize as an acquaintance from high school (her name escapes me at the moment). After I land I ask them if they know where the yellow brick road is. The blonde is quick to answer, saying something along the lines of, “Oh, I’ve been there many years ago, but I forgot where it is now.” I ignore them and fly off once again.

The next scene I can remember, I find myself in a partially-indoor harbor of some kind which is surrounded on 3 sides by walls. I walk up a central platform and once again marvel at how vivid and clear this dream is. Then the visuals begin to fade. Luckily, I recognize this quickly, and save the dream by spinning. Back on the platform, I notice a boy standing next to me who I recognize as someone who was one grade behind me in grade school. I ask him if he knows how to get to the yellow brick road. He says he doesn’t, but his buddy does, and he points to another boy a few levels up behind an open window along one of the harbor walls. So I fly from the platform over to the friend, landing inside the opening. This is also a boy that I went to grade school with, but I can’t remember his name. After I ask him about the road, he points and tells me I need to get on the raft that’s just about the leave the harbor.

Following his instructions, I fly down to the waiting raft, but the captain, a white-haired Aussie with an attitude, tells me I’ll be killed flying around like that. Out of respect, I land on the solid ground next to the docked raft before I board on foot. Right away we are off, floating in a very narrow and controlled channel. We take a left out of the harbor and continue on the narrow channel. Once we are completely out of sight of the main harbor docking area, another boy grasps tightly onto my hands under the captain’s orders, locking my wrists together. The captain then says this is a necessary precaution for his own protection. Despite my feeling of bitterness, I go along with it, at least until they can take me to the yellow brick road.

Eventually we dock up and disembark where the channel ends. We continue walking on foot through another corridor. After some minutes pass, I decide I can’t stand being locked up like this anymore, so I thrash wildly to get the kid off me. This proves very hard, and he won’t let go. I am even more frustrated because I realize that since I’m lucid this kind of shit shouldn’t stop me from exercising control over the dream, but yet it does. Shortly after I have this thought, I awaken."

Attempt #2...PARTIAL SUCCESS (11/20/08):

"...I then head over to the side gate and remember to try my goal of following the yellow brick road. I expect to see it behind the gate as I open it, but this doesn’t work. I walk out onto the street and keep trying to conjure the yellow brick road but fail each time. DCs are everywhere at this point, but not really bothersome. I fly around for a while but I have a harder than usual time doing it. Mostly I fly Superman style, but my movement is consistently slow and it’s harder to gain altitude. Without any concrete goal in mind at this point, when I see some panthers walking toward me on Green Ridge, I decide to fight them. My memory of the fight is hazy, but I either defeat them or it’s a draw...

(later in same dream) "...I fly out of the maintenance shop and decide to try the other DreamViews task of catching a duck. I come to a big, open interior space somehow conjure a duck in the air above me, and fly up to catch it. It’s really easy, the duck offering no resistance whatsoever, which makes sense when I look at it and realize it was a wooden replica duck suspended in the air by a string." (I don't know if this counts or not...you be the judge)

(later in same dream) "...Yet again the dream fades and I spin to save it. The new scene I find myself in is a grocery store like Woodman’s. I ask some people around me how to get to the yellow brick road. An old Asian lady, pointing behind me, tells me that I need to fly through that display row of snacks to get there. Apparently it’s a portal or something. Sounds weird to me at the time, but I take her word for it, back up, and launch myself straight at this tiny row of snacks. As I meet them, either I get smaller or the packages get bigger, and I’m negotiating my way through what looked to be an impossibly small spot. As I’m flying forward my visuals blur and gray a bit, and I feel like I’m awakening, but the next thing I know I’m standing in an elaborate Japanese arena or coliseum built of stone.

The arena is packed with a raucous crowd, yelling at me while a female judge perched high up on a podium tells me I’ve been charged with trying to infiltrate the yellow brick road, Japan’s most precious national secret. I basically don’t realize what is going on and just want to keep moving, so I make some mega-leaps from platform to platform on the edge of the arena even as the mob tries to catch me. The dream fades again, but this time I feel like I’ve had enough and consciously decide to wake up."

Attempt #3...FAILURE (11/25/08):

"...Everything is crystal clear after doing this. Satisfied enough, I walk back inside, planning to use one of the doors as a portal to the yellow brick road.

While inside, I walk down the hallway to the front door and try very hard to expect to see the yellow brick road on the other side, but when I open the door it’s not there…all I see is my front yard. Disappointed, I stay inside, closing the door and trying the portal/expectation method on other doors in the house, to no avail."

So I kinda completed the basic task, though the duck really didn't really put up much of a fight. I'll keep trying to find that elusive yellow brick road for the next few days.

it'll count

Cool Do I get a badge then?

In a little while, it takes a while for it to get put up.

If I may suggest a few:
Beginner: find the famous painting of the dogs playing poker
advanced: play a game of poker with the dogs. Try and remember what cards you had
advanced: walk through a mirror. Where does it take you?
Thanks for considering

It's quite amusing, reading this topic compared to the very first Task of the Month archive...

People participating have had no trouble shooting fireworks from their hands or changing gender but when it comes to catching a duck, everyone is suddenly held up by the sheer difficulty of it.

Ironic, no?

I finally got around to attempting this last night. Didn't quite make it.

As soon as I remembered the task of following the yellow brick road, I started flying around trying to find one. I was flying at the edge of a forest. I flew for quite a while without seeing one. Finally I did see a brick road. Only it was red. Since I was tired of trying, I decided to just follow the red brick road to see what cool things I might find even though I knew I wouldn't get credit. It lead into the forest. I passed trees and rocks and went up hills, but never saw anything really interesting or out of the ordinary. I guess it has to be yellow for that.