Well, a meteor hitting the earth is a pretty big deal.

If I am doing a reality check because I think it is a dream I normally do a few RCs. No RC is 100%, so if one of them works 90% of the time, use one that works 80% of the times as well and the odds are really high that it will work. Some of my favorite RCs are things like "If I can use the force/fly/teleport this is a dream." Then try and use it like you do in your dreams. This will kick start your LDs and make them already where you want or doing something fun.

Nose plug is pretty good. It has only failed once for me.