Thread: Having trouble at noticing when I'm dreaming even if it's clearly obvious

So I'm definitely a beginner with lucid dreaming, I had one last year when I first started reading about it but have decided to give my full attention to it by researching different methods, keeping a DJ, and constantly doing RCs. Just started my DJ about a week ago or so and have had a pretty good jump in my dream recall. I've mostly been relying on MILD and DILD techniques and have been trying to find a good match that works for me. The problem is I usually am very focused on the intention and sometimes keep myself up longer than I want, which after trying to relax for long leads to a little frustration and just wanting to fall asleep.

My question is that since I've been recalling my dreams more often, I've noticed how often I'm in a situation where I'm obviously dreaming but don't pick up on it. Last night I was in a dream and when I was with my friends at a bar, the lady asked for my ID and I remembered I left it in my car. When I went out to the car I remembered it wasn't in there, so I decided quite logically in my dream that I would remember a place where I parked my car in the past with my wallet in it, travel there, and pick it up. So I get in the car and, using some form of GPS, I pick a spot where I was taking photos in the mountains one day. As I'm driving along a dark street the outside shifts like this digital curtain so now I'm driving along a perfectly cut path through some deep snow on a surreal winter mountaintop... then I realize that if in my car now how could it be there, then remembering I'm in the past I don't sweat it but wake up as I'm driving up a steep hill. I also sometimes do something in a dream that requires a lot of money, but then this feeling comes to me, almost like a halfway awake state of conscious breaks through, where I realize that it doesn't make sense to spend money on that since I'm pretty broke...

Any tips on picking up on these obvious signs of being in a dream? I've been trying to question my reality when something odd or unusual strikes but haven't had much luck with this carrying over in my dreams... Also, one of my recurring dream signs is seeing people from my past that I don't see anymore. The problem with this is that the interactions seem so normal and real so its really hard for these cues to put me into a lucid state. Any good mantras you guys use for these kinds of dreamsigns? Telling myself I will become lucid seeing someone I haven't seen in a while seems too general to get me to perform an RC while dreaming. Thanks for taking the time to read all of this, sorry if it's a little long winded.