About remembering and wanting control

I'm new here, but hey, I've been experiencing sleep from ever since I was born. Since I love sleep, I have paid it much attention, even when I depraved myself from it. I can recognize and categorize most of my experiences with the terms that run in the LD community. So, while having multiple LDs, sleep inducted, I have come to face different problems:

1. remembering. right before waking up, I am sometimes capable of re-acting all the dreams I had in that night, or at least the last three to four. in this re-acting I see myself writing the dream or I am sure will remember everything. However, when I actually open my eyes, I forget most of the details and am left with words that I have no idea how to connect. Any suggestions?

2. wanting control. in many of my LDs, I have failed to have control, but however, in my recent ones, I haven't even tried. I was thinking "oh, I'm in a dream. fine. no reason to be afraid. now let's keep doing what I was doing *starts shooting people*". I rarely recognize myself in dreams, because this isn't how I would think. Anything I can do?

RE: 1. I think the best approach here is to focus your intent on something specific. As you prepare for sleep, remind yourself that you want to recall specific details. With some practice, these intentions will carry over into your dreams and on first waking up. Examples:

- the lightness or darkness of each scene
- color of DC's clothes
- DC's hair color and hair style
- what clothes you are wearing
- size of the room
- location of doors and windows in the room
- do the DC remind you of real friends? fiction characters? celebrities?
- does the scene remind you of a familiar place?

RE: 2. This is trickier, but again it's a matter of intent. For me, so far, I have tried to develop a routine to perform on becoming lucid. Before going to bed, I choose a few lucid goals for that night. On becoming lucid, I try to remember those goals and perform. Usually, the first one or two items in my goals are things to stabilize and establish control, such as:

- perform a reality check
- look at my hands
- spin
- touch nearby objects
- say a verbal command like "increase vividness" or "I control my dream world"

Sounds like me in a way. I wake up most mornings and cannot remember the entire dream; just little bits of pieces. I have been told to write down anything, even if only words, in a journal and with practice, remembering more of dreams will come to you. Also, I heard that you are not suppose to pop out of bed right away. Lay for a few seconds and try to remember the most you can. Good luck!