Thread: Hello there :) An Intruduction

Hi! Nice to meet you all. I might ramble a bit but please bear with me as I attempt to introduce myself.
I've been visiting this site for a few months now but just yesterday made the decision to join as a member.
I heard about lucid dreaming while doing some research for a school project about dreaming. The whole concept totally caught my interest and after a little googling I came upon DV, which, along with helping my research project, really improved my dreaming!
I've been keeping a dream journal in a notebook for about six months and it's been really successful (I've always been good at remembering two/three dreams per night; always wished I had a use for this talent - guess I do now ) and I've had around 15 lucid dreams - most have been insignificant because I get too excited once I realize I'm dreaming and wake myself up. Or else I gradually lose lucidity because I'm too caught up in the action to remind myself "It's only a dream." I've done a DILD and a DEILD, and possibly a WILD (not sure what a WILD technically is though...).
The way that works for me to realize if I'm dreaming is sort of random (kinda like me): snapping my fingers. One time while dreaming, I snapped my fingers and the color of a nearby stove changed. I snapped again and a small child turned into a zebra. I snap my fingers a lot, so I started associating snapping with asking myself, "Am I in a dream?" So I guess it's kind of a dream sign, but I also use it as a reality check: if I snap at something and it doesn't change at all, I know it's reality.
ANYWAY.
Thanks for reading all this! Talk to you all soon. It's been awesome just observing - reading the forums etc. - but hopefully now I can actually participate and stuff!!