Hey...How's it going people?

I'm new here, and...uhm...I'm interested in lucidity and being able to "live in your dreams"..I've got a question...a semi serious one that hopefully someone could, you know, help me shed some light on, perhaps?

I'm not exactly what you call the best when it comes to dreaming. I really can't remember anything at all when it comes to dreams, except some rather vivid ones I had a while back...(This pertains to the question, so bear with me)...Yeah, I used to be really good at remembering my dreams, but then I started indujging in illegal substances that will remain nameless...I read up on the effects of these said substances, and supposedly the "acreditied" site claimed that the REM periods of sleep are dramatically decreased while under the influence...Yeah, now I'm what I believe to be sober...But unfortunately I have no recollection of dreams whatsoever, save for the dreams I've had in the past...

Another thing...

I used to read about dreaming and such quite often (which made my dreams so vivid and memorable), and...well...uh, Yeah, I've had a lucid dream before, only once that I can remember and, well, I only realized that I was dreaming, and I had forgotten everything else....Can someone please exlplain to me my "half-lucid dream"? Also, can anyone tell me some better techniques to dream recall besides a dram journal?

any comments appreciated..