I really want to go to Tokyo Tower before I go back--there are a ton of places I still need to go.

The dancing muffin amuses me. And Japanese is painful to learn.

I do have a question, actually...in the winter I stayed with this family in the country, and I slept next to this kotatsu, this stove thing. Occasionally, I'd fall asleep under it (it's like a heated table with a blanket) by accident, and I'd always have these freaky dreams. Not like nightmares, exactly. I would be able to see things around me, but I'd be paralyzed. Then I'd realize I was dreaming, and I'd start to struggle to wake up. It always took several tries before I actually woke up. Is this something that happens to other people? Finally I just got away from it if I was feeling sleepy. I guess this relates to lucid dreaming in that I'd realize I was dreaming and I would end up doing that to get myself completely awake.

It still happens to me sometimes where I am now, though not with the frequency it did before. The other day, I was taking a nap and there was this weird flash of light when I drifted off and I felt really strange for a second. I woke up and fell back asleep several times, and I think there was this light every time. The last time this happened, I ended up in a lucid state and had one of the first lucid dreams I'd had in a while.

It seems connected to lucid dreaming somehow, but not exactly the same. Has anyone else had a similar experience? One of my friends mentioned the flash of light thing happening to her, so is it that I've just never noticed?

This happened a few weeks ago, so I might not be remembering exactly.