It happened about an hour ago...

Background:
I had been trying to lucid dream inconsistantly since February, but have not done *anything* in the last two months due to several reasons. I have the Bwgen binaural beat entrainment software and NovaDreamer but have not used them for several weeks.

I went to sleep at 02:00 AM and just assumed that I would be out like a light all night as usual when I fall asleep so late. Four hours later, at 06:00 I had the following dream...

...Then, in this fine and cool evening, I am observing the nighttime sky when several airliner-sized jet airplanes fly overhead in an almost silent procession, following one another very closely – too closely, in fact. I don’t see any paint markings indicating which airlines own them. As they are so low to the ground, I wonder where they are going to land. Then following the planes I see flying overhead a series of images of satellites, other space objects, and even ‘smart bombs’, all flying in the same direction as a kind of flat dimensional image that lacked any realism. I remember idly wondering if this might all be a dream.

At the moment I have that thought a change occurs in my experience. A strange sensation is perceived and my dreamworld seems to break down. It takes a couple of moments for me to realize that I am indeed in a dream. That idle question has finally been answered in the affirmative! The realization that I am dreaming dawns on me in a few moments, almost as though consciousness is being created and requires a certain amount of time to ‘load the software’. When my consciousness is fully aware of my unique state, I seem to be in a poor simulacrum of the only house I called home as a child, but it instantly looses any characteristics. The world becomes a featureless, bright, whitewashed landscape. No matter. I hop up and float about for a moment singing “It’s wonderful to be lucid”. Then a flash of negativity or fear crosses my consciousness, and the world starts to become dark. My very next thought however is that I do not wish to engage in a nightmare and choose to think of the sun. I also recall the spinning technique to prolong the experience (but forgot to look at my hands – the technique I had decided on way back when I was actually trying very hard to lucid dream). At this point the novelty of this great experience, a feeling of the dreamworld breaking down, and my waking consciousness was breaching reality from the dreamworld and I meandered out of my dream. There was a split moment when I had it back and I must say that I was surprised by the naturalness of it all. As I was leaving the dream it felt so natural, that it would be an easy state to enter into. I awoke and didn’t have a Eureka moment at all. I felt very calm, centered, and grateful for my experience.

Well, that's what happened to me.

Now I have a question... when can I have another lucid dream? What's a reasonable expectation for another? Is it the kind of thing where the first time is always the hardest? I've been waiting for this to happen to me for so long... I want them to start pouring out every night!

What's your advice?