Dream Recall and Dream Signs

Since this is going to be a long post, you can skip the boring stuff if you want and I'll bold my questions.

I just woke up and I wanted to start out by saying I REMEMBERED 9 DREAMS LAST NIGHT, 8 of which were very clear!!! I didn't try anything like telling myself "I will awaken and remember my dreams." I set my cell phone alarm clock to 6 hours after I went to sleep, to see if it would help my recall by waking up during a REM period, but by one hour into my sleep, I woke up and decided I really needed some extra sleep and would skip it that night. I guess I got lucky cause I didn't need that after all!
All of my dreams seemed to be connected by some same storyline. Like one of my dreams was that I was on a city bus with my math teacher at night. Another was that I went to school and forgot my backpack. Why? I didn't even pack it or prepare anything the night before because I was on the bus! Another dream: I was late for my class... because I had to go back home and get my backpack!
I'm not sure if there really was a sort of domino effect between my dreams or if I'm just trying to fill in the blanks and apply logic. Do other people sometimes have "connected dreams"?
I'm trying to find my dream sign, and something I find consistent in all of my dreams is an impossible setting. Since it's spring break, it's unlikely that I'd be riding the same bus as my teacher. I haven't even been on a bus in almost a week. So that's how the bus is an impossible setting. And sometimes, even when I find I'm in my school, there's always a non-existent extra hallway, or the format of the room (is usually) different.
Is an impossible setting a reliable dream sign?
And a question about the time reality checks. You're supposed to look at a digital clock, look away and back. The time should be completely different. I don't have a digital watch, but if I saw a clock with hands in my dream, if I looked away and back, would the hands go in all directions or something impossible? And is using a non-digital clock a reliable reality check? Since I might not always see a clock in my dream, my usual reality check are just pinching myself to see if my skin feels weird and looking around for strange things. Will that work?

Hello there.
That's a whole lot of questions. Let me see...

Do other people sometimes have "connected dreams"?
I often have dreams that feel seperate but there is something in a previous dream that might have carried over into the 'new' dream. I try to figure out if the two dreams are, in fact, one longer dream. If I can't do that I jot down in my dream journal somthing like 'possibly continuation from earlier dream'

Is an impossible setting a reliable dream sign?
Anything impossible 'should' be a reliable dream sign. The best way to make impossibilites reliable as dream signs is to question your waking surroundings a lot. That habit will eventually carry over into your dreams and when you happen on something that doesn't make sense you'll question it and come to the conclusion you must be dreaming.

And is using a non-digital clock a reliable reality check?
I've only used this a couple of times and it worked each time. I've read that others have had decent success with this method.

my usual reality check are just pinching myself to see if my skin feels weird and looking around for strange things. Will that work?
They should work if you practice them a lot. The point of doing such things is that it forms into habit and should carry over into your dreams.

Congrats on the 9 dreams, by the way. That' quite the accomplishment.
:D

:welcome:

First of all, welcome to Dream Views! You seem to have read around a bit and learned a bit before you posted; thank you. :D I won't bore you with links to various 'newbie' areas of interest for now, since you seem pretty well-educated so far.

Congrats on remembering nine dreams, that's awesome dream recall already! Dream recall is surprisingly easy if you just set the intent to remember your dreams. That and laying in bed a few minutes before you get up, thinking about your dreams and back-tracing elements of them to earlier dreams of the night really is all there is to it. I find that by taking those few minutes to think on my dreams, it helps set them more firmly in my mind so that I don't promptly forget them upon waking up fully.

Now, for your questions:

As for your first, regarding connected dreams; this is pretty common I think. I have them often, but like Vex Kitten said, it can be hard to tell if they're actually separate dreams or just one long dream sometimes. Usually, though, I find that if I have a distinct feeling that they were separate, they typically were.

An impossible setting as a dream sign is only going to be reliable if you, constantly, in day-to-day waking life question your surroundings, and carefully inspect them for any discrepancies. I've learned to do this, and it's my standard method of becoming lucid. If I see a color that seems too vivid, or a brick out of place, or a cat with floppy ears, anything, I do a reality check. Usually the nose-hold, which I'll explain later.

An analog clock should work fine to do a reality check with, just remember to pay attention to the numbers; if you're dreaming they may not even be numbers, but weird symbols or letters. Of course also pay attention to the position--and number--of hands.

Yup, your usual reality check will work fine, just remember to do it as often as you can remember to. :) As I mentioned earlier, I prefer the nose-hold, which is exactly what it sounds like. You simply pinch your nose like you're going underwater, then try to breathe through it. If you can, in fact, breathe then you've got to be dreaming. It soon becomes reflex to hold your nose and try to breathe every time you see something a tad strange. I reality check if I see something out of place, something feels off (for instance, you're having a bit of an 'off' day, where it feels a bit dreamy (for lack of a better description)) or I just happen to remember that I haven't done one in awhile.

Hope this helps, and happy lucids!

-MoS

Just to add my personal use of a digital clock as a reality check, when I did it, I checked my watch which said it was 9 something. Then I checked it again moments later and all the digits had moved up a slot and there were 3 numebrs in the second place. Things like this almost always happen, or you get a wild change in time, like 9pm to 9am etc.
As for not always having a clock around, if you think your in a false awakening or you're unsure of your lucidity, just check the time. If you are infact lucid you will most likely 'find' a digital clock very quickly.
When I do my reality checks, I not only check to see the time change but the fact that I'm wearing my watch is a clue since I never wear it too sleep. I then think to check it, and conveniently enough I'm wearing it; thus double check! :)

Cheers