Introduction

The name's John Espling and I'm a little nerdy guy from Sweden currently residing in Japan together with huge amounts of homework.

I remember my brother telleing me way back about his lucid dreaming nad how fantastic it was, but never did I think I could possibly be able to do that. My mind has always been a bit shy of it's own mysteries, but one day it happened. One night I realized I was dreaming, but no, in my euphoria I woke up. But it made me a bit more optimistic towards this strange new world within my mind.

You see, I've never been good at recalling dreams. Perhaps 0.3% of my dreams I could remember, the rest I am oblivious to. Then, moving to Japan, I started remembering more dreams and also had the aforementioned lucid one. I decided to start with my dreamjournal, but as of yet I've only recorded one single dream. This can be attributed to the fact that I've only been half-heartedly trying to recall my inner adventures this past week, but now the time of change is upon me.

And as if it was fate playing a joke upon me I stumbled upon this site today and thought "Heck! Why not?"

My dreams

I think the reason for my inability to recall dreams lies in the surreal way the dreams are presented. Not only the happenings or illogical things presented in them, but rather the "story-telling" in it's whole.

For example, the last dream I had was told first as a comic. 2D images with speechbubbles, twenty seconds per frame. I actually felt like I was sitting and reading it rather than dreaming, but suddenly it became som kind of movie trailer with epic music playing in the backround. Generally quite a hard thing to put your finger on when you wake up since your brain tries to rationalize it.

Other things that often happen are what I classify as the "Wasp-dream". A wasp, or any other icky being, tries to attack/sting/kill/bite you and you wake up convicted that they are in your bed and that you don't want to share it with them resulting in panic. And blissfull ignorance one hour later.

And lastly is the sarcastic comment-dream. A dream where you have an interesting conversation, but suddenly your friend throws an insidiously sarcastic comment that throws you into an embaressed wakefulness with only the taste of the words left in your ears.

Help me

With advice preferably. I am quite sane, but a bit... Pessimistic. There are some general thing I'd like to know and we could start with some tips or advice that might have sprung up in your mind regarding my dreams. Right now my dream journal, for example, is planned to be used for selective recollection. I do not like remembering nightmares, but if that is a necessary component of it, then please tell me.

Other things:
1. Strolling around here I often find New Ageish stuff mashed with what I would call "practical information". How do I discern one from the other?
2. I was though was interested were might I find information on such things as "Dream Guides" and the like? If so only to understand a conversation fully so my comment would not be completely useless.
3. Lastly, any no-can-does that I should know about, either here on the forums, or in my dream-studying?

Thanks for your patience with me, and I hope I'm not being too demanding. I eagerly await reply in whatever form it might be.

//Lews

EDIT: Ten points to the first one who can identify my avatar.