Okay, well I am pretty sure that I had my first lucid dream last night (I'll explain why it's pretty sure at the end).

So it started as a normal dream, and I was in the gymnasium of a dance at my school. Hardly any people were there, and they were all doing the same dance. I had to slip into the bathroom so I could change into a dress. As I was in there, I noticed my mouth fill with liquid and black stuff smudged on my hand, and I suddenly remember that I had eaten or done something that caused me to become "cursed" and I though that these were the effects. My sisters hollered in from behind the door that they better not catch me throwing up my meals, or else. So I had to swallow the stuff in my mouth and just told them I was going to go to the bathroom. But before I could do anything else, these eyeballs started appearing all around me. I was freaked until I noticed they were just bouncy balls painted like eyeballs, but then I was freaked none the less, thinking it was the curse and whatnot, so I got down on my knees and was trying to get them to stop coming from wherever they were coming from, pratically hysterical. Then I was like "This can't be real, it has to be a nightmare, I have to be dreaming!" So I started to do a reality check by putting my finger through my palm, but it didn't work; I kept on hitting my skin. So, still on edge, I kept on stabbing my finger into my palm to no avail, then I felt like each stab was like clicking around in a forum (??) so as I did it more, and reached the end of the forum, my finger went thorugh my palm, and I had the revelation that I was dreaming.

Everything went black then, and that was the part I had been dreading, just being in a desolate nothingness. But I was more excited. Then a blue screen appeared in the darkness, and I saw a mouse pointer come from the corner of it and click around, and a videogame appeared. I was confused as whether I was supposed to make this a scene, but ultimately deemed it lame, and when I backed up, it was just a computer, and I was in my house. Trying to stay cool, I went downstairs, still feeling excited at what I could do. My house was a lot more cluttered than usual, and just before I went outside, I saw our old dog Jem in the foyer. I said "Hello!" quickly, but then scurried outside, a little frightened to be in the house alone with the dream dog.

It was a little bit cloudy outside, and more than a little bit dingy everywhere, so I said "Vivid blue sky!" And the sky turned brighter, though the clouds didn't disappear. As I rushed down the hill leading to the road I debated on just taking off and flying right there, but I heard you would lose lucidity if you tried it to fast, so I decided to "moon jump" instead (running really fast, jumping, soaring through the air, then landing safely- my favorite part of my normal dreams), so on the road I went. Only it was hilly and gravely, so I wanted to change it until I heard a noise. Turning around, it was my nephew running towards Jem who was on the hill watching me (eessh). I was interested in interacting with my dream nephew when All of the sudden, my brother (who too is into lucid dreaming) Was beside me, all grins. I asked him in a mock jolly voice if he would fancy jumping with me, and he agreed, but suggested I change the hill to flat. I nodded, and closed my eyes, thinking of a flat road; opening them, nothing changed. I looked at him for guidance, and he said we could try together. So we threw our arms around eachothers shoulders, shut our eyes and shouted "Long Narrow Path!". And opened to the same thing. I heard another noise from the hill, but this time it was my mom, with a younger version of another sibling of mine, along with Jem and another little pooch. Before I could do something about her, I noticed this Bernese Mountain dog the size of a freaking lion sitting on our porch. Now, I am a huge dog lover. Especially big dogs. So I yelled at the top of my lungs "PUPPY!!!" and ran up the hill towards it, ignoring my mother's commands to settle down. When I reached the dog, I was so excited as I threw my arms around it, everything started to go black, and I was losing clarity, so I remembered the tricks and started to rub my hands together, but alas, I was already back in my bed. I woke up rubbing my hands together.

Now here's the thing: How do you know if you were really in a lucid dream and not just dreaming?
Because upon waking, I felt like it had just been a dream; that I had dreamed becoming lucid and controlling all that stuff. The dream was fresh in my mind, and I rememberd every detail (as far as I know), but it was not as real life or vivid as I had been expecting, and I felt like it had been a dream, just a very, very clear one.
So, was I just expecting to much out of lucidity? Do you just know if it was lucid, and the same if it had been a dream? It sounds like a silly question, and it is, but I am both confused and curious.

Thanks!