I'm not sure I understand. Is it the fact that the circumstances of your dream changed so quickly (from concentrating on the game to someone coming in to get you to go to "Taco Schmuck") that you think caused you to wake up?

In other words, do you think your subconscious deliberately added in something off the wall as a signal that it was time to wake up?

I'm not sure if that's happened to me or not - I rarely ever wake myself up from my dreams, it's almost always my wife or my kids that wake me in the morning.

Lachesis
 

I had another dream where the trigger was the knock on the door and I called out "Hello?". The dream ended there. I awoke. I can't explain it any other way but my internal alarm clock going off telling me that I slept in. Otherwise I would have slept in until lord knows when.
 

I've had that happen so many times in dreams - knocks at the door, phone calls, someone asking me to wake up - but that doesn't always stop me from oversleeping, goodness knows I've done that many times.

When I was a teenager I used to sleep with the radio on and have truly wild dreams - I guess I was incorporating lyrics into them.

Apparently I talk, yell, moan in my sleep - and have kicked or slapped my husband on quite a few occasions. Poor man.
 

*laughs!*

Oh it so reminds me of the time when my brother told me that I was barking like a dog in my sleep.

Or the time when I was on a marching band trip in a room and I was told that I was talking in my sleep. My roommates were looking at me as though I completely lost my mind. I bought a voice recorder to see if I could record such an event. No such luck, yet.
 

Does anyone remember the song "These Dreams" by Heart?

Back in college, my clock radio went off one morning and was playing this song.

I incoporated that song into my dream, and one of the Heart singers was a succubus, singing that song, and creeping over the back edge of my bed.

The song has creeped me out ever since...

Lachesis
 

I'm not familiar with that specific tune.

I've been able to incorporate classical music into my dreams and A&E programming. I've tried cartoons and they seem to be too abstract for me. I would like to experiment with other forms of media and see what works.
 

Experiment with? You mean consciously? How?

Why does it seem like everyone has the ability to manipulate their dream environment but me??? :)

Maybe I actually do, but just can't remember doing it...

Lachesis
 

Experimenting by having the TV on different channels to see what gets incorporated into my dreams.

So far I've been tuning into channels with infomercials and they've done nothing but annoy me and keep me awake.
 

But maybe you'll get great abs and learn how to vaccuum-seal food or something. (Is that how you spell vaccuum? That word always looks wrong to me.)
 

"Vacuum" :) (one c, two u's)

I see what you mean now - I misunderstood.

Although I don't understand how you can incorporate a show into your dream, when you can't start dreaming until like, an hour or more into your first dream cycle...doesn't your consciousness slipping past stage 4 pretty much shut out external stimulus?

Now I have incorporated TV shows that were on into dreams on waking - that happened once when I was watching Jeopardy, I dreamed I was on the show...:)

Lachesis
 

Oh if I was *that* lucky! I was unfortunate enough to be annoyed by a "Use so-and-so a system to get rich in just 3 weeks! Blah-blah-blah..." commercial.

It may be, Lachesis. But it doesn't explain how I was able to incorporate elements of an A&E presentation of Helen of Troy into my dream right after I awoke only briefly.