Okay, it looks like the sensitivity problem has been fixed. Yay!

To address the problem of removing the ND mask while asleep, I set the brightness and blink-rate to minimum. I also set alternating eye flashes. Next, I set the unit to start cueing after about 3-1/2 hours of sleep. (Noting that sleep cycles are about 90-100 minutes long, I wanted to skip the first two, to concentrate on the later ones.) It worked. The mask stayed on all night. In three dreams I remembered, there were flashing lights and many shiny and highly reflective features. Too bad I didn't recognize their significance. I am stepping up my waking awareness of such things, making sure to do RCs (reality checks). I may also turn up the ND's brightness a bit. Total cues for the night were a respectable 9, with only 2 occurring during the first 2 sleep cycles. I think I'll turn the sensitivity up a bit, too.

Since it's been over a month since my last post, I thought I'd bring you up to date. Assuming someone reads this. :-)

The ND is working fine now that I cut off the padding which was obstructing the sensor. My experience shows that the unit should work for at least a couple of weeks on one set of alkalines, assuming it's turned off and stored in a dark place when not in use.

As far as settings go, it seems to require a lot of trial and error. I had to take quite a bit of time off from using the ND during the past month. I learned it works best for me if I use it sparingly. Otherwise, it interrupts my sleep, gives me headaches, or other unpleasant things. I haven't had any LD's using the unit (yet), but I have noticed that using it seems to improve my dreams. That is, they become more lively and interesting. Just the other night, I dreamed I was at a Hollywood party with lots of movie stars. There were glittering chandeliers, sparkling diamond rings, and highly reflective gold accents everywhere. The people there were very happy, and I had a good time. This is a very marked improvement from the dreams I've had most of my life. I've noticed it boosts my mood for the whole day after having pleasant dreams the night before. That alone makes me want to use the ND more.

John wrote:

Since it's been over a month since my last post, I thought I'd bring you up to date. Assuming someone reads this. :-)

Someone's reading this. I'm in the same boat, working on improving dream recall, looking for flashy things during waking that could possibly be the Nova Dreamer signal, performing state tests like crazy, bought a nice new digital watch with lots of features to use in state testing, etc.

I've had two dreams with the Nova Dreamer but haven't noticed the light cues yet. A funny cue incorporated into my dreams the other day:

A neighbor that I've never seen before came into the room where I practice dreaming with a gaggle of noisy kids and started insisting that I take them to Walmart. I refused but the guy wouldn't take no for an answer. In the dream I took off the Nova Dreamer mask and tried to hide it under the covers along with the book "Exploring the World of Lucid Dreaming," because I didn't want my neighbor to get nosey and start asking questions. The book wasn't present with me in the waking state and I realized later that it was my minds way of incorporating the flashing signal and trying to let me know I was dreaming. I did manage to have a lucid dream during that same lengthy nap.

Good luck, try the sleep interruption and back to sleep method if you haven't tried it yet. I hear good things and my initial success came from this method.

-Quinn

I had such an interesting ND cue last night! I was dreaming I was on an expedition to Mars, with a group of fellow astronauts. The place we were in was filled with wonderful objects including plants, furniture, artifacts of all kinds, all in perfect condition--too perfect!, I thought to myself. What was missing was the Martians. I suspected they were all around us but invisible, and that the whole scene was an elaborate hallucination. I cried out for the Martians to show themselves. Suddenly, pairs of huge, round eyes started popping into view, like eyes seen through magnifying glasses. Just pairs of eyes, not heads or bodies, suddenly appearing in the air. I believe this was the ND cue manufesting in the dream. Pretty wierd, huh? I did not recognize it and become lucid, but next time...

Paul

Eye eye, Captain Paul! Great cue incorporation indeed! May the "next time" be just around the corner.

;) Keelin

Scot..This is only the second time I tryed my nova dreamer since I got It back.. This time using green [leds] Both times I got a defenate dream incorperation of [ND] cues! I have not noticed any color related to the [leds] in the dream yet..The first time In the dream..I was wearing it over my eyes so I could see.. This most recent dream It apeared in my dream as a photographer who took my picture with a flash camera and also.. I and a dream carector were working on a tv set with the screen lit up..Unfortunatly I did not become aware THIS TIME but Its coming..Im not too sure how much the color of the [leds] had to do with the dream incorperations but I think using [ND] not very often and more spareingly has an efect..Its posable diferent colored [led] cues may have an emotional [calming] efect on the mind thus efecting the dream directly? Or mabey months and months of dream recall is starting to pay off? I have changed my [leds] to one blue and one green for the next test.. Stand by..Tom