Red lights

--- The dream takes place in a familiar neighborhood. Maybe a reflection of my hometown. Maybe the current city I am living in. I cannot say for sure. I am riding in the car with a friend and his sister. Their relationships to me and each other are not concrete and it seems that at certain times during the dream, they assume different roles. We are riding to nowhere in particular as recklessly as possible. It is exciting at first until the driver starts to run stop signs and red lights and make dangerous turns. I warn him that we were just spotted by a cop and are definitely going to get pulled over. He kicks it into overdrive and I struggle for my seat belt. We make every maneuver possible to evade the cops, pulling a full 180 degree skid. At this point we have lost them and proudly head back home as though we had accomplished our goal for the day. It feels at though the police are still on our trail. We get out the car, but I notice a squad car speeding down the road from our left. It took me a split second to decide I wanted to create a ramp for him fly off of. It was at this point I realized I was dreaming. I thought hard about what I wanted to create and then quickly turned my head to the right and pointed my finger. A spine ramp was sitting, basking in all its glory, directly where I was pointing my fingers. At this point, however, the police are no longer a threat and have completely removed themselves from the dream. To be sure I am dreaming, I perform a quick nose plug reality check. I am dreaming! In an attempt to solidify myself in the dream, I look around for something to heighten my sensory input. I walk up to a shopping cart sitting in the middle of the road and feeling the heat from the sun on the metal. I had read of someone on the forums licking a brick wall to solidify him/herself in the dream, so I proceeded to lick the handle of the shopping cart. It tasted metallic. I remember my tongue sticking to it briefly. I look around and attempt to take everything in, but I get too excited and the dream fades out. I am lying in bed with my eyes still closed. I remember someone on the forums mentioning fading from a lucid dream into sleep paralysis. And though I did not realize it at the time, I feel as though I may have experienced a similar phenomenon if only for a short time. Eventually I became suspicious and questioned reality, plugging my nose. I could breath, but it felt too real. So I sat up, everything still dark, and tried again. Indeed I was dreaming. I lifted the covers off over my head found myself in an extremely distorted, surreal version of my room. I was unable to move effectively. I woke up. ---