Could I have been having a lucid dream?

I had a dream that lead me to an interesting realization. Please bear with me because it might seem like a long, rambling story, but it does come to a point.

I was with my brother and wanted to get something to eat. We decided on pizza. Chicago style pizza. Where to get Chicago style pizza? Why Chicago, of course. So, we headed out to Chicago for pizza. Now, from where I live, Chicago is 150 miles or so. I knew that, but it didn’t matter because it would only take a minute or so. One instant we were getting into the car; the next we were pulling in at a Godfather’s. Just for better detail, this Godfather’s was on the corner of a block right on the sidewalk. It was a two lane street and we pulled in to an empty spot across the street.

We went in and I went to use the bathroom. When I came out, I couldn’t find my brother so I looked around the restaurant for a few minutes, then went outside to see if he was waiting by the car. My car was gone. I figured someone had stolen it and while I was standing by the door, someone said,"Hi" and addressed me by my last name. I didn’t recognize the man and asked if I knew him. He just turned and walked away.

I thought I should call my brother to find out where he was. I pulled out my cell phone, but when I looked at it, it wasn’t my phone. It was a phone, but not my phone. It didn’t have dial buttons and I couldn’t figure out how to use it, so I put it back in my pocket and asked some people if they knew anything about my car. No one knew anything about it. I pulled out my phone again. This time it was different from before. I thought, “That’s weird” and turned it over to take out the battery and reinsert it. I guess I thought that might fix the problem. When I turned it back over, it had changed again.

Now I was trying to figure out what the hell was up with the phone. I thought, “Is this a dream? I read that things sometimes change in dreams.” It began to sink in that maybe that’s why my car was missing. Just then, a fellow who I hadn’t noticed said, “You’re lost, aren’t you?” I nodded and he said, “Come on, I’ll show you.”

I got into a cab with him. I didn’t know where we were going, but I trusted him. I told him while we were riding that I think it’s a dream and, if it is, things can change. I took out my phone again.

I said, “See this phone? Now watch” I covered it with my hands and thought “round”. When I looked, it had become a bracelet of sorts having black, round sections with watch faces. I said, “See?”. He said he didn’t see anything, that it looked the same to him. I covered it again and thought, “phone” and it changed back into a phone.

At this point, everything started to fade out and I was waking up.

I rarely dream as vividly as this was and I know I’ve never noticed that something had changed.
Could I have been having a lucid dream or maybe semi- lucid because I didn’t know what was happening.

And what do you make of the people that seemed to know me and know my predicament?

Sounds like a lucid dream to me. You ask as if lucid dreams are potentially a myth, like you're not sure if they are a real phenomenon.

Definition: "A dream state in which one is conscious enough to recognize that one is in the dream state and which stays in one's memory."

That's it. Your dream qualifies because you were at least questioning things -- "Is this a dream?".

I have these often. I consider dreaming a hobby (something you can develop techniques for/practice essentially), something akin to meditation. I make few assumptions about dreaming -- I am open to the idea that there might be something to dreaming beyond just "synapses firing".

I have too many examples of things happening in dreams that seem more than that -- I can't conclude that my mind alone could have come up with/computed these things. This is sometimes due to visual/dream clarity (like once I dreamed of skydiving -- how could my mind be crunching out realistic scenery (ground underneath me/rotating) that vividly -- do I have a Mode 7 processor? No.) Another example: a number of dream characters and interactions with said dream characters -- either they were not of my mind or I underestimate the mind's ability to synthesize alternate realities/dream characters.

I personally think that is a very interesting and cool dream! Especially how you were able to influence it when you thought "round" etc. I also think that recognizing it was a dream, so you can change things, qualifies it as being lucid.

Thank you. I've never had this happen before and wasn't sure what to make of it. I've read stuff on lucid dreaming and how to trigger it. I've never tried, though.

Interesting. I went through a period where I had lucid dreams several times a night. For some reason I have stopped this. Not sure if I willed it or it just happened..i still have lucid dreams once in a while tho.

If you want to increase your lucid dreaming ability . This worked for me.

Recall all dreams when you wake. Try to remember every single detail..every time you wake. If it helps..write those down..take several minutes to recall as much of it as you can. I wrote down all dreams I could remember each time I woke..after only a few weeks of recalling and writing them down (writing down helps to implant them into your memory) i no longer needed to write down my dreams but could recall the dream pretty specifically then go back to sleep. By doing this recall It wasn't long until I could recognize that I was dreaming..I knew I was dreaming..A good percentage of my dreams were lucid.

I had control over my dreams..But I never had complete control..it seemed that the dream wanted to go where it wanted and i had to keep redirecting to get it to go where i wanted it to.
Peace