After having 1 lucid dream about 20 years ago, I now find myself again trying to develop LD. From what I remember of that past LD, what brought me to lucidity was becoming aware that something odd or very strange seemed to be happening. I then found myself saying in the dream, "I must be dreaming!" and became lucid. Now as everyone knows, almost anything can seem normal in a dream as our mind seems to find some way to justify the strangeness of something being odd and out of place. There seems to be a short period of time just before our mind justifies the strangeness where we can become lucid. Thinking of "something being strange" or "odd" would seem to be a very abstract and unreliable dreamsign because of the way our minds so quickly make everything seem normal. Any suggestions on a mantra or a way to develop that short period of time before "strangeness" turns into being "normal"? I know that something concrete like "seeing a dog" would be much easier to use as a dream sign, but I have been noticing a lot of odd things in my dreams and upon recall, remember how odd or confusing it was in the dream, yet it so far has not lead to lucidity. Any suggestions would be appreciated.