that might explain why I dream a lot: I split my sleep up into
  two segments - about 3-3.5 hrs once I'm exhausted at sunrise,
  and then a little bit in late afternoon for the same period of
  time. It's a weird sleep schedule but I like it. I get my full
  time in each day. But likely a consequence of staying awake a
  lot (plus lots of coffee) is vivid dreams. I enjoy my dreams; I
  especially like when i wake up and I can lay there for a few
  seconds and try to both make sense of "what the dream was" and
  ALSO trying to tie the dream back into various things I
  saw/heard/experienced from the previous awake-period. They're
  metaphorical connections, but dreams speak in very personal
  metaphors.