Don't you set a random alarm clock to get weird dreams?

Er, huh? Is that a standard strategy? How does it help? (Surely it would just interrupt the dreams at inconvenient moments?)

I was given to understand that you only remember dreams you do wake up in the middle of. But come to think of it, I may have been misled.

For lucid dreaming it's often recommended you have some external stimuli to wake your consciousness enough that you realise your're dreaming and take control of said dream but don't wake up entirely.