Faces and Dreams

  I have a strange ability with faces.  I can see someone in passing, say at a mall, and capture their looks in my mind.  I can then see in my head their face in different lighting, with different angles and with different facial expressions.  It's fun to just sit on a bench at a mall and do that.  It's kind of like meditation to me in that it is soothing and keeps my mind sharp and focused.
  This ability also makes me really good at spotting and identifying actors in different movies.  I can be watching a movie and would have to pause it to tell my wife that so and so was in a scene in the background in an episode of Frasier drinking coffee or some such.  Inevitably, I'd be right, at least most of the time.  You wouldn't believe how many actors from cheesy B-grade 80's splatter flicks show up in episodes of Quantum Leap.  My poor wife has to endure my little tangents when I hop on wikipedia to substantiate my suspicions.
  Another area of my life in which I have very vivid images is in my dreams.  I use every one of my senses in my dreams.  Often, I'll be eating something and I can smell it as I bring it to my lips, then feel my teeth bite off a chunk and taste it on my tongue.  I'll be hot or cold, wet or dry and feel it all.  I love looking out of windows to see all the details of the outside world within my mind.  I like to check out what time of day it is, what the weather is like and what people and objects are out there.  Are these places I've been?  Are these people I've seen, am I making them up or have I never even met them?
  One of my favorite things to do in a dream is to flip through a book or magazine.  It's especially fun if it's a magazine with pictures.  I like looking at the picture, turning the page, then turning back to see if it's the same picture or if it's changed.  I love it when it's an art book I'm looking at.  I often wonder if the paintings I'm seeing are from my memory banks or if their being spontaneously created by my imagination.  The detail in the paintings are incredible!  Sometimes I'll just study a painting for a while.  If I bring the art book close to my face, I can even smell the paper and ink!
  Recently, I had a dream where I was on the mast of a boat.  I was looking down at the water, thinking to jump in.  I wondered if I would wake up before I hit the surface or what.  I jumped in, forcing myself to keep my eyes open.  I could see the top of the water rushing up to me like a blue wall.  As my feet broke the surface, I could actually see the trail of air bubbles following the path of my feet through the water.  I felt the sudden weightlessness, temperature change and wetness.  All sound became muffled except the sound of the bubbles floating up and popping as they breached the border between liquid and atmosphere.