Once again, glad to read your blog. Came up on the Curie page--so thanks, curie!
I've seen the shadow people too as a child and dream a ton, but really do feel the figures were outside of my own creation and not merely a dreaming.
Like you, I have had and continue to have many nightmares and so I do my best to stay away from any movies/books/stories, whatever that highlights such as I feel I have enough of that on my own. There are times I can manipulate my dreaming (lucid) and others when I can't. But, I definitely agree that the dreaming is a lot of work, sometimes more than I do in the waking and that's a concept difficult for many to understand.
Really enjoyed your first paragraph linking the OKcupid's and general population linking of, "Do something you're scared of." :) And, how you explained your own relationship to mass culture.