Kenneth,
thanks for your suggestions. based on my understanding of samatha and vipassana, i think you're advice is very sound and right on the money.
i think you are right that, as far as samatha is concerned, my practice of "focus on rest", is more on setting up vipassana. there are times in my meditation where i "see" a series of archetypal images (e.g. aliens staring at me and other scary shit) but i just pass by them so fast like a movie in fast-forward. so your description makes sense

in fact, i've designed my algorithmic approach to give more weight and attention to vipassana. my reasoning is this: i intend to "reach" the *formless* jhanas as fast as i could without getting distracted by any phenomena that may arise in "harder" jhanas. as for the "harder" samatha jhanas, i prefer to practice those in lucid dreams because i feel more safe doing it there. in short, i'm trying to do a short cut

this may not be the right or optimal way of doing it so i'd like you to comment on this more based on your experience and your understanding of classic insight practice.
in any case, what you said was very helpful and encouraging. this inspires me to practice with more skill and diligence.
thanks!
~C