If complete silence bothers you and you need a bit of sound that's not going to distract you any way, what about the option of simply turning on a radio but making sure if's well off of any station and just playing static noise.

fallen_nefariously, I can certainly relate to the way you feel.     I've been trying for a considerable amount of time as well compared to many others it seems, and still not had any complete success.  I completely agree that it's hard not to want to experience it first hand.  I however also feel that wanting to have that experience is not necessarily a bad thing at all.  It's not wanting to project that hinders success.  It's trying too hard that might.  If you keep the idea of wishing to do so in the back of your mind, your subconscious may well pick up on the idea and carry it out easier. 

I hope that this makes sense.  LOL, I really don't know why I'm so inclined to post on the boards late at night, when I'm getting tired and having trouble thinking of the best way to phrase things.     

Hmmmm.. I'm surprised that no one has replied to this yet.  I never replied sooner because I'm not the best one ask about things like this, but I'll answer nevertheless.  In my opinion, it seems like you might have indeed been very close.  The imagery behind your eyes, the feeling of sinking, pounding heart, and certainly seeing with your eyes shut are all good signs that you were getting closer.    Many people have said the the heart pounding gets to be less as you practice more.  Not knowing what to do next at that point is something I can relate to.  I had an experience a couple weeks ago where I actually came pretty close myself, and then did not think of anything thing at all, let alone actually trying to move or anything.  I believe that is something else that will come with experience.  Don't worry about panicking either.  It seems that so many people do as beginners.    I would say that what you did, trying to calm yourself and stay with it, was the best thing you could have done.
Your laptop issue?  I'm really not sure.  Is it possible that your e-mail opened a window automatically? or that you might have opened it and forgot about it before practicing?  I'm not sure that most people could mess with a computer, or any other physical object while projected.

I have not been fully successful in projecting, but am sure I've gotten to the vibration stage a few times.  To me it doesn't feel like being electrocuted or anything that shocking, no pun intended.  It's more of a very obvious, yet not horrible buzzing feeling, and a very noticeable energy.  It's extremely difficult to explain. I tend to find that my breathing becomes very shallow too.

Sounds like a very cool experience.  Thank you for posting.  I like to read success stories like this. 

Well my thinking on the matter is that any method would either work or not work for a person, depending on the person in question.  It shouldn't matter if you are working with an older or newer technique.  Obviously more have been established over the last several years, and I would have to assume that more will continue to be established.  It's not that the older ones were better or worse.  People seemed to just have some different ideas back then.  They knew less than they do now, and could only work with what they knew to be true.

I sometimes listen to music at a low volume while going to sleep.  My theory is pretty much the same idea as yours, Embodied Words.  It serves as something interesting to hold my focus and helps keep my mind a bit more awake. 

I very much agree with what dotster said.  It seems that some people take a longer time than others to get anywhere with this.  I have come to realize that the important thing is to not give up.  I have felt the way you do many times.  I practiced many years ago, put a good year into it, got nowhere, and made the mistake of giving up.  I found myself getting interested again a year or so ago,and began to practice again, yet still I have not been able to really get far.  There have been several times that I have asked myself, after another somewhat failed attempt at projecting, "Is it possible that some people just cannot do this?"  I have come to find though that by thinking of all the little steps toward progress, as success then I still have something to be happy about, and thus more motivation to keep on trying.

      I still desire it more than anything else but I'm getting to the end of my rope, and I don'tdon’t want to continue hurting myself hoping for something that might just not don't   I don’t want to quit. Please, somebody help

You won't hurt yourself by hoping for something that may never be.  The way I see it, hoping for something, is more motivation for it to happen for you one day.  And you say you don't want to quit.  To that I simply say... so, don't. 

I think that 3D blackness is pretty much what you would see, when all other imagines and light disappears.  all around you is nothing but pitch darkness.  The high pitched sound you could hear was more than likely a good thing.  Any unusual sound that you are not used to hearing will obviously do a fine job of scaring a person, but now that you are likely a little more accustomed to the sound, having heard it once now, you may be a little more prepared for it next time.

I have come pretty close to getting out of body several times now, but somehow can never quite do it.  All of the times I have almost done it, I have felt somehow that I need to give up my hold my my physical body and just cannot do so.  Something is still metally blocking me from completely trusting in the safety of letting go.  I am becoming more convinced that I have some kind of great attachment to the physical world or something.  The time I can recall having the most obvious trouble with it all, was a time a few months ago.  My awareness had seemed to shift to the point that I could completely feel my energy body and even sense it's lightless and desire to move.  because my awareness had shifted though, I ended up with the extremely frustrating feeling of being trapped in my physical body.  I'm now becoming even more confussed, the more I try to reason my way around this.  I'm not sure if my energy body will not let go of the physical one... or my physical body will somehow not let my energy body leave.  I hope I've not gotten everyone else confussed now, lol.  I am hoping that someone who has had a problem like this in the past might have an idea of how I can begin to overcome this problem.  I might just be subconsciously afraid of something or another, but I have not a clue how to even begin to figure out what that something may be.
Thanks everyone for your advice on this one. 

So... a few nights ago, I was attempting to project, and while I still did not fully succeed, I did feel some pretty strong pre-exit symptoms.  I was really drifting into a sort of unawareness, when suddenly I began to feel vibrations.  I was felt a definite sense of detachment form the physical world, and it seemed like my awareness was kind of shifting.  Oddly though, at one point it felt like my stomach was doing flip flops.  it was pretty much a feeling that I would associate with motion sickness.  It was that feeling I know can be common while going down on an elevator.  Or... even more accurate, the feeling one would likely get while going over the downward drop on a roller coaster.  I am familiar with many of the things that may occur during pre-exits, but I've never heard about this. I can't tell if that's something to do with a possible pre-exit, or it my stomach did that because I might have been starting to become a bit panicked.  Anyone have any advice about this one? 
Thanks guys. 

If you really want to use music and guitar playing as a visualization, perhaps you could try visualizing the actually music instead of the intrument.  Try to picure musical notes and things like that.  Picture the notes to a song you know well.  You might be able to work something around that.  Sorry, I have never learned to play a guitar, and I'm not sure how the sheet music would look for it.  I'm not sure guitar music even uses musical notes in the same way as most other interments.
One other thing you could try is the way I first started learning to visualize.  Picture a ball, and make it bounce.  When you can hold the image of the little bounncing ball, try to change it's color, make it spin, go in differant directions, all without losing focus on the ball.

I have always been a curious person by nature, which is why I seemed to be initially drawn to metaphysics in general.  The idea of so much in the world that I had never really before been aware of was an amazing concept.  I began reading a good bit about various parts of metaphysics, some I got interested in others I never really took to.  Astral projection was one of the many things I learned a little about, and one of the things I felt motivated to learn.  .  It was my curiosity and love of discovering new things that drew me toward it I think because of the possibilities.

I've had the experience of my heart pounding a couple of times as well.  Too me, it feels almost like it would if I was having a panic attack.  The first time it ever happened, my heart began to feel like it was racing, while some very strong energy seemed to flow though my body.  I, quite understandably, felt like I must have been freaking out, and getting panicked.  Strangely though, I thought about it quickly, and realized that I didn't feel afraid.  It seemed as though my mind was quite perfectly calm and collected, but for some reason my body was in panic mode.  The heart pounding very soon ceased on it's own, and I was completely fine.  It was not until at least a month later, that I finally learned what that was likely all about.

I can't see any reason why that would make the slightest differance.