I've noticed a strange symptom when I get sleep deprived: I start
getting silly in stuff I type. It's curious because it really does seem
to be limited to when I'm expressing myself textually - I'm perfectly
normal (at least as much as I ever am) in person or on the phone. Last
night I was up until 4am finishing some stuff for work and up again at
6:30am. This morning I was writing one of my ubiquitous TODO lists
trying to pin down the steps to implement a particular cmScribe
feature. The approach I had in mind at the time left some user actions
open that could cause problems, and I couldn't figure out how to
implement restrictions that would prevent them (doesn't seem silly so
far, does it?). After a little brainstorming I had a "Eureka" moment
when I realized that a different approach would avoid the problematic
scenarios altogether. I immediately noted the revelation in my TODO
file thusly:
- IKNOWIKNOWIKNOWIKNOWIKNOWIKNOW!
After a moment's pause I amended the note:
- <twinkle>IKNOWIKNOWIKNOWIKNOWIKNOWIKNOW!</twinkle>
You probably need to be a parent of young children to get the
reference, I'm afraid. In the end after a little research and
discussion it was determined that actually, the feature that led to all
this hilarity didn't actually have any practical uses, so my great
insight was entirely wasted. Awww pickles.
On another similarly sleep-deprived occasion I sent an email to a
client to report finishing a troublesome feature. The email began "It's
alive! IITT'SSS ALLIIIIIIVVVEEEE!!! Ahem."
There have been other examples of the same thing but I can't remember
what they were. Maybe I'd be able to remember if I'd had more sleep ;)