As I stare into this cathode ray tube...

...I've come to realize...

...I am not as able to pull all-nighter anymore as I used to back in high school and college.
Apparently, this is what they call getting old. Darn it.

...when you're sleep-deprived, your brain exacts its revenge on you by floating around in lala land AND refusing to compose coherent thoughts when you most need it.
I know that's common sense, but when you've lost sleep over cramming for work, that's the last thing you want to happen.

...when your brain is in that aforementioned state, it's basically in cruise control.
That tends to cause you to care less about what's happening around you.

...when you're pitching a big project, common sense would tell you this is the worst state to be in.
Apparently, common sense could be NOT entirely correct all the time.


In cruise control, people seem farther away.

The farther they seem, the less you care.

The less you care, the more you seem sure of yourself.

The more sure of yourself you seem, the more convincing you look.

Moral? If there was one, I suppose it'd be:

Don't lose sleep.

But if you have to, make sure you're in cruise control mode at the most critical points.

When that's over, get the heck out of there as fast as you can
because no one wants to see an ugly crash.

Thus endeth the lesson.

photo from Flickr: The Sleep at Work Pool