This semester, four of my five classes are based on programming. A compilers class (hard), a computer architecture class (very difficult), a Python class (moderately time consuming), and a VHDL design class (time consuming... and hard). This translates into me having about 1.8 projects due a week that involve a heavy amount of coding... as well as hours upon hours staring at nothing but a computer screen.

This might seem pretty awful, and sometimes (usually) it is, but personally, I tend to completely zone out and focus only on the task at hand. Its easier for me to do things in large chunks of time and remain focused than it is to break it up over small periods. There happens to be a very serious downside though:

I turn into a computer zombie.

With hours straight of doing nothing but code/compile/debug/repeat, my brain seems to shutdown all other rudimentary functions. Basic conversation skills seem to escape me, and social interactions begin to approach the awkward stage.

It's almost like the feeling of riding a roller coaster and getting off... after you get off, you still feels like your ass is flying around the track. Computer Zombie Mode is very similar... it takes a few moments to re-calibrate my reality. Example:

"I sure worked up an appetite writing all that code! Time to make a sandwich. Shit no bread! I better throw an exception! Time to write an error handler..."

Of course if I had be writing for one my C classes, I would make the sandwich anyway with invalid pointers to my bread slices on accident. My first bite would result in a mouthful of segfaults followed by me vomiting all over the place.

Luckily it doesn't usually take long to get back to the real world. So barring a few semi-awkward initial conversations and distorted thought patterns, it's a relatively painless process.

Now if you will excuse me, I need to go write VHDL for my design lab.