This week, I programmed for many, many hours. Often when I do this, while I wait for builds to complete or unit tests to execute, I pick up my Rubik’s Cube and solve it (or scramble it, if it is already solved). For the past three days, I could not solve my Rubik’s Cube anymore. I couldn’t remember how to do it, and I kept making mistakes even in the earlier portions of my solve. I worried that I had forgotten how to do it overnight, and the implications of that scared me.

Fortunately, I solved the cube again today again without an issue. It was a great relief. I think that I was so deep into technical problems for so long that I lost the plasticity of mind I usually have.