The Benefits of Losing Sleep

I've been quiet on this blog for a few days, partly because little of note has been happening, but also because I've not been sleeping well, and haven't felt the urge to write.

Some of the restlessness has been because I've not been feeling well (nothing serious), but last night it was caused by watching a really stupid horror film on television. I know I shouldn't let such cliched trash bother me, but I'm too willing to suspend disbelief.

As I lay wide awake and annoyed, I finally worked out how to achieve something that I've been struggling with for several months. I'm by no means a natural programmer, but I like to dabble in Actionscript within Flash, and I've wanted to programme a smoothly-animated easing in and out movement, where objects start to move slowly, then speed up and finally slow down before coming to a halt, and preferably with a slight over-shoot at the end.

I have various books containing formulae for different types of movement, but none of the explanations helped me understand how to apply them to my own work. But last night it came to me. I didn't want to get up to fetch pen and paper in order to make notes, so I tried desperately to memorise it so I wouldn't forget it upon waking. Of course, I fell asleep while still going over it, but fortunately the burst of clarity hadn't deserted me today.

My task for the rest of the weekend therefore is to apply my new-found insight. I might even post the results to one of my websites. I'll let you know where in due course (assuming that it works).