if( s/Stupid/Expectable/) { $i_know_what_you_mean };

It's this sort of "I am god, look what I can do". For me it lasts a few hours or a few days after I'm done coding, then my eyes unglaze and I start seeing that a) the thing can use some improvement and/or b) well yes it's cool, but there are so many other things laying around that need fixing.

The Buddhist metaphor for attatchment is a monkey who gets caught because he reaches into a jar to get a nut, then his fist is too big to get out of the jar without letting the nut go. The fact that we all reach for the nut is only natural, we're hungry monkies. It's when we forget to let it go when we need to that it becomes a problem.

The fact that most employers and society at large don't understand or appreciate what we do (especially in these economic times) means that if we want pats on the back, we have to give them to ourselves. That's why stuff like acknowledging people in Changes logs and such is important - if we don't recognize each other's brilliance, who will? And that way too we remind ourselves that we are such far-seeing geniuses because of the shoulders we stand on, not because we were born tall.

Which code am I most proud of? Whatever piece I just got done writing :-).