I've been programming for a living for about 9 years now. Sometimes, for really tedious stuff, I can program on automatic, with no thoughts really coming from my conscious brain. Honest! It's quite useful to drift off a bit while typing in stuff. Or to focus more on that NIN track that is coming through your headphones.
Interestingly, I found normal work programming to be, on the whole, more interesting than hobbiest game programming. Is mainly when you get past the initial interesting game stuff, then start on the really really tedious stuff. Run. Hmmm. Couple of pixels out there.... tap tappety tap.... run.... hmmm... couple of pixels more.... tap tappety tappy tap... run... aha... was right the first time.... tap tappety tap... run.... doh... must now rewrite the main collision code. Bugger..... Yawn...
Cheers
I am 99% probably lying in bed right now... so don't blame me for crappy typing