Andy P is far more powerful than caffeine when it comes to engrossing me to work on things way past my exhaustion point without realizing it. I think I have a similar effect on him; our conversation several nights ago progressed from standing to various states of leaning (later, collapsing) on/across furniture.
It ended with us lying on the carpet, heads propped up so we could still face each other with a minimum of muscular expenditure, still talking a mile a minute and intermittently cranking our eyelids open to feebly some to-do reminder on the whiteboard. When I started having trouble understanding Andy because I couldn't read him when I closed my burning eyes, we realized that this was getting ridiculous and reluctantly proceeded to pass out.
i've learned that I can't stop myself from running myself down - I can stop big burnouts, but not tiny ones, and I can clear the area of flammable materials and do reasonably controlled burns - ones allowed to "go wild" because they are contained in some way. It's like setting off big firecrackers safely; there's always the danger risk, but you can do it in a smart way that will be spectacular, have boundaries, and not hurt people.
The trick is keeping them contained. I'm learning that.
I need to go to sleep.