Glad it was helpful, Kcab and Dottie. As I said before, I doubt my situation was usual, and probably my reaction to it was not that usual either. So take it with a grain of salt. But at least know that that's one of the ways boys can react to acceleration (and deceleration!).
Well, but I don't think working from our own experiences is a bad approach at all, provided we're aware that's what we're doing and we always ask questions.
Nobody every accused me of not asking enough questions.
Seriously, though, I agree completely with Kriston's take, and I didn't mean to suggest otherwise. But I do think the caveats are doing a lot of work here, and I just meant to emphasize them.