My wife always tells me when I'm "programming with my eyes". She says my eyes get this look and she can tell that, even though we are having dinner or a discussion, that in my head I'm looking at code. She's almost always right.
I joke many programmers switch to an "autistic mode", when they shut off everything around them and focus completely on the computer in front of them and the code they are writing. Myself included.
I get this way when I'm writing. Earlier today I was sat in my in-laws back yard and I'm guessing I was staring at a coffee cup, but I was working out a part of my story in my head. I had character associations messed up, and in about 5-minutes of being zoned I sorted a bunch of it out.
I think she said something along the lines of "you just had such an evil look, what was you staring at?" I didn't know I was staring, because to be honest my concentration had receded from the visual. Similarly when I write I can completely zone out audibly to the point I get pissed off and people around me can, because I'll have a playlist going and I miss my favorite song so I'll skip back to play through it again and I'll zone out and miss it. I think in one day I put the play-count of a dozen songs up by like 5 points on iTunes via this.
I think 'crazy eyes' is when you zone out visually, and I guess 'crazy ears' is when you zone out audibly. It's like there's a lack of processing power in the brain and its CtrlAltDel'ing a wasted function.
