It was a Tuesday. I had just made myself a cup of tea, opened VS Code, and thought — today will be a productive day. I was wrong.

The error was simple: Uncaught TypeError: Cannot read properties of undefined. Classic. I had seen this before. I was not scared.

I should have been scared.

Hour 1: Confidence

I added console.log() everywhere. On every line. I logged things that did not even need logging. I logged the number 4. I felt in control.

Hour 2: Confusion

The console was full. None of it made sense. I Googled the error. Stack Overflow had 47 answers. None of them were for my exact situation. I tried them all anyway.

Hour 3: Denial

I rewrote the entire function from scratch. Same error. I questioned whether JavaScript was even real or if I had imagined the whole thing.

Hour 4: Bargaining

I asked ChatGPT. It gave me code that introduced 3 new errors. I thanked it anyway because I have no self respect.

Hour 5: Depression

I stared at the screen. I ate chips. I considered switching to Python. I considered switching careers. I considered becoming a farmer.

Hour 6: Resolution

I found it. Line 47. A missing semicolon. Not even a semicolon that JavaScript actually required. It was optional. It just felt like ruining my day for fun.

The code worked. I did not feel happy. I felt nothing.

Anyway, I like TypeScript now. It would have caught this. (I do not actually like TypeScript. I lied.)