NyteGeek's Journal: Associative Thought Processes?

I seem to be having thoughts and ideas that trigger more thoughts and ideas that seem to have very little to do with each other. It's some sort of associative thought process that gets triggered for reasons unknown to me. It starts with a small thought, observation, memory, or idea that explodes into thoughts and ideas in multiple directions that don't seem to be logically linked.

It's surprising that I can follow any of it when this happens in my mind, but this is when I often find that it is easiest to write and communicate ideas with others. Quite often I will solve complex problems in this manner. It's like being able to solve an equation and not knowing how to show my work on paper because it all happens so fast in my mind that I don't follow the steps let alone remember them when I arrive at the correct answer.

I have often come to the correct diagnosis of strange hardware and or software problems with computers, the correct solution to interpersonal problems with friends and co-workers, and complicated questions on tests by this method.

Maybe it's some sort of mental defect on my part. Is this normal?