Man, hate to rain on this but you didn't really describe the duct tape trick. The whole point of wrapping the board is to build up a lip on the working edge so it rides higher and cuts the concrete clean instead of digging in and dragging a ridge behind it. Duct tape alone on a bare 2x4 is just protecting the wood from the wet mix, it's not changing how the board cuts. And a 20x30 shop slab is about the easiest thing you can screed, you got long straight runs, no weird corners, no cleanout pipes in the way, so a decent hand with any straight board will get close. The soft mix is probably the bigger factor here, wetter concrete flows and self-levels a lot more than a stiff 4 inch slump mix would. So no, I don't think it was luck exactly, but I also don't think you stumbled onto some secret. Take it with a grain of salt since I'm just going off what you wrote, but that's my read on it.

Calling it a serious question is a stretch lol. You stayed home sick and watched tv, that's just being sick. Everyone does that. The shows all feel boring after because your brain got used to that one world and needs a minute to reset, not because there's nothing good left out there. Give it like three days and something will grab you again. Also five seasons in five days is a lot of sitting, part of the problem might be that your body is just done with screens for a bit.