Congrats 'BomberH' you would have liked the MELBOURNE - a tad smaller than LEXINGTON (I presume you were Carrier Qualifying?). You have described my initial mind state after my first ever onboard arrest very well:
"...apart from my brain going stupid for a bit..."
As described in the video earlier by CMDR Clark I thought I was prepared but for not the aftermath. To this day I can only guess what the flap setting was for my first catapult - my mind was just swirling in the aftermath. But here I am - still punching keyboards.
One A4G pilot (again - not me Chief - I just collect stories, I never did anything rong) during his first catapult (this time apparently because of operational necessity he did not arrest first but subsequently) DID LEAVE the CATAPULT HAND GRIP in the UP POSITION whilst NOT applying FULL Throttle FRICTION!
He had no hope of keeping the throttle at full during that amazing stroke - luckily it is of short duration whilst the first cat for everyone has extra juice (on top of the light max arrested launch weight). His power went to idle position (but not RPM - winding down) but back to FULL pronto. Bystanding Goofers commented upon the sink off the bow (usually that firstie just leapt of the cat track). Said sprog 'fessed up during debrief with sighs of relief all round for good outcome. Gotta luv the A-4 engine auto acceleration from a reasonable start RPM (whereas the Vampire was utterly hopeless).