Initially, I thought it was typical burn-out. Between the intense Brazil hackathon (with fglock++, incrementally-built bootstrapping compilers; with cmarcelo++, metaobjects in Haskell for 6.28.0) and moving to a new residence, a few weeks of rest seemed natural.
As the sudden drowsiness and strange non-motivation worsened, I thought it's some kind of mental block, and focused on Jifty instead.
But when external emergencies demanded my attention, all focus was suddenly lost, replaced by massive panic and self-doubt, leading to e.g., the cancellation of my POPL trip just before boarding.
At last, nine days ago, I was hospitalized at the brink of liver failure. Months of intellectualization and analysis was proved immaterial, as there is one very simple explanation: Acute Hepatitis B. The symptoms quickly ceased, thanks to lamivudine, and I expect to be discharged tomorrow, with 95%+ chance of full (immune, non-carrier) recovery.
With the nearest $job/conference safely booked at one month away, I've put various unpleasantries behind me, started populating the new dev.pugscode.org workspace, and resumed Pugs hacking (aiming for a March release of the much-delayed 6.28.0).
So... Stay tuned for backblogs on the progress happened during my absence. Viva la vie! ☺
Ouch! Audrey, best wishes as you recover!
Posted by: dave glasser | 2007.02.20 at 04:16 PM
Good to hear from you again and sorry to hear you've been unwell. All the best for your recovery!
Posted by: Jonathan Worthington | 2007.02.20 at 09:39 PM
Welcome back! I hope your recovery continues quickly and smoothly.
Posted by: Hezekiah Carty | 2007.02.20 at 09:59 PM
"Was mich nicht umbringt, macht mich stärker"
I hope you get better soon
Posted by: Ruslan | 2007.02.20 at 11:16 PM
You poor thing. That's no fun at all. No more math homework for you tonight, dear.
Posted by: _why | 2007.02.21 at 01:07 AM
That's a pretty good reason for an intermission. Glad to know that you're feeling better, and I hope the recovery continues.
Posted by: Brian Wisti | 2007.02.21 at 02:00 AM
Have a fast and definitive recovery!! We missed you and your good work!
Posted by: Humberto Massa | 2007.02.21 at 05:29 PM
I was wondering what had become of you after your postings dropped off lately -- glad to hear you're on your way back. Take care, and don't push yourself too hard.
Posted by: MenTaLguY | 2007.02.24 at 04:37 AM
Were you never to code another line of Perl, it would not matter. I hope you recover your health.
Perhaps some words by WH Auden quoted in http://www.nybooks.com/articles/127 are helpful
Let us honour if we can
The vertical man
Though we value none
But the horizontal one.
Posted by: thickas | 2007.02.24 at 08:22 AM
Glad to have you back!
Posted by: cjfields | 2007.02.24 at 10:24 AM
Audrey,
I hope you fully recover soon. My best wishes.
It's so nice to read you again in this blog. Many, many thanks for your work. It's sooo exciting.
And, even if you didn't have a burnout, try to not get it in the future. Don't wait for the signals. A real burn-out is no fun and difficult to heal.
Perl6/Pugs can surely live with some intermission from time to time, but probably not with a real burned-out Audrey.
Steffen
Posted by: Steffen Schwigon | 2007.02.26 at 10:44 PM
Best wishes, happy to hear about your recovery.
Posted by: Frank Gutierrez | 2007.03.05 at 05:32 AM