Get a load of this Ray Charles shit.
Monthly update Ray Charles edition.
This is another update post, a bit late as always, but finally here nonetheless. Another deadline missed, so at this point I feel I should share some news that I have mostly kept under wraps until now, although I'm sure some people might have already made some guesses. I'm a pretty private person, so sharing things from my own personal life always feels a bit clumsy. I tried to delay writing this post as long as possible, hoping that things would settle on their own at the last minute, but of course that didn't happen.
So, straight to the point. I have been struggling with my eyesight for a while now. At first, I just chalked it up as normal eye strain as I mostly work with computers all day. Some eye exercises every now and then with some rest during weekends usually helped. Until they didn't.
After some eye pain episodes at work, my doctor diagnosed some kind of ocular hypertension. Nothing too serious yet, eye drops, rest and limiting screen time seemed to help. Still, writing or reading anything longer than a few paragraphs was difficult for a while, unless I maxed out the font size.
The more severe issues started last spring and I have tried to keep this secret until now. Even back then, Offcuts 0.4 was mostly ready, just missing some finishing touches, so I thought a delay of a few months probably wouldn't hurt much. Rinse and repeat a few times after that as the situation didn't improve much. Things started to look better again a few months ago and I was finally planning to actually release Offcuts 0.4, until another eye pain episode last November sent me to a specialist eye doctor, who suspected glaucoma.
Glaucoma can be a pretty severe eye disease that can eventually make you blind if left untreated. Needless to say, the potential diagnosis was and is a shock to me, especially as I'm not even that old yet. Fortunately, the diagnosis is not certain yet and it can often take a long time (even years) to confirm as it's not a cut-and-dry diagnosis. There is still a good chance this is something else and much more harmless. Meanwhile, there are also some good treatment and preventive care options available, some of which I'm already using.
This has been another messy and stressful year for me, trying to juggle my job and hobbies while trying to manage this health issue. Still, finally writing this post and putting things out in the open feels like a big relief. Repeatedly trying to guess and miss any deadlines and other predictions felt awful and I don't blame anyone who has felt frustrated, but at least now you know the reason.
So, what about Offcuts 0.4? Fortunately, it has been mostly ready for a long time now, I just haven't managed to write (or read) much since last spring. I have wanted to give the script a final proofreading pass for a while now, but reading a script of over 50k words in my current state is pretty rough. Still, even in the worst case I can eventually wrangle 0.4 together somehow, eyes closed if needed. However, I currently try to prioritize my day job as I'm worried about how my condition might affect my work in the future in case the worst scenario happens.
I have no plans of giving up yet, but the next few months and doctor visits will be important to see where I'm heading (pun intended, I guess). Still, I have no plans to stop doing this little hobby unless I absolutely have to. I'm optimistic and I'll try to use my winter vacation to recover as much as possible, so expect a next Patreon post at some point in January. I'll see you in the next update. (Pun intended again, funny how many of our language idioms have something to do with sight.) Anyway, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to everyone despite the bad news!
And as always, I'm not going to take any Patreon payments until 0.4 is out (I'll temporarily suspend my Patreon at the end of each month until then).
