I meant “affect.”

Sleep Apnea and Caffeine

I finished my statistics paper and turned it in. For this paper we were given a couple of data sets to choose from. I’d seen some of them before, so I picked a new one and one that looked relatively interesting. Whether caffeine effects response time, whether sleep apnea effects response time, and whether the two together effect response time. My father has sleep apnea, and I know lots of other old people with it; so I thought it might be more interesting than one about beer. The results actually surprised me. Skim for yourself! (I don’t understand any of this math either. I just like the analysis part at the bottom.)

I can’t remember the last time I was this tired. Probably somewhere in British Columbia as I made my way to the Yukon on a 21-hour drive. But this is close. I drove an hour and a half to meet my mom and give her the pup, and then drove back home. I fought sleep more on this drive than on the entire 18-hour drive yesterday! I have no idea how I’m going to make it through a 3-hour class tonight. The good news is she’s giving us a whole class period to write our papers. This was such a relief to find out. I really think I can finish it tonight, which would be amazing. I have no wiggle room in my schedule the next two weeks. So if I don’t get it done tonight I’ll have to work on it at the women’s retreat this weekend.

I think I’ll go stock up on caffeine and chocolate to get me through. And then I have the possibility of sleeping for 10 hours, sans wiggly puppy. (He left me a present on the rug, that I stepped in. He never does that, so I’m taking it as a sweet parting gift to remember him by for the next week.)

Ooh, I still have some money on a Starbucks gift card. That should help with class, although maybe not the sleeping afterward.

Mourning to Laughter

Dempster and I got home at 12:30. I went to clinic, and he slept in. Now I’m taking him to meet my mom halfway, and then coming back for my evening class. I’m leaving for Ohio tomorrow, and he’s staying with my mom till next weekend. I’ll miss him. 😦

I made an important decision. At least I think I did. It was a hard decision, so I’m still praying about it and considering, and hoping to talk to some trusted advisors about it a little more. It involves whether to keep trying to pursue being back in fellowship with my old ecclesia in Arkansas, or to let it go again. This stuff is hard, and I have bouts of being really sad and pessimistic about it all. But I know God is in control, and I trust Him to continue leading me on this journey. I feel like I’m mourning NLR all over again, now that I’m back in Arkansas and still not able to be with my brethren there. But God turns mourning to laughter – ultimately in the Kingdom, but in the short term too. So I won’t stay sad for too long. Probably because I’ll trip over my own feet at some time today, and that will make me laugh.

I wish this wasn’t the week I won’t have my puppy with me though.