I’m not a fan of air conditioning. I prefer fresh air and fans. Really do. For all these years, even on the sultriest days and nights, I was adamant about that preference and stuck it out until the cooler days arrived.
Until today, when I caved in.
I got through Friday, but it was in the low 90s and the humidity was still fairly low. Friday into Saturday was a little difficult in regard to sleep, as it didn’t cool into the low 70s until about 3 AM. When I got up, I was more wobbly and incoherent than I normally am due to a lack of quality sleep. It got a little better after coffee. But, it was okay until only about 8 AM, when the temperature rose into the mid-80s and the humidity was, shall we say, more noticeable. I got through the day, but when it came time to sleep, it wasn’t happening. I couldn’t find a cool comfortable spot on the mattress for more than five seconds. My room was in the mid-80s and the air was thick with humidity. Quality sleep? Insert insane laugh here.
After tossing, turning, drifting into microsleep, tossing, turning … well, you get the picture … I’d had enough. With the temperatures predicted to stay in the 90s and even close to 100°F over at least the next week, I realized there was no way I was going to make it to the end of the week without something happening due to sleep deprivation. I just got back on the road in May after too many months of no wheels to call my own. That shouldn’t come to an end just because I stubbornly stuck to my guns about sleep preferences under normal weather conditions.
“This weather is not normal, Stupid!” whatever side of my brain still has the logic cells in it screamed. “Do something before we fry like bacon!” So, I got out of bed, sat down at my computer, went online and ordered an air conditioner from one of the local big box stores. I picked it up, set it up, and for the first time in three days, my bedroom was blissfully comfortable, and the unit was set at 79°F, too.
So, I took a $0 balance account and kerchunked several hundred dollars onto it. My excellent credit rating numbers just took a hit as a result. My electrical bill will likely be noticeably higher as well. Do I care? Yeah, I do. But, the credit rating will recover as the air conditioner gets paid off, and the electrical bill will also get paid.
But more importantly, I also care about getting enough sleep so I’m not a risk to myself and others. I’m not as young as I used to be and don’t tolerate the heat as well as I used to. It was time to change my point of view on the subject and so I did. As a result, barring power failures (knock wood for not happening), I will sleep more like a rock and wake ready to take on the road and another hot day tomorrow.
As a final note, I mentioned not being able to tolerate the heat as well as I used to. This is common among older folks, not to mention babies, young children, and pets. Check on them all. Make sure they stay hydrated, find them a cool spot if they don’t have them. We’re all in this together. Chill out.
Showing posts with label sleep deprivation. Show all posts
Showing posts with label sleep deprivation. Show all posts
Sunday, July 01, 2018
Tuesday, December 20, 2016
2016 – A Less than Fabulous Year
Well, barring a huge lottery win between now and New Year’s Day, of course.
For those who follow this blog, I’m sure you’ve noticed my lack of chatter. My last post here was in April (the other blog had one post after that). My desire to write has slowly disappeared with, well, a number of things in my life which have taken a downturn this year.
First, the job. Now, it was part-time, but it gave me enough hours to live day-to-day. Summer came and, because it’s a school year-based job, it went dormant at the end of June. I was fortunate to find another job for the summer, and when I came back, my job actually started out with more hours. It also had a change in location. However, the reasons for my being hired in the first place in 2015 had gone the way of the dodo. My job duties became practically nothing even with my asking and scrounging for things to do. I started in September at four days a week, then was dropped to three days a week in October, then to two in November, which is where I am presently. Can’t live on two days of a pay a week unless you’re making CEO type money an hour, which I’m not. Lest you think I let this dwindling of work days go by without looking for another job, oh trust me, I didn’t. I’ve been looking for other work since I was hired. I would have taken either a full-time position or another part-time job that meshed with the one I have (nothing meshes with it, by the way). So far, lots of applications and resumes going out, very few responses to them coming back and interviews at less than a handful. I’ve come to the realization that as an office worker, I have nothing special to add to the mix that might make my resume stand out among the stack. I am ordinary – imagine that.
Then, we come to house and home. Bringing in a salary that allows you to live only day-to-day isn't enough to pay all the expenses of owning a home, including property taxes. My work status of part-time has been chronic (sometimes worse) and certainly not by choice. As a result of being unable to scrape together the money from my paltry wages, my home of 57 years will pass to the county in February and will be auctioned off within 1-2 months unless I can come up with every cent of back taxes owed. In addition, anything I leave behind will be considered abandoned and go to the new owner. I knew this was coming, of course. You can only get behind three years in property taxes before they want their money one way or the other. I thought my neighbor was going to purchase it with an ongoing living arrangement for me. But I suspect he’s now just waiting for the tax sale because I haven’t heard another word about that offer since early spring. I did have a buyer who was interested in it despite its many flaws who was offering a generous six months to vacate, but he backed out earlier this month because he couldn’t swing the entire amount of the back taxes, either. I can’t get a loan because, despite having no other ongoing financial obligations, I am not gainfully employed enough to pay a monthly principle. My state has a MAP, or Mortgage Assistance Program, that does assist with unpaid taxes as well. Problem is, there’s no guarantee that I would have gotten help from them, and you have to have solid plans in place to prevent the problem from happening again. That means being gainfully employed enough to pay the day-to-day and still be able to put money away to pay the taxes when they come due. Yeah, well, if I could have done that before, I would have.
So, here I am with a house full of stuff, multiple decades in the making, to get rid of. I could just take what I want and leave the rest. It might come to that purely out of lack of being able to a) move things and b) store things. Because the deal to sell fell through so late, I have nothing in place for housing and/or storage of stuff. It’s going to be very down to the wire with sorting through, getting out and then resettling.
Then, there are my cats. Yes, folks, those cats I’ve written about in this blog are also in jeopardy. One has major health issues and I will likely have him put to sleep. One has some minor lingering post-trauma health issues who I might be able to find a home for before having to consider anything more drastic. The other two, in relative good health for cats going on 10 years in 2017, are an issue. If I could find a living situation that would take two cats, even one cat, I’d be thrilled. But, they’re not so easy to find. Finding homes for them would also be ideal. After that, it becomes a very emotional decision. I really just wanted to make a home of safety and comfort for all of them until they passed naturally. I don’t plan on having any more animals once these are gone. There are those who are skeptical, but I’ve remained firm on this since the last cat came into my life in 2009 and I don’t plan on backing down on it. After all, what happens to them when I’m gone?
Then, there are car problems. The one that I’m presently driving is not mine. It belongs to the neighbor who had showed interest in purchasing the house earlier this year. He has been incredibly kind in allowing me to use it, but that’s likely going to go away once I’m no longer a neighbor. I would buy it from him, but the title is not transferable. Plus, the car has issues. Some of them I’ve dealt with (brakes, tires, and coolant system times three with yet another minor leak), others (exhaust system) not yet. Now, for a 30-year-old car, it does rather well for itself, but eventually it won’t be and I’ll need to get my own car again. Guess what’s holding up that issue.
Notice a lack of mention of relationships and, of course, help with any of this? Yeah, me too. I know that moving on is actually the best thing for me, but there is no one even offering to lend a hand. No family has offered to assist with the move either physically or financially, and only one friend gave me help when I needed it back in November (thank you, Judy). The rest are either too ill to help, too far away, or have their own problems. Yep, it’s pretty much just me.
Health issues on top of all that, plus sleep issues, anxiety and depression as a result of all that is wrong. No wonder my muse took an extended vacation, with my creativity going in the crapper. I hope it (my muse) eventually comes home, wherever home ends up to be.
Yes, I’ll likely buy a lottery ticket just before the new year starts. There’s no sense in wasting more money than $1. But, despite everything that is wrong in my life, I still have hope, and still believe that this deep hole of despair of a year will not extend too far into the next.
To all who read these words, whether I know you personally, e-personally, or not at all, I wish you Happy Holidays and a happy, prosperous and joyful 2017.
For those who follow this blog, I’m sure you’ve noticed my lack of chatter. My last post here was in April (the other blog had one post after that). My desire to write has slowly disappeared with, well, a number of things in my life which have taken a downturn this year.
First, the job. Now, it was part-time, but it gave me enough hours to live day-to-day. Summer came and, because it’s a school year-based job, it went dormant at the end of June. I was fortunate to find another job for the summer, and when I came back, my job actually started out with more hours. It also had a change in location. However, the reasons for my being hired in the first place in 2015 had gone the way of the dodo. My job duties became practically nothing even with my asking and scrounging for things to do. I started in September at four days a week, then was dropped to three days a week in October, then to two in November, which is where I am presently. Can’t live on two days of a pay a week unless you’re making CEO type money an hour, which I’m not. Lest you think I let this dwindling of work days go by without looking for another job, oh trust me, I didn’t. I’ve been looking for other work since I was hired. I would have taken either a full-time position or another part-time job that meshed with the one I have (nothing meshes with it, by the way). So far, lots of applications and resumes going out, very few responses to them coming back and interviews at less than a handful. I’ve come to the realization that as an office worker, I have nothing special to add to the mix that might make my resume stand out among the stack. I am ordinary – imagine that.
Then, we come to house and home. Bringing in a salary that allows you to live only day-to-day isn't enough to pay all the expenses of owning a home, including property taxes. My work status of part-time has been chronic (sometimes worse) and certainly not by choice. As a result of being unable to scrape together the money from my paltry wages, my home of 57 years will pass to the county in February and will be auctioned off within 1-2 months unless I can come up with every cent of back taxes owed. In addition, anything I leave behind will be considered abandoned and go to the new owner. I knew this was coming, of course. You can only get behind three years in property taxes before they want their money one way or the other. I thought my neighbor was going to purchase it with an ongoing living arrangement for me. But I suspect he’s now just waiting for the tax sale because I haven’t heard another word about that offer since early spring. I did have a buyer who was interested in it despite its many flaws who was offering a generous six months to vacate, but he backed out earlier this month because he couldn’t swing the entire amount of the back taxes, either. I can’t get a loan because, despite having no other ongoing financial obligations, I am not gainfully employed enough to pay a monthly principle. My state has a MAP, or Mortgage Assistance Program, that does assist with unpaid taxes as well. Problem is, there’s no guarantee that I would have gotten help from them, and you have to have solid plans in place to prevent the problem from happening again. That means being gainfully employed enough to pay the day-to-day and still be able to put money away to pay the taxes when they come due. Yeah, well, if I could have done that before, I would have.
So, here I am with a house full of stuff, multiple decades in the making, to get rid of. I could just take what I want and leave the rest. It might come to that purely out of lack of being able to a) move things and b) store things. Because the deal to sell fell through so late, I have nothing in place for housing and/or storage of stuff. It’s going to be very down to the wire with sorting through, getting out and then resettling.
Then, there are my cats. Yes, folks, those cats I’ve written about in this blog are also in jeopardy. One has major health issues and I will likely have him put to sleep. One has some minor lingering post-trauma health issues who I might be able to find a home for before having to consider anything more drastic. The other two, in relative good health for cats going on 10 years in 2017, are an issue. If I could find a living situation that would take two cats, even one cat, I’d be thrilled. But, they’re not so easy to find. Finding homes for them would also be ideal. After that, it becomes a very emotional decision. I really just wanted to make a home of safety and comfort for all of them until they passed naturally. I don’t plan on having any more animals once these are gone. There are those who are skeptical, but I’ve remained firm on this since the last cat came into my life in 2009 and I don’t plan on backing down on it. After all, what happens to them when I’m gone?
Then, there are car problems. The one that I’m presently driving is not mine. It belongs to the neighbor who had showed interest in purchasing the house earlier this year. He has been incredibly kind in allowing me to use it, but that’s likely going to go away once I’m no longer a neighbor. I would buy it from him, but the title is not transferable. Plus, the car has issues. Some of them I’ve dealt with (brakes, tires, and coolant system times three with yet another minor leak), others (exhaust system) not yet. Now, for a 30-year-old car, it does rather well for itself, but eventually it won’t be and I’ll need to get my own car again. Guess what’s holding up that issue.
Notice a lack of mention of relationships and, of course, help with any of this? Yeah, me too. I know that moving on is actually the best thing for me, but there is no one even offering to lend a hand. No family has offered to assist with the move either physically or financially, and only one friend gave me help when I needed it back in November (thank you, Judy). The rest are either too ill to help, too far away, or have their own problems. Yep, it’s pretty much just me.
Health issues on top of all that, plus sleep issues, anxiety and depression as a result of all that is wrong. No wonder my muse took an extended vacation, with my creativity going in the crapper. I hope it (my muse) eventually comes home, wherever home ends up to be.
Yes, I’ll likely buy a lottery ticket just before the new year starts. There’s no sense in wasting more money than $1. But, despite everything that is wrong in my life, I still have hope, and still believe that this deep hole of despair of a year will not extend too far into the next.
To all who read these words, whether I know you personally, e-personally, or not at all, I wish you Happy Holidays and a happy, prosperous and joyful 2017.
Sunday, April 24, 2016
The Challenge of Morning
“What’s that smell?”
“5 AM. Let’s go.”
(From
the movie Lara Croft, Tomb Raider)
I’m a morning person by nature. I’ve been waking between 4 and 5 AM without
an alarm clock for almost six decades.
That’s not to say I’m completely functional at that hour. The days of being required to be awake,
alert, oriented and hardworking in the wee hours of the morning, aka o’dark
hundred, are long past and not missed in the slightest. The waking process is now quieter, gentler,
and spurred on by vitamins, a once daily medication, and a lone cup of
coffee. Okay, sometimes two cups.
Yet, on this Sunday, I was inclined to revisit my abilities
to smile and be personable, string words together coherently and coordinate
cognition with correct action starting at 5 AM and continuing for a few hours
for a good cause. My local Kiwanis chapter, as part of its
fundraising activities, helps coordinate an annual running event now known as
the Kiwanis Kingston Classic. Dedicated runners and volunteers have been
coming together with their help for the last 5 of the race’s 32-year history. I’d thought about volunteering for this event
for quite a while. Frankly, I’d rather
be running in it, but that’s not happening with these orthopedically challenged
feet of mine. So, 2016 was the year I
finally decided to help out, and they seemed to have the perfect volunteer slot
for me – 5:00 to 9:30 AM. I’m awake
early in the morning anyway, I thought, so why not put it to good use?
While most people can be awake, dressed and going in a
matter of minutes in an emergency or crunch-time situation, myself included, the
whole greeting the day process done right takes at least an hour. Additionally, showing up at 5 AM meant being
on the road by 4:30 to get the stadium where the multiple-length races would start
and end. Doing the math, that meant
getting up at 3:30 AM. Fortunately, I recognized this requirement
early enough to carry it out. But, I had
forgotten what waking one hour earlier than normal and going out into the world
really meant – or felt like.
Ask anyone involved in treating sleep disorders and they’ll
tell you your body and mind do not take well to messing with the normal wake-up
time. Bleary-eyed, in a fog, I did one
of of my best grunting zombie impersonations in the trek downstairs. Mmph - start the morning mud and don’t put
the coffee in the water hopper before you hit the button. Breakfast, coffee, med and vitamins were
consumed without fanfare. It was then off
to wash up and pour myself into the clothes of choice which, had I bothered to
check the outside temperature would have included a sweatshirt and gloves, as it
was 37°F when I left at exactly 4:30 with my still wet hair. Yeah, that helped wake me up. Although I wondered shortly after the 3:30
alarm if I might get ticketed for DUISD (Driving Under the Influence of Sleep
Deprivation – don’t laugh, drowsy driving
is real and can be very dangerous), the trip over was a fully conscious and
uneventful experience. I took in and
carried out the instructions for checking in pre-registered runners fairly well,
and in my final hour of volunteering I got to direct the half-marathon
participants onto the running track for the final few yards of the race as well
as protect them from being walked into by spectators in their path. Most importantly for me, I got to applaud
them in encouragement and support of finishing what I wish I could still do.
I had a great time this morning. My dogs (feet) were barking, my back was
yipping a bit as well, and I had to take a two-hour crash-nap this afternoon,
but it was all worth it. It was helping
others, which is never a bad thing, and it was proving to myself that I can
still be alive and kicking at an hour when others are still looking at the
inside of their eyelids. Will I do it
again next year? Maybe, although I think
it will be a two cuppa coffee kind of morning if I do.
Wednesday, September 09, 2015
Countdown to Fall – Sleep Deprived: Poetry for a Too Early Wednesday Morning
While I know I've posted my old friend's picture on the subject here before, bless me if I can find it here. I think I also posted the bit of poetry below before as well, but also couldn't find it. Still, both are appropriate to the day(s).
The break in the weather is actually coming a little earlier than expected, but it's still not going to be today. So, let's get back to normal September weather, shall we, before I start writing gibberish. Well, more than usual, anyway.
Only 14 days until Fall.
Sleep Deprived
3 AM and reluctantly up out of bed
for sleep eluded this weary head
Foggy mind and tired body are mine for
today
will the dog days of summer ever go '
way?
Heat and humidity with no A/C
makes sleeping as hard as any chore can
be
Sleep and wake, toss and turn, murmur
expletive deleted
for the minutes of rest this weather
has meted
You can't do much with sleep
deprivation
being up and functional a horrid
sensation
Every move and thought a much slower
act
in the hope of maintaining this life's
pact
But September will come with cooler air
to be sure
ultimately this insomniac's cure
Until then coffee cups must be filled
to the rim
To bring my mind out of its
consciousness dim
So as I fill my first moments with
muddy brew
and write these poetic words I must coo
If I'm required to look in the mirror
at this tired sight
I should have a better reason to be
awake at night
2005 Lauren Swartzmiller
Tuesday, September 08, 2015
Countdown to Fall – September's Cooking and Not in a Good Way
Much as I don't look forward to the slide toward colder temperatures for financial reasons, right now I'd welcome it. I am not a hothouse plant and don't enjoy temperatures in the high 80s and low 90s with humidity that makes it that much more oppressive. Indoors offers some relief, but day after day of those temperatures and even the best insulated home (mine isn't) will retain the heat. It's still cooler than outdoors, but not by much.
Night time is only cooling into the 70s locally. I chose not to have an air conditioner a long time ago. They're energy suckers even at their most energy efficient, and I find the hum more annoying and sleep disturbing than a fan. On days and nights like this, though, it makes me wonder if having just one teeny, tiny A/C unit to have available might have been a wise investment back in the days of better income.
As a result of all this summertime weather in September, especially at night, I'm getting very sleep deprived. Yeah, just try and find a cool spot on the sheets. I'm yawning as I type this and I've been up for two and a half hours already. I know the break is coming in about two days and we'll be back to cooler and drier weather that is more September-like after that. I will welcome it with open arms, followed by a long nap.
Until then – mmph, more coffee.
Only 15 days until Fall.
Night time is only cooling into the 70s locally. I chose not to have an air conditioner a long time ago. They're energy suckers even at their most energy efficient, and I find the hum more annoying and sleep disturbing than a fan. On days and nights like this, though, it makes me wonder if having just one teeny, tiny A/C unit to have available might have been a wise investment back in the days of better income.
As a result of all this summertime weather in September, especially at night, I'm getting very sleep deprived. Yeah, just try and find a cool spot on the sheets. I'm yawning as I type this and I've been up for two and a half hours already. I know the break is coming in about two days and we'll be back to cooler and drier weather that is more September-like after that. I will welcome it with open arms, followed by a long nap.
Until then – mmph, more coffee.
Only 15 days until Fall.
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