I’m actually Doing Something about the sleep apnea next week—I’m heading overnight to a sleep center in my Doctor Dentons, teddy bear in tow, to try out some form of CPAP device. I’m hoping it’s not the kind that I’ll be ripping off my face and hurling across the room in the middle of the night, but we’ll see.And I have Professional Goals. Three of them, altogether: 1) Stand Up Straighter (I’ve been diagnosed with “mild scoliosis”); 2) Be More Social; and 3) Recapture the Childlike Enthusiasm I had for Basket-Weaving for roughly my first 5 years here. No, I lied—there’s a fourth: Go Above and Beyond. Yeah, I know, I’ve become a walking, talking, “Hang in There!” poster, complete with kitty grasping onto a precarious branch.
Sometimes the “go above and beyond” decision gets made for you—in a shockingly quick application of the Peter Principle, I’ve been voted chair of our university’s small grant committee. I am now that Idiot Chair of a committee we all like to bitch about while gathered around the Water Cooler. (I’ve been chairs of committees before, but just on the department level—this will be my first opportunity to be a university-wide Idiot.) So I will add a 5) to my Professional Goals—try not to be an Idiot. (And admit it freely whenever I fail to accomplish #5.)
My family remains the ongoing challenge it has been since roughly January 2015 (when foster care started; adoption was June of 2016). Sometimes I do wonder where my humor goes when dealing with the family—usually I can tap into it in other aspects of my life. I guess that leads to #6—get some counseling.
All right, then—that’ll do for now. Tirebiter out.
Because I am an observational astronomer, the sleep apnea specialist I saw simply didn't know what to do with me. He therefore started making stuff up, the way physicians far too often do.
ReplyDeleteIt was much like every time I've ever seen a psychiatrist, psychologist, or theologian. All of them seem surprised that I'm not committing a particularly grisly axe murder at that precise moment---and yet, three navy psychiatrists still certified me for nuclear power.
Have you heard the story of the psychopathology researcher who discovered his own brain scan shows many of the same characteristics as those of his subjects (one version: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=127888976 . Apparently there's a fine line between useful and dangerous expressions of some traits.
DeleteI take my hat off to anyone who fosters and / or adopts kids. Good to hear GLTIII doesn't have scores to settle. I'm rarely that sanguine.
ReplyDeleteHope the sleep study goes well.
Glad to hear from you, Tirebiter. I hope your sleep consultation yielded something more useful than Frod's. A family life that probably leads to interrupted sleep for other reasons plus additional sleep problems sounds tough; I, at least, don't do well without sufficient sleep.
ReplyDeleteGood luck with the committee; I'm sure that, simply by dint of trying not to be an Idiot, you'll do a better job than those who are unwilling to admit that they can sometimes be Idiots (we all can and do, of course).
P.S. I was delighted by those hanging-kitten posters when I first discovered them (in middle school). In fact, I bought my father one, which he dutifully displayed for a while. Not sure what he thought of it, but it did illustrate his situation (demanding job, complicated family life) pretty well. He did a pretty good job (of all of it, including fatherhood), considering, but I wish he'd been more open to #6 (he was more given to insisting other people get counseling -- also a useful suggestion at times, but the message would have been more effective if he'd been more open to the possibility of help himself).