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Semicolon vs. Period?
You could call these metacritical marks. The period says "done with that unit of thought." The semicolon says "Done with a unit of thought, moving on to another that's related."
Deciding to use a period or a semicolon is part of the writer's art. If you want the two thoughts to be more distinct, go with the period. If you'd prefer them to seem closer together, then join them with a semicolon. There really isn't a right or wrong.
As others have pointed out, some metacritical functions of punctuation may not register with readers. I don't let that bother me, but you may need to work that into your calculations.
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