A very brainy day

I've had a very brainy day today. Not as in very clever. As in full of brains.
I've attended two lectures about the brain/our mind today - the first was at school, during this thing called Senior Societies, in which a bunch of school societies (normally about 5 per week) invite speakers in to talk about a particular subject relevant to that society. Sometimes they're really boring and the whole thing really sucks, especially as they run 20 mins into our lunch hour, but mostly, like today, the talks are seriously great!
This time, psychology soc. invited in a guy to talk about hypnotherapy! I'm not a huge believer in the whole 'lets-psychoanalyze-every-aspect-of-your-life-and-solve-all-your-problems' thing, probably as a rebellion against having a psychotherapist for a grandma and a child-psychologist for an aunt, but I AM really interested in the way certain methods of subconscious suggestions and trance-like states work, especially as one of my close friends (ex-boyfriend actually but never mind) can hypnotize people, and he has done so to a mutual friend of ours right in front of me, before which I didn't really believe in hypnosis at all, and after which I was thoroughly creeped out.
Anyway, this talk was brilliant, so that way mind-y talk #1.
Talk #2 was at the Royal Institute of Science this evening, on 'How the brain works'. It was part of the Christmas-lectures trial runs, so it wasn't exactly the smoothest thing, but it meant that there was more of an unrefined, 'just for interest's-sake', feel to the lecture, and the guy wasn't playing to the cameras like they often seem to do during the real Christmas-lectures.
Also, my friend replied to my GISHWES request to carry her chicken across the road. She said that if I could make sure it wouldn't die, then maybe... Look up GISHWES. Your life will change forever. (In a good way...)
http://greatestinternationalscavengerhunttheworldhaseverseen.com/
Happy Thursday!