the post-graduate center

I was wondering when I first approached the building just what sort of program these post-graduates had graduated from: Narcotics Anonymous was the first thing that crossed my mind: then I thought of Alcoholics Anonymous, and then realized that recovering alcoholics look MUCH better than the likes of these folks....

well, disappointingly, the post-graduate center actually turned out to be a church converted into a MENTAL HEALTH FACILITY where no one even knew what neuroscience is and the director of which looks like she's wearing a bad wig; which in and of itself is not a bad thing, but her strange eyeglasses and plaid dress didn't help her case as the director either, but made her appear to be a patient at said institution. I am as big a fan as any of the cleverly designed disguise, but there comes a point when you must ask yourself: am I cleverly disguised as an escapee from a mental institution? 

though I cannot tell you how befitting it is that this mental health graduate converted church den of iniquity is actually that close to the school where I work (far too much I might add).

In other news, I got a new job (yes, yet another one) and I start teaching an Italian group in the mornings on 20 october: I am hoping beyond hope that the baby classes work out (I call them babies even though they are really toddlers but whatever); that would occupy saturday morning for a while

I find it amazing that people wanting to learn Italian want to work in the morning and people wanting to learn english for the most part only want to attend school at night: I ask you, how productive are you as a student after a long day of work at eight o'clock in the evening?

I for one suck at that hour: I'm good to have a conversation that requires little to no brain activity on my part, but otherwise.....well, I'm not really so lucid (that's a lie I am lucid I just don't particularly want to be teaching at that time)

We'll see what happens....

an all-around interesting day

the highlights of my day:

I am subbing for two classes this week: one at the ungodly hour of 8 am and the other at the more reasonable hour of 10 am...

I had to awaken at 6 to give myself enough time to come to life and let the caffiene circulate for a while before actually having to deal with anyone (like on the metro in the morning which is always ugly, or 7th avenue which I have discovered is not so hideous during the off hours)

In the 10.00 class, I got to see a video of one of my students (who will forever be known to me as plaid-shirt) dissecting a fly brain: he studies the flies and their behavior...don't ask 

it was actually kind of cool though; I have never seen a fly brain all up close and personal like that...and under the microscope their eyes look red..but like bright, fire-engine red...who knew?

in that same class, we had a demonstration of salsa dancing (thank you Francisco), and we all demonstrated our motor reflexes (you know that knee thing that the doctor does to you to make sure your spinal cord and sensory nerves are developing correctly) 

I had the students ask me rather stupefied what I majored in because we were talking about entymology and how arachnids are an all-together different kind of creature than insects...

PS I had fun in that class

afterwards, I discovered a nice church in the neighbourhood where I work...I can forsee many hours of peace in that church are ahead of me if I continue working at this school (which by the way, is not my favorite institution so far)...I also found some center for post-graduate study that from the outside looks like it might once have been a church....this definitely warrants further investigation..I'l let you know what happens with that

Then tonight I went to see Carmen Consoli at Joe's Pub

hmmmm.....dissected fly brains and live music all in one day.......makes a girl kind of tired