Confident Conversation #

5 August 1998

21:00. So tired. Really need to get a flat up here. I’m dossing over at a colleague’s place again tonight, and I fell asleep during The Simpson’s. Yes, that tired. But in fairness, it was an episode I’d seen before (the one about how Maggie came into the world) so never mind.

I probably wouldn’t be awake now if the mother hadn’t phoned to say that some books had arrived - Confident Conversation by Dr. Lilian Glass - “With Confident Conversation you will be able to express yourself well on every business or social occasion, and never feel at a loss for words again.” I don’t make a habit of buying self-help books, but this was only £4.89, and it’s on a topic that it could prove useful to brush up on. I don’t enjoy having to verbally communicate with people, to the extent that I regularly send email to people who’re only a few yards away. Maybe that’s reflective, to some extent, of the kind of society we’re creating. Or maybe it just suggests that I’m a reclusive geek. Unless I feel I know someone fairly well, I don’t enjoy conversations - I just hate the “getting to know you” thing. I hate the fact that every little thing I do or say is going to make a big impression because it’s a first impression. But when I have gotten to know someone, I love to chat about all manner of crap. So hopefully this book (and some consultancy skills courses which I’m currently undertaking through work) will help to overcome all that. It can’t hurt to try…

00:15. If I’m so tired, why have I just stayed up until this time of night? Well, I’ve been finishing a great book that was recommended to me by a fellow online diarist - Bridget Jones’s Diary by Helen Fielding. Very good, lighthearted - makes a change from Java manuals, anyway. OK, bedtime…