I had a visit to New College library yesterday to gather a few more books for my dissertation. I’m just glad my rucksack isn’t any bigger otherwise I would have needed a forklift to shift it. The problem with good libraries is that when you stand in the section looking for a book you’ve decided might be useful, all manner of other books, which weren’t spotted in the catalogue, catch your eye. Whether I get a chance to read them or not is an entirely different matter. I suspect I’ll simply end up trawling them for good quotes and risk getting them out of context.

I managed to fit in a quick meeting with my Director of Studies as well. We had a very useful chat about sorting out a Masters course for next (academic) year. It does mean that I need to make a start on the application fairly soon though mainly because I need to arrange a possible supervisor. The problem there is that my most likely Masters supervisor also happens to be my current dissertation supervisor. If I go and start asking about masters courses he’ll want an update on my dissertation progress. I think a meeting in a couple of weeks time might be a better approach.

Yesterday was a busy day. The reason I was in New College in the first place (since I don’t have classes on a Monday) was that I had a meeting with Richard Ellis. He’s the speech and presentation training consultant used by 121. I had a short sermon prepared and was videod presenting it. We then watched the video and all my bad habits were ‘freeze-framed’ and commented upon. It wasn’t too bad. I was very conscious of trying to ‘do it properly’ but there were still things to be picked up on and I got some very useful tips on overcoming them. My worst habit is looking down at my notes as I finish a phrase rather than waiting until I’m finished then looking down. That way my points sometimes trail off and get a bit lost. Not always, but often enough. The other very useful tip he had was to know the first few minutes of what you are saying so that you don’t need the notes for it. That way you are giving the congregation your full attention and you engage better with them. Once you’ve ‘got them’, it’s easier to hold their attention for the rest of the sermon. So, since I’m preaching on Sunday I shall be trying out these tips and see how (if) it it all comes together.

Off to read some articles on baptism now for Friday’s class. One of my favourite subjects despite the trouble it seems to get me in.