One week in the life

Eh. So. We lost the tender. Which means I am effectively out of a job. Colin, of course, wants to keep me on and start up the custom mag for the Planning Institute of Australia later this year, but I don't think I have the heart for it.

It's hard to know what to feel when since we submitted the tender I've been feeling 50-50 about the whole deal. On one hand I really, really wanted to stay another year and then go off and do my volunteer year project (and write the associated best-selling non-fiction book), on the other, I kind of felt this was coming because Skippy (my psychic friend) told me when I told her about having to do the tender unexpectedly, that if I don't make a decision about my life, it's going to make a decision for me.

Maybe they knew I was only going to be around one more year. Maybe it was a mistake to let Colin lead the presentation - I should have done it. I'm the only one who's passionate about the magazine. Lots of maybes.

Anyway, I'm HELLA annoyed because we were supposed to find out on January 31 and didn't. February 1 came and went. I attended a press call for AIPM on February 2 and asked general manager Ian Baxter about it and he said "Colin should be receiving a call this afternoon". No call. It was not until Thursday, February 3 (by this stage I'd been twiddling my thumbs trying to find things to do for a day and a half) that Colin called me into his office and told me the result.

I twigged that this meant Mahlab would be looking for an editor (assuming that they didn't have one inhouse already) and found their ad on Seek. Dated February 1. Which meant AIPM had already decided before then and hadn't told us. And made me come to the press call and take photos and notes and make contacts and everything. HELLA annoyed.

Well, no rest for the wicked - I called Bobbi Mahlab and asked for a meeting, which was set for today (Monday). I thought it was going to be her and her editorial director, but it turned out to be just the editorial director, Debra, who has as much charisma as a damp mop. This threw me because I'd be coached by Gillian as to Bobbi's ways and what she looks for in people.

It didn't go badly - Debra left briefly because she wanted to bring Bobbi in on the meeting, though couldn't find her - but it was quite short and didn't produce anything of value to me. I wanted either a short-term contract for a few weeks to hand over to the next editor (I didn't want to apply myself because the position is full-time) or at least some sort of paid opportunity to contribute to The Project Manager and other related titles in the future.

Overall I have to admit I was disappointed with the experience. (I was also underwhelmed by their offices, which showed as much energy as a paperweight - very different to Loyalty).

Hi, I'm jobless in Artarmon.