Plan B (or An Interesting Thing Happened To Me In Ottawa)

Writing this missive from the wilds of an Internet cafe here in Ottawa, which is sunny and beautiful. I couldn't be happier, and I'll have more on the particulars in a minute.

I rolled into town on Thursday and stopped by my friends' place, Anita and James. They were very welcoming and even had some mixed CDs that I'd made for them a number of years ago playing in the CD player. A nice touch. We had pizza for dinner and caught up on old times. Unfortunately, their son Dylan is teething, so he was a little crankier than usual. Poor guy. But, all in all, I had a good time with them.

Got to Jen Bruce's place, and we had a few drinks on the patio in nice weather and chatted for about two hours. Then I went to bed.

I woke up to a phone call from Geoff Waddington at an Ottawa company called Real Decoy, who wanted me to meet with him at 3 p.m. or so that afternoon. It was rather weird, because I wasn't expecting a call. I had e-mailed him that I'd be in town, but had gotten no response, so I naturally assumed he was busy.

After meeting with a few temp agencies and Sarah Brown at Ottawa magazine about freelancing in town, and getting the dirt there, I scooted over to Real Decoy. Geoff and I scooted to a nearby bar and had a few drinks. We caught up, and Geoff was interested in what I planed to do with my life if I moved back.

It was here that I got a bit of a shock. We were joined by fellow Real Decoy-er Richard Issac, and the pair of them offered me what they called a "Plan B".

Now I don't want to get too descriptive here, as A) I know Geoff reads this thing, B) I don't want to jinx things before they happen and C) it's probably not my place to say too much about things in a public forum. But, essentially, Geoff and Richard put a potential (and I say potential) job opportunity on the table. It wouldn't be permanent, but it would last awhile and allow me to eek out a living while I either freelance on the side or look for something a little more stable. There's a gentleman's agreement that if I do find something better that I would be able to shake hands with Geoff and Richard and leave without any hard feelings. Which is good.

So, needless to say, this is all rather preliminary and who knows what will happen. But I've been on a natural high ever since this meeting. Real Decoy is one of the companies I'd love to work for in Ottawa, and I even was in line for a job there last August (which I didn't get, as I wasn't qualified enough). I highly respect the people who work there, and really hope that if I do get the job and move back to Ottawa that I'd be able to do exceptional work for them. I want to really rock the joint and do kick ass work. Which I know I can do.

So that's all really exciting. I come to Ottawa to scope things out, and something lands in my lap. Nice!

Today was a bit more quiet. I had a two-hour coffee with the lovely Heather Ferrier, and we caught up on old times. Then I went to Jen's place and sat on the balcony for a few hours, having a few beers and generally just feeling good about myself. Tomorrow, I'll talk to Catherine Lawson of the Ottawa Citizen to see how the freelance market is there, and then I'll catch the five o'clock train home.

Things are really looking up. Hope everything works out!