Murphy's Law applies to my phone

According to Murphy's Law, if anything can go wrong it will. In this case, and as it applies to my phone, my phone did not ring when I received that all important call from area code 202, nor did it even give me the reminder signals that I had a voicemail message.

To clarify what happened last Friday, it all started when I sent a carefully worded email to the (2nd & most recent) Placement Assessment Assistant I had heard from. I asked four questions about what was happening with my file, whether two Placement Officers were involved, would I be given a new tentative departure date now that I have passed my original one or would I have to wait until next year for my original target departure date. I received a prompt response that same morning. This P & A Assistant assured me that my file was intact and in the hands of only one Placement Specialist. Further, I was informed that the Placement Specialist would call me later that same day.

At last! Some solid/specific information and the promise of a direct call from Placement. What could go wrong at this point? All I had to do was cancell all plans for the day and wait for that call.

Enter Murphy's Law. There was one plan for the day that I did not cancel. I maintained my gym work since I am certain that I will need as much stamina as I can maintain at my age when I am in-country for the PC. After getting home from the gym, and because it was getting on in the afternoon, and I had still not heard from Placement, I just obsessively checked my phone for missed calls. What?! There was a call that I had missed? Yes, but it was from the OMS Review Nurse I had last spoken with four months ago. Why would she have been calling? Perhaps she was going to give me another inside tip as she had done back in December. I immediately attempted to return that call, but (Murphy again?) I received a message that "The number you have dialed is no longer in service." What?! How could I have received a call but the number that called me no longer be in service? I made repeated tries, all to no avail. I wondered what else could go wrong this day. I soon found out when I again obsessively checked my phone to see if I had missed any text or voice mail messages. How could this be? There was voice mail. I immediately played it and could barely focus on listening after hearing that it was from the Placement Specialist I was hoping to hear from. The next frustration for the day came when I returned the call to Placement and received a message that he was not available. Yes, I left a voice mail for him, but it was late in the afternoon by then and I waited out the remainder of the day without achieving the contact I had been waiting for since I had received Medical Clearance in the forst week of last December.

So, late Friday afternoon, there was nothing to do until next week except to again spend time reading PCJs and vicariously enjoying the progress of other applicants.