Gefilte Fish Out of Water

I’m Facebook whore, but for some reason I loathed getting on LinkedIn.  I think maybe it was because I had received requests from three people – all to confirm I had worked with them at the same job…only they had each varied the firm’s name slightly; meaning my profile very quickly had the same job in there three times, and instantly needed to be cleaned up, and….blech, I’ll just use Facebook.

But…I’m increasingly unhappy at work.  And just like how lots of people characterize their relationship status on Facebook as “it’s complicated,” my work situation is, too.  I’m forbidden choosing to not get into it here, but I will say that I’m not sure if the answer for me is to adjust my own attitude, or get the eff out there and into a new job.

So, I’m already on the lookout for English-language marketing freelance jobs in Israel, thanks to the Yahoo group CIWI (Connecting Independent Writers in Israel).  More recently I had the idea to pitch Jewish community newspapers in top markets in the U.S. (especially The Jewish Exponent in Philly where I grew up and The Jewish Daily Forward in New York where I lived 17 years) on the idea of my contributing a column along the lines of what I do for iGoogledIsrael.com: a take on modern Israel through the eyes of a good old Reform/secular Jew from North America.  So, I’m building up a contact list and will soon begin actively pitching this idea – first with an email pitch, then follow-up phone calls.

But then as I was having coffee last week with my new friend (and fellow blogger and iGoogledIsrael columnist) Simona, and she thought I was setting my sights too low.  She thinks the US Jew papers will pay diddly, and I should shoot for gay online rags I’ve had experience working with during my PR career – places like Advocate.com, PlanetOut and EDGE.com.  I’ve got contacts there, and could direct them to my work at iGoogledIsrael and charge a beginner’s rate to write freelance for them for assignments they have coming up.

Then, of course, there’s my Special Purpose.  I’m working for an hour per morning (a few times/week) on writing a memoir about how I up and moved to Israel in a span of about five minutes after my first visit here.  Plenty of people dream about having success with their first book – but you have to dream it first in order to do it, and I believe in the power of the law of attraction, so why not dream?

I also heard my actress friends Samadar and Anna talking about getting Anna’s voiceover reel together, because Anglo voices are always in demand here in Israel, and Samadar’s fiance Yoda Jeremy has already booked two jobs from his reel.  Hmm, maybe there’s a way to edit one of my old TV presenter demo reels (especially the parts at 2:33 & 4:55 in the first one below) into my own voiceover demo reel?

I also heard from Samadar that there’s an English-language kindergarten in our neighborhood.  Maybe I could drop everything and become a kindergarten teacher?  I detect a whiff of escapist fantasy…but not a stench!  And my friend Evan is an English tutor.  I could always approach high schools or investigate through Nefesh b’Nefesh’s yahoo group or Taanglo or ask Evan for more info.  I have natural ability as a teacher, I would just need a curriculum to work off of, but all programs would have this for me, so no need to worry about that.

I also got advice from a career counselor at Nefesh b’Nefesh on how to adapt my resume for the Israeli market (basically, it must be only one page, and it has to have your date of birth and marital status on it!), and I started fixin’ up the old LinkedIn profile.  Howzit look so far?

I dunno.  Because there’s so much I enjoy about my life here.  But my boss and my job are increasingly not in that category anymore.  Might be time for a change.  I would benefit from practicing the eleventh step more.  Slow down and listen to my H.P.

Thank God At least this post wasn’t about Petey.