I have pissed off Karma

I finally heard back about The Job. The one where the interview actually went well. The one where they told Former Supervisor that they really liked me. I did not get the job. I figured that out last week when I hadn't heard anything despite my hand-written thank you note, follow-up email and phone call.

And, honestly, I was taking it very personally. Last week was really rough on me. I was just so tired of fighting and trying to figure out what was so wrong with me when there are so many law students with worse grades and stranger personalities. I spend a good part of the week in bed feeling sorry for myself.

I had finally determined that Interviewer must have contacted Contract Firm, and that Contract Firm must have been unhappy with my work product, since they haven't contacted me in a month. But still, I wanted an answer.

So Sunday evening I was surprised to finally get a phone call from Interviewer. I did not get the job, but it wasn't anything I did. For once, I did not screw up my own life. He said that I was "on the very short list of candidates," that all of my references had spoken very highly of me and that Contract Firm had said that I did great work for them.

So what happened? The associate who I would have replaced decided that she did not like her new job and asked for her old job back. Which means no opening for me.

How do I manage such shitty luck?