just see.

colosseum. yup. still there. 

well, what else happened since last year?
ah yes. the oil price collapsed.
and lotsa people in our industry lost their jobs.

as recent as 2 years ago, anyone who worked
in our industry were doing fine, managed to live
decent lives and were highly regarded.

...and now all of a sudden we're pariahs.

i believe the technical term is "high risk" clients,
which basically means banks and financial agents
saw us as liabilities all of a sudden, and run away.

it's funny how under normal circumstances, there
would be endless phone calls and emails to us about
financial offers and other money-making schemes,
and how easy it was for us to get bank loans and car
loans and personal loans, due to our "status".

oh well, that's now down the drain.

but in a perverted way, it's a nice welcome, because
now we get to know who are genuine towards us,
who are the people or institutions that are really
behind us when times are bad, and yes, thank god
noone bugs us anymore about bloody offers.

so far, i am one of those lucky ones who survived.
for now. but i am fully aware that it can change,
and my faith goes to my colleagues worldwide,
i hope they would be able to keep taking care
of their families and loved ones for the time being.

to put things into perspective, have faith that the
oil price and market bounces back in the next few years,
and once that happens, we'll bounce back. easily.

looking at the colosseum, it is located smack in the
middle of rome, and despite how ancient it is, it's still
there, and to make things better, the area around it
has fortified and has bloomed into a great city.
the colosseum might have fallen, but rome has grown.

and that's how we will be. we'll be back. just see.