Covid 19 Life

Nothing is certain except everything you know can change.

You worship the sun but now can you fall for the rain?

London Skies, Jamie Cullum

On Februari 1st 2020, I was attending Market Outlook 2020 by Jouska in Jakarta. They were talking about Indonesia's current potential economic growth in the upcoming years. Dr Aviliani said, China had Covid 19 outbreak and it may disrupt global economics. Now, July 8th 2020, I didn't know it was gonna be this disrupted.

We are facing with the condition we never met before (at least as long as I have lived), a pandemic. A pandemic that makes people scared to gather and travel. Giant companies are having financial trouble or even have furloughed their workers. The tourism industry ranging from hotels, art attraction, airlines, rental cars are hit the hardest. Airlines park park their planes on dessert in order to escape from airport parking fee.

Pizza Hut files for bankrupcy. It's really sad to watch Pizza Hut and Pizza Hut Delivery selling pizza on the street and no one buying from them. Their pizza tastes so good yet twice expensive compare to their rival, Domino's Pizza. At the end, I will opt for Domino's because of the price. In my opinion, symphaty-buying will not last for long.

Growing up, I was told "You should work as doctor or as petroleum engineer, they make good money!". I didn't choose that path. Every now and then, we heard that medical workers strikes demanding their salary to be paid. BPJS Kesehatan is state-own medical insurance that is built to be a charity. Not built to take profit. No wonder, BPJS Kesehatan is always in deficit.

At the end of April 2020, the price oil futures went negative for the first time in history. Saudi closed its door for Mecca Pilgrimage cause Saudi to lose income. Saudi then increased oil production to make money, but Russia didn't want to decrease its production. Covid 19 decreased demand for gasoline as less and less people travel. Overflowing supply and little demand, made the price went cheaper. Even negative. Company will pay buyer to take oil from them because the limited storage they have. I knew my friends who work as doctor and petroleum engineer are the smartest, most dilligent person. I hope they are doing well.

Corruption and fall of oil price had turned Venezuela into crisis. Venezuela is heavily depend on crude oil export and commodity price decrease. They're in humanitarian crisis for some years now. Gasoline now is rare for people. In Feb 2019, the military burned the trucks of humanitarian aid. It's so crazy. I hope Maduro is no longer president of Venezuela when I read this blog post in the future.

Public transportation isn't a mass transportation anymore. The amount of passenger is cut because people have to do social distancing. The animals in zoo are in hunger because the zoo management has less money to feed them because nobody is paying for zoo ticket.

Life is uncertain. My rainy day fund is safe for a year and I don't have debt, so I can sleep well at night. Even tho my stock portofolio looks like it's on fire because I had to cut loss some. Plus, some are still having floating loss. That's okay, it's the risk I'm willing to take. I hate to say, during this financial crisis, I cut back on my education budget. I stopped taking Japanese Language class and opt for stock learning mini classes instead. Learning Japanese isn't the best thing to do because the Japanese Govt is also postponing JLPT test.

Many people had their first online Eid Fitr. Ramadhan is supposed to be the most consumptive month of the year. People used to spend money for charity, to celebrate Ramadhan with family and friend, and to travel visiting relatives in village. This year Eid Fitr was bitter. Many people are afraid to travel. Including my family. It's sadder when my aunt Partini passed away and I couldn't console and be there for the family. 

This post is my reminder of Covid 19. I hope we all can survive this. Remember, nothing is certain. It's okay to postpone or change your direction. Remember to fully build your rainy day fun. Remember your beloved aunt or anyone that loves you want you to live your life to the fullest :)