yeah, I lost my tech sector job in July 2001 right when it was going kaboom. And then 9/11 happened, and around the country-panic the personal panic was going 'I'm so not going to be able to find actual work after this.' But mercifully I've found one! Now I plan to keep it if at all humanly possible...
...wow, you are SO much braver than I am! I'd been studying for about 6 years at that point, but I just didn't have the nerve (or the grasp of kanji; I could get by with sound for watching and listening to things, and I think in print -- literal print that's written in the Roman alphabet, so learning kanji is a bit like asking me to rewire my entire cognitive system). *cheers you on* Good for you! ^___^ Go go gaijin power! (or something like that...)