Is it just me, or does our buddy seem beat down, and detracted?
Yeah, the big guy does seem that way.
He's down and disconsolate because something didn't work out the way he wanted it to work out.
An utterly natural and human way to feel.
However.
The big guy's 55 years old, and should start acting his age.
He's had disappointments and discouragements before;
surely he learned something from them.
Or, I dunno, him being a primitive, maybe not.
Anyway, time is running out for the big guy; it's a short hop between 55 and 75.
What the big guy needs to do is give up his grandoise dreams and fantasies, work humbly and diligently at his job for only a mere ten more years, after which he'll be in clover, with a generous taxpayer-paid pension and social security.
After which he can give Marta, his long-suffering wife, some loving and give his grandchildren some memories that will live beyond him.
But will he?
I doubt it; the yearning for a free ride is still strong within him, and I'm sure the big guy right now's scouting around for a new possibility. Damn it, he's insistent on finding that free ride somewhere, and he's going to get it, even if kills him.