That's not so bad, considering the alternatives for people in such a situation. I also have a friend in a somewhat similar place, although last we met he seems

That's not so bad, considering the alternatives for people in such a situation. I also have a friend in a somewhat similar place, although last we met he seems to have gotten a bit of a better grip on his life (managed to find some freelance work as a programmer, as far as I know he was never able to hold a "normal" steady job before). If we didn't have happen to be into computers as kids I'm pretty sure things would have been worse.