It is hard to get out of a rut. My friend, however, just keeps bottoming out (like now) then gradually working his way free again. A few months of light acceleration follow, with him coasting on through. Then out of nowhere he guns it, digging the rut even deeper than before.

His lack of foresight has led to many such misadventures. There was the time he dragged the "young lady" (I guess some bad word software was installed?) mentioned above into his uncle's household. After a couple of months she got rid of him and then got power of attorney over his uncle, putting the uncle over $100k in debt with credit cards. Another time he took a knife with him to reclaim a shirt from a neighbor's house who had quarreled with him earlier in the day over a game of pool. The neighbor ended up getting stabbed in the knee and off he went again. Or getting beat down after resisting arrest. Tasers weren't in style back then, so batons were used.

As for reforming, unfortunately my friend has "the look" that he will carry around regardless of whether or not he ever straightens out. His poor decisions over the years led him to get a number of highly visible crappy tattoos on his fingers and neck as well as no fewer than four girl's names or initials.