Progress Quest

There's a game called Progress Quest, released almost 20 years ago, a role-playing game where you have absolutely no input whatsoever, the game just plays itself as you watch. Slaying a half-wolf... Eating some berries... Finding an axe... Harvesting firewood...

It is a parody; and somehow it has gained cult status, even though it is utterly ridiculous and there is no actual "playing" but just you, sitting and watching the game play itself and advancing in levels. I have fond memories of me and my co-workers sabotaging each others' PQ to try to overtake each other.

Click to enlarge.
Clicking this image is more interactive than the game itself.

Well, lately my life feels a bit like a real-life game of PQ. I don't seem to have much in the way of long-term goals and I sort of run on autopilot. Sometimes it's all you can do to get through today and anything else seems too hard. Even figuring out your dinner is a chore and eating is an annoying thing that just avoids malnutrition. I feel like I'm just enduring.

I know I need to start counting what I've achieved, instead, even if it's just progress in endurance.

Phone company is annoying me... a nine-minute phone call to Australia last month came in at the same cost as my entire combined internet and phone plan for the month. Excruciating. That, and I've looked at my internet data and it's already half gone and I'm only 9 days into the billing period. Seems like I will be stuck playing solitaire and listening to the radio and making sure I don't watch any TV (which uses up my internet).

Being poor is very expensive!