I don't think anything did, he did this before, he just decides he is wasting a lot of time here and not coming at all is easier than popping in now and again (for him)
It is indeed very both. Is there room for a compound neologism here for cool, sad projects, perhaps with special reference to grand designs by geeks without a life? Either sool or cad. Ah yes, that's the one: CAD design. I bet it'll catch on.
"We all have flaws, and mine is being wicked." James Thurber, The Thirteen Clocks 1951