hope to wake up one day and not feel the overwhelming need to think about technical things, or read a sci-fi novel, or punch numbers into a calculator. It's nuts, but that's the way it is

with this passion and with your undergrad background you're fully qualified to get into serious 'amateur' astronomy if you like. This is the main field where people with even less formal qualifications do real and original science, whether astrophotography, spectrophotography, etc. The quality of instrumentation available to the enthusiast always leaves me gaping .. I personally couldn't afford any of it and the cost is a barrier - but hey then so is the cost of going to college. The important point is that professional astronomy is limited by time and money and there is a lot of very important stuff which never gets done. The enthusiasts come in here, with their own instrumentation, and the best ones make signficant contributions. It's much more fun too, since professional astronomy seems mainly to be about data processing and physical modeling, rather than actually looking through a telescope and being blown away every night by the beauty of it all. I've been to astronomy open nights and believe me, in the end the 'amateurs' get the better deal - especially the serious and dedicated ones.

Best of luck and don't get despondent, rather look for opportunities even in your present situation