I recently was unemployed too, but landed a sales job after calling about 500 companies. It is amazing how bad the employment situation is. What I found doesn't pay much but it will cover all of my expenses, with some left over. So I will continue looking for that elusive career position that both pays well and where I don't get jerked around by vicious people. Probably just like everyone else.

If you can afford to be unemployed for 6 months AND then start going to school for 8 months AND then start looking for a job, then you are financially in very good shape my friend. I could not afford that, but I haven't been working very long, or at least I havent' been saving money for very long since I paid off my gigantic student loan. I know a lot of people pay the minimum on their student loan every month, and they would have more money than me right now. In the long term however they will pay triple, while I only paid about 1% more than the principle. I do a lot of things differently from others, and it hasn't always been easy.

Going back to school may be a good idea. I am considering it too, since I am becoming increasingly distressed about not graduating. I was born in the mid-seventies and that complicates things because major transitions in my life tend to coincide with economic recessions. This is the second one I've had to deal with under less than ideal circumstances. I like to think I make smart choices in life, but often it doesn't seem to matter. Things go badly in spite of it, and maybe it is totally my fault. I don't know.

Go with your instincts. I know this: I would be enormously happy if I had a diploma to hang on the wall, and a graduation photo to show people. It is a stigma to be without those things. A shameful prison that eats away at me day and night. I may have to live like this for the next 50 years of my life, and it doesn't feel good at all.