• Dilbert-esque corporate life,
• besides free-lancing,
• besides going back to school, and
• besides dropping out,

Work for a company that treats employees decently and values what you do.

These places are rare, but do exist.

(For just one well-blogged example, read Joel Spolsky's views on hiring and caring for programmers. Disclamer: I don't know Joel personally, and I haven't worked for him, so his writings may all be BS... but to me at least his blog seems sincere and genuine.)

On a more philosphical note, flyingmoose, kudos to you for actually stopping to think about how you want to spend your time...

We all have precious few days, and the trick is to spend those days doing what matters most to you (some mix of quality of life, place, salary, meaningfulness of work, nice co-workers, learning opportunities, etc).

Like HDT said, the art is spending each day so that, when it comes time to die, you don't discover you have not lived.

Best of luck in your decision, flyingmoose-- may you enjoy nothing but success.