D-Day minus 6 years

So gas in CA is $3.30/gal? Wow~ :p)
Seriously, in the 10+ years that I've known you, you've always had a certain elevated degree of cynicism about you. Can we afford for you to acquire more?
I'm sure it's very common for all grad students to feel this way and consider downgrading their goals to get to the "having a real job" part of life. Think about what you could do with the Master's and could you meet your goals without the PhD?? If you got your Master's and did the real world thing, you could always get the PhD later, right?
Don't rush so much to the real world/real job part of life...it sucks sometimes! Keep your head up.

I'm lost, I'm out of my comfort zone, my "space" if you will.

Grad school... hmm... as someone who bailed on his bachelor's degree I can't say I'm qualified to advise on such things, but I'm going to anyways.

I guess what it comes down to is what a Master's Degree and a PhD qualify you to do and how well it allows you to get paid. If there's something that you really want to do and you need a PhD to get the all access pass, then I'd say put in the time to get the PhD and make your life easier in the end. If everyone who's doing what you want to do got a Master's Degree and is being paid well for doing it, then you're probably looking at the right options. And lastly, it's good to know what your options are and to know when to take advantage of them and know when you need to commit yourself to a course of action.

I'm lost, I'm out of my comfort zone, my "space" if you will.

Grad school... hmm... as someone who bailed on his bachelor's degree I can't say I'm qualified to advise on such things, but I'm going to anyways.

I guess what it comes down to is what a Master's Degree and a PhD qualify you to do and how well it allows you to get paid. If there's something that you really want to do and you need a PhD to get the all access pass, then I'd say put in the time to get the PhD and make your life easier in the end. If everyone who's doing what you want to do got a Master's Degree and is being paid well for doing it, then you're probably looking at the right options. And lastly, it's good to know what your options are and to know when to take advantage of them and know when you need to commit yourself to a course of action.