Hi Jake,
From what I read you have gone through quite some frustrations, and I'm sorry to hear that. Just one or two things. You said
Doctors, Actuaries etc commonly make six figure salaries here in the UK (GBP)
I'd tend to disagree with Doctors earning that much. I am assuming you are talking annual take-home? That would be somewhere between 8000 and 80000 GBP per month gross (quite a big spread)? I can't imagine that the high-end bracket is very realistic except for a very few specialists that are in high demand because of their reputation and (hopefully) track records. My wife is a private Paediatrician in South Africa (more than ten years in private practice), and she struggles to make 50000 Rand a month. Now multiply that by twelve to get to annual and divide this back by twelve to get to annual GBP? Now that compares quite well with what doctors in the UK earn when they are working through National Health.
Hey, if a good DBA assignment comes up NOW, I will take it - but it's gonna be my very last, and not for more than 3 months, likelier 2.
You mentioned "I'm just glad as I am to be getting into something so much better". But you are still entertaining the thought of going back to a DBA job? Why? Why would you take up a 2-3 month job as a DBA for some company, unless it is a fire fighting job that can be solved within that timeline? Why not bite the bullet and go for that other golden opportunity? And come to think of it, why would an employer give you a permanent job if he knows beforehand that you are only going to stick around for two to three months in the first place?
But as you said yourself
And as long as you're HAPPPY doing what you're doing, that's all that counts.
So get the positive attitude back, you once were there, and I'm sure you can get back to it.
PS: Yes, Phoenix is in Arizona, US of A. And no, I'm not American.