Since it's been a year since my last post I felt like it was time to stop procrastinating and give a little update, ha.
Well, I really took Roy's advice seriously and yeah, I realized until I'm like 30 I really can afford to just try different things. My school offered me a student Fellowship (and later Teaching Assistantship) and will cover about 80% of the tuition plus a salary. Spending the next two years getting an MLA and work experience for basically free is just too good an offer to refuse. So I'll be doing that. Master's programs tend to run during the night since most master's students are busy, so in the meantime I'm going to try to get my writing and music career going and see if that's something I can realistically pursue by the time I graduate two years from now.
I've always wanted to be an artist, and I feel like I have something to say. I kinda gave in to the pressure to go for something more realistic but now that the internet is a thing, the ability to get your art to be seen/heard by the public has been extremely democratized so it's worth trying. Even if it ends up a side thing and not an entire career, I won't mind; teaching is extremely fulfilling for me too, and feel like I have a lot to offer there.
In general, I'd just say I have a lot more confidence and direction than I did last year.