or, you stay outside the system, nibbling off of whatever jobs you can find around the industry of your professional focus, but never committing to any of the big players, hoping to retain some shred of a soul but also knowing... the jobs they'd offer would come with hooks that would drive me nutso and eventually out.

bah. the only way to avoid this is to avoid interacting with it. it fucks up my ability to progress professionally but those who know my work are enthusiastic to put me to work, within those constraints.

:|