Theo, it’s good that you are able to think critically about your situation. However, my best advice to you is that you just need to dive in and get it done. It’s readily apparent that you spend too much time “thinking” and not enough time “doing.” Your friends and their $58K/year salary may not blow you away, but unless you are making more than $58K already, you need to get on top of things and fix your situation by getting more proactive. I know you spend a lot of time looking at job boards and whatnot, but I still stick by my contention that you must learn to be aggressive.
By the way, do understand that I firmly believe you should never sell yourself short; however, if you aren’t getting the jobs you are looking for right now, you need to take things one step at a time and hope that the different jobs you have along the way will lead to your career path. Just be honest with yourself and what your qualifications are, as you have to learn to walk before you can run. Or, you can look at it this way – having any decent job beats being unemployed.