I Don't Know What to Do with Myself - Careers

Well, now that a new Mayan calendar has been discovered and we know that the world won't end in 2012, my brain must turn once again to careers, as it periodically does, this time without the relief that knowing I will die and be spared the usually everlasting hunt for my niche. Because I have no idea what my niche is. I have an ideal of it, I think (does that make sense?) but there is a wide gulf in between that and its realization, and I lack the tools. I must have left them somewhere, or lost them.

Part of it is my way of thinking. I always feel like I'm playing catch-up and I'm way behind the eight-ball. My victories don't seem like much - they seem late and insubstantial, so the distance I have yet to travel seems even wider than it is.

I've often thought about working with languages in the government - like becoming a language specialist, translating and etc. But I really wanted to learn Japanese, which isn't that high on the list of "languages the government wants you to learn." I'm a little late to the party (see what I mean) because I only have two languages, English is my L1, I am not quite fluent (maybe a 2+ to 3) in my L2, and my L2 isn't a high need language. And then what else do I need? I have to have some kind of political knowledge, a large amount of cultural knowledge, and probably familiarity of a technical field of some kind. But which? And how? What kind of opportunities should I seek out? What would be best? How can I ensure that I'm closer to being ready in 4 or 5 years, once I've paid off my foolish student loans and practiced my languages a bit more?  I guess these are the kinds of things that people who haven't found their niche think about a lot.

*insert wilhelm scream*

 Have you ever thought about being a linguist with the FBI? Or are you one? What kind of background do you have? What kind of skills do you think you need? There's a dozen or so articles (mostly older) about FBI linguists here that answer some questions.