Acorn, true shot, angelskid: I've found a pretty good compromise for now: I'm playing in S&Gs that feature two or three tables with a buy in of $10. or $20. That is at least somewhat of a tournament and the chances of getting some decent payoff are fairly decent. The site I play on,
Pokerstars, offers such a great variety of tournaments all day long that it's easy to adjust and find something that works for you.
I'll just keep chipping away at the very large MTTs when I can but for now will play in three or four table S&Gs. There was a Deep Stack on
poker stars yesterday with a $30. buy in, a $3200 first prize with only 288 entrants. That seems like a perfect oppportunity with that few entrants.
Good luck guys and thanks for the responses.