Return to Ibanking?

Hey guys - have a somewhat unique decision that I'm trying to work through. I spent 1.5 yrs as an I-banking analyst, was at a large hedge fund for a couple years, that later wound down during the crisis in late 2008.

After doing some corp dev work for a while, I quit because I was unhappy with corporate life. Too boring, and I do like finance and investments.

Market for HFs / PE is very tight still and I am contemplating either an MBA (useless from an educational perspective) or retuning to I-banking for a couple years to pick up a diff skillset (was doing industry M&A - want to pick up fixed income / distressed knowledge). Also pursuing a CFA in my free time.

Any opinion on what track I should take - top choice would be returning to a HF / PE - but I know lot of ppl who have been looking for 2 + years, and the market will likely stay tight for a while to come.

I guess with my skillset - would a 2yr lateral associate position be reachable, and opinions on how easy it is to transition back to buy-side as an associate with investing experience?

Thanks!