There are some astoundingly strange jobs out there, many of which pay far better than what you'll ever get with an over-priced degree.

Here we're taking a look at some of the most bizarre, and how well you could be paid if a sudden career change is on the horizon.

Fortune Cookie Writer          
Average pay: $53,000/yr.
You probably assumed this was a job, that someone had to do it, but the fact Fortune Cookie Writers make $53k for writing vague slogans on a little paper with lotto numbers is a bit unsettling. However, even the best cookie writer can have issue, and as lead writer for Wonton Foods says, “I used to write a hundred a year. Now I'm down to 2 or 3.” So maybe don't quit your day job just yet.        
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[photo: Dassault Systèmes via WIRED]

Iceberg Mover          
Average pay: $170,000/yr. (for a contactor)
These teams are a direct fallout of the Titanic. With the continued popularity of water based shipping channels, toward the winter months, someone has to get those icebergs out of the way. Iceberg movers spend all year monitoring the massive hunks of ice and then moving them out of shipping channels when necessary.        
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Professional Apologizer            
Average pay: Varies by job.
In Japan, apologizing is a much larger cultural deal than in the U.S., so some people go the extra mile to do it. If someone really screws up, they may shell out a few hundred dollars to hire someone that knows what they're doing to really get the personal message across.          
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["You'll just feel a slight pinch and lose all body movement. K, ready?"]

Volunteer Infectee              
Average Pay: $3,000 per infection
In order to study new strains of certain diseases like the flu, scientists need to monitor it in laboratory settings, as there are “some things you just can't do with someone who is naturally infected,” according to Dr. Anna Durbin. Paid up to $3,000 for an extended hospital visit (with hospital fees waived), all anyone has to do for this job is lie around and wait to get better, while scientists scrutinize every aspect of how you respond to the infection.
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["Yes mom, I work for NASA! GOD!]

Professional Sleeper            
Average Pay: $18,000 for one NASA study
On the note of lying around and doing nothing, this job initially appears blissful. That's before you realize it involves never leaving your relatively small bed for up to 70 days at a time. Though you are compensated handsomely for your time, you risk bed sores, weakened muscles, and psychological distress from not being able to move, so it's not all it's cracked up to be.
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[Club Neverdie was part of a $600k video game real estate transaction]

Professional Video Game Realtor              
Average Pay: ?
In the game Entropia, you can convert your in-game dollars to real ones at a fixed rate. This system was immediately capitalized upon and abused, marking Entropia as one of the largest e-commerce marketplaces on the web. It's home to the largest game purchase of all time at $635,000 — that's in profit after the owner made back his investment and much more.
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[This man thinks injecting himself with lethal snake venom will save lives]

Snake Milker              
Average Pay- $2,500 a month              
Circling back to the real world, antivenom is incredibly important for curing people who have been poisoned; and to study antivenom, scientists actually need the venom. People are paid to “milk” snakes and put it in tubes for study, while risking bites and angry snakes abound.

[cover photo: reynermedia via flickr]