KC, I just have to advise something that I have advised before, and that you dismissed. But after being away from your sitch for weeks, and coming back to it to see you doing the same things, making the same mistakes, I really think you should look in to IC. I know you said you had a bad experience. Well, ICs are like anything else, there are good ones and bad ones. If you took your car to a bad mechanic, would swear off mechanics for the rest of your life? No, you would go to a different once next time. IC is the same way. No one should ever settle for an inferior IC, and no one should give up on IC because of an inferior one.
I really think it would do you wonders, and you'd look back and ask why you didn't do it earlier! (HUGS)
M(53), W(54),D(19) M-23, T-25 Bomb Drop - Dec.23, 2017 Ring and Piecing since March 2018