I am extremely lucky to have ended up in a situation where I know and work around people who do the things I’m trying to learn for a living, on a daily basis. I think I would’ve given up on this snail game long ago if I was in a more isolated position where the only point of contact with people who know what they’re doing and are willing to help is Google or programming forums. Just a couple of days ago, I was trying to do something that I knew is meant to be something simple. It felt like I was just missing some piece of the puzzle that I should already know, but don’t. After about five hours of trying every single possible solution I could think of, and then trying some more by just stabbing in the dark and hoping I’ll stumble across something that works, I was left frustrated and, I think, a little scary. C was in the room studying while I was threatening my computer and typing furiously. He knew better than to make fun of me at that point.