I vaguely remember being a noob and reading all these safety precautions and prerequisite lists and crap like that. I also remember saying there's no way in hell I'm sticking with basic crap for 3 months. I want huge NOW. Wound up making it to 7.75 in maybe 6 months and I just said to myself, "eh, close enough".
I also remember being a little confused, and finding it hard to really understand what I was doing exactly. Didn't get how anything worked and basically plodded through it blind. I was lucky. Fact is there's a lot to gain through understanding what you're doing. Hit the books, so to speak. It'll keep you motivated and help you through the droughts you may face. Knowledge will do that for a person.
And I remember supra flying around the forums like dlds understudy. Back when slammers were popular. That guy had a ridiculously positive attitude. Kinda stinks he's not around, but he was massive back then. Probably packing a Billy club by now.