Man I swear everything weighs more than it should these days, like how a "5 pound" bag of flour feels like it's packing an extra brick in there.

Stick with Pandemic for a bit before jumping to something like Spirit Island though... that one's way heavier and can be a shock if you're just getting into co-op. I tried it after a few rounds of Pandemic and felt a bit lost at first with all the rules and pieces. Forbidden Desert or Forbidden Island are good next steps since they hit that same teamwork feel without getting too complicated. Just don't want you to burn out on the genre too fast is all.

Dropped a sheet on my head last week trying to be clever with a T-bar, so yeah maybe it's time I stop being stubborn and just buy the dang thing.

Nah I gotta push back on that a little. Counting by the joint makes way more sense to me since each drawer side connection is one joint regardless of how many pins you cut into it. But honestly the real question here is what kind of dovetails are we talking about because through dovetails take way more precision than half blinds in my experience. When you say yours clicked, was it the layout that got easier or the actual sawing and chiseling that finally felt natural? Because I'm stuck on the chisel work still and could use some insight on what finally made that part click for you.

I read somewhere that even old school contractors say you can't cheat the base coat or it'll cost you double later. Your story lines up with that pretty perfectly.