Eventually I did figure out that I could learn a lot from them. It took a long-ass time but I got to a point where I was half-decent in SSBB and cleared the pool table on my own. I'm often too impatient with skills that develop over time.

...we will always read the book that strived for greatness but didn't quite hit it over the book that is solidly, predictably in the comfort zone of the author.

Make no little plans; they have no magic to stir men's blood. -Daniel H. Burman. I find people with ambition and a visionary mindset always interesting. Part of what I want to get out of my university degree is a better sense of what my ambitions are and can be.

Your failure is the amount of time and money you sunk into it that was not directly related to your enjoyment of the process divided by the learning experience.

I started the map with the intent to learn, not to make money - and even though I put a lot of hours in, I've greatly improved my Adobe Illustrator and Wordpress skills. I'm proud of the end result, it's just a bummer that selling didn't work out. It's a cool idea to have something you made be put on someone else's wall.

Also, that book seems really interesting, especially because he's a designer more than a programmer. Here's the first part for those interested.