yeah man.....
having a project to complete is definitely the best way to learn.... give yourself 'assignments' and complete them.....
any 'how to' book or even formal classes basically work the same way....
also just open a jpg of a photo and just fuck w all the tools 1 by 1 to get a feel for what they all do...
look at other peoples work that youre into and try to break down how they did it and recreate it.....
start small..... dont overwhelm yourself.... it seems like theres a ton of shit to learn but you will eventually pick your fav 5 or 6 tools and only use the other here and there...... almost every PS newbie gets filter happy as a phase, but you will grow out of that quick (if you even hit that phase), especially knowing how much raw talent you have, B.......
one spot i frequented for a time for tips, tricks, and tuts is creativebits.org ....... i cant recall an other specific ones right now, but i will post any that come to mind.... i spent/spend a shit ton of time just googling specific tuts based on any project im working on.....
theres really no substitute for burying your nose in your keyboard for 8 hours at a time when it comes to learning PS (or any design s/w for that matter)....its a matter of dedication and reps...theres no secret formula......
i have wasted more hours than i care to think of just staring at other peoples shit....
shiniybinary.com is a pretty fresh site that always inspires me.....
also check out brianlife.com for some fresh work.....
if youre really tryina get serious with it i would look into a wacom tablet..... i have a 9" x 12" intuos that i could not live without.....
...../more buzzy rambling....
//JB