Did your friend ever tell you about the time he did almost the exact same thing? He found a beat up IBM Model M at a flea market for like 20 bucks and was so pumped until he got home and realized his setup had no PS/2 either. He went through three different adapters before finding one that worked, and by then he'd dropped almost 50 bucks total on the whole thing. Last I heard it's sitting in his closet now because his wife got tired of the noise. So yeah, you're not the only one who's been down this road, but at least you know the sound is real and not just in your head.

Tossed my brushes in the trash after the first door too.

Funny thing about that droop check, the manual actually spells out the exact sequence for a reason, and it ain't just to slow guys down. That kid probably had it right in his head for the basic rig, but the flap rigging has a specific order to the bolts and the tension that you can't just eyeball from a photo. The real risk isnt the repetitive part, its the one time something is off, like a bushing that wore down or a cable that stretched, and you miss it cause you're running on memory. Happens all the time, especially after 20 years, cause the airframe ain't the same as it was in the cert photos. So no, you aint stuck in your ways, you're just not stupid enough to bet a whole inspection on a shaky memory.