At least you still had a little formal instruction, Gman. You probably learned and can still remember a lot more than you realize. A year ago my sum total experience with a lathe was making a wooden treadle lathe in my Dad's shop when I was a kid so I could turn file handles out of split hardwood. He was mad as a wet hen when he came home and saw I'd bored a hole in one of his workbenches to pass the rope through and lagged a buggy spring to the rafter, but to his credit he left me alone about it and
I could still use some very basic, formal instruction myself, but have been helped on an as-needed basis by a couple of the real pros right here on this site who have been very generous with their time and knowledge. Being mostly self-taught in all things (often that meaning taking the initiative to find someone willing to teach me), I have found Tubalcain, Joe Pie', and Abomb79 on the 'tube to be most helpful. Tubalcain for direct instruction of process, and the others more for general knowledge. Just "being around" these processes being done provides many "A-HA!" moments.