I think you may be right, I am expecting too much of myself too soon. I think my main fear is developing bad, hard-to-break habits right off the bat. If I can avoid doing that, I'll be better off.
As far as the person getting lost and having to call ATC, I agree that it shouldn't have been THAT big of a deal. She lived through it and that's what matters.
As far as the bizarre comment about using too much lingo...being that this is an aviation forum I sort of assumed that people would know what very basic acronyms like "MSL, ATC, and VFR" meant and that it was part of basic language here. In the future, I can spell out any and all acronyms if my using them in their basic form makes you feel insecure.