This IS a great read, YW. I went through all the same stuff. Yeah, only being able to work and train was dead boring, but I also wanted to learn about the Money Market, and subbed to newspapers that I thought would be helpful (DOD Orders, etc.) I started to learn a lot more about the 'real' game here, not just the button-pushing. But then, I kinda expected a game called eRepublik to be about networking and information-sharing than anything else.
You put all this into words very nicely. I guess this deserves a "Cool story, bro!"