:) At the time, I didn’t even own a soldering iron, and I wouldn’t have known what to do with it if I did!
Repairing that battery myself later down the line was the first bit of soldering I ever did, which allowed me to then go on and build my first board.
If I’m reading you right, glad to hear you’re all sorted.
A smaller split sounds like it might be a good option for you— a Sweep, Corne or something similar. I’m biased towards Cornes— mine is a mini 5x3. I’ve found it to be really good for travel. Packs light, and works well on train journeys (table or back of the seat fold-down).
Also, I support that notion of experimenting with your own build. That’s exactly what got me where I am. Bought a prebuilt Lily58, then a full sized Corne, then wanted to make one myself and bought an Aurora kit. No soldering experience, and I found soldering the backlighting LEDs most difficult (I’ll be removing them sometime soon) but my board works and I’m extremely happy with it. :)