One thing about grinding: I play in loads of freerolls and finally hit a big one (3rd of 3000), 3 places paid) to get into a 215 Euro tournament (105, 9 got the prize and three got 800 Euros) playing for a seat at the European Poker Tour in Talinn. I did reasonably well in early to mid but got short-stacked toward the end, attempted a blind steal, ran into jacks and didn't such out my flush, straight or 2nd pair and finished 34rd. The real one was actually much easier, as I could read my opponents much easier because the lower signal-to-noise ratio.
It sucks playing with donkeys and easier to go on tilt. Pokerstrategy should provide adequate capital to spare people that, lol.