My first mentor just watched me struggle for like 20 minutes and didn't say a word until I was sweating through my shirt. Guy looked at me and goes "you know it's not supposed to fight back, right?" Still think about that one. Sounds like you found a real one though, that knee kick trick probably saved you hours of your life.

That old crayon smell is the worst, and once it gets into your bin it lingers no matter how much you scrub. I feel for you losing 20 lbs, that hurts when you already paid for the whole bag. The warm garage next to the water heater is a rough combo because heat plus any moisture in the air just speeds the whole thing up. I keep my 50 lb bags in food grade buckets with gamma lids and tuck them in the coolest corner of the house, even if that means the bottom of a closet. Also tossing a couple of bay leaves in there seems to help keep the bugs out and the smell fresh longer.