Heh, you don't want to use me as a model, but there are plenty of people who you could follow. My last match (partially due to bad ammo) was nearly as bad as when I first started shooting IDPA. That said, anyone's welcome to come and watch instead of shooting if you'd rather see it done first. Identify yourself as such, ask questions, come with us to Freebird's after and talk about whatever you want to talk about. I'm usually busy during the match itself (setup, teardown, running the clock, etc), so Freebirds is a much better place to talk for me.
PM me any day you're interested in going there, I'll let you know if I'll be there (I usually am there). If I'm not there, I can give others a heads-up to look for you.