Hello friends, been a while since I posted; been really busy with work and life, haven't had a chance to drive it much either. Thank you to everyone who posted, I appreciated reading your tips, stories, and experiences.
Well, I drove it a good 100 miles today, in busier traffic too. Still not perfect all the time but a [censored] of a lot smoother. I've stopped stalling, and I've even started rev-matching. My downshifts are silky smooth now (you don't even feel that I changed gears). Honestly, I've never thought a shift could be that smooth (even in all the autos I've driven). That 1-2 shift is still tricky as [censored] on this car, but all the other ones are a lot better. Even starting doesn't give me much problems. The hill assist is a great feature and an important one because there are a lot of tailgating jacknuts around me. I'm still not quick (especially from a start), but I am smooth, which I think is better and more important to be in the start; the speed will pick up over time. Only thing I'm still finding extremely difficult is heel-toe. Can't figure out how to twist my leg properly to do it.
Ultimately, I think my biggest fear was destroying my brand new car, that I was using no throttle (trying not to burn the clutch). Now, giving it some gas and effectively "launching" the car from say about 2-2.5K RPM gets you a very nice start. Also, holding the clutch on the biting point for a little longer that I was (at all shifts); before I was letting up way too quick and that was the root of all my problems. You can bring it up to the biting point as quickly as you'd like, but you gotta hold it there until it connects nicely.
Still don't want to drive this in rush hour until I'm a master.