I'm using the same and also self taught. The basic stuff is quite easy to learn but for any of the more complicated things, e.g. making the drift car stand out from behind the tyre smoke, I just google how to do it and watch a video, then discover how bloody easy that was too
Photoshop I have found is the easiest and the best photo editing software, it's just some of the things there is no obvious way to do it, and sometimes the whole layer thing gets on my tits!
I also don't use RAW images, taking a JPEG directly from the camera and into PS will have virtually no degradation. Maybe if I started taking a career line in photography I may use it, or printing out posters etc, but for general non professional use, JPEG is good enough.