If it’s any consolation, Russians have similar problems with English verbs. I guess the verb declension is too different between languages. So much as the rules seem to hardly make any sense for learners I still can't say that I nailed this part of English, even after several years.
As for the rest of your story, don't worry, as I said I'll get to it later, I just don't have the time to check it thoroughly now. I'll try to do that tomorrow.