I sympathize with ya, man.
As far as XP and such...I just want to spend 1 XP on Brawny, and 1 on Ability: Intimidation.
And that's it. As far as Influence is concerned, I want to find a crime in the paper that currently has no captured suspects (something good, too...like a murder or a robbery). Then I want to call the police dept as an anonymous tip and say I saw (Mr. Black) leaving the scene of the crime.
Everything else I want to do has to be done at game, so I'll have to wait.
Jim