Blargh - thanks for all the helpful responses. No worries about perceived criticism; I have many, many character faults, but fortunately being aloof of my own ignorance is not one of them. For some context, I hadn't flown for 5 years before flying home for the holidays; the last time had been drunk and at 4AM from Chicago to Vegas (great story, friend from HS got wasted and flew us all out on a whim). I honestly don't know what most of what you're talking about is (though a lot of it is self-explanatory; regarding the gate agent, I'm not sure if there wasn't one or if instead I just overlooked them...the flight we were moved onto was itself 5 hours late).

My primary concern at the moment is that I need textbooks and interview clothes yesterday, and being a broke law student I have no means through which to get them. I've already made a list of nearly everything in the bags, and I'm fortunate that it appears to be below the $3300 limit (something like $2600 right now).