Good to hear you're on that pillow again. I've also done some sitting.
I was on a kind of mini weekend retreat that showed me a lot. Maybe I0-12 hours of cushion time. Not much but it was a first one and I didn't have all the time for myself. I've got some clarifications though. Intelectually and experientaly.
Firstly I believe it's finally clear to me what's the difference between samatha and vipassana. For example observing the object conceptually in whole vs observing all of it's characteristics in real time.
I'm glad I went to a local Theravada Buddhist seminar on a Saturday. It was the first time I practiced walking meditation. Next day, I did 30 minutes of walking meditation and it was enough for me to grasp - on intuitive level though - how important it is to be mindfull all the time. ALL THE F. TIME! And how blody hard it is. This was a second clarification I got over weekend, so I guess it was worth it. I don't know why I haven't tried walking meditation before. It was an eye opener. I'm finally getting this mindfulness thing. I hope so

Talks that I watch on youtube and books that I reread made much more sense! If I'm getting it, it means I need to be mindfull all the time either doing samatha or vipassana meditation. Samatha practice should increase the frequency of being mindfull by increasing shear concentration power and if one can be more mindfull one can be better at either samatha or vipassana practice... I hope I got that right.
I'm going to keep going with "X marking strategy/day" (thanks Robert Mclune wherever you are) and see where I land. I've just printed a calendar and I'm x marking the days. I aim for increasing my concentration power and tranquility first since I really need it. I will do walking meditation in between sits. It helps me relieve but/neck/shoulder/back pain from hour+ sittings. I need to find that perfect position with my zafu ;-). Experimenting with ear plugs too. Don't know what to think of them yet. I hear myself breathing more when using them, so I don't know wether it helps more...
Been thinking of you too in my meditations! I labeled/noted you, hahaha and sent some metta.
With metta,
ftw
Edit:
PS: Forgot to ask. Still looking for that teacher? IIRC, you're from Australia. I believe you have some good "Thai forest tradition" monks down under. Maybe look there?
http://forestsangha.org/monasteries/