I enjoyed that, a new literary talent.

You mentioned changing pedals to start off with, and that job can be very difficult. Remember that one pedal is a right hand thread, and the other is a left hand thread. They can be very difficult to undo and it might be a hard job to start out on. Decent mechanic's wrenches will fit in where they are needed (at least on my cheap bikes) but adjustable wrenches won't.

I agree with the comments about basic tools, that don't have to be for bicycles. I had just a single worrying experience buying from ebay and never did that again. The seller was top rated, but took about 4 times as long as he was supposed to, to ship the product. Now I tend to use Amazon, or look to Craig's list.

I think a mechanical attitude is great. I always want to know why something is going wrong and try to fix it. It seems to me that it is sort of necessary with life too, and that gets even more interesting.