...sniff... wellllll...
if'n you have access to Lightwave 7.0... JUMP BOY JUMP!!!! you can get it upgraded to 7.5b for free from Newtek.com [smooooth update indeed
]
Now if you TRULEY want to learn lightwave, go out and just annihilate about $200 on books from Dan Ablan <- he is a terrific teacher through books and you cannot get bored reading it, he actually explains many complex terms in layman form to where that even idiots could enjoy a chapter or two.
I purchased one of his books : Lightwave [6] and it taught me about 75% of everything i know about modeling, the other 25% coming from tinkering and some internet plundering, and of course reverse engineering.
and YES, Dan Ablan's books start from the ground up, generally moving someone from novice to experienced in only 1 book [about 600 pages]
Im just now consuming my 5th book for modeling and my learning rate is exponential, every day more and more, at incredible rates. My imagination is just exploding at all of the possibilities, quite lightly put, it would be a valuable investment if you truely want to pursue the career.
final note, lightwave comes with the Fur, Fire, Water, Inverse Kinematics [character animation through "bones"] basically any particle based engine being called "hypervoxels".. sweet stuff.
oh and if you plan on making anything "stunning" get a better computer... preferrably a dual Xeon... 
Linear Mode
