I don't seem to have the same level of frustration about this as you, but I think it's my learned helplessness. I'm just kind of resigned that I have to study all those nuances. Although I might grow old and never really master them (not to mention, it's quite likely that in my lifetime they'll change quite a lot - the genitive, for example).

I mean, when I talk about wanting to learn languages, I don't see it as a fun challenge. It's an almost depressing obsession. I know that it's going to consume more and more of my time, and I'm almost certain that I'm never going to master another foreign language to the same extent as English. Also I don't see myself getting so affluent as to afford going to live in the country of a particular language, or even to acquire the learning materials (in the form of textbooks or just entertainment) to really get me ahead. I mean, I'm feeling so guilty over spending several hours reading that book on Wednesday - that's learning and entertainment that could have been stretched over so many more days!

...Anyway... Probably, between not learning any languages and too many, you've hit the perfect balance. In which case, well, there's really not a lot of choice where you can avoid cases and genders... Well, okay, among the languages that I've studied, Spanish and French don't have noun cases... But all have genders (sometimes reduced to just two)... If we say that learning a language is an indispensable brain workout, then studying genders is... that ONE EXERCISE THAT YOU HAVE TO DO THAT MADE THIS ACTRESS GAIN 20 IQ POINTS! (You get ads like that in the US, right?)