I'll be sure to keep my worthless designs to myself for now on.

 

I have been very happy with my discrete pcb but it's time to delve into the microprocessors so I have some experience and can think up some other great projects. lol

I've ordered a Nano to play with.

 

I'll be sure to keep my worthless designs to myself for now on.

They are not worthless. That sort of circuit is quite worth while. If you want to learn the basics of logic ICs, that design is ok.
It is a bit like programming on machine code. Lots of people have never done that, and so miss the base level of understanding.
But for a practical application nowadays, I think a processor is the way to go. I have a great many logic chips in my shed. Probably my electronics stash is more than the local electronics store. I still use them every now and then. For instance, just recently I had to make a couple of the network master controllers I first made 20 years ago. They are still in service after all that time, and the customer wanted spares. The board has quite a few logic chips, 74HC00, 74HC04, 74HC30, 74HC139 and more.
Just as side issue, I found a design error that made the boards fiddly to get going. Fixed after 20 years!