Hi Tony,
The timing of your post coincides with a recent step I just took, because like you I was learning lots of "stuff", which is very important, but now I believe I am at the point where I need to dive in deep with theory.
And in this, I have signed up with a local award winner guitarist of roughly my same age. I think that is very important. We begin Wednesday. We have had a long discussion about where I am and the building blocks already in place. But like you they seem like pieces of a puzzle. I want to know the language.
This may be possible here, I don't know. But with the right teacher I feel I should be able to make good progress.
This year the diet is definitely gonna stick!