Sorry for the semi-bad quality but i didn’t feel like spending a hour or two uploading.
You sound a bit like me xD
for the tips, I kinda figured them out already but I didn’t know you could take off in the lava. I also think I found a precise place to look when you shoot. in the F3 screen there is a counter that tells you which angle you are looking at. 0 being parallel with the gound. If you aim at 0, you will 100% hit yourself. I found that out looking for the sweet spot. Looking down also helps a lot when you start. It’s hard to get the angle right the first few time you fly so, for new players, try taking off from a tall building ;).