Yeah Rob I think you crushed it quite a bit.
But if it's any consolation, I do that myself quite often.
But what I can say, most of us here seem to be chasing the dragon, being loudness, and the problem is when one thing is too loud we have to make everything else louder.
So for the last few days I've been trying to utilize my VU meter a lot more so I can see what getting out of pocket. And on the last two mixes where I really obeyed that meter(Colton Benjamin: '21 grams', and thelvnguage: 'Kings And Queens') they have come out more pleasant, though they still need some more work. I just uploaded a revision #4 of this song so you can see(hear) for yourself.
Cheers!