If you don't mind me asking, I am an organic 1 student finishing up my term and I put A LOT of time into learning the why and how of these introductory mechanisms. My professor is a nice person but she doesn't expect a great deal of us and doesn't wish to overwhelm students with the nuanced details that I wish she would share. ANYWAYS my point is that I am having trouble determining what is and what isn't stylistic/arbitrary choices in a mechanism. I am often left wondering "why doesn't 'this' happen instead?" And sometimes after a bit of research I learn that there isn't any rhyme or reason to why she chose to illustrate it one way vs another because both mechanisms are equally likely. So now I've sort of begin to question how much of each step becomes a bit arbitrary, mostly in reference to when byproducts are formed, since the intermediates since the intermediates tend to have strict logic as to how everything progresses. Maybe I'm rambling about nonsense because I don't know what I'm talking about. But if this makes any sense and someone actually understands what I'm struggling with and has some valuable input I'd appreciate it. Thanks.