Lots of the problems come from not being practiced with keyframing- both in your p/c and your velocity. It's a great start for never using vegas, just keep at it and be more patient with watching previews to decide what looks good.
speaking of good starts
NEVER using vegas is a good start
AE is a lot better, especially since it has a velocity plugin (which is free) now, so I'd get on that
thanks to the both of you for that advice.. if there is any video or anything i could look at for help with keyframing let me know.. otherwise thanks