im also fairly new to perl, and have the same dilemma. i found that you should write programs that you need. for instance, i suck at math, and i wrote a basic calculator. now theres a billion calculator programs out there, but i wrote it anyways. it helped me understand certain commands in perl, and its semi-useful.write things that will benefit you, even if they are already out there. now, at some point this gets out of hand, but just for basic things ive found it works.

Mr. Zoothornrollo, hit that long lunar note, and let it float.