I feel for you, friend. Sounds like the above is some pretty solid advice.

I had a CFII that I let lapse (stupid) and I’m sitting on some military paperwork that will give me an MEI through mil competency—but I would need to re-hack my CFII first. I’d love to do that, paper drill the MEI, then go out and do my CFI add-on, but I don’t think the juice is worth the squeeze. I’m fortunate to not have any black marks on my record, and all it takes is a one bad day for me (or the DPE) to change that.

It’s a shame that’s how the system works.