Overcoming board blindness

One of my development issues other than blundering pieces has been openings, and there are so many openings, variations and traps that it is hard to remember anything at all about them...information overload I suppose. I have been trying to learn one simple opening for white and one for black so that I don't get caught up in traps and the one for black that seems easy enough to remember is the variation I played in the game above (sort of). I found a video of this opening here:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=wdOb5gt4vIQ

It seemed so easy to learn and appears to be defensive in nature (avoiding traps) that it stuck with me. Although the moves are not the ideal moves to make, I am at least getting somewhat comfortable with the first 10 moves and hope to overcome the minor space disadvantages by playing a more tactical middle game.

For white, I have been attempting to learn the London System, since it also appears to be a relatively safe and easy to learn opening. If it's one thing I hate as a beginner it is falling for traps, so this one seems to fit my chess style for now. Once I can retain all that I have learned and seen so far, I hope to expand and learn a few more openings for black and white. Maybe Caro Kann and the French defence?

I would love to play some casual games with more experienced players and hopefully expand my knowledge, but it certainly is certainly not easy finding people patient enough for these long games, plus analysis afterwards. I've had some luck with a few other Lichess players over the past month or two and I appreciate this great community and all of you who take some time out to help out the beginners. Thanks all for the great tips and suggestions...keep 'em coming! =)

GJ is pretty decent but probably not to follow by heart. He often recommends fairly dubious openings that lead to complicated play. Some can be beaten fairly easy and he does not always cover those lines. If your opponent plays good then you can get in trouble. I recommend e4 e5 from black against 1 e4 and recommend d4 d5 starting out. Also d4 nf6 is good too but just starting out try and make the game balanced and equal. Nf6 often leads to more unbalanced play. Not to say that d4 d5 is better or anything because it is not. Just might be easier for beginners to learn. You cannot fall for traps if you play solid chess. Dont be afraid to take your opponents blunders just calculate through and make sure it works. That is where time is needed. You dont have to go for mate from move 1 or 2 or 3. Just play solid and you will ether be equal or better. Something that I think (maybe not most others) I would prefer to not see a tactic myself than to miss a killer tactic by my opponent. Sometimes you got to play good solid moves and your opponent will get frustrated that his tactics/ideas wont work and blunder. Much easier to blunder if you do not have ideas.

@error_state

Short Answer: Play your bad positions till the bitter end.

Long Answer:
Yes, the positional awareness that builds up by experience is %90 of blunder recognition IMO, but If you play your bad positions till the end and find what exactly was wrong each time, the process
will shorten considerably at the cost of feeling miserable here and there. I mean, your hand should burn, if you don't want to
touch a hot oven twice. It is worth it, if you are not gonna give up
trying to take food out of the oven.

Remark: Here and there people might look down upon the strugglers in a bad position, but it is them who should show good
technique to finish you off, and it is for you to choke them while they are trying to eat you :D