Well I respect your decision and I appreciate the thanks.
On the surface it looks like your are having permission problems with npm. Another user had a similar problem. Idk if Mac's have "sudo." (I'm really Mac-ignorant)
If that doesn't work, I can offer just one last suggestion: give it a few days. Put the core aside, focus on something else, and come back in a week. Sometimes if I focus on something that isn't working for too long I just want to scream. After a jog or a couple of days the problems seem much easier.