A) a 16 + 35 combo is incredibly useful, and (in my opinion) a better setup than 16 + 23. Viv' la difference.
B) I got into all this more serious gear business in the modern era (high school in the 90s still meant having a dark room, thank god) with my wife getting me the original X100 when it came out. I was sweating it out with little compacts, wringing what I could out of them, often frustrated. I opened the box, and had zero idea what I was looking at. I remember asking aloud "how does the lens come off?" Google led to Serious Compacts, which led to the Fuji X forum in its nascent form. I began to understand what I had, and more to the point here, didn't have. The gigantic, branching old oak tree of potential decisions is trimmed back to a trunk and single branch, when the 23 f2 is glued onto the front of your camera. "Just shut up and go shoot what this camera is good at." And I did, and it was amazing. I think I learned a lot more, and a lot quicker, by not having a ton of choices. That camera is all I took to Macchu Pichu, and as I hiked alongside people lugging 5Ds with 70-210s on them, I felt like I was incredibly lucky.