"but in my haste, i cut off a lot of what i should have left and forgot about it (at least until it had something more to work with). never took any more pics, the thing was hideous."
Spoken like a true bonsaiist.
We all have hideous trees, or worse hideous DEAD trees, lurking in the garden bed, underneath benches. I have several skeletons of really bad dead stuff thrown into the woods behind the house...