I have a compass too
the first few times i fucked myself over by creating a base that was aaaaaages away from my spawn point. my current base is a bit far away from my original spawn point but i've now made a bed so thats my spawn i think (i'm hoping to not have to test that out ;p)
I also like to build paths with lots of torches, i just recently did one over water leading to another island where i'm mining, found an AWESOME cavern with heaps of ore and lava, hopefully there'll be some good stuff in there. so right now i'm just preparing myself for a long mining visit, making lots of axes and some new stuff like crafting table, chests and a furnace to take to my new mine so i don't have to travel back and forth. excited!
i am loving this game so much, only problem with it is that when i play it my laptop gets a bit excited and heats up a bit. not too bad though :]
its annoying hitting water or lava! especially water because it moves faster, but lava kills you so i guess they even out in the annoying stakes
i actually get a fright when i see lava, like an actual physical shock haha. maybe that's a sign i'm a bit too into this game...